Location: Breakwater / San Carlos Beach / Coastguard Pier / Ed Rickett's Marine Santuary

Maps Available:
- Beach View
- Underwater Topo

Dive Level: Beginner to Intermediate

General Overview:
Monterey Breakwater (aka San Carlos Beach aka Coast Guard Pier) is one of the most popular dive destinations in Northern California. It's one of the most protected beaches, and is open more days of the year than virtually any other beach – making it the natural destination for most open water classes.

Site Amenities:
There are public restrooms at each end of the beach. The larger of the two (the northern one) have shower facilities. In addition, there’s a shower for rinsing off at the top of the primary beach stairs. There are two dive stores within easy walking distance from the site – Aquarius (on the pier) and Monterey Bay Dive Center (at the west end of the grassy area). In addition, on most Saturdays there’s a truck parked near the shower at the top of the stairs that provides air fills. And there’s plenty of grass lawns and picnic tables for having a nice lunch by the ocean. And finally, there's a deli at the end of breakwater parking lot, where you can grab a snack or a serious breakfast/lunch.

Entry/Exits:
There are three primary entry and exit points – the Breakwater wall and the North (left) end of the beach at Breakwater itself, and then just to the left of Monterey Bay Inn for Hidden Beach. The first two provide easy access to any of the dive sites contained within Breakwater.

• Entry One – Breakwater wall. This entry point provides easy access to the wall (you can follow it all the way out to the end, around 65’). Nice easy dive – watch out for occasional surge. Also accessible are the kelp forest and Horseshoe Reef.

• Entry Two – North (left) end. This entry point provides easy access to a dive along old cannery pipes. Swim out about 10 yards, and then line up with the center of the restrooms on the beach. Drop down about 10-12 feet to the bottom, where you will see a small pipe (about 6" thick). Swim away from the beach along this pipe for about 20 yards. Take a north heading, and swim about 10 yards to a much larger pipe. Follow this pipe out to its end. The pipe goes to around 50’ at its end point, and traverses several different types of underwater terrain, including a kelp forest and large field of tube anemones of wild colors. You can also visit Hidden Beach (below) from this entry point.

Another dive from this point is the Medtridium Fields (intermediate only!) Follow the large pipe (above) to its end. Take a 330 degree heading, and swim for about 70’. The bottom will slope down to around 65’, and a field of Medtridiums will come into view…a spectacular sight! Note: watch your air consumption, and do a reciprocal heading to get back to the large pipe. Take that back to shore. It’s a LOOOOOONNNGGG surface swim back – diver beware!

• Hidden Beach Entry. Just to the left of the Monterey Bay Inn lies a set of stairs that go to a small beach. This is a shallow dive of 15-35’, with lots of kelp and rock bottom w/sand on the outside of the site.

Notable Sights:
Along the Wall, there is a fairly large field of sand dollars. Towards the end of the wall (not for novice divers!) there’s a large group of sea lions who tend to visit divers. At around 30’, there's a kelp forest that is home to an old engine. At 40', there’s a sharp drop-off of about 10’. Following that perpendicular to the wall about 50', you’ll run into a series of old mooring blocks used by the sardine fishing fleet (see pipes below).

Along the North (left) end, the cannery pipes are a rather interesting piece of history, not to mention great diving.Insider Info:

Get there before 7:15am on weekends to get reasonable parking. Make SURE that you feed the parking meter prior to 9am. After 9, the "meter maids" provide Monterey's primary revenue (or so it seems) via parking tickets – they show no mercy, fyi.

How to Get There:

• Via Hwy 1
Piece of cake! Just hop on Hwy 1 going South. Once you hit Monterey, take the SECOND Del Monte Ave Exit (the one that says "To Monterey and Pacific Grove"). Stay on Del Monte Ave until you go through the tunnel. Immediately after the tunnel, get in the right lane. Take the next right, and an immediate right again (at the sign that says "to San Carlos Beach").

• Via 101 or 280
Take I-280 to Hwy 85 S. to Hwy 101 S. (or just hop on 101 to begin with). In Prunedale, take 156 W. to Hwy 1 S. to Monterey. Take the SECOND Del Monte Ave Exit (the one that says "To Monterey and Pacific Grove"). Stay on Del Monte Ave until you go through the tunnel. Immediately after the tunnel, get in the right lane. Take the next right, and an immediate right again (at the sign that says "to San Carlos Beach").

• Via the Dive Motels (Fremont St)
Head south on Fremont Street to Hwy 1 South. Now, we're never really going to get on Hwy 1, but stay with me here. Stay in the right lane of the on-ramp. It immediately turns into an off-ramp for Camino Aguajito. Take this exit, and make a right at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. Take Camino Aguajito to Del Monte Ave, where you'll make a left. Stay on Del Monte Ave until you go through the tunnel. Immediately after the tunnel, get in the right lane. Take the next right, and an immediate right again (at the sign that says "to San Carlos Beach").