Mission bay diving

[billmach]

Hi all. I am heading to paradise point resort in mission bay
in Aug.can anyone tell me about the diving in mission bay?
Im going to be staying in a beach front cabana on a little lagoon
so im sure it will be cool in the lagoon but what about anywhere else
in the bay
thanks

 

[bigbadwolfe]

Do not dive in mission bay. You will be run over by boats and there is nothing to see other than mud. There are two companies that run dive operations out of mission bay. They go to the yukon (Sunken destroyer}, the kelp forest, or the coranado islands. Also for a shore dive the Lajolla shores is an option. Search dive San Diego to get the names of the operators. caldiveboats.com is my favorite. The dive masters will dive with you if you do not have a buddie or if it is your first dive at that sight. If nothing else contact me and I will help you get some people to dive with. San Diego is a great place to dive and run around in. :11:

 

[Mantasscareme]

Greetings From California
I'm a San Diego resident and an avid diver, but I really haven't ever been diving in San Diego (I've dove in Kona, HI and am interested in doing a few dives here a bit later this year). As far as I know, there's really no shore diving in Mission Bay. The area has very heavy boat traffic of both sailing vessels and speed boats and I don't think the Paradise Point resort has any diving facilities. There may very well be some cool marine life in the bay, but to my knowledge, the locals DO NOT dive there. On a lighter note, there are plenty of day boats based in Mission Bay. The Dive Bliss http://www.divebliss.com/ is based in Quivira Harbor, which is near Paradise Point. I'm yet to dive with them, but I'm planning on booking a trip with them to the Coronado Islands (one hour ofshore from Mission Bay in Mexican territorial waters, supposed to have a sea lion colony there) in late July. If you want me to tell you how that went, please tell me in your next post under this thread. If you get a rental car, you'd be able to explore the really great shore diving opertunities that SD has to offer at the La Jolla sites such as the Famous La Jolla Cove or sites like La Jolla Shores (submarine canyon) or the marine room with it's tame leopard sharks and bat rays. Again, I'm yet to start diving locally, so this is all second hand info. Personally, I would directly e-mail or call someone who does a lot of diving in San Diego, like the staff at Dive Bliss or the crew of the boat Lois Ann http://www.loisann.com/, or a local dive shop like http://www.divinglocker.com/, or the concierge at Paradise Point, to ask whether there is any shore diving at all in Mission Bay (I doubt it, but I'm probably wrong). If not, don't get discouraged, there's still a lot of fun to be had in San Diego. One last thought, maybe you'd get more responces if you had posted in the North America forum, United States-California Kelp Divers-SoCal subform
Good Luck With That
-Mantasscareme

 

[bigbadwolfe]

Mantasscareme; I do not know if pesonal information is posted here but if either of you would like to get together to do a dive call 760 725 5910 ( the scuba center) and tell them you want to get ahold of Mike Wolfe to set up a dive please do. I have been down to the shores looking for a dive buddie but they are usually students and are with their class. Would love to find someone to dive with.

 

[ShakaZulu]

I love this.........tell me what the vis was in Mission Bay.

 

[bigbadwolfe]

I anchored my sail boat there once and some schmuck crossed my line, the vis was about 10 to 15 feet. If I had not had my gear with me this would have been a problem. My freinds that were sailing with me (non divers) wanted to tie a line around my ankle in case I got into trouble. Bad idea. The bottom there (the first cove to the left once you enter the bay) was pure mud/sand. I did not see a single fish while untangleing the lines.

 

[billmach]

I'm really only going because I love the resort.
I've dived around coronado and shore dived
near mission beach. I was at paradise point 4 weeks ago on my honeymoon
and didnt bring dive gear. The time was devoted to the wife.
but being on the bay i wondered if it was diveable.
saw lots of swimmers and snorklers in the lagoon.

 

[Mantasscareme]

Thanks for the offer Mike, but I'm probably not going to do much shore diving this year. I'm still new to cold water diving, so I want to try out my skills in a situation that doesn't require a surf entry, e.i in the Coronados, before diving La Jolla Shores from the beach

 

[scubanimal]

BillMach,
I've dove in mission bay (lobster hunting), don't as others said not much to see, dangerous. I found an old pump the hard way by running into it. The diving is so bad the Navy Seals do the diving to set up the annual crew classic race. Even diving to service my boat is not fun. La Jolla Cove should be nice again in a couple weeks. If you are good in the water and can stay out of the seals' way children's pool is a wonderful dive area, just keep your head out of the water until your outside the breakwater.

mantasscareme (cool name by the way). If you are wanting to acclimate slowly to cold water I would like to suggest that you wait another month then go out La Jolla Cove (med beach entry) or do La Jolla shores/Marine room (very easy shore dives) early in the morning. Stay shallow above 40'. By the end of Aug the water is usually not to bad (mid 60's). If you head out to the Coronado's or Yukon expect it to be colder (most of the time). Better still though is go to Catalina and dive Casino Pt. By early August its pretty warm (for So.Cal) if you stay above 40'.

my $0.02

 

[kd7fds]

Hi all. I am heading to paradise point resort in mission bay
in Aug.can anyone tell me about the diving in mission bay?
Im going to be staying in a beach front cabana on a little lagoon
so im sure it will be cool in the lagoon but what about anywhere else
in the bay
thanks

It's been many years, but I dove in Mission Bay once. I was in the Navy at the time and getting my OW quals. It was the scene of our first open water dive. If my memory is correct, it was more to the southern? edge in a river channel. The river was dry, so the only current was tidal. All I remember is rocks, a sandy bottom covered with thousands of sand dollars. Oh yeah and 3 feet of vis.

I never went back. There are lots nicer places to dive in San Diego than there.