This site is accessible from Otter Cove or Coral Street Beach if you don't mind a very, very long surface swim. However, most of the diving is done here by boat. Private boats may be launched at the Monterey Breakwater, and commercial charter boats frequent this area.
Chase Reef is a great place to photograph marine mammals. The buoy at the tip of Point Pinos is a favorite hauling out spot for California sea lions. Their noisy barking can be heard for a mile around the buoy and these delightful creatures will often cruise by and check out divers on the reef. Harbor seals are also common here and are rarely shy. They will often follow a group of divers for an entire dive. Harbor seals are very curious and will check out each diver of a group before moving on.
A group of sea otters also call this reef home, and can usually be observed on the surface either wrapped up in kelp, sound asleep, or feeding on shellfish. Otters are tool-users and will find a clam or other hard-to-get-at shellfish, and bring it to the surface along with a rock. The familiar tap, tap, tap sound often heard along the Monterey Bay is the sound of otters opening their lunch by smashing it up against a rock that is balanced on their chest.
Gray whales move through the area on their annual migration from January through May, and may be observed on the journey to and from the dive site. April is a particularly good month for viewing these large mammals as mother and calves migrate northward.
Chase Reef is not divable every day due to its position near the outer edge of Monterey Bay. On calm days this is a great site explore or to add to your photo collection.
