Thursday, September 6, 2007

Meet and Greet - Monterey, California - August 19th, 2007

Does life get much better than this?!

Went diving on Sunday with a bunch of local divers that had a “Meet and Greet”. We met up at the Breakwater shortly after 7:15 AM after picking up my tanks from a local dive store. The weather was perfect – sun just beginning to shine brightly, that time in the morning where everything just feels so new, fresh and full of opportunity (yes, I am a morning person). Two of the divers from the group had already arrived and set up a nice canopy on the grassy area, complete with tarp and chairs. We proceeded to haul our gear over and then hung out talking to the couple that were there already, watching the water at the Breakwater as it calmly lapped the shore. The water looked divine – so peaceful, some divers making their way in, seals down the pier doing their best to make a ton of noise. I was anxious to get into the water and start exploring.

Around 9:00 we were all geared up – 7MM fullsuit with a 5/3 hooded vest. It was getting hot and so I knew that the 55° water would be a welcome respite from the shore. Since one of the two divers that had been there was playing “rescue class victim,” his wife came along with Mark and I on our first dive. Swimming into the water from the shore, the water was indeed cool, but it felt great against the early heat of the day. Descending down, we were just on the edge of some kelp. Mark leading, Kelly and I followed him through the kelp, over the rocks, in and around all over the place. Tons of batstars, starfish,spiny rockfish, and – of course – kelp. When we hit 1200 PSI, we decided to start meandering our way back to shore.

All of a sudden, we gained another dive partner – a seal. First s/he was exploring Mark’s head and tank. I was desperately trying to get Mark’s attention, to no avail. The seal then made his way back to Kelly, doing flips and turns all the way. Playing with her tank, hood and then biting on her flippers. We got out of the kelp, each time I turned around to make sure she wasn’t stuck, there was the seal – swimming just over her shoulder, just as though s/he has fallen in line with our group. Then all of a sudden, he turned his attention to me – swimming over, going for my hood, playing with my fins – swimming off. And then, much to my extreme joy, s/he swam straight for my face – coming closer and closer until it touched its nose to my mask, I could see every little whisker. Only briefly though before s/he swam off for good. Poor Mark only got to see a bit of the fun since he had been in the lead and, whilst Kelly and I had stopped completely, he continued on. Realizing we weren’t with him, he came back for the tail end of playtime.

Ecstatic, we swam back to the shore underwater. Grinning ear to ear.

After a long surface interval, during which more divers came, we hung out – exchanging stories, snacking and sunning. It was a beautiful sunny day in Monterey – such a change from the relatively foggy summers of San Francisco. I got to play “distressed swimmer” and was rescued by one of the training classes. Nothing like getting towed back to shore and dragged up the beach!

Around 1 pm, I was starting to get warm and ready for our 2nd dive. Almost the entire group suited up and we headed out in search of the famed Metridium Field. After a relatively long surface swim, we dropped down to depth. Unfortunately, the kelp was a bit thicker than anticipated and Mark and I lost the rest of the group. While slightly disappointed, I had the camera with me and was quite happy to go off in search of some good photo opportunities – which we found. More kelp, batstars, starfish, beautiful vegetation, cormorants diving from the surface , massive amount of what I think were krill and some black surfperch, even an entire school of them!, etc. With about 1100 PSI, we were back on shore and happy as two clams.

Burgers with the group, more stories and sunshine and we packed up at about 4:30 to make the 2 hour drive home. It was a great day filled with wonderful dives and great company. I was really glad that I took the time to organize it and hope to see all those divers again in the future!

Dive Stats:

Dive #28: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, CA: Max depth 32 feet, bottom time 37 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 54°, vis approximately 12-15’. Surface interval approximately 2.5 hours.

Dive #29: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, CA: Max depth 27 feet, bottom time 40 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 54°, vis approximately 12’.




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