La Jolla Beta

[Wolver]

I am flying in to San Diego for the next ten days. Was thinking on maybe bringing my gear to do some shore dives in Cali. Never dove the west coast. I am just wondering what the water temp is this time of year, typical visability for this area and any other tips for a first timer in the Pacific. Would it be easy to find a buddy at the site as well? Thanks for any advice and tips.

 

[diver_doug]

Water temp for the past few weeks has been 55F-58F. There's supposed to be a storm coming in this weekend so vis will be shot for a few days. Vis can vary widely...in the past couple weeks there's been 0-5ft days and 15ft days. Same for Laguna, except there were a couple of 20ft days. San Diego is nice, but I personally prefer Laguna (about an hour drive from San Diego). Laguna has many dive sites all about 1/4 mile away from eachother. Also, I woud say Laguna has better underwater scenary and typically better conditions.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Just curious, what do you mean by "La Jolla Beta"?

In the San Diego area, you can do fairly easy shore dives at La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove. The vis is usually better at the Shores, but the Cove has kelp and can offer opportunities for larger critter (topes, seals, sea lions, etc.) encounters. On average, the vis in La Jolla is 10-15 ft. at depth. Expect water temps in the mid- to low-50s (°F) at depth. Most wetsuit divers wear a 7mm ± hooded vest. At a minimum, make sure that you have a hood and gloves. Bring a drysuit with appropriate undergarments if you have 'em.

If you've never dived in a thick wetsuit in temperate ocean waters, make sure that you do a proper weight check before doing any diving. I've run into a few warm water divers who complained about the added restriction of a thick wetsuit + hood. If you've done any diving in the Great Lakes or brackish quarries, you'll do just fine in SoCal...just remember to account for buoyancy changes in saltwater.

Tank and weight rentals can be arranged at OEX (walking distance from La Jolla Shores beach), Sport Chalet (multiple locations, nearest to La Jolla Shores is UTC Mall - a few miles away), and Ocean Enterprises (in Clairemont Mesa, several miles away from La Jolla Shores). Gear rentals are usually cheapest at Sport Chalet. I don't know of any nearby shops that rent out HP steel tanks, so expect to be using an AL80.

You might want to consider doing a boat dive with Waterhorse Charters (Humboldt), the Lois Ann, or the Marissa. I would recommend doing any site in the Point Loma Kelp beds. The Yukon can be fun, too, even if you don't penetrate the wreck.

If you're looking for a local dive buddy, I'd recommend joining the email list on Divebums.com. Send out an email to the list including your experience/training level and what sites you'd like to try out. Most of the experienced locals monitor the Divebums list-serv, and the diving community is pretty friendly. I'd be surprised if you didn't find a buddy this way.