When will vis return

Are we going to have to wait for spring to be able to see anything? Vis was nice last spring but it's been terrible every trip this summer. I'm ready to unleash the fury of my Mako but the vis is terrible. I need a hole gun.

We were in Horseshoe cove yesterday and vis was 5 ft in about 10 ft of water, but deeper than that it was only about 2 ft, 

Over the years seems to me that the vis is always worst in summer, but I've actually seen 30-40, in the late fall, October November, and even 50 ft (once Ft Bragg Oct 1985) but who knows????

Plankton blooms are cyclic throughout the summer.  First, phytoplankton increases in density due to nutrient upwelling and sunlight. But at some point zooplankton, the predators of the phytos, increase as well as they chew up the phytos.  Then the phyto population crashes due to over predation, and when there's no more chow the zoos crash as well.  The process takes about three weeks, and the plankton rich areas move around as well.

So, there are periods of good water throughout the summer if you hit it right.  However as most divers around here will tell you, the really good dive period starts in mid August and goes till the storms start in late october.  Upwelling ceases during this time and visibility can get real good for long periods.

So Merv, get that Mako ready. If it goes according to plan, the good stuff starts about now.

Crap, that's a lot of words to say it's about to get better.

When we did the horseshoe challenge the vis had to be close to twenty feet. I could see the bottom in 16', so it was at least 17'!