New to forum- Looking to dive on Monday 2/20- have boat, need experience :)

[n8works]

Hi All-
I'm new to the forum and am just recently getting back into diving.

Bear with me while I give a little history. I got certified back in '91 and have been mostly a vacation diver for the last couple of years. Last year my brother and I decided to buy a boat... ;-) Its a 2004 27 ft Chapparal Signature. It's our first boat and we are having tons of fun with it so far. One of the things we want to do is dive from it, so my brother got certified last month. Being super excited about it, we are trying to plan a boat dive for Monday.

Is there anyone out there who has some experience diving socal and knows the ins and outs of some of the local spots and would be interested in going diving on Monday? Or any suggestions on where to go? I'm thinking Catalina (its only an hour and a half away from the dock in MDR with our boat) or I've read some good things about spots in PV and Malibu. Looking for something simple just to get our "feet wet".

Let me know if there are any takers...
Thanks, look forward to seeing you out on the water.

Nate@ristech.net

 

[ItsBruce]

I've got some waypoints for artificial reefs in Santa Monica Bay. And, I live near MDR. However, I'm not sure I'm able to dive on the 20th. How about some other time in the near future?

 

[ItsBruce]

BTW: Do you keep the boat in the water? I noticed in your profile that there is a huge trailer under the boat. I also noticed that there does not appear to be bottom paint. If you keep it in the water, you must have bottom paint.

 

[n8works]

Sure thing, If you can honor the presidents day and get Monday off, we'd love to have you aboard. I'm hoping to really be able to get lots of diving in this year, so if it doesn't work out this time maybe next time. If you can post the waypoints and any advice on the reefs that would be great too.
We do keep it in the water in MDR, and we did get bottom paint put on soon after getting the slip. Its been a huge fun learning experience. With both my brother and I having families, boating has been a great family oriented hobby.
The reason why we chose the Chap Sig 270 is because it is trailerable (barely) We do sometimes trailer it as well, We towed it to Mead last fall and it was amazing.

 

[dpbishop]

If you're going to Catalina two dives I would recommend are Hen Rock and Indian Rock. You can get a mooring at Indian Rock, but will have to anchor at Hen Rock. (the moorings are kinda far away). Both are fairly shallow dives, under 30 feet, and have lots to see sot they are good for beguining divers. The viz at the mainland is pretty good right now but the swell is supposed to pick up late Sunday so Monday might be iffy. Check outt hte Catlina Sticky Thread at the top of the CoCal forum for links to maps and locations.

 

[saintsfan]

I recommend getting Frankos maps of La ,orange and Sandiego counties and catalina island.They list dive sites some coordinates and give pretty good detail,I did several boat dives around palosverdes last year and it beats walking the hills. As far as catalina I recomend two harbors,you can get a mooring and there are several dive sites you can take your dinghy out to. Pm me some time maybe we can meet over there some times.Also post a pic of your boat in the boating section under post your boats bobby

 

[n8works]

Thanks for the info. dpbishop and saintsfan. Hens rock or Indian Rock sound just like what I'm looking for. Excuse my ignorance, but what are Frankos maps?

 

[wetrat]

Here you are sir - Franko's Map Collection. Have a great trip! We'd love to see a trip report in the Mighty Lexy Dive Report Thread too!

 

[n8works]

Thanks! Those maps look very cool. I'll be sure to post how it went.

 

[n8works]

THANK YOU dpbishop! We went to Indian Rock and had a GREAT dive. The water and weather was cool but not cold and the seas were calm. It was the perfect day for a dive, visibility seemed excellent, there were a lot of fish, a small shark, lobster peeking out from under rocks, and a nice little kelp bed to explore. We moored the boat about 20 yards from the northern rock outcropping, geared up, checklisted, and stepped right off the back swim platform. It was amazing. Thanks again.