Coldest it gets in Southern California (underwater)

[MrSam]

Summer months, (now thru November), it's a 7 mil. Winter months, it's a 7 mil plus Lavacore for me. Was on the Yukon a month ago, and hit 49 F. No sealed reg, no cold water gear, etc. I have found the best diving to be at Catalina, August through December. Great vis, warm blue water, (relatively speaking). My favorite day of diving last year was in September, Catalina. It was about 90 degrees out, gorgeous day, 80 to 100 ft viz, TydBol blue water, warm, and I had an encounter with a :shocked2::shocked2: Oops, I forgot I wasn't going to mention "my encounter" here in public

That sounds amazing! Last dive I did at Catalina was decent, but viz was terrible. 95 degrees outside temp, 6x degrees in the water, about 20 feet of viz :/

 

[tphelps]

Summer months, (now thru November), it's a 7 mil. Winter months, it's a 7 mil plus Lavacore for me. Was on the Yukon a month ago, and hit 49 F. No sealed reg, no cold water gear, etc.

Yeah Dudley, look at you toughing it out in your lava core! At least you had a "cool" dive buddy for that trip!

Im born and raised in Long Beach, the coldest water I have ever seen LB was winter of 2009. I was training for the Pacific Open Water National Championships (not "open water" diving, swimming in the ocean lol). It was 5am. My buddy and I were training for the competition so we were going to do a swim around Seal Beach Pier. Since they didnt allow wetsuits at nationals, we went out in just our speedos and a latex cap to better prepare. After the most painful, numbing swim of my life, we came out as the lifeguard was writing "44F" on the tower... The hot shower afterwards was orgasmic!!

 

[vladodessit]

Funny how many people praise last September dives at Catalina. It was amazing. Never got colder then 65 degrees at the bottom (no gloves or hood for me and unzipped front opening wetsuit for me, wished I had 3mm shorty), closer to 70 most of the time, viz 60'+, very nice topside as well. Other then that some of the best diving I remember in Dec. 2011. Water cooler (55 or so at about 60') but viz about 100' (could see "puff" of sand when anchor hit the bottom at ~70'). Pretty much aquarium conditions. Sun rays breaking through kelp with bottled water kinda visibility... Just perfect.

 

[fnfalman]

How cold does the water get during "diving season" in California.

Depends on where you dive. I've seen temps run into 48-F at Coronados Islands and San Miguel Island. I've seen 50-F at Wreck Alley.

I'm asking for 2 reasons essentially.

1. Do I need a cold-water reg/environmentally sealed reg?

No, you don't. Water doesn't get cold enough for that. Think temps in the range of low-40s to mid-40s.

2. When should I hang up the dive gear and call it a season? Which months are best to dive in?

There ain't no diving season in SoCal. It's year round, baby!!!

On "average", temps run around low to mid-50s during the winter.

 

[JohnAC]

Greetings MrSam, welcome to Socal diving! I have been shore and boat diving SoCal since 2004 and the coldest it has ever been for me was 52 deg at Old Marineland (shore dive). I dive anytime of year as long as the conditions are favorable. In a 7mm suit I start getting cold in the low 50's, so I try to plan around that a little. However, I just took a trip on the Magician a week ago with temps down to 53 at depth (cool but great fun). Enjoy the diving!

To answer your questions: 1. Any reg will do for recreational diving. 2. Spring through early summer months can have heavy plankton blooms to be avoided. 3. The greatest time to dive around here is late summer thru early winter. We had epic vis (70+) last year at Catalina and 70 deg temp to boot.