My Favorite Shore Dive Sites

Monterey and Carmel have many wonderful dive sites. Some are great for beginners, while other sites are more advanced. All the sites are wonderful for photography. Read about my top three favorite sites below.

Monastery (Carmel River Beach)

My favorite site has to be Monastery, or Carmel River beach, also known as Mortuary beach. Monastery is beautiful topside, with the hills and the Monastery for which the site was named. But Monastery is an advanced dive site; it can be a dangerous beach to the unwary.

The beach slopes sharply down to the breaking surf, which on a calm day makes for fairly easy entries and exits, but the climb up the hill is tiring to out of shape divers. On a rough day, exiting the surf zone can be tricky at best. I only dive on calm days, when I can get in and out easily with my camera.

As if topside isn't beautiful enough, Monastery below the surface is absolute heaven. I generally dive the north end of the beach, where just a few kicks out takes you to a wonderful kelp bed. Drop down just before the kelp, and you'll see steps carved into the sand from the wave action, leading down to about twenty-two feet. On the left of the kelp bed, the sandy bottom spreads out to the center, where you can reach depth very quickly into a finger of the famous Monterey canyon. Stay within the kelp bed and you'll be treated to such a wonderful variety and color of wild life, you won't want to leave.

The kelp bed is covered with a variety of large rocks festooned with encrusting sponges, nudibranchs, sea stars, crabs, anemones, and lazy rock fish. Look in the nooks and crannies and you'll discover shy ling cod, cabazon, and octopus.

Because the kelp bed is fairly shallow, between twenty-two and fifty-five feet, you can get a nice amount of dive time.

Visibility tends to be open at this site, generally between thirty-five to sixty-five feet throughout the year.

Only dive this site when the surf is calm and you have buddy who is familiar with Monastery. This dive site is also renowned for the many drownings that have sadly taken lives, hence the nickname Mortuary Beach.

See underwater photos taken at Monastery

Point Lobos Reserve

Point Lobos is a favorite of many, and it places second on my list. Begin at Whaler's cove with the easy entry point--the boat ramp. If you're not diving from a boat, you still enter at the boat ramp. The cove itself has a silty, sandy bottom, so we generally take a long surface swim, and head for the mouth of the cove. If you don't care for kelp, don't dive Lobos, or dive with someone who doesn't mind staying to the sand, as you'll also have a nice kelp crawl at some point in your dive. Kelp crawling at Lobos is wonderful. Be sure to keep your face in the water because all kinds of kelp crabs cling to the stipes, and blades along with turban snails and baby fish that hang out the canopy.

Once you reach the mouth of the cove, you can drop down into a wonderful rocky reef that's covered with bullkelp, big keyhole limpets, lemon nudibranchs, various types of sponges, and big schools of rock fish. Look close and you'll likely find colorful sculpins, dorids, and all kinds of crabs.

There are several wonderful dive sites outside the cove, but keep in mind the long surface swim to and from if you're not diving with a boat. You'll need to make a reservation to dive Lobos and summer weekends fill up quickly.

See underwater photos taken at Pt. Lobos

Breakwater (San Carlos Beach)

In spite of the hoards of diving classes, the early morning parking problems, and the infamous low visibility, Breakwater (San Carlos beach), is on my list of favorites, and in the top three. In fact, I still dive this site more than any other because of the abundance of sea life and the great photo opportunities. There is no other site that is more convenient for me.

Many divers complain about the parking problems and all the students kicking up the bottom silt. But if you're fortunate enough to be a late riser as I am, then by the time you arrive at Breakwater, the classes will have left, the silt will have settled, and parking is not a problem. In addition, this little cove seems to be calmer in the afternoon. Another great time to dive this site is during the week, when everyone else is working.

While you're gearing up, you can enjoy Breakwater's wonderful wildlife. Flocks of gulls and pelicans frequent the area. Otters nap and play in the kelp beds, and sea lions bask along the rock wall. Occasionally harbor seals come to visit, and you're likely to see these sea mammals on your dive.

Breakwater has several great dive areas: the wall or jetty, the central kelp beds, and the metridium fields. All three areas are covered with diverse sea life.

Along the wall you'll find bright orange sea cucumbers, lemon and rainbow nudibranchs, resting cabazon and painted greenlings, and octopus. Along the wall I've also seen an electric eel ray cruising along the bottom, a school of about forty sea nettles, one big, lone egg yoke jelly, groups of moon jellies, and the ever present playful sea lions.

If you decide to dive the central kelp beds, you'll see a criss-crossing of abandoned pipes that used to connect to the old cannery. In addition, deserted tires make wonderful homes for crabs and fish. Big rocks are homes to thriving kelp holdfasts, black-eyed gobies, shrimp, decorator crabs, octopus, and nudibranchs. Search the sandy areas between rocks, pipes, and tires, and you'll see sanddabs and colorful tube anemones.

The metridium fields require a longer surface swim, but are well worth it. This area is home to the giant white metridiums, nudibranchs of many kinds, huge anemones, and crabs of all sorts.

No matter where you dive at Breakwater, you're going to see lots of animal action: baby fish picking at plankton in the water, big fish eating little fish, nudibranchs eating anemones, and sea stars eating anything that falls to the bottom, including jelly fish. You'll also see fish fighting, nudibranchs mating, worms sending out food collecting slime tubes, gobies protecting holes in the sand, and cabazon sitting on eggs.

Don't let anyone tell you Breakwater is boring!

See underwater photography from Breakwater dives