Capitola Dive Report

Saturday was the in-law's Thanksgiving in Capitola and I could not get the "sure honey, you should totally go diving in Monterey" approvals......

So with only a couple of hours to get away and no other options, I rounded up a dive buddy and took a crack at diving off Capitola. Spoiler alert, everyone else who has posted that it is better to make the extra 45 minute drive to Monterey is right.

We put in from the main beach at the Village and used SUPs to paddle out 1 mile to the Pumpkin Buoy. Too much wind and chop to stand up, so it made for a long knee paddle.  Once there, we geared up and worked the structure immediately surrounding the buoy. 30-35' depth with good rock formations and lots of ledges. My light was running low and did not do justice to the far nooks and crannies, so there may be more potential than I could see. Fair number of fish, but of course you could only see the small to mid-sized ones on account of the 5-7' of vis at the bottom (10-15' vis at the surface though). Everything was coated with a fine layer of silt, and it murked up very quickly when working the bottom.

Schools of anchovy and mackerel passing through, lots of blues and blacks, some olives, a big spider crab carcass, a couple perch, and a ling.

I shot a black rockfish and lingcod that was out and about and decided to blend in to the structure when it saw me, but it was a lot of work for limited opportunities.

We tried a couple of drops on the outside of the kelp beds on the way back in and can confidently report that area is a total waste of time. 2-3' vis with few signs of life.

That said, it was good to get in the water.

-Dave

SUP mileage and diving - cool!  Way to do the work and go on the adventure that time (and wifey) allowed.   

Hey way to get out there! I did the family thing, very impressed you scored some fish in that swell and muck! At least now when you hit it on a decent day, you'll have the whole scene dialled in!

Cool you were able to get out! Any day I get to be in the salt is good, no matter how fishy. Thanks for posting!

Cool you were able to get out! Any day I get to be in the salt is good, no matter how fishy. Thanks for posting!

+1

2-3 feet is GOOD vis for Capitola.   

Thanks for the diving report and picture Dave.

2-3' vis does suck but glad you found it better at a different spot.