Difficulty
beginner
Viz (last reported 26865h ago)
Max Depth
30ft
Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Whalers Cove (Point Lobos)
Located in Point Lobos State Reserve, Whalers Cove is the most coveted dive location is this area. The highly restricted access of the Park creates an environment teaming with marine life. You must make reservations well in advance to enter, and must register with the gate before diving in. A complete set of rules and regulations, diving locations, and a reservation form may be found <a target="_new" href="http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/scuba/divereserv.html">here</a>.
Drive South on Highway 1 from Carmel, past Monastery beach. You will see the entrance on your right.
Access
shore
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Greg Bawdon
Jun 14, 2003, 12:00 AM
scuba
Though it has been some time since I dove here, I remember one day especially. I dove here on a few days that were not ideal. Being young and crazy, we even surface swam around to the next cove! Between crashing breakers 10' high, through clinging surface foam, watching for bus-sized boulders slamming up as the surge dropped us down on them. Different landscape than Whaler's. Rough, interesting, exhausting without an inflatable! But this one day... no surge, no wind. The water still and flat across the cove as if confined in a bowl. I got down to 30', looked back and saw the sunlight slanting through the water, the kelp; like angels descending from heaven. The kelp stood straight up to the surface, motionless, backlit by the sun; a beautiful, wet, glowing forest. I floated weightless in an alien world. That image I will remember forever. Gave me goose bumps. Or was that the 45 degree water leaking through my neck seal? Like any dive site, Whaler's has good, bad days. Dive it more than once! Really good dives here can rip you out of your mundane life, immerse you in a world exotic and beautiful. You will, for a while, forget the rusty old pickup waiting on shore.