White Point 5.19.09

[FrankPro1]

SpKelpDiver and I did our first dive at White Point today. I was feeling a bit under the weather so we decided to bypass the normal Palos Verdes Hike and drove down to White Point. Surface conditions were promising, swell was minimal but wind was strong. Entered off the far left side, just to the left of the old Japanese spa ruins. Entrance was easy and uneventful. On the surface swim out we saw a series of hot water vents and a large variety of reef structure. After descending I was astonished at the variety of life we found. Giant Kelpfish, various Rockfish in colors I've never seen, countless types of perch, big boy Sheephead and Bass, they were all here. I've dove almost all the spots on the Palos Verdes Pennisula and haven't seen this variety of large adult fish anywhere. I would have thought for such a well traveled spot, that the area was over fished and barren. Visibility was variable but at best was a murky 20ft down to about a clear 10-15ft. Unfortunately I only brought my old Oly P&S camera "expecting poor vis and very little photo ops", instead of my new Powershot G10 / Ikelite setup. Even with my old system, I was still able to capture a few good ones.

Sea Life: Sea Lion, Various Rockfish, Giant Kelp Fish, Blacksmith, Mackerel and Senorita Schools, Male / Female Sheephead, Kelp Bass, Various types of Perch, unidentified tube worms, Sheep Crab, Painted Greenling, Garabaldi and a very large solitary squid.

Shot of the day:

Profile:

What kind of worms are these?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Stalked tunicates in your last pic. From the shots it looks as if you dived on the reef straight out from the cove. I've seen a few sheephead cruising the reefs there. My favorite spot is the kelp a few hundred yards toward Pt. Fermin from the outside of the cove. Overhangs, schools of fish, huge sand rose anemones and even Garibaldis.

 

[FrankPro1]

Stalked tunicates in your last pic. From the shots it looks as if you dived on the reef straight out from the cove. I've seen a few sheephead cruising the reefs there. My favorite spot is the kelp a few hundred yards toward Pt. Fermin from the outside of the cove. Overhangs, schools of fish, huge sand rose anemones and even Garibaldis.

Thanks for the id! I've never seen them before anywhere on the peninsula. There was a couple unique anemones on the reef we dove today, but none of the pics came out. They were really tiny, just bigger then a quarter and looked a lot like a Urticina mcpeaki but darker colored.

Charlie and I will definitively be going back to White Point on days like this. Its a shame we've neglected diving there this long, seeing how easy the access is. You'll have to show us where the overhangs are.

 

[ligersandtions]

White Point is a pretty cool site....I'm a fan of it. You just have to be careful when it's low or low-ish tide. It becomes a very long walk over the unstable rocks. If you can time it right to a +7 foot tide or something like that, you can almost step off the rocks at the entry and be floating....it makes it one of the easiest entries ever!

I'm glad you made it out and enjoyed the reef. It's very nice....now if only we could do something about the urchins, I can only imagine how great White Point would be! I'm also glad to hear the visibility is clearing up - sometimes WP can get really bad!

 

[blue steal]

Nice photos. Your dive computer sure gives a lot of information. Depths of 18-24ft. And ending a dive at 2000psi for 41 minutes, wow. Are they charging there now? I think it was $6.00 last year when we went to hike around. This might be the place of choice if Marineland is closed for another xxxx days.

 

[ligersandtions]

The price for parking at White Point is $2 if you get there before 9am, and $6 (I believe) if you get there after that. We usually try to plan it to get there before 9am, but it's worth it if you get there afterwards (especially if high tide is later in the day....it's definitely worth it to pay more to go on high tide).

The fee covers you from the time you enter to when it closes (so if you got there at 7am, you could stay all day long).

 

[FrankPro1]

If you can time it right to a +7 foot tide or something like that, you can almost step off the rocks at the entry and be floating....it makes it one of the easiest entries ever!

That would be pretty cool. I'm gonna have to look for a morning with a really high tide to go back there. Today we dove in a transitional tide from a 3.5 high to a 1.5 low. We picked our entry point from up top the cliff and only had to walk out a little bit before putting our fins on and swimming out.

Nice photos. Your dive computer sure gives a lot of information. Depths of 18-24ft. And ending a dive at 2000psi for 41 minutes, wow. Are they charging there now? I think it was $6.00 last year when we went to hike around. This might be the place of choice if Marineland is closed for another xxxx days.

Thanks. I should have brought my G10 today. Since I've had my Powershot, I've done two dives without it. Each time I've lost out on lots of great shots. My old Oly camera is very basic and runs out of batteries quick. It usually shuts down before the half way point of my dive.

I started with 3100 psi and ended with 2000psi at the end of 41 minutes. It was obviously a very shallow dive, but my SAC rate has been improving too. I've had similar profiles at Malga cove where I lasted over an hour and a half, still ending with a 1000psi or more.

I'm using a Suunto D4 computer. It a great little wrist mount computer. I really like the computer log software and USB cord accessory. Its an easy way to log your dives and SAC progress.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

At high tide you can sit on the cement blocks on the beach in the center of the picture, put your fins on and go. Exiting at high tide is great as well. Swim up to the cement, remove fins and step out. Low tide sucks big time.
The overhangs and best diving is just outside the kelp to the far left of the picture.

 

[FrankPro1]

The overhangs and best diving is just outside the kelp to the far left of the picture.

I was looking over there before starting the dive. I had an inkling to go over that way, should have went with my gut. All my dive maps and guides put the dive sites over out past the Japanese Spa Rock and then Palms. I will definitely head over there next time. Does it get at least a little deeper over that way? "Hopefully"

 

[JMdiver]

It doesn't get deep over there, the deepest I've gone was 37 fsw but the reef is awesome.

John