Laguna Beach dive ordinance---experiences

[dead dog]

Hi Sam,
I haven't been to Laguna Beach in years. I got tired dragging my butt up and down the beach. I only do boat dives now, and it's getting bad on them also. It's like they ( the boat owners ) have a GOD ( supper duper dive master ) to tell you what to do and where to go, and how deep you can go, who to dive with, how much air you have to bring back to the boat nowadays. I came back once and the GOD was pissed off because I only had 100 psi on my gauge. I turned around and show him my 13 cu. ft. pony tank with 3000 psi in it and asked him if that was enough. That was the last he spoke to me that day, which made my day. As you know Sam back in the days we dove together we used the air up and would pull the reserve and surfaced with no problems. Then they ( the GODS ) wanted you to come back to the boat with 300 psi in your tank. Now today they want 500 psi in your tank. When will it end, at 1000 psi ? Thanks to PADI for a lot of this crap. I'm shopping for a boat now, so I won't have to put up with all this S@#T !
If divers today can't learn to be dependent on themselves then you will see more accidents. That's what Harry Vetter ( my instructor ) taught us to be, self dependent. I've been diving since 1959 and went solo in 1962.

Wish you good health and diving,

Bill
dead dog

 

[scanfield]

I went diving in Laguna this past summer (I'm from Hawaii). I had a good experience overall. No hassles (went on something like eleven dives in three/four days), and the lifeguards were friendly. I had a snorkel, but did not have a dive flag, and received no flak. With the exception of a (relative) lack of horn sharks, my dives in Laguna were fantastic.

 

[Sam Miller III]

No Sam, Im just a guy who has dived there for 46 years and lived in town off Mountain. I simply dive and dont like being hassled especially for ridiculous reasons. I don't cause trouble or seek conflict. I dive to get away from that. Im glad that petty hassle seems to have decreased. It shouldn't have occurred in first place.I haven't studied the diver-city history and my experience is just that, my experience. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would like to make LgBch a gated community with private beaches. I never have figured out the issue with divers...why don't you tell us...???

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46 years! (1968?) That is fantastic! You have been diving Laguna area longer than most people who post and read have been alive

I no longer reside in OC and like Dead Dog it has been years since I have dove in Laguna Beach.
I personally do not have the time or the inclination to compose and post a long dissertation on the "Battle of Laguna beach."

Perhaps you could visit city hall and research the city council meeting in 1961-1963 with specific interest of council member and later mayor Glen Vedder - the same name on the sign at Divers cove etc.

Then you would be educated on the dive history of your town and could relay it to others via posting to this board-

The following my previse some insight to the history of OC diving

Orange County....
A few little known facts about Orange County;

Orange County was the fountain head of recreational diving in California, the US and for the world.

It had the most manufactures -- US Divers, Voit, Sea Tec, Inflatable systems, JBL, Mares, Spearfisherman, Mark V, Newport divers, Sea Quest, Del Mar, Sea Suits, Water Wear, Kettenhofen Wet suits, Sampson,Sea Pro, Riffe International, Alexander Spearguns, and many more lessor known and now forgotten manufactures

Divers cove/Pick nic cove was selected as the location for the world's first Competitive Spear fishing meet in 1950 and every year to the early 1960s.

Divers Cove was not named as a result of recreational diving activity

Two world record fish were speared off Orange county's coast; the BSB & WSB. Guess where, when and how big?

It's waters did contained a variety of shell fish; Mussels, Oysters, Pismo Clams, Scallops, & Lobsters

It has a train and several airplanes, an ocean going barge and several WW 11 landing craft sunk off it's coast.

It has an underwater canyon

It had the second recreational diving ordnance in California.

It had one of the first California game reserves at Heisler park, named after Glen Vedder, the architect and driving force behind the Laguna beach diving ordinance.

It has a number of piers that are dive able.

PADI's first office was in Orange County.

In the genesis of instruction Orange County had more LA County Certified Underwater Instructors than LA County.

It had one of the first dive shops in California; Guess name and location?
Three OC residents were honored as "Fathers of Spearfishing" at the 2000 millennium Free diving party Guess who they were?

