Wrinkles April '07 Dive, BBQ and Campout Planning Thread - Leo Carrillo

[Divmstr223]

hmmmm...too bad!! Was looking forward to camping. I still might stay overnight locally on Saturday. Depends on the dinner plans, possible night dives, and alcohol...

I'll stay tuned for updates..:14:

 

[Jesster]

Hey...I just found this thread! For some unknown reason I was under the impression that the "Wrinkles" dives were always down in OC, so I never even looked at this.

Like, Ya know, the OC isn't that far from u valley people. Laguna has some great dive site's. You and Charlie should come down and check it out sometime. It's a 40 min drive for me and almost always worth it. lemme know in advance and I'd be happy to dive / guide you around some of them.

 

[Leejnd]

Y'know I've been dying to dive in the Laguna area -- I keep reading all these great dive reports. It's a bit of a haul for us from here tho...a good two hour drive. Not that we won't do that...just that it's hard with kids to carve out that much time. But I'll try to talk Charlie into it sometime soon...and I'll be expecting that guided tour from you!

Hey, we got married in Laguna, at Crescent Bay Point Park. I'd love to dive off the beaches that we could see when we said our vows some 23 years ago. How cool would that be?

Meanwhile, if there are going to be any dinner plans (especially involving alchohol ) next weekend, do let me know!

 

[CompuDude]

There is usually a dinner afterwards, with whoever sticks it out through to the end of the day.

 

[Leejnd]

Charlie and I went down to Leo Carrillo this morning to dive. Unfortunately we had to bag the dive...and here's why:

Those were just a leeetle too high for my liking. Anyway, we checked out the day use area. I have to admit that I had the day use area confused with the one at Sycamore Cove, which is nicer in terms of being shaded by trees, plus they only have porta-potties rather than restroom facilities. But it's still perfectly adequate for our purposes. Here's a pic of it -- I didn't get very close because there were a lot of people having barbecues, and I didn't want to disturb them. But if we get there early there should be no problem snagging a couple picnic tables and grills -- in fact there were still some open ones at 1pm today.

To get to the day use area, you enter Leo Carrillo on on the opposite side of the coast, pay the $10 day use fee, then follow the road straight to the north parking lot. The road goes under PCH and brings you right to the sand. The picnic tables and grills are right by lifeguard tower 4 on the south end of the parking lot.

You can enter the water right there, but I think it's pretty much sand and sanddollar beds there. The good reefs are a bit further south, so you can either swim there or take a bit of a hike up the bluff to this cove:

You have to climb down this staircase to get to it:

Hope this helps!

 

[Jesster]

Great report!Thanks LeeAnne.

 

[robertarak]

What an awesome report, thanx!!!

So what's it going to be guys? The picnic tables and grills, or the cove below the stairs of death? LOL
Just let me know where you are going to be so I can meet ya there. If I know me, I will be the first one there.

 

[Leejnd]

Well there's no picnic tables at the cove, so the best plan is probably to snag a couple of tables at the day use area (north parking lot) for our lunch and gathering area. You can then go in the water there and surface swim south to the cove area, or huff it with your gear on your back to the cove. I've walked further with my gear on!

 

[robertarak]

Great! Any idea how early the lot opens?

 

[Leejnd]

I just checked the Leo Carrillo website, and the gate opens at 7:00 am. Christian says he plans on being there by 7:00 -- I'm going to try to get there by 7:30.

Here's the website for further details:

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=616