Anyone Scuba off of Monterey Coast, CA

[ReefRian]

My boyfriend and I are taking a scuba class next month, in the process of reading all the materials right now. We will be doing our open water training in Monterey and would like to hear from anyone who has been out there and what your experience was like. We decided to take the class because we've always wanted to learn and we will be going to Maui & Kauai in June and want to be certified to go while we are there also.

Rian

[PerryinCA]

Rian,

That's where I got certified back in '01, and I have been back more than 50 times if I had to guess. Unfortunately I moved from CA about 11 months ago, and haven't done any diving since.

If it wasn't for the hassle of a drysuit, or cumbersome 7 mil wet-suit, it would be in my top 2 of places I have been. First dive was at Breakwater. There is so much more out there than I had thought before I went under. You guys will have a great time.

Oddly enough, I got certified right before a trip to hawaii too.

-Perry

[TimCA]

Loved it!!!! I did my open water dives there. You will love it. There is so much life to see, and if you have never been to Monterey, well you must see the aquarium, definitely in the top three for me. The one down side is that during your diving there will only be limited time for looking around, as most of your time will be skills.
Have fun
Tim

[ReefRian]

Yeah, I love Monterey and Carmel and have been to the Aquarium probably about 10 times. Just went about a month or two ago. It's one of the daily visit place we like to go, we also like to go tide pooling at Half Moon Bay.

Rian

[looser]

I dove off Monterey a couple years ago while on vacation (I also dove Lake Tahoe on the same trip but that's a different story). This was only one dive so don't take it as the norm but my dive was both great and tough. I saw lots of really cool life some of which I had never seen before including purple jellyfish (like on Sponge Bob), lots of small octopus, crabs that camouflage themselves, a "field" of tall white anemones, and some wild looking slugs. Pretty damn good for one dive! The bad news is that the water was COOOLD even with an eight-mil wet suit, the visibility was about 10 feet, and I was told the jellyfish have a nasty sting. I would strongly recommend a dry suit and the dive master that I hired as a buddy helped take me to the cool stuff and also brought along a light to bring out the color and help spot stuff. All in all very worth the dive, but know that there are lots of other places in the world that you will dive over time that will totally blow you away with incredible life and coral formations, 100+ feet of viz and without even a wet suit. Have a blast and Good Luck!

[mogurnda]

Dove Point Lobos years ago. Beautiful kelp forest, cool. big, colorful inverts. Damn cold, though.

[PerryinCA]

I would definitely spend as much money as you can justify on a good dive light that will be easy to access. That will greatly increase your enjoyment.

Visibility can get bad. On my first day ofcertification, it was about 5 feet. The next day was more like 15-20. I have seen it get as good as 60+. Those days were great in the spring before the kelp beds were really grown big.

-Perry

[Harley420]

just out of curiosity, has any washingtonian ever diven off of edmonds? by the ferry docks? I've heard it's pretty cool.(pun un/intended :) )
One more thing, can anyone recomend a good dive school in the seattle area? Thanks in advance.

Harley

[Cnidae]

I dive Monterey and Carmel Bay every week. Ton's of corals mostly sps's, cup corals, colamorphins and gorgonians. So much life it's amazing. The further south you get the better the diving. Monterey is considered the meca but it's actually the worst diving in the area but it does have a few interesting spots. Being it's your first time out it will blow your mind as long as you have a instructor that knows the spots. If I had a choice to dive Kauaii vs the Carmel area I would choose Carmel every time.