Southern California Diving, what's best choice?

[HBDiveGirl]

They are larger because we demand fine cuisine and hot tubs .

:lol:

 

[sberanek]

What is a good time of year to go to these various places listed? I'll be making a couple of trips out to SoCal this year and I was wondering if any of them might coincide with a good diving opportunity.

--Shannon

 

[merxlin]

What is a good time of year to go to these various places listed? I'll be making a couple of trips out to SoCal this year and I was wondering if any of them might coincide with a good diving opportunity.

--Shannon

Early January through late December is usually best.........seriously, the only thing that changes dramatically is that during the early winter the temps (both water and air) are lower, and the chance of rougher seas is higher. Most of us dive here year round.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

What is a good time of year to go to these various places listed? I'll be making a couple of trips out to SoCal this year and I was wondering if any of them might coincide with a good diving opportunity.

--Shannon

Our best, Best, BEST diving season is the fall. The water is at its clearest and warmest, and the kelp forests are thick and mature.

The water temperatures lag behind by one season, here. So as the air temps cool slightly in fall, the water temps remain in the high 60s and the planktonic algae dies off resulting in clear water.

You dive a wetsuit, so warmer water translates into longer enjoyable dive time, and more fun doing repetitive dives from a boat. (1-hour surface intervals are the norm on boats, and that's rarely enough time to rewarm when the water is 50-55F. Shore diving Casino Point is a great option when the water is cooler because you can make the surface intervals as long as you wish. The fill station at the dive park is open 8AM to 4PM on weekends, and noon to 4PM on Fridays, year 'round. It's closed M-Thursday from Sept to June.)

Summer is also a wonderful season, and the water temperatures hit high 60's at the end of June and early July. Sometimes the long hot sunny days will result in "red tides" which are NOT toxic here, but do cloud the top layer of water dramatically. The water often stays clear below 50 or 60fsw, but many wetsuit divers aren't comfortable for long at that depth with suit compression and cooler waters below the thermocline.

FWIW, I dive dry on all dives below 50fsw because I enjoy long dives.
In summer, or on shallow beach dives, I'll dive a 7mm wetsuit.. as long as the dive stays above 50fsw. I take both suits on live-aboards and switch off as the dives change. There's nothing as sweet as a comfy wetsuit in warm water.

Of course, each year is different, and visitors have had spectacular diving in May and hideous diving in October... but that's not the average experience.

~~~~
Claudette

P.S. There's more info about diving at Casino Point HERE, although it was last updated in 2005. I scanned it and it's mostly current. IMO, the taxi is the best way to get you and your gear from the boat to the dive park. $13 for as much and as many as the van taxi's can hold. Fast, and you're in the water sooner.

 

[Teamcasa]

Both Mike and Claudette make good points. But since here in SoCal our seasons differ from the rest of the US. Our four seasons are Spring, Summer, Fire and Flood.

The Fire season offers the best diving as we can have nice warm days, cool nights with only a whiff of smoke in the air. The kelp is full, water is warmer and the marine life is active. But the best thing is that most of the summer crop of new divers has thinned and the boats and dive spots are largely seasoned divers. The only downside is that the weather can change pretty fast.

 

[merxlin]

One other note, if the water temps get too high it does cause a die off of the kelp. Really nice while you are in it though. We've had water temps in the mid 70's toward the end of summer. The next winter though was very bleak for the kelp. No kelp= much less fish life.