Guide suggestions for San Diego / LA Jolla area

[enduser]

I will be in the San Diego area the weekend after Thanksgiving. Looking to get in a couple of dives for myself and brother in law who are both Newbs. We dive cold water just mostly mountain lakes in Utah.

I was thinking LA Jolla Shores and La Jolla cove as possible sites? Any suggestions on a shop or a guide?

Thanks!

 

[cmrangel]

Hi enduser. I am in the SD area and can recommend House of Scuba. They have some good DM's. I have worked with Tony G. who is both an instructor and does guided dives as well. They are fairly close to the La Jolla area and also have a fairly big internet presence. Their shop is not huge but they have a good staff (Got my OW and working on my AOW with them now). There are also several other good dive shops in the area as well, yelp can help.

La Jolla Shores is an easy shore dive and is well protected. La Jolla Cove can be rough sometimes depending on wave direction and can also have very poor vis. If it is clear and calm, it is a great dive however, more critters than the shores. There is also several dive boats (Marissa, loisann, water horse) that offer both kelp diving and diving at wreck alley. Some also go to the coronado islands (1.5 hr boat ride) that has good diving and usually good vis.

Have fun!!

 

[diversteve]

Divebums - A San Diego Dive Website - check local information for shops/boats. To get out into the Kelp you really need a boat dive off Point Loma.

If you're diving the Cove on a weekend day get there really early - parking is really limited. 7AM wouldn't be too early IMO. There's parking both just before the cove (entering from the north it's one way or along the park just past it. There's also a paid garage in "downtown" LaJolla - the steps to the side of it lead right down to the Cove. It's in a several story buiding - might be a bank there also. It might be the white building in the upper left corner of this photo:

La Jolla Cove Aerial View <- this image is copyrighted so I'll just link to it but it shows the area in detail. The line angling down from the center right ends at the steps down to the cove.

 

[AZTinman]

Recently, I spent a week in La Paz with House of Scuba folks and genuinely enjoyed my time with them. If I wanted a dive guide for the La Jolla area, I wouldn't hesitate to go through them.

House of Scuba is a well-stocked dive shop with a sizable inventory. If you're looking for a dive product that's not in their storefront, they simply direct you to an in-store computer terminal to look at their website. The shop has a huge, attached warehouse and staff members will pull the items you want to look at and bring the items to the storefront.

-AZTinman

---------- Post added November 12th, 2014 at 10:53 PM ----------

Oh, I forgot to mention the Power Scuba folks. Power Scuba is a very active non-profit dive club in the San Diego area. Membership is open to anyone. The club organizes dives at La Jolla Shores on a regular basis. You might want to consider joining the club. It may have Ja Jolla dives scheduled for the time you'll be in San Diego.

-AZTinman

 

[diversteve]

I did also..

Power Scuba

or their Meetup page:

http://www.meetup.com/Scuba-Diving-San-Diego

 

[enduser]

Thanks guys I will give House of Scuba a call. I have checked out and signed up for Power Scuba. Looks like they are headed to Coronado on Saturday which would be awesome but not sure I can sneak away for that long.

---------- Post added November 12th, 2014 at 11:31 PM ----------

Sorry one more question. I thought I had read somewhere that the majority of the boats are set up where you are on your own for navigation and getting back to the boat? Is this the case?

 

[diversteve]

There's Coronado and there's the Coronados Islands. One is the island in San Diego Bay, the other is a 1-1/2 to 2 hr. boat ride south to the US/Mexico border. There's a big sea lion colony at the Coronados but you'll likely see some in LaJolla also.

It used to be a great spot for Kelp but the Mexican govt. allowed overfishing which allowed something else to take over that eats the Kelp hold fasts so it's pretty barren now. Still probably a good dive but likely not like I remember it from 30 years ago.

 

[Buoy_A]

Nick and Kyle from SD Expeditions guide ppl in La Jolla all the time. Super cool guys; know the area as well as anybody. They also have their own boat.

 

[AZTinman]

"I thought I had read somewhere that the majority of the boats are set up where you are on your own for navigation and getting back to the boat?"

Welcome to California dive boats; yes, the Cali boats I've been on expect divers to be self-sufficient. The boats have had a dive master or dive con suited-up and ready to enter the water if needed.

-AZTinman

 

[EmmaDives]

I dove with Waterhorse Charters last year in San Diego and loved it. They were really nice and helped me even when I got a little seasick!