Monasterey Beach
Diving the Trench

One of the most popular beach sites in the Monterey area is Monastery Beach. This dive site is a short walk from parking along Highway 1 and the beach offers two very different sites. On the south side of the beach is a relatively calm patch reef that offers a very relaxing dive with lots of colorful marine life (see CDN August 1997). The north side of the beach is more open to the swell and allows divers access to the extreme depths of the Monterey Submarine Canyon.

Known locally as "The Trench," divers normally access deep water by snorkeling along the southern edge of the kelp bed on the north side of the beach until nearing the prominent wash rock. Submerge at this point and follow the contour of the rock bottom.

The walls of the canyon at this location slant down at over a 70 degree angle, and it is very easy to quickly get deeper than you realize. The wall consists of many large boulders and rocks and the dive mainly consists of "boulder hopping."

In the shallows the rocks are covered with an assortment of giant and palm kelp and an assortment of large anemones, both the giant green and colonies of aggregating anemones. Many boulders are covered with lush carpets of red Corynactis anemones. A great many species of nudibranchs, such as the brightly colored Spanish shawl and the thick-horned aeolid, as well as sea stars and sea cucumbers inhabit the shallow area beneath the kelp bed. This is an extraordinary place for macro-photos and sight-seeing.

As one drops deeper the kelp begins to thin out, and the bottom life shifts to Telia anemones and encrusting orange volcano and cobalt sponges. Small lingcod and a few rockfish are found among the nooks and crannies of the bottom. Large Medusa jellyfish may be commonly seen here, along with ocean sunfish.

As divers drop below 80 feet, the rocks become encrusted with various small invertebrates, bryozoans, sea cucumbers and some sponges. Between the rocks and in holes are an assortment of rock scallops.

Divers with a little more energy will want to swim around to the far side of the wash rock. The bottom there slopes gently to about 30 feet and then drops vertically, and I do mean vertically, to great depths. The sensation is like stepping out of an airplane at 30,000 feet. The feeling of complete mobility in all dimensions is about as close as many of us will get to sprouting wings and being able to fly.

The wall continues down to a large overhang at 110 feet. The overhangs sticks out about 10 feet and underneath is often a good spot for spearfishing. Once past the overhang, the wall continues to head straight down. We can only speculate to what lies below.

When visiting Monastery, take some to explore the shallow areas in addition to the trench. The shallow areas on the north side of the beach contain some excellent areas for macro photography.

Most divers experience deep diving for the first time on a warm-water vacation. The magnificent walls of Cayman, Belize, and Fiji are well known for both their beauty and for the depths that divers can easily descend. Northern California divers have no need to travel far to dive on a sheer wall that plunges vertically into the depths. The best part is the dive is an easy swim right off the beach, Monastery Beach, that is.

Dive Spot At - A - Glance

Location: Along Highway 1 next to the wide beach just south of the Crossroads Shopping Center in Carmel.

Access and entry: Short walk to the beach. Small inflatable boats and dive boards may be launched from the sand beach on very calm days.

Skill level: Intermediate to advanced with beach diving skills.

Depths: 20 feet to deeper than you'll want to go.

Visibility: 20 to 70 feet.

Hunting: The entire Carmel Bay is an Ecological Reserve and no invertebrates may be taken, including rock scallops. This area is heavily fished and good-sized fish are scarce.

Photography: Good macro for nudibranchs and other invertebrates and good wide-angle photography for reef and kelp scenes.

Hazards: This beach is very steep with plunging breakers and unsure footing on coarse sand. Divers are easily trashed in surf line. Enter only from either end of the beach and not from the center.

Bruce Watkins is a photojournalist residing in Northern California. Bruce is a regular contributor to California Diving News and hundreds of his articles and nearly a thousand of his photographs have appeared in various magazines, including Discover Diving, Ocean Realm, Outside, Rodale's Scuba Diving, and Skin Diver. He is the author of A Diver's Guide to Monterey County, recently published by Saint Brendan Corp.