Where do the Beginners Dive?

[blue steal]

Parking at Divers Cove or Hiesler park is easy on weekdays before 9am. Just bring lots of quarters or use visa.

 

[Peter_C]

It sounds like I need to get my butt back to SoCal for some fun in the sun diving :cool2:

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I would say Shaws, and Divers are two of the easiest entries for beach dives in O.C. , but as everyone said parking is hard so get there early. Shore dives are great to gain experience and confidence. Another easy entry is Corona del mar, but you have to pay $15 to park....

Little Corona is one of my favorite O.C. dives. It's rocky, shallow and a moderately steep walk, but there is a restroom/shower mid-way and free parking. I've seen quite a few large (4-5') Smoothhound sharks resting in the surf grass.

 

[Hatul]

Shaws is the most forgiving and has a lot of great reefs and caves and a very easy entry.

Vets is best as a night dive, as there is a lot of sand in the day. Also vets has a tricky slope that makes the last step something that humbles some of the best divers (you get used to it).

I agree about Vets' with the slope being a bit of a challenge in getting out, especially if the surf is high. Getting in is easy as the surf zone is short. The underwater canyon starts just past the end of the pier. If you go there be sure to bring lots of quarters to feed the parking meters.

It's a good night dive as it's impossible to get lost, but take care in getting out-- I lost a mask there once as a wave knocked it off. There are lots of sand dwelling creatures there.

As a day dive it's a good place to practice deep dives.

 

[SCUBA482]

I'm surprised only one other person mentioned Corona Del Mar in Newport. Sure Shaws is another easy location, but the stairs & limited parking is a buzz kill. If you go around the corners in Laguna just count on feeding the meters. CDM is a pay for parking lot, but easy (very easy) entry, no hills (like Little Corona), has showers & clean restrooms, sand if you want sand, break wall reef, and to the west end has kelp & lots of reef structure all in the shallow 25-35 foot depth range. It's safe to leave your car, there are lifeguards if you need them, and unless a ripping south swell its very protected from the predominant nw to w swell & wind chop. It's my go to spot when I MUST dive or do a class. HTH

 

[keithbt]

One of my favorite books when i started diving and I still use now is A Divers Guide to Southern Californias Best Beach Dives....By The Shecklers....I use it for boat dives as well.....Another one of my favorite resources is Frankos Maps..... cheap..informative... waterproof and all....

 

[Sam Miller III]

One of my favorite books when i started diving and I still use now is A Divers Guide to Southern Californias Best Beach Dives....By The Shecklers....I use it for boat dives as well.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You should have began diving a few years earlier...You could have obtained the very first dive guide to California waters, a book titled "Diving West." This is the book which was authored by the "pioneer aka vintage" the first generation divers, who were very familar with the local diving locations and book which the Shecklers by the grace of timing and the expansion recreational diving used as a guide for their book a number of years later...

After much discussion and soul searching it was determined that the the OC diver's private hunting grounds, "Dead Mans reef" should be included in Diving West. Now Dead Mans reef is like Grand Central Station.

A casual discussion with out a promise of confidentiality allowed "Miller's Reef" off Woods Cove to be published in CDN and their book..But as it was stated "It is simply too far to swim for most beach divers." So it is still seldom found or visited and offers virgin diving "the way it use to be from the shore."

Now I read about all those nastey old stairs the divers are forced climb down before they fall into the welcoming water of the cool Pacific Ocean.

Each time I read these reports I am reminded of an article "You can't go home again" published many many years ago in my news paper column "Dive Bubbles."

Perhaps since a few years has passed and there is a new generation of reader/divers that it be republished.

This article seems to answer the question how was it in the very beginning--the late 1940s and early 1950s when equipment was crude or homemade prior to the advent of SCUBA, training and even effective thermal protection.

Most of you all are probably some what familar with Divers Cove in Laguna Beach, California but possibly never relized that there have been a number of changes to the area and the divers who have populated it in the last sixty plus years..

A little history-that has survived against the call of the running tide-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN…”
By Dr. Samuel Miller
This summer I visited with some relatives and old friends to reconnect with my roots down in southern California, in “smogsville,” as the smog shrouded area of Los Angeles and Orange County is known by most Californians who reside in other areas of the state.

This visit certainly verified the message in the Thomas Wolfe book “You can’t go home again” which I found so difficult to comprehend as a young college student. Yes, Thomas Wolfe was correct! You can’t go home again.

I spent a very early Saturday morning at Diver’s Cove in Laguna Beach, the fountainhead of American sport diving. It has been a popular diving location since recreational diving began along the California coast in the early 1930s. “The cove” as local divers refer to it, was catapulted from obscurity into international diving fame when it was chosen as the location for the world’s first competitive spear fishing meet in June 1950. The Compton, California “Dolphins Spear Fishing club”, won the meet with a three man team consisting of Ken Kummerfeild, Paul Hoss and Pat O’Malley.

