Thought I would post a quick dive report. I went out Saturday 08APR, mid-morning and had a pretty decent time. With the conditions and the kayak, it turned out to be a physically challenging dive.
First, I was a little disappointed to find no public access to Golden Beach. I probably should have put in at the service club, but I ended up putting in at Alahambra at the drain pipes. From the shore, you could see pods of fish 50 yards offshore with predators occasionally zipping through them. The fish would jump out of the water only to be picked at by gulls - pretty cool visual.
Vis at shore looked milky, but cleared up about 25 yards out. Winds were moderate and seas were about 3'-5', I think. I paddled out to about 600 yards and started to get nauseous from the waves, so I decided to drop down at that point. Incidentally, I had a dolphin for company for a minute, about 10 yards off to my starboard. If it was curious about me, it didn't show any sign.
Depth was less than expected at 22 fsw. I was swimming South to avoid too much drift and between the wind and the seas, the kayak was jerking me back pretty hard every third swell or so. Vis out that far was pretty decent at 8'-12'. I don't know if it was the area or the renourishment, but I didn't see any of the normal fossil deposits in the moguls on the bottom, although I found a few teeth and a couple of rib fragments. There was more life than I saw last year, some decent growth with fans, soft corals, urchins, stars, and many of those bottom-crawling fish. No big megs tho, and no other remarkable fossils. A few pretty shells too. I don't know if that is common for the area further out or if things are finally coming back. Looked like a wasteland last Fall though. I was mildly concerned about drift and surfaced twice to check position. I ended up drifting about 1/4 mile North but disregarded, mistakenly thinking I could easily paddle back to the pipes.
The tide turned and vis dropped dramatically, so I decided to head back.
After I surfaced and secured all my gear, I started paddling up-wind/up-current to get back to the drainage pipes. I wasn't making much progress so I tried heading in and walking the kayak back in the shallows - this was not a good idea. The surf kept beaching and overturning my loaded kayak, making it even more exhausting than paddling. I ended up going back out about 50 yards and paddling like crazy for about 20 minutes to get back to the Alahambra area. The low point was when I looked over and saw a couple taking a liesurely stroll overtake me Southward ( I was paddling madly to overcome the wind and current). I can just hear their conversation: 'Honey, look at that crazy guy - he's not going anywhere!'
The swimming and the paddling made for a very exhausting (er, invigorating) dive. It was a cool experience, but with the moderate winds, it might have been better with two people and two vehicles: one vehicle to leave North at the public beach, turning it into a less taxing drift dive. Another possibility would be to bungee the wheeled carrier to the kayak to make walking it back an option.
Next time I do it, I am going on a calm day and will do more research on a put-in for Golden Beach (PM me if you have suggestions). I learned a bit about ocean kayaking also - wind and current are major factors, and wave direction.
First, I was a little disappointed to find no public access to Golden Beach. I probably should have put in at the service club, but I ended up putting in at Alahambra at the drain pipes. From the shore, you could see pods of fish 50 yards offshore with predators occasionally zipping through them. The fish would jump out of the water only to be picked at by gulls - pretty cool visual.
Vis at shore looked milky, but cleared up about 25 yards out. Winds were moderate and seas were about 3'-5', I think. I paddled out to about 600 yards and started to get nauseous from the waves, so I decided to drop down at that point. Incidentally, I had a dolphin for company for a minute, about 10 yards off to my starboard. If it was curious about me, it didn't show any sign.
Depth was less than expected at 22 fsw. I was swimming South to avoid too much drift and between the wind and the seas, the kayak was jerking me back pretty hard every third swell or so. Vis out that far was pretty decent at 8'-12'. I don't know if it was the area or the renourishment, but I didn't see any of the normal fossil deposits in the moguls on the bottom, although I found a few teeth and a couple of rib fragments. There was more life than I saw last year, some decent growth with fans, soft corals, urchins, stars, and many of those bottom-crawling fish. No big megs tho, and no other remarkable fossils. A few pretty shells too. I don't know if that is common for the area further out or if things are finally coming back. Looked like a wasteland last Fall though. I was mildly concerned about drift and surfaced twice to check position. I ended up drifting about 1/4 mile North but disregarded, mistakenly thinking I could easily paddle back to the pipes.
The tide turned and vis dropped dramatically, so I decided to head back.
After I surfaced and secured all my gear, I started paddling up-wind/up-current to get back to the drainage pipes. I wasn't making much progress so I tried heading in and walking the kayak back in the shallows - this was not a good idea. The surf kept beaching and overturning my loaded kayak, making it even more exhausting than paddling. I ended up going back out about 50 yards and paddling like crazy for about 20 minutes to get back to the Alahambra area. The low point was when I looked over and saw a couple taking a liesurely stroll overtake me Southward ( I was paddling madly to overcome the wind and current). I can just hear their conversation: 'Honey, look at that crazy guy - he's not going anywhere!'
The swimming and the paddling made for a very exhausting (er, invigorating) dive. It was a cool experience, but with the moderate winds, it might have been better with two people and two vehicles: one vehicle to leave North at the public beach, turning it into a less taxing drift dive. Another possibility would be to bungee the wheeled carrier to the kayak to make walking it back an option.
Next time I do it, I am going on a calm day and will do more research on a put-in for Golden Beach (PM me if you have suggestions). I learned a bit about ocean kayaking also - wind and current are major factors, and wave direction.
