Red Tide on the Palos Verdes Peninsula

[FrankPro1]

I was planning on doing my first night dive tonight at the 120 Marineland reef, but complications occurred and my buddy was unable to dive. With nothing planned for the rest of the day, I decided to go do a shallow solo dive. As I passed Trumps I could see a huge expanse of red blanketing the area between Abalone and Long Point. My next stop was Malaga where again a large red tide was present. On the way back down the peninsula I stopped at Honeymoon and Christmas Tree. Both spots looked pretty free of the red tide, but I wasn't about to solo these sites without at least having some shore support or redundant systems.

How dangerous is it to dive in Red tides? How long do they usually last?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It's OK once you get below it. Even a dive at noon becomes a night dive. Sometimes it gets so bad that you can't stand being on the surface due to the smell and taste. I made a dive at Long Point with Evil Jeff one day during a thick red tide. It was pitch black at 70 feet and not a lot going on as far as animal behavior. Jeff bailed about midway through the dive and exited at the point. I continued the dive and within a minute after Jeff left the vis opened up. It was as if someone turned on the lights.
During another dive at La Jolla Shores I saw a vertical wall of red tide ten feet to the south of me. It looked like a giant square cloud coming, but it was slow enough that I was able to stay within the clean water for the remainder of the dive.

 

[FrankPro1]

It's OK once you get below it. Even a dive at noon becomes a night dive. Sometimes it gets so bad that you can't stand being on the surface due to the smell and taste.

Is there any adverse effects from getting it in your eyes, ears or mouth?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've swallowed plenty and it hasn't had any adverse effect on me.

 

[pasley]

This being an apparent el-nino year (water temps currently in the high 60's and low 70's) we can expect the red tide to be around for a while. Sometimes the visibility is "inside the mask only" and you can't get deep enough to get below it. On other dives I have hit a thermocline and had a sharp line in the visibility where just moving my head an inch up or down make the difference between "inside the mask" and 20 foot visibility. But a night dive at noon it is. No harm to you, just don't eat the shell fish and there may be some sea lions acting strange as they sometimes get sick from eating the fish.