SWS Dive 6/30

Well, here goes my first post/report...

In my search for new dive buddies, I was able to link up with Capo yesterday. We had a great day yak diving at SWS and I was able to break in my new-to-me OK P13. I haven't been out there in several years so it felt great to be back. The weather was perfect, the water was calm and we had some great viz!

We paddled out to the right of the cove and searched for a good spot to clip off. We finally found a decent looking area to jump in and we were rewarded with decent viz and some nice structure to work with. I haven't dove in over a year and a half so it was nice to do some drops and get warmed up. Capo made for a great dive buddy, focused on safety and super helpful in hunting by pointing out good cracks and giving me a heads up about fish he had seen during each dive.

We worked a small area by the kayaks for about an hour and came out with some rockfish and I got a nice cab and he shot a ling both from the same hole! I started to cramp up so we took a short break on the yaks and moved locations to another spot closer to shore. We found more good holes there and Capo shot a few more rockfish then we called it a day. It was a great day/dive and I was happy to make a new buddy!

Thanks to Omer for getting me re-stoked off spearfishing. I'm hoping to meet up with more divers through NCKA and I'm also looking to get into some H&L soon, although I have no gear for it yet.      

Nice report. I'm interested in getting into the spearfishing thing but would need to invest in more equipment and training. So I'm putting it off for a bit. How deep are you diving? I've never gone past 30' while snorkeling and it sounds like 50' or more is typical. That does sound like a perfect spot to start.

Good report Kevin. It has so nice to be back in the water and have a good dive buddy. Viz makes such a big difference.I saw two more lings and didn’t shoot as they don’t seem to be that big. We also saw hand sized scallops. Although can’t take those in SWS, they were inspiring to see at that size, for me at least.
@joedubc, you don’t have to dive past 30’ here to get good fish. I think we were mostly around 20-25’. But Kevin would know better as my dive watch died. Most important thing is to learn to listen to your body and the rest will come safely with experience.
Hopefully we can activate the spearfishing section of this forum to find buddies and share info.. Happy to take new people out in future.

We mostly dove 20’-25’ all day. I stick to 20’-30’ these days as I dive less frequently now, but I’m looking to progress! I second what Omer said, always happy to go out with new people as well and on the lookout for more buddies here.

Thanks for the report and pictures Kevin.

Just adding this photo; eye of the ling.

What a cool photo! The ling was still hungry even in zombie mode

Hey special K and capo, I am always interested in new freediving buddies, going down to Monterey in a few weeks, let me know if you guys are interested in some diving, Ron.

Hi, What does SWS stand for. I'm from Marin County. Also the kelp in the picture looks great. Is it improving in your area?  Thanks

SWS = Stillwater SOUTH, there is also a Stillwater Cove up north so we use SWS to differentiate the two. The kelp was looking healthy and very thick in some areas, there are purple urchins everywhere but nothing like up north.

Hey special K and capo, I am always interested in new freediving buddies, going down to Monterey in a few weeks, let me know if you guys are interested in some diving, Ron.

Hey Ron, I’ll be out of the country for vacation but hopefully you’ll find a buddy here. And we’ll go sometime in future.

Nice work,I miss diving

Now I'm confused, I thought SWS was for stillwater cover, up north, stillwater south is where exactly. Near stillwater cover or down south, please let  me know, I'd like to try it out, R.

Now I'm confused, I thought SWS was for stillwater cover, up north, stillwater south is where exactly. Near stillwater cover or down south, please let  me know, I'd like to try it out, R.

It's the actual pebble beach golf course if you look on Google you can see a pier there.

Now I'm confused, I thought SWS was for stillwater cover, up north, stillwater south is where exactly. Near stillwater cover or down south, please let  me know, I'd like to try it out, R.

It is an entirely different place altogether. Like fishbushing said, the cove is located at Pebble Beach golf course, it’s marked in the map as Stillwater Cove.