Looking for a SoCal beach dive with fairly consistent good conditions

[Limey72]

Yup early may we are coming in for 3 days and checking out shaws point and crystal cove

 

[Bopper]

Thanks for the info guys bopper the viz wasn't the issue, obviously the better viz the better it was the fact that the cove turned pretty nasty half way through the first dive and we were getting thrown around a lot on exiting. This was not the first time we had dove here but the worst conditions, on that long of a trip we wanted some thing more stable so our next trip in may will be Laguna

Oh I see what you're saying. Yeah the Cove can be a washing machine at times. You need to be at 30' I'd say to avoid the surges on days that the Cove is really rockin' (in a bad way). If you're in less than 30' at the Cove and you're being raked over rocks its not fun, and the viz suffers too even though the rest of the region might have good viz.

 

[geoff w]

My girlfriend and I did a 700 mile round trip today to la jolla cove for some beach diving and the conditions were less than ideal to say the least for such a long trip. Now we both understand that no one can control weather conditions but can anyone suggest any SoCal beach dives with the exception of avalon park on catalina island that have fairly consistent good conditions.

Instructors have told me Refugio up by Santa Barbara is very protected and often diveable when nothing else is. I haven't dived there, but that's something to research. Even if it's not diveable, you could always spend the day wine tasting, which is close by

Usually shore dive conditions are predictable a day or two in advance. Before making the drive, check in here for an update on conditions. Some locals can probably give you a status report and best guess based on observations to help you decide

 

[DiveNav]

IMHO, the dive site here in SoCal (mainland) with the easiest entry and most decent conditions is Diver's Cove.
And, if you are lucky you might get to see some batrays.

But, nobody controls the weather ... infact, today I did not dive

Alberto (aka eDiver)

 

[blue steal]

I like Divers Cove a lot. Easy entry, parking close by, although metered and expensive, and on the weekends later in the day hard to come by, but early morning not bad.
I like to enter at Divers Cove, swim out to the reef, drop down and head up towards Heisler for exit. there is a shower there at the bottom of the ramp and restrooms at the top.