Posted by Karl S. on July 24, 2003 at 11:11:51:
In Reply to: Monterey Vis??? posted by c2cDiver on July 20, 2003 at 21:31:03:
I was sure Tribolette with his ego-photo posts would run with your question.
Right now vis in most places is deep green, aka pea soup. I was at Santa Cruz Wharf for an annual Day On The Beach activity assisting handicapped divers over the past weekend. Vis was about 3 ft at the surface and 5 ft at a depth of 25 fsw under the pier.
There are reports on Tribolette's Yahoo Groups site group/ba_diving that vis in some places is better. A kayak diver recently reported that at Carmel Point aka Butterfly House, he got vis of about 40 ft at a depth of 95 fsw.
I was driving by Lovers Cove in Pacific Grove last week, and noted that there were a few freedivers in the water there, and vis appeared to be about 15 to 20 ft as viewed from the surface. I had been freediving at San Carlos Breakwater with my fiancee where vis was about 5 ft.
The general rule around here in Northern Cali for vis is that if your site is primarily rocky bottomed, like Bluefish Cove at Point Lobos State Park, then you can have reasonably good vis most of the time. An upwelling might also produce good vis for a few days. Right now the plankton and algae blooms at midsummer are as expected giving poor vis for scuba diving here.
Since I am not into ego-photo contests, I cannot speak for NCUPS nor the annual ShootOut. Good luck with that.
I have other ego trips however, like everyone else. :)