LA area for diving in March? Catalina?

[Still Kicking]

I would say three dives at Anacapa off the Spectre (free parking, two hot meals, three different dive sites, two air fills, hot showers and a hot tub) is a better deal than Casino Point but if you are here midweek, the dive park is probably the only option.

 

[Bob DBF]

I would say three dives at Anacapa off the Spectre (free parking, two hot meals, three different dive sites, two air fills, hot showers and a hot tub) is a better deal than Casino Point but if you are here midweek, the dive park is probably the only option.

I prefer the Peace, but the diving at Anacapa is great.

 

[Still Kicking]

I prefer the Peace, but the diving at Anacapa is great.

The Peace was my favorite too but I hear it's not the same these days. New owner, new crew.

 

[Bob DBF]

The Peace was my favorite too but I hear it's not the same these days. New owner, new crew.

I haven't been down there for a while. Managed to dive San Miguel off of her a couple a few times, once off the northwest side when it was like glass, what a dive.

 

[Bob DBF]

@Still Kicking
Now I remember the Spectre, watch that first step. My daughter and I made the Anacapa trip with a couple of OW classes so it was an easy dive. I'll look around for the UW pics, I think there is some nudibranch porn in with the kelp forest pictures, but it will be after my trip to see a buddy in Vegas.

 

[JediCheese]

A little off topic, but what time of year does it start warming up and have good vis? Coming from Vegas and looking to make a weekend dive trip sometime in the near future.

 

[Zane]

A little off topic, but what time of year does it start warming up and have good vis? Coming from Vegas and looking to make a weekend dive trip sometime in the near future.

June through October will be warmer. But still in a 5 mil wetsuit at least.
Visibility is affected by many things and is usually not more than 50ft

 

[Still Kicking]

We have May grey and June gloom (marine inversion layer) so july is when the water really starts warming up. It can get into the low 70s on the surface and 60s below in the fall.

The vis can be mixed in the summer but gets progressively better into September/October and can be really good by our standards (40'+). Offshore flow (Santana winds) drives surface water out and causes deep water upwellings, where vis can improve dramatically but they are also very cold (50s).

Vis remains good into winter, until the storms and runoff eventually take their toll, though I have had some great days between storms.

 

[seansrs36]

The winter months are the best for the visibility imo. When it gets warm the vis actually goes down .

 

[Scubagolf]

A little off topic, but what time of year does it start warming up and have good vis? Coming from Vegas and looking to make a weekend dive trip sometime in the near future.

This is a bit “historic”, but when I dove the Channel Islands (Anacapa and Santa Cruz Island’s) in 2006 for several days in early and late July the water temp was 65 - 67 degrees. When I did my Rescue course at the Catalina dive park in July of 2010 it was about the same. Always in a 7mm full with hood and gloves, but I am a wuss in anything below 75 degrees. The viz was 40-50’, but viz varies tremendously.