Bascom did a lot of the basic surveys of California beaches in the late 1940's using a DUKW, which is a big amphibious truck used by the military. The book includes a picture of Bascom surfing the DUKW at Carmel River State Beach on a day when I sure wouldn't dive. He's standing up taking depth measurements with a lead line. The book is worth the price just for that picture. In fact, conditions this morning don't mean anything this afternoon.
Conditions are highly variable.
Just because it's nice today doesn't mean it will be nice tomorrow. It could just as easily be bad tomorrow. Conditions can go from flat glassy to very nasty in a couple of hours. One morning I ran my whaler down to Carmel Bay in about 30 minutes under quite nice conditions. We did a first dive a MonoLobo Wall.