New to SoCal - Beach Diving?

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fmeroney

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Hello Everyone,

I'm new to SoCal Diving and was wondering about the beach scene here. Where are the hot spots and what is the best times... I know it's a broad question but if you don't want to elaborate... please just simply put Laguna, 9:00 am or High Tide. It would help me start off great.

Also, how many people usually Dive at the spots, are they usually packed like 20 - 30 people or is it very minimal here. I learned in New England and have made only Dives to Catalina since I got here. I would like to save some money by doing some beach dives and all the help I get would be great.

I would greatly appreciate all recomendations..........Thanks

Frank0
 
Dive anytime, anywhere there is rock, kelp, or a canyon

mornings and night are great
afternoon is good
high tide is good
low tide is ok depending on the spot

best spots are la jolla, laguna, Palos verdes, redondo beach, malibu, and other spots in between

Just buy Schecklers "so-cal's best beach diving" and you will be on your way

also, a good web site for dive sites and planned beach dives:
http://www.sandeaters.org/

Scott
 
Best thing to do frank, is get a franko's map. Sport chalet and other dive shops always have them. If you get the one for the Orange County coast, you're stylin. Most of the Laguna dive sites dont have crowds. If youre looking for a crowd, try shaws cove from 6-10 am on any weekend day. Plenty of good dives all along the coast.

John
 
Sounds like you need to come to the Wrinkles dive next week and meet the crew and have way too much fun... See the above post for all the details. I am actually surprised that Christian has mentioned it yet!!

Terry
 
Casino Point in Catalina is a great place to start. After that try Redondo (best at night), Malibu, Palos Verdes, Laguna Beach, and La Jolla. The book entitled "So Cal Best Beach Dives" is a very good guide plus the Franko's maps. Check out www.sandeaters.org , this group gets together every Sunday or thereabouts for a shore dive somewhere along the coast. Many dive clubs in the area as well. California Diving News is another local source to get an idea of what options are available. Just a FYI, we have 8 islands, Oil rigs, various wrecks and tons of shore diving up and down the entire coast so no shortage of possibilities plus Northern and Central CA as well. Have fun!
 
I would definitely suggest coming to one of our monthly Wrinkles Dive as divinman has mentioned.

This is a great place to meet new dive buddies and find out about the many many places that we have available to do beach dives here in SoCal. This month we're meeting in La Jolla at The Shores on Saturday, May 14th. It will be a day filled with diving, BBQing and just plain making new friends. It's quite a friendly group, so you don't have to worry if you don't have a buddy. One of us will always be willing to dive with you.

There is more info on that in a "sticky" thread about the Wrinkles Dive at the top of the "Trips and Local Marketplace... SoCal" forum. Just click on the links in this paragraph and it will take you there.

By the way, I've combined your two threads into one to keep all this info in one place for you.

I hope that you are able to make it to the Wrinkles Dive this month. It is one of the best ways to start finding out more about the SoCal area. You'll meet people from all over SoCal and then you can get together with them and dive many different places.

Also, to answer you original question a bit more directly, all of our SoCal sites can be quite spectacular. Conditions will dictate which ones are best to dive at any moment in time. The direction that the swells are coming into shore, wind and rain all have something to do with it. Sometimes your best bet is a north facing beach and sometimes it is a south facing beach. This week it seems that the best beach dives were either in Laguna at Deadman's reef or in Palos Verdes at Old Marineland/Long Point. Also, if I'm remembering the dive reports correctly, it looks like La Jolla Shores would have also been a top contender.

Hope this helps and hope to dive with you soon.

Christian
 
www.sandeaters.org will get you wet once a week and has a list of local dive sites from Malibu to Orange County (Oange County is under revision at the moment). Their e-mail list will get you wet more often if you want. A message here will also get you wet.

When the conditions are good, I usally go once or twice a week (ok, so maybe 3 times).
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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