Another Crappy Day For Diving In Southern California
With high surf advisories and the forecast for more rain later in the week, turnout for Sunday Services was low.
Amazingly, I arrived right at 8 AM with a few other divers in the lot.
I was greeted with, “Don’t even bother, break the beer out.”
Malaga Cove, Honeymoon Cove, Christmas Tree Cove and apparently Terranea was completely blown out.
Conditions at Vet’s Park were reported as, “Surf at the shoreline with five to 10 feet silty visibility.”
Not New Chris apparently has shipped off to Afghanistan – we were going to throw him a going away party, but I guess we’ll have to double our efforts on the welcome home bash.
We made our way down to the Cove, carrying our breakfast.
It was high tide, but it was obvious that the strong rains had rearranged our familiar rocks.
There were strong waves crashing against the beach; the water looked pretty muddy.
We made our way to the Point.
The regular crew stood around, trying to get someone to gear up so we would have something to watch.
Not even the most dim-witted diver would dare an entry at the Point; we were satisfied with just watching the surf pound the boulders.
And yes, the storms did quite a job rearraging the boulders here, too.
Even the pelicans stayed out of the water.
Crazy Ivan, Me and Military Bob toasted to better diving times.
In the distance, it looks as if the cliff was shortened by the rain.
Some portions of the trail are still closed – we couldn’t figure out which parts.
We debriefed in the parking lot for a bit with a new Divevets member, Chipper.
Chipper drove all the way from Hesperia to do a short dive at Vets and then debrief with us – now that’s dedication!
When we drank all of his beer in 15 minutes, and when he didn’t complain, we knew he had passed initiation.
They must offer some sort of martial arts class here at Terranea?
We will have to see what this week brings – I can’t lobster dive again until I get a new license; something that’s impossible for me to do until this Friday.
Professional Debriefer Paul documents the conditions here:
To view this video on YouTube, click here.
I was there Thursday and Saturday. It looks as if we’ll never dive there again. Victor went in at the point Saturday morning and reported 10-15 feet vis. I have some small doubts.
Comment by Phil Garner — February 1, 2010 @ 3:34 pm
Hey psycho, our group dived Seal Rock at Crescent Bay laguna last thur night, mostly because we were desperate to get wet. The surf was 4′, and the vis no better than 5′, and I took my first skunk of the season, we got no bugs. Conditions are poor everywhere, but when it gets safe to dive, there should be some bugs. Those boulders at Terranea can be dangerous, yall be careful, see you there when conditions turn.
Comment by halibug — February 2, 2010 @ 12:18 am
PSD, greetings from the far side of the world. I had to punt way early Sunday morning and the previous Sunday was a no go with all the storms. But I’ll be debiefing w/ the Vets in no time.
Comment by Not So New Chris — February 3, 2010 @ 2:38 am
Hey man, this is a fun post to read. Anyway, I’ve always wanted to go to California to dive. My very first MI had only great things to say about Southern CA.
Can anyone tell me what the best time to visit for diving as well as other activities, like say, lobster?
Comment by JC — February 10, 2010 @ 5:50 am
Hey JC, You’re almost missing lobster season. It runs From late September (or early October) until mid March.
I think the best time to dive just for sight seeing is either Spring or Fall – the water isn’t freezing like Winter, and during the Summer we tend to get some red tide.
PSD
Comment by PsychoSoloDiver — February 10, 2010 @ 11:27 am