Wrinkles Dive in Palos Verdes/Redondo area

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MaxBottomtime:
Any chance of adding the Palos Verdes area for 2006? Vet's, Malaga Cove, Marineland and White Point offer diving plus areas for picnics.
We don't have to wait until 2006.

At this point, we've set it up so that we have a fixed rotation of counties and a fixed day each month. It's the second Saturday of every month and goes from San Diego County to Orange County to Catalina Island to L.A. County. However, the locations in each county have not been set in stone.

It seems that The Shores for San Diego and Heisler Park for Orange County have worked out as "optimal" locations for a "base of operations". From those places any other sites can easily be reached. L.A. is a much larger area, so it makes sense that we might want to rotate L.A. locations.

Leo Carrillo has been used for L.A. County and turned into a "camping" weekend as well, but I see no reason that we couldn't have the L.A. County dive at someplace around PV. Leo Carrillo with camping was also a nice choice because it allowed us to include both a Saturday and a Sunday for those who can only make it on Sundays.

I'm not familiar enough with the areas where we could have a group of 40 - 50 people for a BBQ around PV, but I think this is a great idea is there are good places for this.

I'm sure some other people will chime in here with there opinions as well.

Christian
 
Click on the picture in the center of each page. It may take awhile to open the larger image. Veteran's Park(Redondo) has picnic tables and a canyon to dive in. Malaga has shallow diving with room on the atheletic field or parking lot for a picnic, or down on the sand at RAT Beach. Marineland has great diving with a large parking lot for a picnic area/tailgate party. White Point has a picnic area, but the diving is just OK.

http://www.californiacoastline.org/...4,0,328,0,33.807833,118.400500,360,225,103,61

http://www.californiacoastline.org/...,0,328,0,33.749833,118.417167,360,225,134,209

http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=4372&mode=sequential&flags=0&year=2002

http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=4517&mode=sequential&flags=0&year=2002
 
Thanks Phil. That's really helpful. I didn't realize that they had put such a nice facility down on the beach at Whites Point. Anyway, I think that's the one that reads Royal Palms State Beach. Years ago this was actually a nice place to dive and you could park right next to the water where you entered. I haven't dove there since the area where the thermal vents are was covered in white fungus.

We won't be back in L.A. County until August, which gives people plenty of time to visit each of these sites and specifically view them for their potential as an L.A. County location for the Wrinkles Dive and BBQ. A decision could be made by the end of June or the beginning of July, so that people who have to travel can plan well in advance if they need to.

I may split this discussion out into it's own thread, so that people don't miss it and so it doesn't get lost in the planning discussion for this month's Wrinkles Dive. I'll wait until tomorrow to do that. If anyone has an objection, this will give them time to voice that and allow people to discuss it here. If not, then I'll go ahead and split it and put it in the main forum for discussion.

Christian
 
I split this thread out from the old Wrinkles Planning thread that it was buried in. It seems like a good time to resurrect it, since August is just under 2 months away.

If we are going to rotate in the Palos Verdes/Redondo area, I suggest that we do it during months when the prospects of a nice Leo Carrillo "all weekend camping event" are more uncertain.

We lucked out last December with an absolutely gorgeous weekend at Leo, but that's tough to count on. Those of us who were there were very pleasantly surprised!

Each county gets visited 3 times per year with the current rotation schedule. We've combined LA and Ventura counties with the Leo Carrillo location, but we could vary the site for this.

I think that April and August at Leo Carrillo are months that are more easily counted on (in terms of weather) for camping and making it an entire dive weekend. Also, since usually the winter diving has better vis than summer diving, if we have less than stellar vis in the summer on a camping weekend, at least we can have more fun with the camping and let that take center stage for the event. This is exactly what happened in April and we had a blast!

I think we should rotate in the Palos Verdes/Redondo area for a single day event in December when you'd usually have to be pretty lucky to get a warm enough weekend for this to be a good choice.

Off the top of my head, those are my thoughts and I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.

