Current dive conditions

[Arnaud]

Just got back from a great WE in Catalina, but the conditions are much better topside than down below. The park Saturday was as bad as can be, with a thermocline at 35 ft. At 75 ft, the viz was about 5ft and it felt like being in a snow storm. I'm not sure where the fishes are, but it was pretty quiet down there. The highlight of the day came from a wonderful bat ray that flew towards me and got really close.

Saturday night was busy in town. Dr. Bill and I spent a great deal of time researching local anthropology in front of a karaoke bar

Sunday was an improvement. Less wind, less surge & swell. But Indian Rock was not happening, with the same 5 ft of viz at 30ft. We hit the thermocline at 40ft and didn't waste too much time there. However, we did two dives at little Italian Gardens and had a nice time, with 15 to 20 ft of viz. A barracuda was reported but my buddy and I weren't so lucky. We just saw the usual suspects.

All in all, it still feels like Spring UW. The viz was slightly better in Anacapa last WE, but the wind and the ocean were kind of rough.

So, have you guys found any bright spot lately?

 

[saf_25]

Sorry, no bright spot here...
Did a beach dive today @ Woods Cove and had no better experience. Vis was less than 8 feet (at least, on descent when my computer said 8 feet, I looked up and couldn't see the surface). We played around at some reefs around 20 feet for maybe about 10 minutes before I called the dive due to getting seasick / disoriented (how is it possible for the waves/surge to make the kelp float north (towards shore) while my body was being pulled south (away from shore) at the same time? Seriously, one minute I'd be right on top of the kelp , then I'd notice that it was bending one way, while I was moving the opposite direction. Very weird, and incredibly disorienting). As I realized that not only was I slightly disoriented, but starting to get nauseous & dizzy, and since we only saw 3 fish (1 cool sting ray, 1 kelpfish, and one other fish I didn't see long enough to identify, but think might have been an opaleye) in that time, I decided I'd had enough and thumbed it.
Then, to top it off, the waves tried to eat me upon entering, and I ended up knocked over and needing help getting in to shore - all in all, a dissapointing day!
Sorry I can't offer you a bright spot, but hopefuly it helps to know that I feel your pain!

 

[drbill]

I dove Fri and Sun but led a kayak group Sat so I wasn't able to dive. Conditions were undoubtedly very poor since Friday was not great and Sat was the LA Sheriff's Gold Star Dive with about 300 divers in the water.

Did five dives Sunday since conditions were reasonable in the shallows (< 35 ft) and I had a lot of subject matter I could record there. Conditions stayed fairly good all day so I'm hopeful we'll begin to see a clearing.

The amazing thing was that I recorded a MINIMUM temperature of 71 degrees on one dive (vs 59 Friday) at a depth of 100 ft. Lots of radical swings in temperature- vertical movemernt of the thermocline, currents, etc.

One woman's Hall of Fame diver referred to the "aquarium effect" where the bubbles from divers in classes actually create "upwellings" in the Park. Perhaps the large number of divers actually warmed the waters up Sat!

Dr. Bill

 

[Arnaud]

drbill once bubbled...
The amazing thing was that I recorded a MINIMUM temperature of 71 degrees on one dive (vs 59 Friday) at a depth of 100 ft. Lots of radical swings in temperature- vertical movemernt of the thermocline, currents, etc.

I got 72 degrees at Italian Gardens vs. 57 deg. at Indian Rock...

Did you see the bat ray? A friend of mine spotted it in the park on Sunday. It looks like it's settling down in the area.

 

[pasley]

Long Point (old Marine land) Palos Verdes CA

Dive time: 10:02-11:09 a.m. Dive time 67:30
Max Depth 50 feet Temp 66F Sunnoto at max (note, there was a definite chill at 41 feet and below
Vis: 10-15 or so, slight current (estimate at 2 knots) and no surge to really speak of. Usual suspects, juvenile tree fish, octopi etc.
SCFM 0.42 A nice easy dive. Entered off the rocks at the point with out too much difficulty and followed the kelp and reef to the pebbled beach to the east. Great day for diving. Follow up dive at Malaga Cove.

 

[pasley]

Malaga Cove and East (South) Haggarties)
Dive time 1:50-2:34 p.m. 44:10 min - vis lousy.
Max depth 29 Ft
Water Temp max depth 70F Sunnoto Degrees
Vis 10 Feet or less. Worse out towards Haggertys and the deeper we went. Best was just west of the pool in 10-15 feet of water. Usual suspects including a bat ray, and bugs. Bit of surge. Entered off the rocks just west of the pool at the storm drain, swam 210 heading and from that a little south to get deeper and hopefully better visibility. No luck
Starting pressure 3100 Ending Pressure 1740 SCFM .48
Not a great dive, but a good one and a great way to spend the day.

 

[JustAddWater]

Do you think the poor viz is due to rough conditions or algae bloom? I hope it improves; I'm going out in 2 weeks.

 

[Otter]

Arnaud once bubbled...
Did you see the bat ray? A friend of mine spotted it in the park on Sunday. It looks like it's settling down in the area.

Late June we saw a good size Bat Ray (4' wing span) at Italian Gardens. The ray let me get nice and close and a buddy took some pics....http://members.cox.net/luka1/ . Shortly thereafter there was a second one...Lets hope they are here to stay.

 

[Otter]

on dive conditions for SoCal? Each diver reports conditions and local spots (like is done above) and then at the beginning of the next month, a new thread is started...to keep the thread length down.

It may even be interesting to see month to month how the conditions change. Seems like it would be useful to continue Arnaud's thread.

Thoughts?

 

[pasley]

Starting a monthly trhead on dive conditions sounds like a winner to me.

Reports today indicate Malibu is clearing up a bit at last.

Now about BAT RAY, the biggest I have seen so far was about my size, I would guess a goo 5 foot across at Point Dume sleeping on tthe floor in the crack in the reef we used to swim back from the far side. He was absolutly huge. I was so close when I saw him on the bottom it took a second or two to figure what was not right about the bottom. I could not see the "big picture" but I quickly figured it out. Turned to point him out to my buddies when he spooked and rose up, pushing me a little sn flew off. Absolutly a magical moment.