The Emerald Forest at White Point - Video

[Rainer]

Just a quick dive report and video from about a week ago, when ligersandtions and I scootered out a quarter mile to the Emerald Forest (the third and nicest reef) off White Point. When visibility is good here, it is one of my favorite shore dives in all of SoCal. Alas, we were greeted with a dirty 5-8' at best. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a nice 70 minute late afternoon dive.

[vimeo]26131700[/vimeo]

 

[ligersandtions]

The vis was really quite awful (looks deceivingly decent on the video), but the reef is really beautiful and I had a ton of fun diving with you! Maybe one of these days we can find a high tide with good vis

Thanks for posting the video!

 

[FrankPro1]

Cool Video, Nice music selection I have yet to dive the outer reef, I will have to try it out sometime. Last year there was a week of pristine conditions at WP. It was easily 25ft+. My buddy and I explored the reefs towards the baseball diamond, as well as the front one. With such direct access its hard not to like White Point. Off-shore is a small pinnacle called White Point Rock. Its not often dived and can only be accessed by boat. Its a small inconspicuous reef, but its bursting with invertebrate life. Easily one of my favorite dive sites.

 

[Rainer]

The vis was really quite awful (looks deceivingly decent on the video), but the reef is really beautiful and I had a ton of fun diving with you! Maybe one of these days we can find a high tide with good vis

Thanks for posting the video!

Yeah, vis really was quite terrible. Still lots of fun. Let's definitely keep an eye out for another day with a reasonable high tide when conditions look decent.

Cool Video, Nice music selection I have yet to dive the outer reef, I will have to try it out sometime. Last year there was a week of pristine conditions at WP. It was easily 25ft+. My buddy and I explored the reefs towards the baseball diamond, as well as the front one. With such direct access its hard not to like White Point. Off-shore is a small pinnacle called White Point Rock. Its not often dived and can only be accessed by boat. Its a small inconspicuous reef, but its bursting with invertebrate life. Easily one of my favorite dive sites.

Thanks! I've been out there once when we had 30'+. Was gorgeous. It really can be one of the prettiest local reefs.

How far off-shore is WPR? The third reef would be a pretty good kick, but it's a relatively short scooter ride out (though getting the scooters in, even at high tide, is a PITA).

There's a ton of interesting spots off WP, from the three very different looking reefs perpendicular to shore, to the thermal vents shallow, to the HUGE pipes that crisscross the area.

 

[Craig Hoover]

Looked like a fish eating anemone and some purple stuff that could have been corraline algae or maybe hydrocoral?

 

[FrankPro1]

How far off-shore is WPR?

At least a half mile, maybe more. MaxBottomtime took SpKelpdiver and I there. Its a really small reef, so without coordinates and a fish finder, there would be no way to find it. The critter variety is very reminiscent of Hawthorne reef, but even more nudibranchs.

Reef Shots of WPR, Courtesy of MaxBottomtime:

A shot looking back at White Point:

 

[Rainer]

Wow, WPR looks FANTASTIC!

Half mile with the scooters wouldn't be too much of a haul, but it'd be tough to hit such a small target after a 15-20 minute run. Looks like another spot to try for some time off a boat.

 

[fnfalman]

Is it me or that scuba tank is humongous?

 

[Rainer]

We each took HP130s. It's a bit deceiving, though. Ligers is small.

 

[ligersandtions]

Is it me or that scuba tank is humongous?

hehe, it's not big....it's just perfect