Laguna Shore Dives February 4th and 5th

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ScubaWithTurk

Bubble Blowing Buddha
Scuba Instructor
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Location
Amed Bali
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Hi all!

I am a newly certified OW diver and am organizing a dive for the weekend of the 4th and 5th. I would like to do some shore dives out of Laguna since I have yet to shore dive. This is weather permitting of course.

I have two other OW certified divers who are relatively new that are interested and was hoping to see if I could get some more experienced divers as well. I did invite a buddy from here, @robbcayman as well as a good friend of mine who is a tec diver but not sure either can make it as of yet.

I am looking at this as a fun dive with some skills practice mixed in like air sharing in a LOA or OOA scenario and working on buoyancy at safety stops. Something to get me back blowing bubbles with more skills practice to prep me for my AOW class. I would like to do two dives each day to get the most out of the weekend.

Let me know if you would be interested in diving with some new bubble blowers looking to work on skills and also have a some fun dives checking out the cool sites we to dive right from our shores.
 
Well it looks like Saturday will be a no-go for some I have invited so we will dive on Sunday.

I am not sure if we will do one or two tank dive as my ride may only want to do one tank but we will be diving as long as the conditions hold up for Sunday. (currently forecast at 1-2' surf with 1.8' swells at Brooks St per Magicseaweed)
 
Where are you planning on diving? If you pick Shaw's Cove then Laguna Seasports is a short walk to get another tank or fill. Parking is limited so you should arrive early. They have some unusual rules in Laguna, in case you are not aware. No cracking of your air valve because the psssst noise disturbs the residents. They won't let anyone dive if the surf is 4 or 5 feet or something silly like that. There may be more rules that I'm not aware of but any LDS should be able to inform you.

I suppose you could practice a safety stop during your dive but generally, when you shore dive, you are gradually becoming shallower so there really isn't usually a point where you could or would do a safety stop.
 
Where are you planning on diving? If you pick Shaw's Cove then Laguna Seasports is a short walk to get another tank or fill. Parking is limited so you should arrive early. They have some unusual rules in Laguna, in case you are not aware. No cracking of your air valve because the psssst noise disturbs the residents. They won't let anyone dive if the surf is 4 or 5 feet or something silly like that. There may be more rules that I'm not aware of but any LDS should be able to inform you.

I suppose you could practice a safety stop during your dive but generally, when you shore dive, you are gradually becoming shallower so there really isn't usually a point where you could or would do a safety stop.

Yes we plan on diving at Shaw's. I am very familiar with that LDS as they are part of the Beach Cities family and I took my OW class at the HB location.

I didn't think about the natural slope of the shore line when it pertains to a safety stop but I suppose I could still practice other skills. I just want to dove more to become more comfortable and learn all I can.
 
A 5 foot wave is breaking over your head (it is 5 feet from the bottom of the wave, not where your feet are, or it can have up to an 8 foot plus face if measured Hawaiian style). In such conditions, you would be asking for trouble and the viz would suck. You can never get hurt from the dive that got canceled.

There is no need to crack your air valve. You can dry a dust cap and valve with a towel.

You can practice your safety stop by just holding still on your way in when you hit 15 feet.

Have fun. Shaws is a great place to dive.

Rich Parker has a group called South Coast Divers that dives every Saturday that you might want to hook up with to get experience. Unfortunately, they don't seem to ever dive at Shaws. If you go on his website, you can get linked into his email list.
 
They won't let anyone dive if the surf is 4 or 5 feet or something silly like that
There is a very good reason for that. At La Jolla Shores four or five feet surf is not a big deal. The bottom remains shallow for such a long distance fro shore that the waves lack power. Even overhead surf can feel like it has water softener in it there. At Laguna Beach four feet surf will give you nothing but surge and sand stirred up so much that visibility will be measured in single digits. Lifeguards hate to conduct body searches in those conditions. At Marineland anything over three feet can be deadly. Different sites have different rules for a reason.
The hardest rule to learn is when not to dive.
 
I am up for diving anywhere in Laguna that day. I said Shaw's as it is the one spot I hear of frequently.
 
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