Need Recommendations for Redondo Bch??

[shoupart]

Malaga Cove is a great, shallow beach dive, particularly if conditions are on your side that day. It's also a wonderful night diving spot.
Marineland is good, too- you will have no problem finding a fun site to dive at, if it doesn't rain too much in January.

 

[LLKZ16]

And it's one of the most challenging, difficult, and dangerous beach entry/exits in the area.
Except on those rare "Lake Pacific" days, it requires experience, skill, strength, strong buddies, tenacity, wisdom, and brass gonads.

You're just tougher than you realize, Robert!

Please be reasonably cautious when introducing out-of-town divers to SoCal beach diving. WE are used the surf and surge and the rocks and the urchins and the cliffs and the stairs....because we have to be to get in the water on many days/nights. Those that don't like it, boat dive .

Some other areas of the country have much calmer "beach diving" environments, (often with no surf at all,) and visiting divers sometimes don't know what to expect.

Reasonable expectations make for safer diving and more fun all around.

omg... I think I'm channeling dearest Pasley :14: .

~~~~~~
Claudette

(I miss you, Melvin... be safe and come home on time.)

Well said Claudette!!

You bring up a very valid point.

 

[CompuDude]

And it's one of the most challenging, difficult, and dangerous beach entry/exits in the area.
Except on those rare "Lake Pacific" days, it requires experience, skill, strength, strong buddies, tenacity, wisdom, and brass gonads.

You're just tougher than you realize, Robert!

Please be reasonably cautious when introducing out-of-town divers to SoCal beach diving. WE are used the surf and surge and the rocks and the urchins and the cliffs and the stairs....because we have to be to get in the water on many days/nights. Those that don't like it, boat dive .

Some other areas of the country have much calmer "beach diving" environments, (often with no surf at all,) and visiting divers sometimes don't know what to expect.

Reasonable expectations make for safer diving and more fun all around.

omg... I think I'm channeling dearest Pasley :14: .

~~~~~~
Claudette

(I miss you, Melvin... be safe and come home on time.)

You're not kidding. A month or two ago I brought some experienced east-coast shore divers in through waves that I didn't even think about, and had to help haul them out of the surf zone when they got tumbled. From what I've been able to figure out, 1' waves are considered large back east, so any worse and they've never seen it... they just don't have the kind of surf we do. Even someone with tons of beach dives under their belt... back east... should have close supervision when dealing with real waves (even ones we consider small), until they've proven themselves capable.

Don't even THINK about MarineLand unless you luck into a Lake Pacific day.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Well said Claudette!!

You bring up a very valid point.

Thank you, Lee

Having been bounced royally at the VERY VALID POINT AT MARINELAND more that once :scared:... I don't like to see someone's vacation go down in a crushing explosion of lost gear and lasting bruises (to muscle, skin, and ego!) Advanced rocky-entry or surf-entry skills can be learned, but not in a day while on vacation :eek5: (for most people.)

I took Seth (Stryker) to the Point when he was a very new diver whom I had never met. Turns out he is one Tough Dude. Navy MP, I think. He used to chase (and catch!) bad guys running over the breakwalls at the base.. in the dark.
He was good on rocks. :14:

We posted a dive report, with a little chest-beating over our challenging but successful entry.

Melvin responded, publicly chewing my stern-most D-ring for taking a new and untried diver to the Point at Marineland.
And he was right to do so.
I got lucky.
More to the point, Seth got lucky instead of hurt.

Mel is an inspiration to me in his safe approach to introducing new and visiting divers to our coast.

By all means, let's welcome and mentor and encourage new divers and visiting divers. But learn some things about them before starting to list YOUR fav spots (you tough-arsed, gravel-spittin', barnacle-bouncing SoCal Beach-Diver, you )

It can be the little things that count, like...

• "How many dives have you done in the past 6 months?"
• "How many cold ocean dives have you done? Exposure suit?"
• "Have you done a weight check with the gear configuration you expect to use while diving here?"
• "How many surf entries with scuba gear? Sand? Rocks? How recent?"
• "What is the visibility in the water where you dive the most?"
• "How far do you usually walk, (wearing full gear,) to shore dive? Hills? Cliffs? Rapels?"
• "Do you have a dive light for day dives?"

Learn. Then guide.
Then go diving and have fun!!!

Claudette

 

[LAJim]

"Are you and your dive buddy usually the only ones without surfboards?"
"In restaurants do you order soup based on its visibility?"
"Does your typcal dive report include trauma management tips?"
"Did you E-Bay the hot water heater from your house because you didn't need it?"
"Do you replace your mask on the same schedule as your contact lenses?"
"If you were walking to a dive site with your gear on and saw a $100 bill on the ground, would picking it up be a bad decision?"

 

[giles45shop]

All,

Thanks for the advice! I'm definitely not experienced w/ ocean beach dives, and have only dealt w/ very minimal surf on the FL Gulf Coast, so I'll make sure I get local guidance. Does sound like fun though !

John

 

[travelmadness]

the pacific star dive boat heads outta redondo...pacificstardiving.com

 

[HBDiveGirl]

"Are you and your dive buddy usually the only ones without surfboards?"
"In restaurants do you order soup based on its visibility?"
"Does your typcal dive report include trauma management tips?"
"Did you E-Bay the hot water heater from your house because you didn't need it?"
"Do you replace your mask on the same schedule as your contact lenses?"
"If you were walking to a dive site with your gear on and saw a $100 bill on the ground, would picking it up be a bad decision?"

What's in YOUR tank, Jim???!! I love the goofiness of nitrogen in the morning.

 

[headhunter]

I looked up the temps that I jotted down for January 2004 and 2005. High 50s in 2004 and low 50s in 2005. I remember a few days in the high 40s but it looks like they were not in January.

I'll echo HBPalseyChannelingSafetyGirl's sentiments about Marineland. I got thumped pretty hard there on a day when it was nothing but ankle slappers. A couple of rogue 10-foot waves had me bouncing like a pinball across some rocks.

Here is the account of the dive that day:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1172910&postcount=68

If you get a chance you might want to go take a look at this site for future reference. It's really very scenic and when you are up to speed on beach dives in our area, it is definitely one of the best dives in SoCal. Some would argue that this is THE best beach dive in SoCal.

Have fun while in the area. Redondo Beach is a good choice to learn our brand of beach diving.

If you don't mind the drive to Orange County, you may want to go to Shaw's Cove. It's a nice place to work on the beach entry and also has some very nice structure and plenty of marine life to look at.

Have fun!

Christian

 

[orangelion03]

Ok, ok, Miss Divin Diva Goddess, I get your most valid point!!! We socal beach divers are such a hardy and adventurous lot that I presumptually assumed every other diver visiting our rocky, cliff shrouded coves would be up to the challenge

Here I am spoutin' off and I have YET to drop off the rocks at the point, though it sure looked like I missed a good weekend to finally attempt it...