Refugio - Black Friday 2011

Hi -

My buddy Rich (TroupH2O) and I decided to meet up at one of my new favorite dive sites - Refugio Beach. Refugio is 1.5 hours north of LA, but is pretty much diveable anytime you want because of the shelter that it gets from Santa Cruz Island. It's also quite possibly one of the easiest beach entries that you can have if you're carrying a camera. This is the time of year when its a Hilton's Nudi-fest too! I was hoping that they'd be out in force and I wasn't dissappointed. We did about an hour dive at a max depth of 25 feet or so. I believe the water temp was around 55.

Phidiana hiltoni























Greg

Very nice shots.

Very cool. I've only seen a Phidiana hiltoni on a beach dive once, at Nicholas Canyon.

Hmmm...easy beach diving...I gotta check out Refugio then.

Great photos
A friend of mine went to Refugio the weekend before and said the visibility was almost zero and there was a lot of surge. Were the swells much larger last week than this weekend? What should one look for to help determine if Refugio is diveable? Thanks

Great Series. Excellent sculpin shot. Looks like I need to add Refugio to the list

Nice!
I've been to Refugio once but the wind was blowing about a zillion MPH. I may have to go back a give it another try.

Carpinteria was good for Phidiana last summer but is a long swim. Super calm though and not too deep. I see them in northern Malibu in the winter as well.

Been sick so diving vicariously. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the comments!

Bperc - My buddy lives in Buellton and I live in the Valley, so it generally is a toss up between who wants to make the drive. Lately I've been the one to make the drive north because of the shelter that Refugio gets and the easy entry / exit carrying a big camera. I'm not all that excited to try to do an exit at Leo or Deer Creek because of my past experiences in getting my a$$ handed to me at those spots. There was a bit of a ground swell this last weekend, but nothing that couldn't be managed with a little patience. Also, the vis does tend to get better if you get past the kelp on the south west side of the beach. We had about 15' of vis on the reefs that run parallel to the beach. I should say that most of the time we don't move too far on these reefs because we're generally there to take pictures. If you're up for more site seeing and varied topography, I'd suggest Tajiguas. Same type of critters, deeper, but a little bit more of a hike. No biggie though. Anyway, the Hilton's should be there for the next few months or so - I probably saw 5 within the first 15 minutes of the dive.

I use surfline to check the surf conditions:

Santa Barbara Surf Spots and Breaks | SURFLINE.COM

Greg

Nice pics for sure, Refugio was named for refuge, here's the story: El Refugio Beach CA page
Diving in high surf advisories/warnings from some shores, are reletively easy and safe...8+ft of clean lofty breaking waves with long periods, no problem. Try that at Refugio and you'll find the meanest plunging breakers around! They're gnarly and form fast!