USING BOATS AND KAYAKS

By Patrick Lovejoy ©1998
map illustration by Reiko Michisaki

Unless you’re a really strong swimmer, getting into the outer dive areas of Whaler’s and Bluefish coves is only possible with a kayak or an inflatable boat. The diving is, generally, much better in these spots, and is worth the extra trouble it takes to deal with boats at Pt Lobos. There are several things you should know before becoming a boat diver here: You cannot store your trailer in the Whaler’s Cove parking lot. It must be taken to the Rat Hill trailer lot, to which the kiosk ranger can direct you when you enter the park; The boat launch ramp is small, slippery, not steep enough to easily launch from a trailer, and often crowded with divers; on weekends and holidays, the parking lot is crowded, often benignly chaotic, making it difficult to maneuver a trailer; and, as resilient as most of our reef creatures are, there are some who are fragile, and very susceptible to breakage from anchors and chains; Here are some tips to make your visit more pleasant, less destructive to the reef, and safer for everyone.

The Boat Ramp

The boat ramp was built by a team of volunteer divers during the lowest tide of the year. Consequently, the cement only extends as far as the water’s edge at a minus .04 tide. Beyond this point, there is only water. And a ten foot drop-off. While launching and retrieving at high tide are easy, a minus tide usually means having to lift the boat on and off the trailer. You will not be able to float the boat off or on the trailer unless you drop the wheels off the edge. With Kayaks and small inflatables, this is not a problem, but with inflatables larger than fourteen feet, and during times with big swells, this is extremely difficult. The most common method for dealing with this involves rounding up as many divers as you can, and lifting the boat onto the trailer, but I have seen several creative alternatives.

Some people just back the trailer off the end of the ramp. Doing this without a 4x4 is a slippery task, due to the thick mat of algae that is growing on the ramp. If the surge is strong enough, water will get into your brakes, and without a fresh water rinse afterwards, will eventually wreak expensive havoc with them. One guy I met used a rental car to deal with this problem, but in order to keep my brakes and wheel bearings out of the salt water, I detach the trailer, and use a winch mounted on the back of my truck, with the hook attached to the front of the trailer. This allows us to push the trailer wheels off the end and still be able to retrieve it without having to do a search and salvage dive. Some people have rigged floats to their trailers to keep them afloat when they are pushed off the edge. I have also seen custom-built trailers with extendible tongues, allowing the trailer to be dipped, but keeping the vehicle a safe distance from the water. It will also be easier if the bunks on your trailer are as low as possible.

If possible, check the tide tables prior to launching, and try to schedule your activity for a time when there will be enough water under the boat to facilitate the launch and retrieval. Proper launch ramp etiquette involves being prepared prior to launch and retrieval so that you occupy the ramp for a minimum amount of time. This is not the time to put your reg on the tank and to adjust your BC straps. Shore divers enter and exit from this point also, and I have often seen them stabilizing themselves as they walk alongside a boat just as it is about to be driven out. Be watchful of them, too, as you maneuver your rig on the ramp.

The Rinse Area

The rinse area is next to the ramp, alongside the road, and is a point of congestion. There is only space to rinse one boat or a few divers at a time. Rinse your gear as quickly as possible, and move it out of the way so others can use it. Leaving gear here while you wander off to do something else will hamper everyone else, and could get your gear misplaced or run over by a car trying to squeeze through the bottleneck created by all the activity here. Some people bring garden sprayers, which they fill with water at the beginning of the day, and use to rinse their regs at the end of the dive, thus avoiding the crowd at the rinse area. Boats and their trailers are large, and impede everyone else from using the area. They should be moved as soon as possible after rinsing. Kayaks left waiting on the ramp make it impossible for trailers to get in or out, and create a hazard at the rinse area, when divers in heavy gear have to step over them. Move them out of the way, or anchor them in the cove between dives.

On busy days, there will be congestion, and a cheerful attitude will go a long way to making your wait more tolerable.

Anchoring Your Boat

Anchoring boats safely and well can be approached several ways. Both kayaks and small inflatables can be anchored with a kelp anchor, which is really just a line wrapped three times around a big armload of kelp and clipped or tied off. This avoids having to drop an anchor, which can damage the reef and which can get stuck, requiring exertion or a bounce dive to raise it, neither of which is desirable after a dive. Be sure the kelp is strong enough to hold your boat, and that you leave enough scope in the line and in the kelp to compensate for a rising tide. During the winter, the kelp is not very plentiful or strong, and you might not be able to use a kelp anchor.

In circumstances where you have to drop anchor, it helps enormously to have a bottom finder. The hydrocoral, sponges and several delicate bryozoans take years to grow to size, and can be broken off in a second by a carelessly dropped anchor. Using a bottom finder, proceed upwind, over the reef, and drop the anchor in the sand channels interspersed among the reefs here. As the line is paid out, drive the boat back over the reef, leaving the anchor in the sand and the line passing over the reef. Pay out enough line to prevent the line’s sawing up and down with the wave action. On calm days, two to one scope ( twice the line as the depth of the water) is sufficient, but on any day with wind or seas, a minimum of three to one is better. Serious boaters in Carmel Bay will have three hundred feet of line. The first divers down should check to verify that the anchor is well set and not damaging any life, and the last divers up should check to see that the chain is not caught in a crevasse and that the anchor can be easily broken. It is much easier to break out an anchor from sand than from rock.

There is another advantage to having a bottom finder. Some of the best diving in the state is on the outer pinnacles of both Whaler’s Cove and Bluefish Cove, which have no kelp to indicate their whereabouts. With a bottom finder, you will find there are numerous great dive sites out in what appears to be open ocean north of these areas. These are the only protected, pristine open ocean reefs accessible to the public in California, and will make any inconvenience at the parking lot well worth it.

Watch Out for Marine Mammals

Lastly, be watchful of otters, seals, and divers as you motor in Whaler’s Cove. The speed limit here is the speed which produces no wake, for safety and also to avoid disturbing the wildlife. Otters resting in the kelp are not always aware of you if you approach from downwind and their backs are turned. Approach slowly, to allow them time to hear you coming. Post a watch on the bow as you move through the dive areas, to look out for diver’s bubbles, and be sure that divers on the surface see you as well. If anyone appears to be in trouble, give them a big "OK ?" and offer them aid if they are distressed.

Bluefish Cove  |  Bluefish Wall  |  Cannery Point  |  Cannery Point Pinnacles
Cannery Point Wall  |  Coal Chute Cove  |  Granite Point Pinnacles  |  Granite Point Wall
Inner Bluefish Cove  |  Middle Reef  |  Outer Bluefish Pinnacle  |  Using Boats & Kayaks