Looking for a SoCal beach dive with fairly consistent good conditions

Limey72 · Apr 4, 2013

My girlfriend and I did a 700 mile round trip today to la jolla cove for some beach diving and the conditions were less than ideal to say the least for such a long trip. Now we both understand that no one can control weather conditions but can anyone suggest any SoCal beach dives with the exception of avalon park on catalina island that have fairly consistent good conditions.

thank you in advance

diverrex · Apr 5, 2013

Laguna Beach usually has good conditions but having said that the fact is our diving in California is inconsistent even out at the islands.

Some days the beaches aren't even divable.

blue steal · Apr 5, 2013

Conditions change, sometimes rather quickly. One day it is 25' VIS, no surge, waves, then next thing you know it is choppy, windy, with big waves. I check the weather often, then the marine forecast.
You could check a few web cams, check out the surf reports, or even check in here to see if anyone has an update.

Bopper · Apr 5, 2013

Limey72:
My girlfriend and I did a 700 mile round trip today to la jolla cove for some beach diving and the conditions were less than ideal to say the least for such a long trip. Now we both understand that no one can control weather conditions but can anyone suggest any SoCal beach dives with the exception of avalon park on catalina island that have fairly consistent good conditions.

thank you in advance

Well unfortunately I have to believe that you'll probably be disappointed with SoCal mainland diving in general because I dove La Jolla Shores last night and it was better than average conditions. We've had exceptionally good conditions this week (30 - 40ft last night). I think some people think they're gonna get 50 foot viz all the time. In fact, 5 ft viz is probably more common than 50 ft when you're talking about shore dives.

lamarpaulski · Apr 5, 2013

Laguna usually has a diveable cove. Catalina is the way to go if you're investing a 700 mile drive.

mmcdanie · Apr 5, 2013

South Coast Divers sends out daily updates on conditions around Laguna Beach.

Scuba Diving Laguna Beach with South Coast Divers

Limey72 · Apr 5, 2013

Thanks for the info guys bopper the viz wasn't the issue, obviously the better viz the better it was the fact that the cove turned pretty nasty half way through the first dive and we were getting thrown around a lot on exiting. This was not the first time we had dove here but the worst conditions, on that long of a trip we wanted some thing more stable so our next trip in may will be Laguna

diverrex · Apr 5, 2013

I've called the Laguna dive shop to ask about conditions then made the drive down (only 60 miles for me) only to look at current conditions and decide not to dive. More power to you wanting to dive but there is no way I would make a 700 mile drive to dive Laguna or any of our shore dives, simply too variable in conditions with usually only a decent dive. I'd dive the islands after that long of drive.

SCUBA_Phil · Apr 5, 2013

Limey72,
Look at the CDIP website predictions before you start your drive. As noted in other comments Laguna is a good choice.

CDIP recent forecast fm_scb_xxx

diverrex · Apr 5, 2013

Just to show our conditions are inconsistent many of our local boats have cancelled for this weekend because of sea conditions, otherwise the weather looks great for the weekend.

Looking for a SoCal beach dive with fairly consistent good conditions

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