Pre-School Dive
Saturday June 24, 2006
This is called the ‘Pre-School’ Dive
as you pass by the pre-school just north of North Monastery Beach
to get to the site. Carmel Meadows is an infrequently-dived beach
that is between the Carmel River Beach entry and Monastery Beach.
Here one finds a wide, sandy beach that is marked by large, rock
outcroppings at each end. Divers may enter at either end of the
beach. You may have seen this site described in the Monterey
Bay Dive Sites DVD/Video.
This shallow area supports a healthy bed of giant kelp, and
this is a good place to fish watch. Look for painted greenlings,
black-eyed gobies and numerous species of rockfish. At the edge
of the kelp bed are often found large schools of blue rockfish.
Leopard sharks come inshore to sandy bottoms to pup in the late
winter and spring.
Beyond the kelp the bottom turns to sand and
rolls away into the Carmel Trench. This is one of two sites in
Monterey County where divers have easy shore access to deep water.
The feeling of flight is exhilarating as you follow the canyon
down into its depths. Divers should be careful of their depth
here as you can get real deep, real fast. You must pay some dues to dive at The Meadows, since the parking
area is well above the beach. Physically fit divers will enjoy
the unique topography and marine life of this seldom-visited
site.
We will meet at 730am (to make sure we get parking) in the Pre-school
Parking area off Highway 1 (North of North Monastery). Plan on
2 dives.
Free to Kelptomaniacs
$10 Non-Members
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