Lots of changes have occurred in and around Divers Cove with the passage of sixty plus years.

In the 1950s the rolling hills surrounding Diver’s Cove were devoid of housing and covered with dry chaparral, which emitted the classic California golden glow always associated with the “Golden state.” Now when viewed from the cove the hills appear almost surrealistic emerald green, blanketed by modern multi- million dollar homes on well-manicured lawns interconnected labyrinth of roads.

It is no longer possible to drive up to the edge of the cliff at Diver’s Cove and park haphazardly. Parking places are now regulated. They are neatly identified with white stripes on the concrete and crowned with a row of coin eating parking meters; silent sentinels waiting for the next quarter for fifteen minutes of violation free parking.

Also absent is the steel cable that provided beach goers and divers to access to the beach. It was a much-appreciated gift from some unknown beach lover who spent their time; money and effort to securely bury one end of the cable in cement and dangle the rest of the cable over the cliff to create a Tarzan style hand over hand beach access. Now modern stairs complete with handrails and a drinking fountain welcomes the divers to the beach

The beach scene I remember so well from my youth is now only a distant memory, but they are memories of gold as were the
hills surrounding the cove.

In the genesis of recreational diving the beach was populated with young athletic sun tanned male youths clad in the diving costume of the era, baggy long underwear, tucked in to equally baggy swim trunks, round diving masks on their faces, short green fins on their feet and the weapon of choice a “Jab Stick” unceremoniously stuck in the ground.

Like ancient tribes returning from a successful hunt they stood in small groups, wrapped in surplus WWII olive drab army or navy blue blankets, shivering and blue lipped from the cold of the water and the chill in the air. Roaring bonfires fed by WWII surplus tires added much needed warmth as it belched fourth thick heavy black smoke into the clean crisp smog free Orange County air.

Divers Cove has now become a popular diving destination for dive training classes. It is populated every Saturday and Sunday morning by young certified diving instructors who have arrived before 7:00 to conduct an ocean check out dive for their classes of aspiring divers. Under the ever-watchful eye of their SCUBA instructor, young and old, male and female don the costume of modern diving. Bright colored wet suits have replaced the long underwear for thermal protection; clear form fitting twin lens masks of clear silicone replaced the black round rubber masks; multi hued long lightweight split plastic fins now adorn their feet replacing the short green Churchill fins. Not a spearfishing weapon is insight, since this area has been a game reserve for over a generation.

Yes, there have been a lot of changes in the last sixty plus years. Tomas Wolfe’s message has been verified. "You can’t go home again," but you can relive fond memories from the distant past and dream and hope for the future of recreational diving.

Only the sea, the eternal sea, has relentlessly remained the same.....
sdm

(copyright sdm 2012- may not be republished with out expressedpermission of the author and/or TPR newspapers)

 

[tomfcrist]

You always have Lodi lake!.....Seriously though i would check out the local reseviors and find out if you can dive there. Comanche would be a sweet dive if its allowed. As far as ocean shore dives, anything along our coast is probably for more experianced divers, but many of them to include Morro Bay, Pismo, San Simeon, Monterey, and Santa Cruz would be doable if you hire a DM or Instructor to show you how to do it safely.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I'm surprised only one other person mentioned Corona Del Mar in Newport. Sure Shaws is another easy location, but the stairs & limited parking is a buzz kill. If you go around the corners in Laguna just count on feeding the meters. CDM is a pay for parking lot, but easy (very easy) entry, no hills (like Little Corona), has showers & clean restrooms, sand if you want sand, break wall reef, and to the west end has kelp & lots of reef structure all in the shallow 25-35 foot depth range. It's safe to leave your car, there are lifeguards if you need them, and unless a ripping south swell its very protected from the predominant nw to w swell & wind chop. It's my go to spot when I MUST dive or do a class.

HTH

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HTH
I don't know who you are masked man but I agree with your choice of CDM -100%

Parking has become a concern of divers; on occasion security is of concern; and navigate of the surf line no matter how small or what type with an elevated center of gravity and little or no prior experience is an accident in progress. Any darn fool can master breathing through a tube with little or no training- but with the body wrapped in rubber, breathing through a tube, with a mask that restricts vision with a eye on the surf and the other on your buddy, attempting to bust through a surf line that pulls you first towards the ocean then towards the shore, concurrently auguring your fins deep into the sand can be a traumatic event.

CDM has ample secure parking at a reasonable price, life guards, if needed, are generally on duty and the surf is generally The
visability is often the best along the LA-OC coast -and- hot showers for after dive warm up-clean up...a great place for the novice, for classes when other areas are too dangerous for basic students.

sdm

 

[SCUBA482]

Thanks & HTH = Hope That Helps