As much as I hate to admit it, I've done hundreds of dives in Monterey, but never once have I done a dive out to the end of the jetty at Breakwater. So last weekend, I talked my boyfriend into loading up all of our gear (and my dog, Sage) and heading down to Monterey for a quick overnight trip. Because he loves to dive as much as I do, it really didnt take much convincing before we were on our way to the coast!
I knew it was going to be a good day when we pulled into the parking lot at Breakwater to see a huge pod of dolphins swimming not far off shore. I was thinking to myself "what better omen, right?"
After a quick Frisbee toss on the beach to stretch Sage's legs, we came up with a game plan. We were going to surface swim three quarters of the way out, then drop down and swim along the bottom of the rock wall until we came to the end of the jetty, where, if we were lucky, we might see a few seals. The seals and sea lions like to hang out and sunbath along the rocks at the jetty, and many times they will jump in the water and swim close to divers.
After anxiously gearing up, we hit the water and started our surface swim by kicking at a brisk pace, trying to avoid any entanglements in the kelp. When we arrived at our designated 'drop zone' my boyfriend and I gave each other the okay sign, and descended approximately 30 feet to the sandy bottom below which was littered with brightly colored starfish and anemones . With the help of the sun shining on the surface, visibility under the water was decent...about 15 to 20 feet and increasing the deeper we got. We began our dive cruising along the bottom for about 10 minutes and just as we leveled off my breath was momentarily taken away by a fleeting shadow that appeared out of the corner of my eye. Before I had a chance to wonder if my eyes were playing tricks on me, the shadow was back in the form of a large seal, and he had brought his friends with him...lots of them! To get a better look, we ascended several feet to kneel on the rocks at the base of the jetty
. Surrounded by thick kelp stalks jutting up to the surface, we watched as the aquatic forest quickly became a playground for dozens of seals darting back and forth around us in an amazing display of underwater acrobatics. These graceful, fluid animals seemed to be extremely curious as to what we were doing in their backyard, because they approached us within a few feet, blowing bubbles, spinning, flipping and even barking at us when we started to leave. Almost as if to say, "Hey, come back, we just starting having fun!"
Time seemed to pass all too quickly. Getting low on air, we reluctantly started back towards shore, leaving our new pinnaped friends to play amongst themselves once again. Working our way around the rocks and kelp, we followed the upward slope of the sand and slowly rose to about 15 feet of depth. All of a sudden the visibility became bad, and I mean bad, even by Monterey's standards! As the sand settled a little, I noticed something moving in it. Just then we came upon several large batrays that were burying themselves in the sand by dropping to the bottom and fluttering their wings rapidly to stir up the sediment. As we would swim over them, they would take off, move forward a few feet and repeat the process over again. They were captivating to watch and they were everywhere hiding in the sand! I had never seen so many batrays at Breakwater before!
The entire dive was amazing, and before we were even out of the water, both of us were trying to figure out how we could do the same dive again, but with more bottom time! As an instructor who teaches most of her classes at the jetty, I find myself taking for granted how fortunate I am to be able to see the rich diversity Monterey has to offer. It truly is, California diving at its best!
Last weekend I helped my boyfriend teach a rescue class for Dolphin Scuba Center. I would like to congratulate both students who passed the class...Adam and Bob are now officially Rescue Divers!
. Surrounded by thick kelp stalks jutting up to the surface, we watched as the aquatic forest quickly became a playground for dozens of seals darting back and forth around us in an amazing display of underwater acrobatics. These graceful, fluid animals seemed to be extremely curious as to what we were doing in their backyard, because they approached us within a few feet, blowing bubbles, spinning, flipping and even barking at us when we started to leave. Almost as if to say, "Hey, come back, we just starting having fun!"
