Club Dive report for February, 2023 - Pipeline at San Carlos Beach
Jim Driggers | Published on 2/26/2023
New club members Christina Clemens, Michael Nadolny, and David Sheh joined me in diving the pipeline on the left side of San Carlos Beach. Surf conditions were good and made for easy entries and exits. For the first dive, we kicked out pretty far on the surface, and I gave a quick compass lesson before we descended. Underwater visibility was only five to six feet, so I'm glad I'd divided the four of us into two buddy teams before we left the beach. Staying together even in two person teams was a challenge. We saw lots of starfish and snails with a few decorator crabs on the pipeline and sand dabs and tube anemones in the sand.
Despite the poor visibility, Mike, David, and I decided to do a second dive, and to visit the metridium field. We overshot the field on our left but did see a few of the giant white anemones after we turned around and headed back to the beach. I was glad that all three of us had dive lights, since that made it easier to see where each of us was in the murky water.
The poor visibility and cold water (my computer showed a low of 48 degrees on both dives) made for a good reintroduction to diving in Monterey. My last dives were in the Philippines, much warmer and clearer than the conditions on Saturday.