Monterey Ca Free Dive Trials

I went free diving in Monterey on Saturday. It was my 1^st time free diving in a 7 mil dive suit. My main goal was to do some experimenting. I wanted to try it out and find out how much weight I would need to be comfortable. I dove from a popular beach near lovers point. It was easy walk in diving. I brought my camera to take a few pictures.

I started out with only 10lbs on my weight belt. That wasn’t near enough so I added more for a total of 26lbs. This was a little too much as I felt I had to work too hard to rest between dives. As it turns out 20lbs to 24lbs might be good. But that could change due to the issues I have with the suit.

My suit is too tight with the dive hood vest combo. I had a hard time breathing. Between the breathing issues and being a couple pounds over weighted it made for an uncomfortable feeling. My plan is to try the suit without the vest. I am going to a lake this weekend, so I might give it a try. I lost my sunglasses in the water there last year, so maybe I will find them. Lots of luck. More likely I will find someone else’s, but that might not be a bad thing. Diving without a hood in Monterey just might be too cold though. I would modify my dive vest with some scissors but it is real tight on my neck as well.

It is supposed to be really hot this weekend at the lake however the water in the lake comes from the bottom of a larger lake, so the temperature should be pretty cold still. I may still need the suit to be comfortable. Free diving in a tropical location is so much more fun. Conditions in Monterey where I dove were not clear either. Less then 10 feet of visibility I presume as you can see by the photo’s. I was told going further north would have been better, but this was an experimental dive so I opted for an easy entry location.

My ankles are torn up from playing soccer all these years. It was a little painful to move the fins underwater. I suppose with practice the pain will eventually go away, but I wonder if smaller fins would be advisable. I might try my wife’s fins this weekend as well to see if they are helpful. All in all it wasn’t a good dive, but after making some changes things should improve.