SoCal Dive Reports - Let us know about your dive!

[Ready4Launch]

My first time this morning to Whale Rock at Vicente Point in PV after we arrived to find OML is closed until sometime into June. Me and another buddy dived it right during the outgoing tide. What a spot! Cardiac Hill, rocky entry, and the kelp bed was SUPER thick! Then a looong kick out to the rock. Surgy. 10' viz down to 40'. Opened up as we went deeper. Probably 20-25' when we touched 75' southwest of the rock. Hit a significant thermocline right at 62'. Went from upper 50's to 52F by my computer. My buddy's computer (which always seem to read colder than mine -- unsure which is correct) read 49F. About 50 minutes underwater. Besides getting our gills wet, we were out to survey nudis, which we spotted 9 species. Saw a couple pairs of Jorunna pardus mating. Lots of eggs that may belong to Hermissenda, but none of that actual nudi seen. Several Polycera tricolor and porterae and shawls, of course. A challenging dive, but fun.

 

[Kensei]

Dove Vets Park in Redondo on evening of 5/29. Parking lot at Vets is open! Tons of tuna crab (like hundreds of thousands). Viz opened up at about 40 ft. to maybe 15 ft. Literally no surf so getting in and out was a breeze although the water was choppy due to wind. The "monument" was stuffed with crab and one lobster. Went to max depth of 90 ft. for a short time. Min. temp. was 56 and highest was 73. Hadn't been in the water since mid-march so it was sort of my "refresher" dive. Hopefully viz improves in the near future.

 

[JollyWaffl]

Deer Creek Beach, Ventura
2020/06/19, AM
Surf: 2-3 ft waves, a bit rough walking in and out, with heavy surge in the shallows.
Water temperature: 62 F
Visibility: Mixed to lousy. Pea soup near the bottom and towards the east, but sometimes opening up to 10-15 ft further out and to the west. We didn't go beyond 20 ft so no idea if it improved further out.

The kelp there was looking healthy - much thicker than last October. Was thick enough in some areas that it got quite dark, given the overcast morning.

 

[JollyWaffl]

White Point, San Pedro, via sandy beach directly west of the bath house ruins
2020/07/02, AM
Surf: 1 ft in the cove, no problem. Some surge at 20 ft depth.
Water temperature: 62 F
Visibility: < 5 ft most of the time. Hit a clear patch at 6 ft during our final ascent on the far end of the kelp beds.

We skipped our second dive - not worth it with visibility that bad.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

There are some jagged metal pilings in the surf zone in that sandy area. At low tide, they stick out a few inches. They make for a bad experience if you get swept into them in <5 feet of vis.

 

[JollyWaffl]

Thanks, good to know.

We entered on the far west side where there is a small dirt path (easier than clambering over rocks), and then did a surface swim to out beyond the ruins and rocks. The area you highlight would have been in the surf zone this morning, as the high tide was fairly low.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

White Point is notorious for bad visibility. It's great a few times a year, but the rest of the time it can be ten feet or zero. When it at least ten feet, the rocky area east of Issei Cove (X) has some nice walls and animals to see. I've seen several schools of barracuda, Smoothhound sharks, and a few Giant Sea Bass there. My two favorite areas to dive are White Point Rock, which is too far for a beach dive, and the east pipe. The pipe begins just outside the sandy cove (Star). At around fifty feet, the life on the pipe gets pretty impressive. Rockfish, snails, nudibranchs, and if the timing is right, lots of mating squid.
White Point Pipe

 

[Mystaadam]

Slightly belated write up due to b-day activities over the weekend but had a very nice dive out at Shaws Cove in Laguna Friday (7/31) morning. We were a bit skeptical prior to entry due to multiple reports of green water, but it fortunately viz was on our side for this dive. Immediately saw a bat ray and a leopard shark upon entry and was delighted to have roughly 20-25 ft worth of viz. Water was chilly, with the median temp for the dive around 54. Lots of sea life (sightings of the ever-familiar socal fish society including Garibaldi, Calico bass, and Sheephead) some fun swim-throughs to explore. I hadn’t dived Shaw’s Cove in a few years (I live in LA, not always the easiest to get down to OC) but it was as nice as I remembered it. In a time of covid and where boat dives are not the easiest to come by, this was a welcomed change of pace.


Location & Date: Shaws Cove, 7/31

Dive Time: 54 minutes

Max Depth: 38 ft

Surface Temp: 61

Water Temp: 54

Viz: 20-25 Ft

 

[lamarpaulski]

Thanks ! That’s really cold for August ! One of my favorite dives.

 

[azstinger11]

La Jolla Cove, August 4 2020, 18:30 - 19:35. Temperature averaged around 66 degrees low was 64, max depth of 32 feet. Visibility 10-15 feet on average. Despite a calm surface the current and surge were ripping underwater. Original plan was the follow the cove wall north towards the shores but in the general shallows. Got pushed pretty far south and east by the current. Marine life was pretty par for the course with the notable exception of a shovel nose guitar fish under a rock ledge. New plate configuration worked well, buddy had a drysuit flood (I was diving wet). Oh well any day you dive is a good day.