How's the water?

[valifornia]

Hi all-

I'm a dislocated Californian (in Montana for the year) toying with dragging my dive gear home with me for New Years. Before I do it, I wanted to see how the vis, conditions, etc, have been.

Thanks!
Val

 

[Lexy]

Hi Val -
Orange County Beachwise: We are have a high surf advisory in effect until Friday. The waves are between 6-10 feet and vis is less than good. Most beaches are closed to divers during high surf in Laguna Beach, so Orange County beach diving is not stellar right now.

Catalina: I've read one report stating that the vis at Casino Point is 60 feet. I'm headed over to Catalina for the weekend and am planning on bringing the dive gear.

Lastly, there is rain in the forecast for Sunday. The air temp is about 65ish.

Hope that helps. Maybe some of the San Diego and LA gang can give you information as well. Good luck and Happy New Year!

 

[dpbishop]

San Diego has posted a requirement for seeing eye dolphins to accompany any divers entering the water.

 

[Taxgeek]

Seeing eye dolphins! Where do I get mine?

 

[mccabejc]

I just checked, and the latest is there's a 60-80% chance of rain (and storm drain runoff) forecast for Saturday and Monday, and as Lexy said, a chance on Sunday. There's a line of storms heading this way, and surf is supposed to be building over the next few days and peak on Monday. Same storms are expected to cause 20-25 ft surf along Hawaii's north shore this afternoon.

Sounds like Lexy has the right idea. Catalina will probably be wonderful.

 

[scubacalifornia]

I was at Casino Point yesterday (Thursday) and viz was running about 30'-40'.
Happy new year,
Kevin

 

[DiverBuoy]

scubacalifornia, 4 of us from the board were there, bummer we didn't know to look for each other, you were welcome to join us! See my trip report in the trip report area.

Vis was in excess of 50 feet.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Catalina, Avalon Dive Park at Casino Point trip report from Thursday 12/29/2005 (yesterday): http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=1440780#post1440780

 

[scubacalifornia]

scubacalifornia, 4 of us from the board were there, bummer we didn't know to look for each other, you were welcome to join us! See my trip report in the trip report area.

Vis was in excess of 50 feet.

Could be we might have talked with each other and didn't know it (see pix). Were you by chance the bunch with your gear spread out on the blue tarp? My buddy Ron & I were the two fools who had no clue the air fill station at the point wasn't open on weekdays in the winter, so we wound up renting tanks in addition to the tanks we dragged on the boat. Anyhow, had a great time as I've never dove the park before. We stumbled upon a wreck on the east side about 75' depth; maybe the one you referenced in your dive report. Got a few nice photos as well. Exiting at the stairs with the tide down and over the rocks while trying to protect the camera was great fun (not). All in all a really good day, especially considering local diving is off-limits for the time being.
Cheers,
Kevin
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[DiverBuoy]

Could be we might have talked with each other and didn't know it (see pix). Were you by chance the bunch with your gear spread out on the blue tarp? My buddy Ron & I were the two fools who had no clue the air fill station at the point wasn't open on weekdays in the winter, so we wound up renting tanks in addition to the tanks we dragged on the boat. Anyhow, had a great time as I've never dove the park before. We stumbled upon a wreck on the east side about 75' depth; maybe the one you referenced in your dive report. Got a few nice photos as well. Exiting at the stairs with the tide down and over the rocks while trying to protect the camera was great fun (not). All in all a really good day, especially considering local diving is off-limits for the time being.
Cheers,
Kevin
View attachment 26284

View attachment 26285

Wow, I can't believe it, yes I saw you. I also recognize you from some time in the past, so clearly scuba is a small world, probably in a dive shop or some dive boat or dive site. You guessed correctly we were the group on the blue tarp just above the entry stairs. Bummer we missed connecting. It was an amazing day though wouldn't you agree?

Rick Inman rented tanks for the group so we didn't have to lug too many tanks on the express out of Dana Point (thanks again Rick). He promised to post some surface pictures so hopefully their will be a photo of what things looked like on our tarp. We all brought our biggest tanks over after we discovered the trailer wouldn't be at the point Thursday, just to be sure we'd get at least a dive in, or a fill if all the tanks were rented. Made the logistics more difficult that's for sure.

The low tide entry was a fun challenge I completely agree, with all the algae on the rocks to make stability even better .

Here is a link to my trip report http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=120746&page=3
Here is a bit older picture of me during a long surface interval