Copyright 2014 Dr. Samuel Miller, 111 & Dr. Samuel Miller IV, May not be copied or for private or public use without the express permission of the authors
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And a story which I published about 15 years ago in my newspaper column "Dive Bubbles" about Divers Cove and the changes that time has wrought

YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN…”
By
Dr. Samuel Miller

Several summers ago I visited with some relatives and old friends to reconnect with my roots down in southern California, in “smogsville,” as the smog shrouded area of Los Angeles and Orange County is known by most Californians who reside in other areas of the state.

This visit certainly verified the message in the Thomas Wolfe book “You can't go home again” which I found so difficult to comprehend as a young college student. Yes, Thomas Wolfe was correct! Indeed - You can't go home again.

I spent a very early Saturday morning at Diver’s Cove in Laguna Beach, the fountainhead of American sport diving. It has been a popular diving location since recreational diving began along the California coast in the early 1930s. “The cove” as local divers refer to it, was catapulted from obscurity into international diving fame when it was chosen as the location for the world’s first competitive spear fishing meet in June 1950. The Compton, California “Dolphins Spear Fishing club”, won the meet with a three man team consisting of Ken Kummerfeild, Pat O’Malley and Paul Hoss (of the Bottom Scratcher/Hoss Spear gun fame)

The cove was immortalized for divers through out the world on the cover of the December 1951, issue of Skin Diver Magazine Volume 1, number 1 with a picture of Dr. Nelson "Matty" Mathenson of the Long Beach Nepunes proudly displaying a presentable White Sea Bass he had just speared at the at "the Cove."

Surprisingly Diver's Cove did not receive it's name from recreational diving but from the local youth's habit of diving into the shallow blow hole from the rocks below where the apartments now stand. The apartments were constructed in 1960 which physically separated the cove and Fishermen cove to the north. Prior to the construction and into the 1970s Fisherman's cove was the docking and storage cove for a number of small local recreational sport fishing boats

Lots of other changes have occurred in and around Divers Cove with the passage of sixty -five years.

In the 1950s the rolling hills surrounding Diver’s Cove were devoid of housing and covered with dry chaparral, which emitted the classic California golden glow always associated with the “Golden state.” Now when viewed from the cove the hills appear almost surrealistic emerald green, blanketed by modern multi- million dollar homes on well-manicured lawns interconnected labyrinth of roads.

It is no longer possible to drive up to the edge of the cliff at Diver’s Cove and park haphazardly. Parking places are now regulated. They are neatly identified with white stripes on the concrete and crowned with a row of coin eating parking meters; silent sentinels waiting for the next quarter for fifteen minutes of violation free parking.

Also absent is the steel cable that provided beach goers and divers to access to the beach. It was a much-appreciated gift from some unknown beach lover who spent their time; money and effort to securely bury one end of the cable in cement and dangle the rest of the cable over the cliff to create a Tarzan style hand over hand beach access. Now modern stairs complete with handrails and a drinking fountain welcomes the divers to the beach

The beach scene I remember so well from my youth is now only a distant memory, but they are memories of gold as were the hills surrounding the cove.

In the genesis of recreational diving the beach was populated with young athletic sun tanned male youths clad in the diving costume of the era, baggy long underwear, tucked in to equally baggy swim trunks, round diving masks on their faces, short green fins on their feet and the weapon of choice a “Jab Stick” (a pole spear powered by the trust of the arm) unceremoniously stuck in the ground.

Like ancient tribes returning from a successful hunt they stood in small groups, wrapped in surplus WWII olive drab army or navy blue blankets, shivering and blue lipped from the cold of the water and the chill in the air. Roaring bonfires fed by WWII surplus tires added much needed warmth as it belched fourth thick heavy black smoke into the clean crisp smog free Orange County air.

Now Divers Cove has become a popular diving destination for dive training classes. It is populated every Saturday and Sunday morning by young fuzzy faced certified diving instructors who have arrived before 7:00 to conduct the final ocean check out dive for their classes of aspiring divers. Under the ever-watchful eye of their SCUBA instructor, young and old, male and female don the costume of modern diving. Bright colored wet suits have replaced the long underwear for thermal protection; clear form fitting twin lens masks of clear silicone replaced the black round rubber masks; multi hued long lightweight split plastic fins now adorn their feet replacing the short green Churchill fins. Not a spear fishing weapon is insight, since this area has been a game reserve for over a generation.

Yes, there have been a lot of changes in the last sixty plus years. Tomas Wolfe’s message has been verified. You can't go home again, but you can relive fond memories from the distant past and dream and hope for the future of recreational diving.

