In Long Beach next week, looking to dive...

[Reese Allen]

I'm going to be in Long Beach this weekend for a wedding on the 11th. I'm hoping to stay for a few days after the wedding and try to squeeze in a bit of diving. Ideally this would be on the 12th (Monday) or the 13th (Tuesday).

I've found a couple of websites offering boat dives, but there doesn't seem to be anything scheduled on weekdays. I'll be by myself, so I'll either need to find an organized group dive event that I can sign up for, or find a local diver to dive with. Obviously, I'd love to dive one of the famous island sites, but I'll take what I can get.

Looking for tips/recommendations as to how to find a group to dive with. Failing that, looking for a local diver who's feeling generous enough to show an out-of-towner his or her favorite shore dive site(s).

Backstory about myself: I'm 25 and I live in Seattle where I work as a mechanical engineer for the aerospace industry. I got into scuba diving in April and received my PADI Adv OW certification about a month ago. As of my trip to California, I'll have only ten dives logged, but all of them in the icy ~50 F waters of Puget Sound, with visibility typically in the 10 to 20 ft range. Diving in warm, clear water is something I am anxious to experience.

 

[on_two_wheels]

I'd offer to go with but you're right...not many boats on those days. Weds-fri there's more but the first two days are often slim. Not sure what you expect as far as clear....hit and miss here. Warm would be about 10-15 degrees warmer. I might be able to do Shaws cove with ya (a bit south of LB) in the afternoon. There's a dive shop right near it but long, steep stairs to/from the beach.

 

[blue steal]

Laguna Beach is fairly close to Long Beach 45'-60'. I would suggest for a Monday or Tuesday the catalina express and dive at the casino park. The express leaves right out of long beach.
If you could manage a Wednesday, the Magician out of san pedro goes out.

 

[USCScubaboy]

I'm down to dive in Laguna Beach if you want.

 

[Reese Allen]

Wow, pleasantly surprised to see that I've got a few responses already within less than an hour of posting.

I've been holding off on buying my plane tickets since I haven't been sure what day I was flying back. I think the most time off of work that I can get away with is Monday through Wednesday, so I'll go ahead and book a flight home Wednesday night. Monday and Tuesday, I'm up for diving.

Looking at Google Maps, seems like Laguna Beach is only about 45 min from Long Beach. If there's decent diving there, and local divers willing to show me around on Mon/Tue, that sounds like a decent plan. Looks like the local shop Laguna Sea Sports can rent me the gear I'll need for about $75/day.

I'm staying in a hotel in Long Beach Saturday and Sunday night, but I check out Monday morning and if I'm going to be doing diving in the Laguna Beach area, I'll probably go ahead and make reservations at a local hotel for Monday and Tuesday night. Any local hotel recommendations?

 

[blue steal]

45 minutes depending on traffic of course. laguna sea sports is a good dive shop, and close to the dive sites, not walking distance, but close.
Laguna has quite a few different dive sites, you can go to the laguna sea sports web site to see the different sites, most divers dive shaws cove.
the conditions change daily for weather, VIS, surf, surge, etc, so one day may be quite nice, next not so. I usally go there on a Friday, can't make Mon. or Tues, (work).
Can't give any advice on local hotels, most are quite pricey, you may need to stay inland a bit to find a cheaper place.

 

[ligersandtions]

Diving in warm, clear water is something I am anxious to experience.

Hate to burst your bubble, but we don't have warm clear water in socal usually! The water will be warmer than the Puget Sound, but if you're diving from shore (i.e. not going out to the Channel Islands), the visibility will likely be in the 10' range.

That said, the diving is definitely worth it! I'm not available Monday or Tuesday, but hopefully you can get out and check out some of the socal diving available. Have a great time!

 

[robint]

I would take the ferry over to Catalina and do shore and/or boat dives over there, then ferry back in evening. Water should be in mid-60s over there, and vis much better than shore diving from mainland. Shore diving much easier, too.

Catalina Scuba Luv: Scuba Dive, Snorkel, Snuba Dive Catalina Island California

Catalina Island Scuba Diving and Snorkeling from Catalina Divers Supply on Catalina Island in Avalon CA

robin

 

[Reese Allen]

Thanks for the info, Robin. I think I'm going to try to get out to Catalina.