Intro and Shore Diving Questions

[ligersandtions]

I hope I didn't scare anyone away from Marineland permantly. It takes a lot of caution to get in and out of the water there, but the rewards are usually worth it. In just the past few years we have had two divers break fingers, one break ribs, one heart attack and one drowning. The broken bones were by divers with a lot of experience diving there. I've been tossed 180 degrees twice, once landing on my tank as it hit a rock. I was scared it was going to be my head. I've also been attacked by a bull sea lion, had a commercial lobster fisherman point a rifle at me and ripped three drysuits on the rocks. The fun at Marineland never ends.

Heh, if you didn't scare me away before, you sure did with this post!

I'm sure we'll give it a try in the future, but for a first shore dive, we should probably go with something that's a little more likely to not be a bad experience. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day in Laguna. We'll keep our fingers crossed....and I'll post up afterwards to say how the first shore dive went.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Have a great time. Diving in Laguna Beach is much more relaxing. There are nice reefs nearshore at Shaw's Cove and most of the beaches are pretty easy sandy entries. Be sure to arrive early to find parking, and if you end up at Divers Cove, bring lots of quarters for the meters. The most important thing to remember is that this is supposed to be fun.
One more bit of advice. Check out this link, http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/index.htm
for ideas about where to dive.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

You didn't miss much! I dived at the point and had 2-3' vis. My friend Greg dived the 120 Reef and had about a foot. The Dive n Surf Team looked at the conditions and went to Malaga Cove instead.

 

[aascubagirl]

Looking at that shore entry makes me really appreciate the shore diving options I have here in Kauai. But, it does sound like it can be very rewarding so I am thinking about giving it a try when I'm out there later this year. I'm a wuss when it comes to heavy surf entries so I might check back w/you for more tips/advice when it gets closer to my trip.

 

[ligersandtions]

Well, we went out and met up with the South Coast Divers this morning, but unfortunately the surf was bad and they were closing the beach at 9am because of it, so we called the dive. We'll try again another time....wish we lived closer to the ocean!

 

[runway1]

Nicole,
Glad you made it out! Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you Saturday, my alarm was drowned by the sound of the fan. Glad it wasn't a workday.

Anyhow, as I mentioned, I didn't think it was going to be a good dive day but closed?? I didn't think it was that bad either. Better to stay conservative. Sign up on the website for Rich's emails and I hope to see you two Saturday.

 

[shoupart]

I made the mistake of taking a new diver there once. She had a lot of dives, but it was almost all tropical. She was tired after the walk alone, and when I guided her into the surf, she wasn't feeling it and we called the dive.

It can definitely be a tricky place, especially for people unused to shore diving.

 

[ChrisM]

I got all my beach diving experience with Rich Parker and SCD. The best thing I learned you got to put to use: When beach diving, the most important skill is knowing when NOT to go out.

 

[ligersandtions]

Nicole,
Glad you made it out! Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you Saturday, my alarm was drowned by the sound of the fan. Glad it wasn't a workday.

Anyhow, as I mentioned, I didn't think it was going to be a good dive day but closed?? I didn't think it was that bad either. Better to stay conservative. Sign up on the website for Rich's emails and I hope to see you two Saturday.

Yeah, it was disappointing that we had to call the dive, but it was good to see what kind of conditions would make you say "no, it's not worth it." We will definitely dive with SCD in the future....we'll see if next weekend will work for us, but unfortunately we live fairly far away so it's a little bit of a pain. Although, I probably shouldn't complain when there are many land locked fellow divers, huh?!

 

[JMdiver]

Hi Phil,

Malaga was like chocolate milk most of us went to Vets. The waves were only about a half a foot & the vis. was 10-12 ft. I didn't go in I don't like to dive sand.

John