Date:6/5
Location:Old Marineland (Long Point), Palos Verdes
Time: 10am-ish
Vis:3'-8' (or so we were told)
Current: running west
Wave height: mostly 0; occasionally 3-4 footers
Temp at depth:52 degrees
Tide information:looooooow
Commments: I should preface this report by saying that my buddy and I actually bailed entirely on the dive. We went with 11 others from our club, who intended to enter at the rocky point to the west, swim east, and exit at the cove. I hiked all the way down there in my gear, took one look at all those slimy, exposed rocks at low tide, and said No Way! They started clambering in, and Jeff and I headed east to the cove to try entering there (less steep, smaller rocks). There we ran into two guys getting out who said there was a nasty current running west, and crappy vis.
I made a half-hearted attempt to get in for a snorkel, just to see if it was worth diving anyway. Slid around on the rocks, got dragged along them by one pretty good wave, and decided it just plain wasn't worth it. Hiked back up the hill.
Jeff never got in the water. Back at the parking lot, he dumped out his booties... full of sweat! Yuck. At least it was cloudy.
Anyway, we headed back down to see how our club was faring. They did about 30 minutes of bottom time, and then came up in the same place they started after making no headway against the current! A few managed to haul themselves back out on the point (did NOT look fun - there were occasionally REALLY big waves), but most headed for the cove. Against the current.
20 minutes later, we started helping people out at the cove in between sets of waves. A few didn't make it quite that far, so Jeff and the guys that we'd run into earlier met them sort of halfway, and helped them scramble back across the rocks.
All in all, I can't say I'm sorry I called the dive! I might try it again at high tide someday. We were assured by everyone that conditions are rarely that murky at Old Marineland. Anyway, we got a LOT of exercise, even without diving!
And we remembered why we're boat diving wimps/snobs. <grin>