Brian Mathews's Dive Log

Gerstle cove continues to be one of my favorite north coast dive spots. I usually scuba here and since it is a preserve, the animal life is awesome. There is a huge reef pretty far out directly in line with the cove which is home to some beautiful metridiums and cobalt blue encrusted sponge. I went ab diving here in November '04 and got 3 very nice abs just south of the edge of the protected area, but the only good ones were in 35 feet of water (it was high tide).

This was our first time at Monastery and it was an experience I won't soon forget for 2 reasons: The excellent diving and the major thrashing I took from old Neptune! We entered the water at 10am and it didn't look too bad but I got knocked off balance and then I thought I got hit by a bus but it was a wave!! After three sets of limp-bodied cartwheels, I finally swallowed so much water the waves couldn't pick me up any longer and I was able to crawl out of its grasp. I got back on the horse, as they say, and tried it again. That's when I realized I had rocks in my reg....so I switched to my snorkel since I was past the bad part and took a big breath and inhaled a few more rocks...lol After hacking up some of the rocks I was able to continue and try to find out why my mask was flooding instantly… obviously it was the rocks stuck in the purge valve… so after digging rocks out of many places, I caught up with my buddy and we proceeded to have an awesome dive with plenty of scenery. We got played with by a sea lion, saw a really neat spanish shawl nudibranch and hit 144' with plenty of abyss below us but that was enough for one day!!! A truly awesome dive and major respect for the surf here.