Dive buddy for La Jolla Cove???

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

tonyc

Contributor
Messages
138
Reaction score
0
Location
phoenix
Hi,
My wife and I will be making a trip to San Diego to visit friends from Dec. 11-14th. We're both newbie divers and my wife has been my usual dive buddy. However, she just recently suffered a ruptured disc in her neck and won't be able to dive for now. Now the dilemma- I live in Arizona and don't get the chance to be in the ocean that often. I would love to dive on Friday Dec. 12th, but don't have a dive buddy. I would really like to dive La jolla cove, even just a one tank dive. I know a lot of people dive solo there, but I'm not convinced that I want to try that with my level of (in)experience. Any suggestions???

Like I said I'm fairly new, I have dove La Jolla shores with my wife and I dove the yukon on the lois ann (didn't penetrate her, and max depth was 80 foot- went through my air pretty quickly). I did my cert dives at Catalina/ San Clemente. I would love to be on the Lois ann that day, but don't want to burden someone by not wanting to penetrate and/or limiting the dive because of poor air consumption. I do practice a lot in the local mud hole, but I know it's not the same.

Thanks,
Tony.
 
I just started a thread to ask for people diving there, but I´ll be in San Diego from the 4th to the 11th :(
I would not mind diving with you, I don´t care about the air or penatration deals, that´s diving, you and your buddy.
Could you give me some advice on where to go once in SAn Diego or who to contact? thanks
 
TonyC, I took a trip to La Jolla earlier this year with my wife (non-diver) and hired a DM from OEX. We dove the Marine Room, which was the DM's choice. I have no complaints about the experience and would recommend the shop - it's very close to the water.

Miguel, Not sure exactly what information you are looking for specifically, but here's a few links to get you started:

http://www.loisann.com/
http://www.blueescape.com/
http://www.oeexpress.com/
http://www.divebums.com/
http://www.calcoastdivers.com/


:wanna:
 
Heymonkey,

I think I might just go to OEX. my wife and I rented tanks there on our last trip and they gave us some advice on where to beach dive. Nice guys- in fact, I was soo excited that I left without getting my 15.00 or so dollars in change, and the guy came running out after our car to give it to me. I just thought it would be cool to link up with someone from scubaboard rather than being chapparoned- but on the other hand, I'm sure they know where some great areas are underwater. If you ever are looking for a dive buddy for local diving or a road trip to CA, let me know.

Miguel-
Stop by OEX for sure. It's right around avenida de la playa, only like a block from la Jolla shores. There are a lot of day boats out of Mission bay. I went on the Lois Anne and really have nothing but good stuff to say about the boat, the crew and the diving. As far as I know, La jolla shores, La Jolla cove and the marine room are your best bets for shore diving. This is a great link for beach diving info...

http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/CalS/index.htm

Talk to you guys later,

Tony.
 
I dive mostly the La jolla shores because its a prtected cove. It gets ugly doing shore dives depending on the weather. la Jolla cove on the other hand is not protected and usually has some big surf, this is not a good place to go if your just starting out and have only a few beach entries under your weight belt.

I would choose one of the boats over a shore dive. If the surf is up your not going to be able to beach dive, your better off on the boat. Your best oportunity to dive will be from a boat [ unlesss Mot2vation is booked on it you will get to dive. Sorry Ken, you seam to have the worse luck when it comes to trip cancellations :) ]

Andy
 
trymixdiver:
I dive mostly the La jolla shores because its a prtected cove. It gets ugly doing shore dives depending on the weather. la Jolla cove on the other hand is not protected and usually has some big surf, this is not a good place to go if your just starting out and have only a few beach entries under your weight belt.

I would choose one of the boats over a shore dive. If the surf is up your not going to be able to beach dive, your better off on the boat. Your best oportunity to dive will be from a boat [ unlesss Mot2vation is booked on it you will get to dive. Sorry Ken, you seam to have the worse luck when it comes to trip cancellations :) ]

Andy

No, La Jolla cove is also a protected place. I have only done 6 beach dives myself ever and I just did 2 from La Jolla Cove today. The worse thing about La Jolla Cove is going up and down the stairs.
 
Actually I think you have it backwards. The Cove is protected from a swell out of the south, but both spots get hit from a northern swell. If you have some significant swell action the Cove's vis gets really beat up since it has so much ogranic matter underwater.

As far as boat vs. beach diving it's all a matter of money. I have been on boat dives where the vis was very low due to swells. Wreck alley is somewhat better but I think it still applies. If you have 8 foot swells I would go surfing or do something else. San Diego hasn't had much big swell action in the past 6 months, but maybe it will be worse this winter.

The temperature is decreasing as winters comes upon us. We dove PB Reef and NOSC Tower last weekend and the temp was 54 degrees. It's 63 or so on the beaches.

If you are going on a boat, I would go to Los Coronados for a 1 day trip. If you love the wrecks, do the yukon/Ruby E/Kelp thing. I personally love Los Coronados since it's blue water, usually 50 feet of vis... It's NICE!

Hope this helps!

Sean
trymixdiver:
I dive mostly the La jolla shores because its a prtected cove. It gets ugly doing shore dives depending on the weather. la Jolla cove on the other hand is not protected and usually has some big surf, this is not a good place to go if your just starting out and have only a few beach entries under your weight belt.

I would choose one of the boats over a shore dive. If the surf is up your not going to be able to beach dive, your better off on the boat. Your best oportunity to dive will be from a boat [ unlesss Mot2vation is booked on it you will get to dive. Sorry Ken, you seam to have the worse luck when it comes to trip cancellations :) ]

Andy
 
divebuddysean:
Actually I think you have it backwards. The Cove is protected from a swell out of the south, but both spots get hit from a northern swell. If you have some significant swell action the Cove's vis gets really beat up since it has so much ogranic matter underwater.

As far as boat vs. beach diving it's all a matter of money. I have been on boat dives where the vis was very low due to swells. Wreck alley is somewhat better but I think it still applies. If you have 8 foot swells I would go surfing or do something else. San Diego hasn't had much big swell action in the past 6 months, but maybe it will be worse this winter.

The temperature is decreasing as winters comes upon us. We dove PB Reef and NOSC Tower last weekend and the temp was 54 degrees. It's 63 or so on the beaches.

If you are going on a boat, I would go to Los Coronados for a 1 day trip. If you love the wrecks, do the yukon/Ruby E/Kelp thing. I personally love Los Coronados since it's blue water, usually 50 feet of vis... It's NICE!

Hope this helps!

Sean

I will definitely be doing Los Coronados myself when I get certified and can dive outside of class. Also be going to San Carlos Mexico for spring break to dive!
 
Hey Tonyc,

I dive La Jolla Cove, Shores, Marine Room, Alligator Head etc all the time, with divebuddysean and others. Depending on conditions, there's almost always 'someplace' you can dive, depending of course on your skill and comfort level. Some are deep dives, many are shallow. I'd be glad to show you around a few spots, depending on my schedule. I do mostly shore dives. Let me know what your intended dive days are and I'll let you know.

John-Boy
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom