Posted by brianc on July 27, 2001 at 11:18:01:
In Reply to: Monterey Diving posted by Jason Beem on July 27, 2001 at 10:57:12:
There are lots of choices, but many of them are advance sites. The new divers in your group will be the limiting factor. If they are up to it, you might try going out on the Monterey Express for a two tank trip. There are more less experienced divers on that boat, but that is relative experience. They should have some cold, kelp, low viz (I'll gladly drive an hour for anything over 5 ft. viz), and deep experience. Other shore sites to look into are McAbee, Lover's Point, and Point Lobos. The Breakwater can be interesting if you know where to look. The jetty has lots of life and can be a good night dive site to see octopi, etc. The end of the jetty is a sea lion rookery.
The best dive site resource, aside from locals and shops, is Bruce Watkins Monterey Diving book. The following web site has some good location descriptions.
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~rvilla/guide.html