Diving La Jolla

[David Watson]

I'm diving La jolla this weekend and was wondering if anyone had advice. Is diving the cove better than the shores? I want to check out the leopard sharks as well and I know they're swarming the shores right now, but they're real shallow. Just some advice would be nice.

thanks,

 

[wetrat]

Hi dwatson,

Conditions at the shores are consistently better than the cove, although you have a good chance of spotting black sea bass at the cove right now. Either way, conditions are decent as I type. Your best chance of spotting leopard sharks is to enter the shores directly in front of the Marine Room Restaurant and stay shallow (really shallow, like 20 feet). Bring a snorkel and you can save air on that one.

It takes a little local knowledge and practice to get the hang of diving the canyon from the shores, but one of my favorite dives is the North Wall. Enter directly in front of the lifeguard tower by the main lot. Surface swim due west, past the red buoy by about 20 yards. Line the buoy up with the lifeguard tower, drop down and position yourself on the 70 foot contour. Head south until you hit the wall. Here's a good site you can study. Divebums.

Good luck!

John L.

 

[Divmstr223]

Why not do a couple of dives at each? If it were me, I wouldn't miss a night dive at the Shores for anything. (Unless it was after dinner at Benihanas and I had too much beer; but that's another story, lol)

Seriously...I would do a night dive at the Shores...so much to see there at night and you're almost guaranteed a horn shark or two...

Have a great time!!

 

[David Watson]

Yeah that sounds good. Thanks for the tips. We'll probably start out and do a couple dives at the cove in hopes of running into one of the massive sea bass i keep hearing about and then do a shallower dive off the shores and check out the sharks. Thanks for the advice on the night dive, i'll make sure to plan for that next time.

David

 

[SharkDZ]

Try to dive both sites. I was at The Shores a couple of weeks ago and saw a dozen Leopard Sharks just as I got my fins on. We snorkeled with them for a few minutes until they headed south in 10' of water. Great viz, too. Unfortunately the rest of the dive was noneventful.