San Diego Visability

[sarahbethday]

Going to visit this weekend ...Is it worth the money to go diving? I would love to see the giant black sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) . With the rains are the diving conditons okay? Are there any other readily available dive sites within a reasonable drive? Thanks so much!

 

[SoCalOffshore]

I wouldn't think it would be great with all this rain, but maybe someone local will chime in. Good luck.

 

[ShakaZulu]

http://www.earth911.org/WaterQuality/default.asp?beach_id=21&cluster=1

Water advisory in effect........can you handle getting sick now?? I think the viz is bad 8-10ft..........

 

[mdsd]

Steer clear of the chocalate water (runoff) near shore. Most of the typical offshore dive sites (1-2 miles) range from 8-12 ft to 15-20 ft. Deeper sites like wreck alley are more variable. The real issue is the real strong southwest swells, they can really churn up the water at any depth usually dictated by what is on the bottom (rocks, mounts, sand, etc). We just had two days of torrential downpours. But I find that the dive conditions in these rains (for the last two months) seem to be more dictated by the swells/currents.

On the other hand, I am logging buko dives right now and loving it. Boning up on uw nav, and really getting to know the sites. You know the viz is never all that great here anyway. If you haven't been in kelp, that'll be worth it.

Lots of shore diving and plenty of boat diving out of Mission Bay / Quivera Basin area

 

[mdsd]

This morning's forecast -- rain thru Saturday.

Might want to check with your intended operator to see if they will go out.

 

[mdsd]

and another thing ... if you dive, bring warm clothes for your surface interval, it can be real chilly on cloudy days

 

[lragsac]

Steer clear of the chocalate water (runoff) near shore. Most of the typical offshore dive sites (1-2 miles) range from 8-12 ft to 15-20 ft. Deeper sites like wreck alley are more variable. The real issue is the real strong southwest swells, they can really churn up the water at any depth usually dictated by what is on the bottom (rocks, mounts, sand, etc). We just had two days of torrential downpours. But I find that the dive conditions in these rains (for the last two months) seem to be more dictated by the swells/currents.

On the other hand, I am logging buko dives right now and loving it. Boning up on uw nav, and really getting to know the sites. You know the viz is never all that great here anyway. If you haven't been in kelp, that'll be worth it.

Lots of shore diving and plenty of boat diving out of Mission Bay / Quivera Basin area

I would echo mdsd's astute comments here. The southwest swell tends to be the strongest culprit in creating poor conditions. I've done offshore (and shore) dives just 48 hrs after a rain and conditions have been just fine. Don't count on seeing giant black sea bass, though, as sightings in the winter are infrequent and limited to certain sites. I know for a fact you can see them at La Jolla Shores this time of year, but it's a hit or miss thing.

 

[mccabejc]

Another fly in the ointment could be the large tidal swings this weekend. They're showing a +6.63 ft. in La Jolla Saturday morning, all the way down to a -1.5 on Saturday at 2pm. In my experience, though I may be all wet on this (get it? "all wet"? diving?), is that when the tide goes out that much and that quickly it stirs up all kinds of stuff and makes it pretty murky in spots.