Diving in Rocky Point?

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krcollins

krcollins

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
92
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Location
Seattle, WA
# of dives
200 - 499
I've heard it is not so good. Is it worth a trip or is it like our local lakes but with a 3 hour drive? I've also heard of a new liveaboard based out of there that will do Sea of Cortez mid-islands?

Only accounts of real experience please.
 
We take our OW classes to Rocky Pt. It's a great place to train new divers. I haven't had a chance to dive Phoenix area lakes yet, but I'd bet Rocky Pt. is better. Its the ocean afterall! Shore diving Rocky Pt. is very shallow, depths range from 15-40 ft depending on tide & where you go in. Visibility is normally good and theres abundant fish life but mostly small fish.
There are a couple charter boats that can take you to Bird Island where diving is pretty good. Large Sea Lion colony that loves to interact with divers. Its about an hour & a 1/2 boat ride to the island. Its well worth a trip, I believe. Winter is a good time to go, water temps in the 60's with good vis, I've seen 40 ft from shore. Summer diving there is hit & miss do to strong winds causing rough seas. Extreme tide changes occur in this area of the Sea of Cortez, and there can be some current as a result.
 
That does not sound too bad. Why the bum rap then?

Any recommendations for an LDS down there?
 
I went to Rocky Point to scope it out once. Conditions were less than favorable. We couldn't find any decent entry points, but maybe we just didn't look in the right places. We stopped in at what I believe is the only dive shop in town to ask them about diving and were basically told, it's hit or miss, and even when the boat does go out, the diving isn't that great. The shop owners didn't seem too enthusiastic about diving in the area.

Dale, where do you do your shore dives? We might head back down in February or March to check it out again, without stopping at the shop down there...
 
i have gone to rock point ones and i liked it better then the lakes. but i went with a LDS on a two day trip
 
I went down in October, but didn't bring any gear with me after hearing the the conditions weren't worth it.

When I got down there, I ended up buying a cheap pair of swim goggles. Even from the town end of sandy beach, I saw a ton of small tropical fish (mostly sargeant majors, but also a small stingray and several flatfish) around every bit of structure (rocks and what-not). It seemed as though the bottom substrate under the sand is volcanic, so I wouldn't be suprised to find there are lots of unexpected holes and boulders dotting the otherwise sandy bottom. I'm used to 15' vis in the ocean at home, and found it to be slightly better in Puerto Penasco. Still, I was on a 5-day tequilla bender, so I opted not to investigate further.

If I go again, I'll be diving while I'm there.
 
I'm not sure how related to this forum my question is but I'm planning a trip to Rocky Point and really want to dive Bird Island. I called a place that will book a private DM to take you out to Bird Island, but the guy on the phone said that you should be an experienced diver and that there are sharks around Bird Island. I told him that diving there would be our first certified dives so he suggested taking a little hour long class/dive on how to dive with sharks. Now I'm wondering if that is just a way to get a little more money out of us, it's like a $45 class, or if sharks around Bird Island is really something to worry about. I've seen other sites that will let you do like a little "discover scuba" thing at Bird Island if you're not a certified diver and I wouldn't think they'd let people do that if sharks were an issue there. Also if anyone has any info or links on places they've gone through down there, that'd be helpful. Thanks.
 
I've read up a bit on rocky point diving since this thread started and haven't read a single thing about sharks. Bird Island is a CA. Sea Lion Rookery so I'd assume it's plausible, but problematic, I doubt it. How exactly do you take a class on how to dive with sharks? I've also read reports of children snorkeling at the island and what not, so I would guess that it's not that big a problem, if you consider a shark encounter a problem. I'd be more worried about those Humboldt Squid, those buggers are mean, of course during the day they aren't a problem. Everthing I've read doesn't insinuate that Bird Island is a dive only for the "experienced", it slopes to 60', current could be strong if not diving at the correct time I suppose. Sounds pretty good actually, I'm definitely going to have to check it out soon!

-Garrett
 
Thanks Garrett! Yeah I figured it was probably a way to get more money, but I wanted to ask and make sure!! Think it would be a good first certified dive??
 
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