Movie of Sunken Sailboat Dive

There were some recent reports of good visibility in Monterey, so we decided to go diving. Our friends Jesse and Matt, who are a bit new to the northern California diving environment, accompanied us. I was very much hoping for good conditions this trip. The last time we took our friends diving in Monterey, so many things went awry that I was afraid they would never return with us. The visibility was especially bad last time. There was so much finely shredded red kelp/minestrone in the water, you could barely make out objects a few feet away! We had to swim with one hand clutching our buddy and the other hand outstretched. The free hand would cushion the impact of rock walls that would suddenly appear out of the murk as the surge yanked us forward. While there wasn't much to see, it was kind of thrilling.

Luckily we didn't have to do a "braille dive" this time. The conditions were excellent - 20 foot vis, calm flat waters. We did a dive at MacAbee beach where we saw lots of the usual invertebrates. A huge sun star was bookin' it across the bottom (picture below). I also saw a large-ish decorator crab miraculously fall from the sky. The only explanation we could think of to explain this was perhaps the crab had climbed a stalk of kelp and let go at the top.

We went to nearby Del Monte beach for dive #2. The only reason to dive Del Monte (it's pretty much all bland sandy bottom) is a 45 foot sunken sailboat about a half mile out from the beach. We would have missed it had the visibility not been so good. As we were swimming along what can only be described as a minimalist moonscape of sand and the occasional beer bottle, a large shadow caught our eye off to our left. See the short video Scott put together of our swim around this small wreck... and it's scary secret... >:)