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Giant spined star
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Sea otter
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McAbee Beach
In the heart of Monterey’s tourist area sits McAbee Beach. This diver friendly beach is right in the middle of Cannery Row, and had a front row seat to a piece of history popularized by the novels of John Steinbeck. The beach was, quite possibly, one of the first tourist attractions in Monterey. During the early 1900s it was the site of bathhouse that attracted visitors from miles around.
Today, El Torito and Fishhopper Restaurants border McAbee Beach, but 70 years ago there were sardine canneries. This part of Monterey never had a wharf, so sardine boats tied off to offshore moorings and pumped their catch into the canneries via 10-inch pipes. Today the canneries are gone, but divers can still find the network of pipes in 20 to 30 feet of water.
Diving at McAbee is easy and comfortable, and entries are a breeze. A short swim from the beach will put you in 20 feet of water. The bottom near shore consists mostly of sand, giving way to rock and sand. At 30 feet a boulder bottom predominates. Look for the old cannery pipes and other artifacts. The pipes stretch radially from shore and aid the “navigationally challenged.”
For those who are interested in sightseeing or photography, McAbee can be a lot of fun. The rocky patch reef is covered with an assortment of brightly colored sponges, anemones and tunicates. Look for fish between rocks, and in the cannery pipes.
McAbee is a great spot for nudibranch watching. Lemon dorids, ringed dorids, and gaudy Hermissendas are commonplace. One of the more unusual nudibranchs is quite common here—the Hopkins Rose. This hot pink nudibranch rarely grows to over one inch and is a truly spectacular animal.
McAbee is also a good place for marine mammal watching. Sea otters are particularly friendly here and will often swim up and check out a diver. Otters are normally 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. Harbor seals are certainly one of the more curious and friendly of the state’s marine mammals, and frequently choose to interact with divers at McAbee.
Dive Spot At-A-Glance
Location: McAbee Beach is located on Cannery Row between Hoffman and Prescott Avenues in the City of Monterey, and is bordered by El Torito and Fishhopper Restaurants.
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 near-by Breakwater.
Skill level: All.
Depths: 10-60 feet.
Viz: 10-30 feet.
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.
Facilities: Fee parking. There is a restroom in the parking garage at the corner of Hoffman Ave. and Foam St.
Special Considerations: Parking and changing by divers is limited to certain parking lots within the City of Monterey. 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, the Fishhopper, and on the street. Disrobing (e.g., getting out of your wet suit) is legal only in specified parking lots, and not on the beach.
Bruce Watkins is a frequent contributor to California Diving News, as well as author of the books A Diver’s Guide to Monterey County and A Diver’s Guide to Northern California (both from Saint Brendan Corp.)
Return to Cover Page/Contents for July 2003 issue
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