Anybody still beach diving in Malibu?

[Leejnd]

Just wondering if anyone on here is still beach diving in Malibu. We used to go to Malibu every Friday night and many Saturday mornings, back a couple years ago! But life kinda got busy, and my husband's knee started bothering him, so it's been over a year since we did a beach dive.

I haven't seen anything in this board about Malibu beach dives - anyone have any idea how the conditions have been lately? Has it been so soupy it's just not worth it?

I've recently picked up my diving activities, and would love to get in some night or weekend Malibu shore dives, but hubby's knee isn't getting any better and he's now saying "boats only". :baby:

So....anyone interested in buddying up for some scheduled Malibu beach dives? Weeknights would be fine - I haven't done a night dive in ages. Weekend mornings would be great too.

I need to get wet more!!!

 

[ligersandtions]

I dived Malibu a couple weeks ago. It was my first dive at Leo and I had no idea what I had been missing! I'm really looking for an excuse to get back soon, but I have managed to book myself pretty solid though July.

Conditions were really nice....probably 15 feet of vis, 62F at depth (only down to 38fsw, iirc). My buddy knows the area really well (has done hundreds of dives at Leo alone) said that it appeared that the kelp was going to start breaking down and releasing particulates....so he thinks the vis is going to worsen over the next couple weeks. That said, I'd definitely go back even if the vis was a little worse....but I don't mind somewhat bad vis as I dive slowly anyways

 

[Leejnd]

Glad to hear someone is out diving in Malibu! And I'm happy to hear you had a good dive at Leo. The last few times we dove Leo we didn't have such good luck - we're talkin' zero vis dives. Low vis I can handle...zero, not so much.

We've had better luck at Deer Creek - but that place is so exposed, it really needs to be a flat day with nothing appreciable coming in from the west to be able to get in.

Anyway, I'm still hoping someone will want to meet up for some night or weekend dives! I'm somewhat booked through July too - we're taking our own boat to Santa Cruz for the full week after the 4th, and I'm looking at a day trip on Peace on the 24th - but mid-week night dives would be fun!

Anyone??

 

[ligersandtions]

Malibu is too far away for mid-week....weekends are doable, but have to be at least two dives to make it worth the drive for me. Maybe we can plan something in August?

 

[Leejnd]

I'd definitely be up for planning a couple of dives for a Saturday or Sunday in August. Charlie will probably come along just to be surface support - with his knee, he refuses to do the beach walk in gear!

Maybe we can scare up a few more folks for an August Malibu dive day. Pick a day - I don't have anything else booked for August right now, so I'm open! I'll start a new thread and see if others are interested.

 

[James S]

I'll be diving Bomboras tomorrow. There are still a few folks that hit the reefs north of Point Dume regularly.


I'm more than happy to carry gear down to waters edge to help out someone who has injuries preventing them from hiking.
\
James

 

[ligersandtions]

Either the first weekend or the last weekend in August would work for me. The middle two are booked already...heh. Would be nice if we could get a group of people to go out (maybe bring some food for the surface interval) and do two dives.

Honestly, I don't know many sites up there. I know Point Dume is supposed to be nice, but I think it's a long surface swim (better suited to scooters). So I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Leejnd]

Pt. Dume is awesome, but it definitely is a heckuva surface swim. Also, if the current kicks up the wrong direction you can get trapped around the point, and then you have to exit at a spot on the other side and hike over the rocks to get back to the beach. Fortunately that hasn't happened to me, but that's what I'm told anyway!

Deer Creek is lovely, but it's not a great spot for a gathering. Plus, if there's any kind of west swell you just can't get in there.

There are several nice spots along Malibu Rd, but again, not a good spot for doing more than one dive...no good place to hang out for the surface interval.

Leo Carrillo is a great spot! The walk in gear can be a bit daunting, though. But there are great spots for gathering for the surface interval.

Our favorite spot in Malibu is Broad Beach. There's a nice strip of sand in front of some million-dollar homes, and easy access to it from the road down a short staircase. We used go there every Friday night, haul a big blanket and all the gear and tanks down to the beach, and then it's just gear-up, and walk right into the water (although the best reef structure to be found is a bit of a walk up the beach.) It's not as exposed as Deer Creek - sometimes when the waves at Deer Creek look too daunting, Broad Beach is nice and flat. I'd vote for Broad Beach.

So when you say the first weekend in August, do you mean July 31/Aug 1? Or Aug 7/8? I'd vote for Aug 7/8 - we're going out on Peace on July 25, so the following weekend (31/1) we're going to want to go sailing on our boat. But I'll do either weekend.

Once we have a date, I'll post another thread with the details in the subject line, and maybe we'll scare up a crowd!

 

[ligersandtions]

I meant the weekend of the 7th/8th.

Broad Beach sounds like it could be nice (I'm trying to do as many different dives as I can this year, and since I've done Leo already, something different but still conducive to groups would be nice). Where is Broad Beach?

Obviously, everything will be conditions dependent, so if it faces differently than Leo, we can use Leo as a back-up. Hopefully we can get a nice group of divers....will be nice to meet some new people and get together with some others that I haven't seen in a while

 

[Rainer]

I'd be interested (weekend dives only), though tough to commit to any dates yet.