Jun 2004 SoCal Dive Reports

[pasley]

Date:
Dive Location:
Time:
Bottom Time:
Max Depth:
Vis:
Wave height:
Temp at depth:
Surface Temp:
Tide information:
Comments:

 

[Robert Phillips]

A buddy and I made a trip out to lovely Riverside to dive in the even lovelier Lake Perris "dive park!" :06:
Oh boy, what can I say? The most interesting thing I saw was at 49'. It was a vacuum packed sandwich that had fallen off someones boat and had been resting on the botom for who knows how long. I got a real good laugh into my regulator about that. My buddy had no idea what it was until we surfaced and I told him.

Date:6/2
Locationerris, CA
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Bottom time:40 boring/cold/dark minutes
Max depth:49 ffw
Vis:8'-10' at 4 feet from the bottom
0-2' from surface to 4' from bottom with a nice algae bloom.
Wave height: yeah right!
Temp at depth:53 degrees (we didnt think we needed our hoods, should have worn dunce caps! Can you say "Ice cream headache?)
Tide informationookay!
Commments: Would I do this again? I would have to say no. We took 2 tanks each and planned on using both, but both of us had had enough. We did manage to find one of the metal culverts at 45' and did a swim through-weeeeee!
I would have to say that unless you live out there (my condolences) don't make the trip. I think I would rather have been in the stinky red tide that has been Laguna for the last few weeks than drive/dive to Lake Perris! :11:

 

[whalerkyle]

Perfect report of that beautifull lake. You should try Lake Smelsinor sometime.
Thanks.
Kyle

 

[saintsfan]

except I didnt even make it through a tank,all I saw was sand,sand and more sand.I didnt see any plants or fish at all and oh yea its a little colder than the ocean.I didnt find the tubes though just didnt think it was worth the effort

 

[Robert Phillips]

except I didnt even make it through a tank,all I saw was sand,sand and more sand.I didnt see any plants or fish at all and oh yea its a little colder than the ocean.I didnt find the tubes though just didnt think it was worth the effort

You actually saw sand? :11: All I saw was a very wierd algea/fungal skin covering the bottom. Oh, and black mud whenever my buddies fins were tilling the bottom.

 

[alaity47]

Date:6/5
Location:Old Marineland (Long Point), Palos Verdes
Time: 10am-ish
Vis:3'-8' (or so we were told)
Current: running west
Wave height: mostly 0; occasionally 3-4 footers
Temp at depth:52 degrees
Tide information:looooooow

Commments: I should preface this report by saying that my buddy and I actually bailed entirely on the dive. We went with 11 others from our club, who intended to enter at the rocky point to the west, swim east, and exit at the cove. I hiked all the way down there in my gear, took one look at all those slimy, exposed rocks at low tide, and said No Way! They started clambering in, and Jeff and I headed east to the cove to try entering there (less steep, smaller rocks). There we ran into two guys getting out who said there was a nasty current running west, and crappy vis.

I made a half-hearted attempt to get in for a snorkel, just to see if it was worth diving anyway. Slid around on the rocks, got dragged along them by one pretty good wave, and decided it just plain wasn't worth it. Hiked back up the hill.

Jeff never got in the water. Back at the parking lot, he dumped out his booties... full of sweat! Yuck. At least it was cloudy.

Anyway, we headed back down to see how our club was faring. They did about 30 minutes of bottom time, and then came up in the same place they started after making no headway against the current! A few managed to haul themselves back out on the point (did NOT look fun - there were occasionally REALLY big waves), but most headed for the cove. Against the current.

20 minutes later, we started helping people out at the cove in between sets of waves. A few didn't make it quite that far, so Jeff and the guys that we'd run into earlier met them sort of halfway, and helped them scramble back across the rocks.

All in all, I can't say I'm sorry I called the dive! I might try it again at high tide someday. We were assured by everyone that conditions are rarely that murky at Old Marineland. Anyway, we got a LOT of exercise, even without diving!

And we remembered why we're boat diving wimps/snobs. <grin>

 

[scubasean]

The most interesting thing I saw was at 49'. It was a vacuum packed sandwich that had fallen off someones boat and had been resting on the botom for who knows how long. I got a real good laugh into my regulator about that. My buddy had no idea what it was until we surfaced and I told him.

I hope you at least brought the sandwich back to relieve the dive site of it :banana:

 

[drbill]

Catalina Casino Point Dive Park weekend of June 4-6. Visibility 12-20 ft depending on location. Quite surgy. Strong current towards late afternoon on the 5th. Thermocline at 20-45 ft, drops to 53-54 degrees. Pretty lousy conditions. Hope this summer isn't a repeat of last.

Dr. Bill

 

[ChrisM]

Catalina Casino Point Dive Park weekend of June 4-6. Visibility 12-20 ft depending on location. Quite surgy. Strong current towards late afternoon on the 5th. Thermocline at 20-45 ft, drops to 53-54 degrees. Pretty lousy conditions. Hope this summer isn't a repeat of last.

Dr. Bill

Blue Cavern and SHip Rock 6/5/04, Sundiver

vis was about 30-40, not bad. NASTY thermocline!!!! At 40 fsw it was 55, at 20 fsw it was 64!!!! Whoooosh!

Nice day on the water though

Chris

 

[scubacalifornia]

Date: Sunday, June 6th
Dive Location: Laguna Beach, Crescent Bay/Seal Rock
Time: 9:09 am
Bottom Time: 46:40
Max Depth: 41 fsw
Vis: 6'-8'
Wave height: 2'-3'
Temp at depth: 66-degrees
Surface Temp: 66-degrees

Comments: Relatively easy entry, surge pretty heavy at times (4'-6'), but nonetheless happy to be wet. The sea lions were making quite a racket as we approached the Rock on the surface, but didn't encounter any at depth. We found an octopus hiding out plus the standard array of Garibaldi and other fishies. This was my 25th dive (woo-hoo).