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Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Monastery Beach South
The most picturesque dive site in the Carmel area, Monastery Beach offers spectacular diving in the rocky, kelp-packed coastline. Do not attempt this dive unless you are advanced, and are comfortable in heavy surf.
Head South on Highway 1 out of Carmel. Park at the Southern end of the first roadside beach.
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Derek
Sep 18, 2002, 12:00 AM
scuba
I actually enjoyed this end of the beach better than the north side mainly because of the bigger fish, but I am a biased fish person. The visibility was definitely not as great as the north, but it was still about 15-20 feet. The entry was easy this day with a 2-3 foot swell coming in. We dropped down right in front of the kelp forest and navigated out to the point. The depth went from about 20 feet to 55 feet with many shallow areas towards the land on the south. I saw numerous species of rockfish including: blacks, gophers, and one big vermillion rockfish. The gophers pretty much did not move from their holes and would make great models for pictures...I guess that is why they are called gophers? Also spotted a few calico bass and sand dabs. The kelp was pretty thick so make sure you navigate well if you go into the beast...which is of course the most interesting part of the dive.
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