What to do with a couple of days in San Diego in January?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

MikkelBC

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
210
Reaction score
108
Location
Denmark
# of dives
200 - 499
Hi!

I may be lucky enough to be able to take a few days off after a conference in San Diego near the end of January. I am travelling from Europe and I have never had the chance to dive in the US.

I am intrigued by the pictures I have seen of kelp forests, but other than that I don't know much about the diving opportunities available.
Since the conference is in San Diego, the obvious choice would be to dive from there. However, since there are no direct flights from my location to San Diego anyway, it is possible to get creative with the schedule, e.g. stop over in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

I am looking for any advice you might have about where I should aim to go diving and how (shore, boat, etc.). I will probably be looking to pay for guided dives because I don't believe in going to a completely new location and expecting that I can handle it on my own with a random buddy. Also, I wouldn't know how to find such a buddy!

My experience is about 70 dives and I am currently working on completing a GUE fundamentals course. I can bring drysuit and all other gear except tanks and weights.

Thanks!

Mikkel
 
If you want to see Kelp, either La Jolla or the Kelp Beds off Point Loma in San Diego are your best bet since you're already there. It's colder in winter but the visibility improves. Bring the drysuit. Another option is a day/weekend trip over to Catalina on the Catalina Express ferry. You can shore dive in the park there or there's a couple of boat dive operators.

Start with the local info section here: Divebums - A San Diego Dive Website

You can also find the San Diego boats near the bottom here: California Dive Boats : The Official Page Most have online calendars. Typically on California dive boats the DM stays on the boat. So make arrangements with them for a guide (another DM) also.

Marissa (Waterhorse Charters) has a 3-tank Point Loma Kelp dive on 1/28. http://www.waterhorsecharters.com/schedule.html

It's a nice boat...

You also might see if Power Scuba has anything going that weekend. They have a Meetup group and over 2000 members. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/power-scuba/
 
If it were me and I was coming all the way from Denmark, I'd do everything I could to visit Catalina or San Clemente islands. Then you could say you dove the best kelp diving that So Cal has to offer.
 
@diversteve: Thanks for your tips and very useful links!
@Bopper: Thank you for your recommendation. That is exactly the kind of local opinion I was after.

---------- Post added December 10th, 2013 at 06:18 PM ----------

@FM1520: Thanks for the recommendation and the link. That list is good enough to be mentioned twice :D
 
@diversteve: Thanks for your tips and very useful links!
@Bopper: Thank you for your recommendation. That is exactly the kind of local opinion I was after.

---------- Post added December 10th, 2013 at 06:18 PM ----------

@FM1520: Thanks for the recommendation and the link. That list is good enough to be mentioned twice :D

After you get a chance to think about your trip more, don't be shy to check back in this forum. There will undoubtedly be more questions you'll want to ask after you've determined your general destination.

And I'll just throw this out there: If your schedule is flexible enough, one of Southern California's best dive boats - Horizon Charters - is doing a rare trip out to San Clemente Island on Feb 7th/8th for about $200 from San Diego. It leaves on Friday night, you dive all day Saturday, and returns Saturday night. Great diving, great boat, great crew.
 
After you get a chance to think about your trip more, don't be shy to check back in this forum. There will undoubtedly be more questions you'll want to ask after you've determined your general destination.

And I'll just throw this out there: If your schedule is flexible enough, one of Southern California's best dive boats - Horizon Charters - is doing a rare trip out to San Clemente Island on Feb 7th/8th for about $200 from San Diego. It leaves on Friday night, you dive all day Saturday, and returns Saturday night. Great diving, great boat, great crew.

Thanks! That trip with Horizon looks great, but unfortunately my schedule is not that flexible. Additionally, on Feb 7th I am already booked on another boat (where I won't be bringing my drysuit!): Phuket Scuba Diving, Liveaboard MV Scuba Adventure :D
 
I have found out that flying via San Francisco is actually a pretty good route for me as far as flight schedules are concerned. From San Francisco I could go to Monterey Bay or around there. What do you think about diving in Monterey Bay (or around there) compared to San Diego or Catalina Island?
I realize that I am crossing in to the territory of the NoCal forum, I hope you will excuse the transgresssion! :)
 
Monterey diving is great. There's a lot to see but conditions are very variable. My favorite area to dive is The Point Lobos State Reserve. I've done amazing dives there with 70 ft visibility but I've also had 5 foot visibility dives there. The first time I went I hired a guide from Seven Seas Scuba on Cannery Row in Monterey. They're a great shop. There are a number of dive regulations associated with the Point Lobos Reserve however and if its a weekend you'll probably need a reservation. Here's the website: Dive Information | Point Lobos Foundation. If you want something a little simpler you could dive the Monterey Breakwater or Metridium Fields. These two sites are right in front of Seven Seas Scuba. Expect 10 foot vis at the Breakwater and maybe 20 foot vis at the Metridium fields on average.

San Diego diving conditions are also variable this time of the year. On average visibility is 20 ft in the Point Loma kelp which you reach by boat. There's also a kelp forest at La Jolla Cove but visibilty there is even less reliable and if a big swell is coming in the entry and exit may be difficult.

If you really want to see the kelp forests your best chance of getting good condiitons is at Catalina or one of the other Channel Islands. Catalina would be the easiest to reach if you are traveling through LAX. You could do a 3 tank day trip out of Long Beach or you could ride over on the ferry and dive from shore.

Hope you have a great trip!
 
To all of you who helped me - I did carry all my gear to San Diego. Because I was traveling with a colleague who wasn't that interested in going to Catalina, I tried to book with Waterhorse and also some shore diving. In the end, all of it was canceled due to weather, though. Too bad, but that's how it is with sports like this.
Now I know that I could fit all my gear including drysuit in my Eagle Creek Roll up duffel and weigh in at almost exactly 23 kg.
Too bad that the bag had the zipper ripped out of it by baggage handling on the way back.
Thanks again for all your advice - I will remember it for next time!
Mikkel

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom