Visiting in July, Best Diving Choices?

[guyharrisonphoto]

Hello, my wife and I are going to be visiting in July. What are the best choices for that time of year? We would like to dive the kelp beds, and see seals or sea lions, are also considering:

Channel Islands kelp/hydrocoral

Oil Rigs

If there is opportunity to dive/freedive with whales, we would also be interested!

We are Florida divers with advanced tropical reef/wreck experience, and with doing drift dives in strong current. We are not experienced with cold water diving (68 is the coldest we have been), kelp or similar environments. The oil rigs look like something that would be relatively familiar to us.

We will be bringing 7mil semi-drys with 7 mil dry hoods and matching booties/gloves, and we will have our weight dialed in.

We dive hogarthian/DIR rigs but single tank only and rec/no deco only.

We would like information on what people think is best diving for the three things above. Boat or shore is good for us. Charter recommendations are always appreciated, especially for channel Island trips.

If you believe that hiring a guide is best, please say so and give us any recommendations, or, if you are a guide, pm me here.

Even better, if we could get with a group who would be willing to take us under their wing, we always like to meet new diving friends wherever we go and could return the favor if you come to Fla.

Thanks everyone and look forward to hearing back!

Guy

 

[Lopez116]

Where in SoCal are you traveling to specifically?

In Laguna Beach, Seal Rock near Shaw's Cove, pretty much guarantees diving with sea lions. It's a shore dive and a great one at that. Shaw's Cove usually has mellow shore entries.

I would definitely take the ferry (www.catalinaexpress.com) over to Catalina and dive in the dive park or dive with one of the local boats in Catalina. Check Groupon. Every so often they have a 50% off promotion for the Catalina express.

The best conditions in SoCal are in Catalina and IMO will give you the best diving in kelp experience. Plus Catalina in and of itself would make for a great day or overnight trip.

Regarding whales and the rigs, I have no experience. There was a recent thread in the SoCal forum re diving the rigs.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

We are coming down from San Francisco and are flexible for any area to the north or south of Los Angeles. We are able to get the boats out of Santa Barbara for example, or dive south of LA if that is where the recommendations take us.

Also, any good shore diving guides that we can link to or buy?

Thanks

 

[Lopez116]

I've never been on any of the boats out of Ventura or Santa Barbara, by have been out of San Pedro (LA) and Long Beach. The boats out of SoCal are not like the Caribbean and Florida. For the most part, they are more of a tug-boat style boat and are pretty slow. They're bigger though.

I tend to like the smaller, faster boats. The Sundiver Express is more of a Caribbean-style boat. Makes the crossing to Catalina faster than others. Try this link: http://www.selkycharters.com/

On Catalina, I like the boat that Catalina Divers Supply uses. It's a Newton 46. Here's there link: http://www.catalinadiverssupply.com/

As for guidebooks, this is the best:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/09628...63597034&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1&tag=vglnkc6444-20

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Many of the dive boats in California are listed at California Dive Boats : The Official Page

Shore diving can be great when the surf is down. Check out Scuba Shore Diving Region: USA West

Dale Sheckler's book has a lot of great information about shore diving from Santa Barbara down to San Diego. I published a book last year that deals specifically with the Palos Verdes Peninsula of Los Angeles County, Diving the Palos Verdes Peninsula and http://www.amazon.com/Diving-Palos-...-1&keywords=diving+the+palos+verdes+peninsula

There is a SoCal DIR subforum here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal-dir/, but not many post on it. DIR tends to be more popular in Florida, Seattle and Monterey.

Water temperatures in Southern California during July range from high 60s at Catalina to high 40s/low 50s in Palos Verdes. It does get warmer in PV, but we have cold water come through a lot, even in July. 7mm suits will work fine.

 

[diverrex]

Where in SoCal are you traveling to specifically?

In Laguna Beach, Seal Rock near Shaw's Cove, pretty much guarantees diving with sea lions. It's a shore dive and a great one at that. Shaw's Cove usually has mellow shore entries.

I would definitely take the ferry (www.catalinaexpress.com) over to Catalina and dive in the dive park or dive with one of the local boats in Catalina. Check Groupon. Every so often they have a 50% off promotion for the Catalina express.

The best conditions in SoCal are in Catalina and IMO will give you the best diving in kelp experience. Plus Catalina in and of itself would make for a great day or overnight trip.

Regarding whales and the rigs, I have no experience. There was a recent thread in the SoCal forum re diving the rigs.

I think there might be some San Clemente Island fans that would argue that Catalina is the best So Cal diving. Or some of the other outer islands like San Miquel or Santa Barbara Island (great for Sea Lion enclounters).

Even on a fast boat the trip to Catalina is fairly long. I prefer the larger boats with nice bunks and I then sleep during the slower crossing.

If I was driving down from San Francisco I would look into a multi-day trip aboard one of the Truth Aquatics boats or the Peace out of Ventura. But it really ends up depending on your schedule and what the different boats are doing at that time.

If I was looking for some highlight dives I'd try to get out to San Miquel Island, Santa Barbara (for the sea lions) San Clemente Island, Farnsworth Bank on the back side of Catalina, then move around to the frontside of Catalina to finish. That would be my perfect 4 or 5 day trip if any one was offering it, or you could possibly put it together in pieces. The oil rigs are great when conditions are good, maybe only so so in bad conditions.

Be aware that our boats don't run every day. In July you can probably find different boats running Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and most boats go out every Saturday and Sunday. Selky Charter runs all week long as long as they have divers, if choosing them book early as it's a small boat.

I think you will find California divers very friendly and once on a boat if you ask around around I'm sure you could get some groups to take you around if you wanted..

A 7 mm, hood and gloves should be fine. Most wetsuit divers here bundle up in a boat coat during the SI, even in July. Bring something to keep you warm during the SI. Some days we get lucky and it can be sunny and 80 degrees out on the water, or it could be 70 and cloudy.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The Great Escape has a two day trip to San Clemente/Santa Catalina on July 6/7. 1-866-348-3262

 

[Lopez116]

I think there might be some San Clemente Island fans that would argue that Catalina is the best So Cal diving. Or some of the other outer islands like San Miquel or Santa Barbara Island (great for Sea Lion enclounters).

Even on a fast boat the trip to Catalina is fairly long. I prefer the larger boats with nice bunks and I then sleep during the slower crossing.

If I was driving down from San Francisco I would look into a multi-day trip aboard one of the Truth Aquatics boats or the Peace out of Ventura. But it really ends up depending on your schedule and what the different boats are doing at that time.

If I was looking for some highlight dives I'd try to get out to San Miquel Island, Santa Barbara (for the sea lions) San Clemente Island, Farnsworth Bank on the back side of Catalina, then move around to the frontside of Catalina to finish. That would be my perfect 4 or 5 day trip if any one was offering it, or you could possibly put it together in pieces. The oil rigs are great when conditions are good, maybe only so so in bad conditions.

Be aware that our boats don't run every day. In July you can probably find different boats running Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and most boats go out every Saturday and Sunday. Selky Charter runs all week long as long as they have divers, if choosing them book early as it's a small boat.

I think you will find California divers very friendly and once on a boat if you ask around around I'm sure you could get some groups to take you around if you wanted.

Agree re san Clemente - just a lot further. Haven't dove the others.

 

[diverrex]

Also be aware that depending on sea conditions trips scheduled for the outer islands sometimes don't make it, you may only get out to Catalina. And we even have weekends when the Catalina boats get cancelled (rare).

The Truth boats have multi-day trips scheduled for every week in July.

 

[geoff w]

I didn't see anything about how long you are going to be in So Cal, or whether you also want to play tourist part time besides diving. It's going to be hard to experience everything So Cal diving has to offer if you're only here a week or two. We had some serious diver friends visiting from Saudi Arabia last summer who normally dive the Red Sea. We took them on one shore dive, a day to Casino Point and an overnight trip to Santa Barbara Island on the Peace out of Ventura, because they also wanted to do some non-diving activities. With more time, we would have done the Yukon and other wrecks in San Diego (relatively easy for a one day side trip from L.A.), and would have liked to do more boat trips, such as other Channel Island trips, Catalina, a day on the oil rigs, and possibly Farnsworth Banks. And more shore dives (you can still do a lot of other things during the day with shore dives). But they loved all the diving; they did say they would get dry suit certified for the next visit. Give us a few specifics and I'm sure you will end up with a dive itinerary that will exhaust you

Dale Sheckler's book is an excellent reference for shore diving

If you haven't done any moderate surf entries before, it might be a good idea to buddy up with someone to give you a few pointers the first time out in waves. I try to get out for a beach dive most weekends, and you're welcome to come with (since it sounds like you know how to dive), and I'm sure lots of others here would extend the same offer

Your best chance at marine mammals are interacting with sea lions, either from a shore dive or some of the Channel Islands. It's the wrong time of year for whales (September to March)

Unlike most dive spots, So Cal dive boats typically don't provide tanks/weights and don't lead guided tours. Given the choice, pick steel tanks over aluminum when you get tanks for diving here