McAbee Beach
The Monterey Peninsula serves a very useful function for divers: the Peninsula effectively protects Monterey's dive sites much like the lee of an island. This is particularly true when the swell is more out of the west-northwest than north-northwest. Direction does matter when accessing diving conditions.
When winter storms move in, the swell on the outside bay may be 10 or 12 feet, but the inner Monterey Bay may look like a mill pond. On days like this I like to head to McAbee Beach. McAbee is located in the middle of Cannery Row and this protected, sandy beach offers a fine selection of the marine life that has made the Monterey Bay so famous.
This beach is located between the El Torito and Fishhopper Restaurants and is easy to find. Entries are a breeze with small to no surf, and a short swim will put you in 20 feet of water. The bottom near the shore consists mostly of sand, giving way to rock and sand. As one proceeds deeper a rock and boulder bottom predominates.
For those who are interested in sightseeing or photography, McAbee can be a lot of fun. Sea otters are particularly friendly here and will often swim up and check out a diver. Otters are one of the more shy marine mammals, but they have grown accustomed to divers at McAbee.
Harbor
seals also haul out on the offshore rocks and sometimes will play
with or harass divers depending on your perspective. Sightseers and
photographers love to dive with harbor seals, but hunters would
prefer they kept their distance. Harbor seals are certainly one of
the more approachable and friendly of the state's marine mammals.
The calm waters offer a home to a number of the photogenic critters and rocks are covered with an assortment of brightly colored sponges, anemones and tunicates. McAbee is a great spot for nudibranch watching. Lemon dorids, ringed dorids, and gaudy Hermissendas can be seen patiently searching for dinner. One of the more interesting dorid nudibranchs is quite common here - the Hopkins Rose. This hot pink nudibranch rarely grows to over one inch and makes for good photography if you own a camera that will photograph down to a 1:1 reproduction ratio.
In 20 to 30 feet of water you will find a number of lengths of eight-inch pipe and iron fittings strewn along the bottom. These are not from a shipwreck, but rather from the days of the sardine canneries. The old fishing boats would tie off to an offshore mooring and the pipes were used to pump the sardines from the boat to the onshore cannery.
There is one famous wreck at McAbee and keen-eyed divers still find artifacts. The S.S. Gipsy went down with a load of steam beer in 1905. Although there is not much left of the wreck today, parts of the steam engine may be found off the Fishhopper Restaurant. They are heavily overgrown with marine life and is easily mistaken for a rock. Smaller artifacts such as old bottles or ceramic plates are occasionally found by divers.
Location:
McAbee Beach is located on Cannery Row between Hoffman and Prescott
in the City of Monterey.
Access and Entry: To get to the beach divers follow the path from the sidewalk next to the El Torito Restaurant and proceed to the middle of the sandy beach. It is a short walk to sandy beach from "diver OK" parking lot (see map). Kayaks may be launched from the beach, and larger boats may be launched from the nearby breakwater.
Skill level: All skill levels.
Depths: 10 to 40 feet.
Visibility: 10 to 30 feet.
Facilities: Fee parking.
Conditions: (831) 657-1020
Hunting: This is part of the Ed Ricketts Marine Park. Divers may not take game, although it is legal to fish with hook and line.
Photography: Good macro and poor wide-angle photography.
Special Considerations: Parking and changing by divers is limited to certain parking lots. Park in the lot diagonally across Cannery Row from El Torito (see map). It is illegal for divers to park in the lots next to El Torito or Fishhopper. Disrobing (e.g., getting out of your wetsuit) is legal only in specified parking lots, and not on the beach.
Bruce Watkins is a frequent contributor to California Diving News, lecturer and author of the book A Diver's Guide to Monterey County.
