McAbee May 8th
With the initial intent to introduce Erik to North Monastery scuppered by a serious increase in wind from the NNW (as pointed out by Spangler in a fortuitous encounter at Aquarius the day prior), our band of hardy souls meet at a comparatively placid McAbee Beach for a great day of diving.
Myself, Erik, Mark and Dan (with Dive Dog Sukha on shore support) did an initial epic survey of the reef, heading out from El Torito and dropping down in about 25'. Headed towards the backside and pinnacle area with a northerly route and then retracing our steps in an arc.
Great kelp present as usual. Numerous fin fish and nudis. I was struck by the contrast between the backside of the reef and the shallower area closer to shore. The former had much less algae buildup, better visibility and numerous rock structures coated in strawberries. Due to the limited depth, we clocked in almost 90 minutes in dive time. Erik had a seperation but we surfaced according to protocol and rejoined (Erik performed a nice Kelp Crawl to return to group) and we returned to beach,
Entry and exits were easy and lovely. Visibility around 15' but increased the further from shore you went.
Erik and I did a second dive towards Breakwater to explore how far the reef went in that direction. Lots of old pipelines, anchor chains and abandoned equipment before we hit an extensive sand channel. Crossing it would presumably lead to the Pipeline/Metridium Fields and then on to Middle Reef. |