Only the sea, the eternal sea, has relentlessly remained the same

SDM

Copyright 2014 Dr. Samuel Miller, 111 & Dr. Samuel Miller IV, May not be copied or for private or public use without the express permission of the authors

 

[lamarpaulski]

Good stuff !

 

[scjoe]

I wasn't there at the time, but from what I have heard, Mr. Vedder lived in Shaws Cove and he and his neighbors considered it their private beach. They did a lot of things to try and keep out divers and others. We still have that going on in Malibu today.

My understanding is that the ordinance was a compromise between Mr. Vedder's efforts to restrict beach access to residents and the dive community's opposition. I don't know, but I suspect that Mr. Vedder tried to paint diving as dangerous, so the agency requirements of snorkel and buddy became part of a compromise ordinance.

Laguna Beach has a small lifeguard forces and relies more on young, part time guards during the summer than some other places. Being pleasant goes a long way towards getting along with the guards. If Laguna Beach residents find the ordinance to be a problem, they should talk to their city representatives about repealing it. If you are from out of town, "When in Rome..."

 

[Sam Miller III]

I wasn't there at the time, but from what I have heard, Mr. Vedder lived in Shaws Cove and he and his neighbors considered it their private beach. They did a lot of things to try and keep out divers and others. We still have that going on in Malibu today.

My understanding is that the ordinance was a compromise between Mr. Vedder's efforts to restrict beach access to residents and the dive community's opposition. I don't know, but I suspect that Mr. Vedder tried to paint diving as dangerous, so the agency requirements of snorkel and buddy became part of a compromise ordinance.

Laguna Beach has a small lifeguard forces and relies more on young, part time guards during the summer than some other places. Being pleasant goes a long way towards getting along with the guards. If Laguna Beach residents find the ordinance to be a problem, they should talk to their city representatives about repealing it. If you are from out of town, "When in Rome..."

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It is recognized that you were not present at the Battle of Laguna Beach. Your responses are very revealing that you only know a very small portion little about the battle, and it was a battle. I would suspect Malibu will never become as bad as Laguna was in the early 1960s

Shaw's cove and several others were private beaches to mean high tide mark. The attorney imposed the right of eminent domain fr passage to the beach therefore they were open to pubic access but not the beach in front of the beach homes -- according to the residents - another battle

Glen A retired Cal Poly professor was a city councilman and later the mayor of Laguna Beach. He was the driving force against all who used Laguna's beaches.


For many years after the passage of the ordinance all the early Chief of life guards were qualified instructors; Skip Conner, Bruce Baird were LACo UW Instructors, the late Dean Westguaard was NAUI etc. All life guard had to repeat a yearly refresher SCUBA diving course taught by a qualified instructor. I have no way of verifying if completing the yearly SCUBA training course is still a requirement of diving. I would suspect that the city "Dive Officer" may have superseded many of the requirements

Perhaps Iamarpaulski who is an long term Laguna beach residence and has been diving since 1968, one year longer than Bill Bushing, will take time out of his day to report on the history via City council meeting and the establishment of the city dive officer.

SDM

 

[IrnBear]

This photo is from Nov 29th. Had a great morning of diving. Arrived at around 4am. Into the water for a Dark/Night dive, Surge was pretty intense yet dive was nice. Hung out on the beach for a few hours, breakfast at HuskyBoy and then back into the water.
We don't dive with our snorkels. My dives are usually early morning or late afternoon evening, so usually no body around to give us a hard time and plenty of parking
I guess that is why I was unaware of all the rules that have popped up. I guess I should read the signs before heading down to the beach.
We dive for the enjoyment of being in the water. We respect everything and everybody around us. We are very quiet when setting up and breaking down. I guess that is another reason I was unaware of the rules… Pretty much live by our own rules (that happen to be similar to the rule setters rules) anyway.

I love diving at Laguna and will continue to.
Due to these boards and my FB friends at EcoDive center in LA, I am finding new areas north of Laguna to dive as well.. Never gave north of Laguna much thought.

Thank you,

IrnBear

 

[Lopez116]

Nice pic! I dive sans snorkel as well. So far, no problems from lifeguards...

Speaking of noise, this morning a student was waiting at the top of shaws for his instructor to arrive). It was probably 645 or so. The guy had all his doors open and was blaring his music and lounging around.

At 0645 on a Sunday, I would be upset if someone was doing this in front of my house. Some people just don't think about the effect their behaviors have on others...