North County San Diego Suggestions

[ligersandtions]

Hope you guys have fun. If you find anything worth doing again, I'm down

 

[lobstah]

Talk to Marc Hall about ways to arrange access to Scripps Sumner branch. This is very much diveable from the beach. Or you can scooter it from LJ pier

 

[Rainer]

Yeah, we'll do Scripps with Marc (Hall) on a trip soon. Right now, goal is NC.

 

[Oside Jimc]

Again, we have plenty of experience in LJ and Laguna. Looking to TRY North County. We're fine with surf, surge, and poor visibility. We'd like to try something new. That said, we'd still like to stack the deck in our favor by trying the best that NC has to offer. Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far. Any details about these various NC sites you can offer would be most appreciated!

Sorry, can't offer too much on details, I dove pipes once, and after 10 minutes of holding hands in 1' viz we called the dive.

For San Elijo I know there's a nice rocky reef right off the point (park in the state park lot), but I just fish that one, never dove it.

If you REALLY want to be a pioneer, there is a really nice kelp bed just outside the beach from Beacon's, I've often thought it would make a good place to dive....
This shows the kelp bed pretty well:

 

[MaxBottomtime]

One of the easier dives is Pillbox, aka Fletcher's Cove. It has a large reef, plenty of parking, easy access, restrooms/showers, but there was a little matter of a GW killing a swimmer there a while back.
City of Solana Beach California Official Website

 

[stanky1]

I grew up in Encinitas and still do most of my diving at North County beaches, mostly because I am too cheap to drive to La Jolla and fight for parking. I'd have to agree with the others that the entry and visibility at North County beaches are not as good as La Jolla. Many great spots have a set of stairs for you to climb: Swami's (Cardiff), Grand View (Leucadia), Tide Park (Solana Beach). Beacon's has a goat trail. If you are not in good physical shape you should avoid these spots. The surf entry is more difficult unless there is no surf. The visibility isn't as good as La Jolla because there is more sand which is finer and more easily stirred up by the larger surf. Still, you can't beat a North County dive when the conditions are good and this time of year usually gets good.

I choose my spot depending on the purpose of the dive: lobsters, fish, scalllops, abalone (many years ago), or just sight-seeing. For sight seeing, I'd suggest Swami's. If the surf is real small you can avoid a real long (but easy) swim out by walking north just past the tide pools and make your entry there. The bottom will be rocky and uneven but still manageable, and it will get you to the best spots quicker and save you some energy for the hike back up the stairs. Outside you will find nice reefs and an excellent kelp forest. This used to be my favorite hunting grounds but the tide-pools are now protected to something like 500 or 1000 feet out from the shore. If you have a boat offshore you can hunt, but if you go back up the stairs with a lobster you may get busted.

 

[Blackwood]

Thanks again, all.

I grew up in Encinitas and still do most of my diving at North County beaches, mostly because I am too cheap to drive to La Jolla and fight for parking. I'd have to agree with the others that the entry and visibility at North County beaches are not as good as La Jolla. Many great spots have a set of stairs for you to climb: Swami's (Cardiff), Grand View (Leucadia), Tide Park (Solana Beach). Beacon's has a goat trail. If you are not in good physical shape you should avoid these spots. The surf entry is more difficult unless there is no surf. The visibility isn't as good as La Jolla because there is more sand which is finer and more easily stirred up by the larger surf. Still, you can't beat a North County dive when the conditions are good and this time of year usually gets good.

I choose my spot depending on the purpose of the dive: lobsters, fish, scalllops, abalone (many years ago), or just sight-seeing. For sight seeing, I'd suggest Swami's. If the surf is real small you can avoid a real long (but easy) swim out by walking north just past the tide pools and make your entry there. The bottom will be rocky and uneven but still manageable, and it will get you to the best spots quicker and save you some energy for the hike back up the stairs. Outside you will find nice reefs and an excellent kelp forest. This used to be my favorite hunting grounds but the tide-pools are now protected to something like 500 or 1000 feet out from the shore. If you have a boat offshore you can hunt, but if you go back up the stairs with a lobster you may get busted.

Super helpful. Thanks!

(I lived in Encinitas from 4th grade through highschool)

We aren't hunters, so these will definitely be sightseeing dives. Swami's would work. About a billion stairs, though, so we may want to consider carrying our stuff down and suiting up on the beach (diving dry).

 

[Blackwood]

La Jolla Shores was pretty fun. We did about an hour and a half, some time scootering along the canyon at 100 feet, some time at Vallecitos Point playing in the kelp, and then a brief oxygen deco session in the sand dollar fields.

Swami's looked ugly.

It would have been do-able, but we decided breakfast would be more productive.

 

[stanky1]

I thought all diving would have been ugly today.