Coastguard Breakwater March 26, 2021

 Yesterday Guy Foster and I drove down to Monterey.  First we visited Bamboo Reef and picked up my brand new DUI drysuit, eagerly awaited for the last four months (2 months overdue..).  Well, I hadn't really been seriously trying to dive since last November because of the awful third wave of the pandemic...Next, we went to the breakwater for a shore dive.  We finally shuffled across the sand into the surf which periodically had 3 ft breakers.  Guy was eager to try out his new dive camera that he'd bought last fall but hadn't had a chance to use yet.  It was great to get back into the water after so many months, though conditions were not at all ideal.  We had 10-15 ft of visibility at the start of the dive, it gradually improved to about 20 ft.  Water temp was 49 degrees.  It was great to be in a dry drysuit!  The dive was enjoyable and uneventful.  I was glad to see giant kelp, large spiny sea stars and not one single sea urchin out in the open, so the sea otters and sea stars and occasional California Sheepshead were keeping there numbers down at the breakwater.  

Here's some pictures from our dive, for more, please go to:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Anr9hiyXo2U6Y4uW9

Guy with his new camera, you can see that the visibility isn't stellar.

                                   Strawberry Anemones

                           Tube Anemone and Bat Star

                            Guy taking shots with his new camera and new viewfinder.

                                         I was happy to see several large Spiny Sea Stars.  And no urchins!

           Colony of transparent tunicates (sea squirts).

                          Guy's new camera set up including Richard Salas style strobe arms.

                            Several kinds of perch as we approached the surfline.

Count the sand dollars!

                                   Half Moons

Next was our surf exit.  It was a washing machine!  We were as graceful as beached whales!  Sand everywhere, and I do mean, everywhere.

Here's my new DUI dry suit with built in boots. It fits very well, despite my "Covid19, lbs that is..."

                 Removal, integrated gloves, removable latex neck seal, built in boots that fit!  Also, you may see the all important, for long boat outings, pee zipper, which is a custom installation and caused a two month delay on getting my suit.

Here's the main zipper.  Very much simpler in construction that the conventional zippers in dry suits.  This one seems to rely on precision plastic and, I must confess, I'm a bit mystified that it works!  Hope it does for years to come....