Shore Diving Orange County

Rouky · Sep 23, 2004

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a good shore dive site in OC or Palos Verdes with a nice kelp bed (we plan to day saturday 2nd). I have friends visiting here and the sea was too rough last sunday in San Diego (but we dove the Yukon and Ruby on monday).

I sometimes dive on Catalina on boat trips but we don't want to spend the full day.

Is there also a website to check the dive condition?

Thanks for you advices.

Erik

ScubaSeanMaui · Sep 24, 2004

I don't think there is any kelp in Orange County. Pasley and I were looking for some kelp marked in a scuba book but we didn't see any. I guess the urchins eat the kelp.
Perhaps someone else can tell you about Palos Verdes.

Check diving conditions here:

http://www.myoc.com/weather/ocean.shtml

http://cdip.ucsd.edu/models/forecast/fm_scb_xxx.gif

http://www.lagunaseasports.com/conditions/conditions.asp

hermosadive · Sep 24, 2004

Malaga Cove is a mix of kelp and reef. Nothing like what you get in Catalina or other kelp heavy spots, but a great diving spot regardless. http://www.geocities.com/sandeaters/sites/mc.htm

A few minutes away is Christmas Tree Cove which has reef and a med. sized kelp bed in the center of the cove. This is a nice spot but the hike is going to test you!

Both of these sites are in PV and easy to locate with some basic directions. There are many other good dives in the area, I'm just not too sure about the kelp. As the other post mentioned, Pasley probably can suggest some good spots.

Roland

RGist · Mar 17, 2005

You might try Cress Street in Laguna it is known to be one of the beaches to have kelp in Orange County. For more information regarding Cress street and other Orange County Dive Sites got to Orange County Scuba

pasley · Mar 17, 2005

Kelp in Orange County. The troble with kelp is it is there one year and not the next. A storm may tear it out or urchins may take over. But here goes.

Cyrstal Coves Reef Point has kelp, or did a few months ago. You might ask the OC Kelphelpers this question. They are a great group planting kelp in OC. They should know where it is and will be.

In Palos Verde, Malaga Cove, Old Marineland (had some last year but I noticed duing my dives there in February I did not see much if any).

I would ping the sandeaters e-mail list and south coast divers for their ideas.

scottfiji · Mar 17, 2005

malaga cove has thick kelp, but you had better be in good shape to hike back up the hill, its steep. And that's the easiest dive spot in palos verdes! vis is also iffy sometimes, you need good conditions.

I wouldn't recommend x-mas tree cove to anyone who doesn't have experience hiking up/down steep trails in dive gear.

There is a kelp bed in marineland, off long point, at around 40-45 ft depth. Point vincente probably has kelp too, but I haven't dove there yet.

I haven't heard of kelp at cress street, RGist, how much kelp have you seen there? (I assume you were talking about Macrocystis (Giant Kelp), not Boa Kelp).

Scott

RGist · Mar 17, 2005

There is both Boa Kelp and Giant Kelp at Cress. It has been a while and the storms have probably changed the beach considerably, but it is known to be there at times.

Algae · Mar 18, 2005

I've really taken to Little Corona lately (though last week had horrid viz). There is a bit of kelp to the left (South?) but it is a really nice site. I don't think a lot of people go there so it is pretty pristine. It is a very shallow dive though, especially during low tide.

Shore Diving Orange County

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