San Diego Buddy needed 7/25-27

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broadreach

Contributor
Messages
224
Reaction score
38
Location
San Joaquin Valley, California
# of dives
200 - 499
I'll be visiting San Diego next weekend with my family and weather permitting, I would like to go for a shore dive while there.
I have my own gear including dry suit and some experience shore diving in California (I dived near Monterey yesterday), but have never dived in San Diego. I hear that La Jolla offers some great diving so I'm curious about diving there. Otherwise I'm open to suggestions and would go for either daytime or night dive. My only preference is to go with someone who knows the area well since I don't.

Thanks!
 
One of California's biggest and friendliest dive clubs, PowerScuba, is hosting dive events that coincide with the city-sponsored and free La Jolla Concerts By The Sea on Sundays. Here is the link to the event for your weekend. I'd advise you get there early. Like 7AM early. Parking is tough. The park becomes a downright zoo by 12PM. Its a day long affair and includes a free concert; perfect for a family. They often share food and you can bring something to contribute, but if you prefer not to roll the dice on a potluck just bring food for yourself; I'd bring my own drinks regardless of what you decide about the food. There's usually a discussion in the comments section leading up to the event. Keep an eye out for them for add'l info, or feel free to ask questions. I've never seen anyone have a problem finding a buddy (especially if you're there at 7AM). To attend the dive event you must sign up for the event on the MeetUp website and join PowerScuba, which is also free.

And oh yeah...bring lots of sunscreen.
 
The most common sites are LJ Cove, which is about 30-60fsw and kelpy with all sorts of sea life - sheep crabs, garibaldi, sea bass, and I forget what else because I haven't been there a while - they're currently doing construction afaik on the park so getting to the stairs is a little bit long. MarineRoom (named after the restaurant next to the stairs to get down to the ocean) is shallow (5-15fsw) and kelpy towards the south with lots of sea bass, rays, skates, senioritas, garibaldi, sheephead, giant kelpfish, and lots of sea grass too. If you head west straight out from entry, there's a deep canyon with umm.. muck/mud with lots of critters in it. LJ Shores is a flat bed of sand from 0fsw to about 50ish fsw that has various rays and sand dollars on it, then it drops as a mucky wall down to I think 80-90fsw with all sorts of critters in the wall including sarcastic fringehead, small octos, sometimes skates, maybe a couple wolf eels (one resident for sure), crabs (swimming, sheepcrabs), sheephead fish, and surprise critters like nudis. Oh and possibility of sea lions, horn sharks, leopard sharks, and 7gill sharks at all of these sites I think.
 
Thanks for all the info and links. I will definitely try to make it to the La Jolla event early Sunday morning. The weather forecast looks promising so far, although it can obviously change.
 
We have 3 in our group diving Sunday around noon at the cove. Welcome to join us. We will have a gazebo setup. PM me if you want contact info to coordinate.. Also can do a night dive at the canyon if you would like at the shores. Live at the Beach in the shores, Great playground at the dive location called Kellogg Park if you have young ones.

Thanks for all the info and links. I will definitely try to make it to the La Jolla event early Sunday morning. The weather forecast looks promising so far, although it can obviously change.
 
I'd like to report back about my dive experience in La Jolla. I ended up going to La Jolla cove early on Sunday morning (around 7 AM). I found the friendly folks of Power Scuba and went in for a dive with one of them.
We surface-swam out to the buoy and dropped to about 45 feet into the kelp. The water was rather warm (around 70 degrees F) and quite bright. Unlike my recent dives in Monterey/Carmel it seems that the kelp in La Jolla is more spaced out. It doesn't usually reach the surface and doesn't block out the sun.

We explored the area slowly and were greeted with many inquisitive Garibaldis and Sheepheads that crowded around us and came so close that we could count their teeth. Every crack seemed to be crowded with lobsters and at one point my dive buddy counted 17 lobsters sharing one crack with a reddish crab of a different species.

Before the dive I had inquired with my dive buddy about the likelihood of seeing leopard sharks and she told me that she had never seen a shark while diving there. A few minutes into our dive we spotted a large silvery silhouette passing in the distance. I initially thought that it might be a sealion, but as the silhouette got closer I saw that it was a shark. The shark came back several more times, always cruising at the edge of visibility, rarely getting closer. It was very timid and when I made a sudden movement to point it out to my buddy the shark flipped its tail and disappeared. It later made a few additional passes and we tried to stay still and not spook it too much. Later discussions with other divers suggest that it was most likely a soupfin shark, but I am not 100% sure as the photos of soupfins I have seen suggest a very slender shark and I had the impression that the shark we have seen was a bit bulkier but I never got really close so I am not sure.
After more than an hour underwater I started running somewhat low on air and we surfaced, but realizing that we were still a long way from the beach we decided to swim just below the surface while monitoring my gauge. Shortly after descending again my buddy spotted what we believe was a banded guitarfish. I am not 100% sure as I only saw the head (the tail was hidden under the sea-grass) but the shape of the head and the color pattern suggest a guitarfish.
A short distance away, we encountered an inverted dead sealion and a few live ones that came to look at their friend. At this point my air was really low and we concluded the dive. We surfaced in a surprise thunderstorm and heavy rain but enjoyed the swim back between the sealions that kept popping in and out around us, the cormorants and pelicans flying low over our heads and a whole bunch of swimmers and kayakers sharing the cove.
I don't know if my experience is typical for La Jolla cove, but it was my best California dive to date.
 
Very friendly atmosphere for divers in LaJolla cove. Glad you enjoyed . Laurent
 
I'd like to report back about my dive experience in La Jolla....

...I don't know if my experience is typical for La Jolla cove, but it was my best California dive to date.

Glad to hear you had a good time. I'm lazy and enjoy bullet points:


  • Although kelp may very well be "thinner" in La Jolla than Monterey on average, kelp by its nature varies in density from season to season and year to year. I'd say this is a generally "thinner" year. Furthermore, kelp density can even vary greatly throughout the Cove. There's a patch just southeast of Buoy A (that's right....the buoy was named after my handle :wink:) that tends to be thick and dark and I like to go there for that reason. Kelp in La Jolla very often does reach the surface and often makes the kickouts more of a chore.
  • Leopard sharks are especially skittish when it comes to scuba divers; ppl who want to see leopard sharks in La Jolla tend to snorkel. Most common area is Marine Room, just east of the Cove and south of the Shores.
  • I've never seen a leopard shark or a soupfin at the Cove. I have however seen 7 gill sharks, which are not nearly as skittish as leopard sharks. However, the reason other ppl probably discounted the possibility of it being a 7 gill is because they tend to be seen in "waves" or "periods" where patches of divers start reporting seeing them. There haven't been recent reports of seeing them at the Cove.
  • A July thunderstorm is very uncommon for San Diego. But if I could get a shower of freshwater as I kick back in from a dive, I'd pay extra for that.:cool2:


Question for you: Could you see any injuries to the dead sea lion? Obviously you'd never be able to know if they occurred before or after death, but I was just curious.
 
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