Christian
 
Having done a couple, I can give you this.
White's is great facilities for BBQ, but only OK diving and pretty dangerous due to the slippery, rocky entry. The cool thing about White's is that you've got hydro-thermal vents in fairly shallow areas. They're not big enough to warm the water but you can pull your glove off and stick your hand above them for warm water. You can spot them by the white bacteria which lives at the vent. All in all, an OK dive at best. The actual dive spot is off the the right of the photo at the other end of the parking lot. Here under the baseball diamond.
I wouldn't count on Marine Land for a BBQ. It just transferred ownership and the new owners require a lot of paperwork to give permission. You can dive there as an individual, but it's not worth the hassle for a group. And there are no facilities.
I have only done Malaga once and it would probably be cool. I don't know much about the facilities. Good reefy, kelpy diving.
Vet's is the opposite with good sandy, canyon-y diving. Up the stairs is a whole park area with tables. Bring your own grill but there are cement receptacles for hot coals.
Good times.
 
MaxBottomtime:
Any chance of adding the Palos Verdes area for 2006? Vet's, Malaga Cove, Marineland and White Point offer diving plus areas for picnics.
Just my two cents ...

Vet's Park is an awesome night dive, but the only people I know who go there during the day are there for skills dives. The main show marine-life-wise is at night.

Likewise I think I've done Malaga only at night ... though its daytime prospects are probably better than Vet's.

I've been wanting to get to White Point, but some of my buddies just won't go, because they're underwhelmed by the diving there. (Heat vents that degrade vis, etc.)

Which leaves Marineland ... undisputedly an awesome dive spot.

Max, you've dived all of them more than I have -- am I wrong on any of that?

Edit: I just saw Renee's comments -- good point about the lack of facilities and potential problems with barbecue at Marineland. Hard to say which would win out when you do the diving-vs-facilities equation ... after Marineland, Malaga probably has the best daytime diving ... but I don't remember any restrooms at Malaga, is there something you can reach by hiking down RAT beach?
 
Unfortunately, Vet's and White Point are the only sites with picnin and restroom facilities. I've made a couple dozen daytime dives at Vet's. Once you get into the canyon it's the same as a night dive and often just as dark. White's gets great vis during periods of Santana, but usually only a couple times per year. Marineland is still my favorite. Maybe next year when we have better shore facilities after the construction.
 
headhunter:
I split this thread out from the old Wrinkles Planning thread that it was buried in. It seems like a good time to resurrect it, since August is just under 2 months away.

If we are going to rotate in the Palos Verdes/Redondo area, I suggest that we do it during months when the prospects of a nice Leo Carrillo "all weekend camping event" are more uncertain.

We lucked out last December with an absolutely gorgeous weekend at Leo, but that's tough to count on. Those of us who were there were very pleasantly surprised!

Each county gets visited 3 times per year with the current rotation schedule. We've combined LA and Ventura counties with the Leo Carrillo location, but we could vary the site for this.

I think that April and August at Leo Carrillo are months that are more easily counted on (in terms of weather) for camping and making it an entire dive weekend. Also, since usually the winter diving has better vis than summer diving, if we have less than stellar vis in the summer on a camping weekend, at least we can have more fun with the camping and let that take center stage for the event. This is exactly what happened in April and we had a blast!

I think we should rotate in the Palos Verdes/Redondo area for a single day event in December when you'd usually have to be pretty lucky to get a warm enough weekend for this to be a good choice.

Off the top of my head, those are my thoughts and I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.

Christian

Malaga Cove is really at its best as a summer dive when the swell has been coming from the south for at least several days. Under those conditions visibility can get up over 20 feet pretty easily. In the fall we get the more common north swell which drops the visibility close to shore to zip, and maybe 10 feet farther out. A BBQ at Malaga would be possible but there are limited faculties there (up the hill at Malaga Cove Plaza there are more facilities). In the summer it can be a really great dive. Other times of the year it can be too, but it is hit or miss.

There are a number of other fair to good diving spots in Palos Verdes (Marieland, Pt. Vinente, Whites Point, Christmas Tree Cove, Neptune's Cove, Haggerties, Flat Rock, Abalone Cove and a few secret spots) but there are few facilities. And shore access usually means a climb. Good diving but more work than some places.

A day dive in Malaga followed by a night dive there or at Vets might be a good combination.
 
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