Weekend Scuba Diving

Hello All

I'm back from a weekend of fabulous scuba diving in the Monterey Bay and I wanted to recommend a couple of great dive sites that are no more than 20 minutes from the aquarium for those of you who partake in exploring the ocean depths.

1. The Breakwater

2. Hopkin's Reef

3. Monastery Beach

I was able to dive at all of these sites within the last few weeks as part of my advanced diving certification. The breakwater is the easiest and most forgiving of the three sites and is a great place to get a taste of what diving in the Monterey Bay is like. For more advanced dives you can take a boat out to Hopkin's reef or do a dive off Monastery beach. Beginners should not dive without instructors here and even advanced divers should be extremely cautious at Monastery as the shore break can get quite nasty. This beach has energy easily capable of knocking off your mask and fins and has even killed divers. Exercise caution and use your best judgement regarding conditions and in timing swells.

Life you can expect to see at these Monterey dive sites includes seals, otters, metridium, nudibranch, sea pens, anemones, urchins, crabs, octopi, various rock fish, leopard sharks and many many more. Kelp forests are a common feature among these sites and are quite a beautiful sight when conditions are clear.

Happy Diving!!