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California Diving Adventures |
| La Jolla Cove is a world famous dive site and once you dive there you'll soon discover why. La Jolla Cove is located in the La Jolla ecological preserve which means no harm can be done to any plant or animal within it. The wildlife seems to know this and the Cove is always teeming with marine life. Some of the biggest fish I have ever seen have been in the cove. It is an excellent place to dive for all skill levels of divers. The average depth is around 15-30 feet and can get deeper as you travel towards the outer cove. The visibility is usually worse there than any other popular dive site due to it's location but when it's good, it's really good ( but when it's bad, it's extremely bad). The Cove is used for both day and night diving, night dives are excellent there and on a clear night you can look up and see the moon through the surface of the water. There are also hundreds of lobster which live within the shelter of the cove, you can't catch them or you'll get arrested but they're fun to look at. I once spotted a lobster that was at least 10 lbs within the Cove. The Cove is not only just a popular spot for divers, swimmers use it as well as snorkelers so you can imagine the problems on a crowded day. There are always major parking problems there so my advice is to dive there in the morning before anyone gets there. Night diving is no problem for parking since everyone is asleep. I can't begin to describe the diving at the cove on a good day, it is outstanding. The Cove is also one of the only places where you are guarenteed to see something. Never has there been a dive there when I went home dissapointed. The only major problem with the cove is the stairs you must climb to get to the water and back. As you can see in the photo above there aren't very many but they're steep. I really hate those stairs. The good part is that at the top of those stairs lies a large grassy changing area with bathrooms and showers. You could probably compare the Cove to a shore version of kelp diving if there is such a thing. It's a dive you definately want to make and you'll never forget it. Check out the photographs below for more close up shots of La Jolla Cove. |
Check out the Sidewalk(tm) La Jolla Cove Cam for a live shot of the cove.
La Jolla Shores is one of the more popular dive sites in San Diego and once you have dove there you'll see why. La Jolla Shores is a beach that usually has very small waves so it's easy to get in and out of. It's also located near a bathroom with showers and a nice grassy park. Now, lets talk about the diving. About 100 yards offshore is a dropoff which starts at about 50 feet and continues in a series of ledges down to 800+ feet. The main drop off or ledge is the one that contains the most sea life. There are holes in the ledge which contain small fish, lobster, octopus, and more. It's almost like a wall dive but not quite. On your way out to the ledge you can find numerous leopard sharks (I've seen them up to 6ft) , Turbot, Shovel Nosed Sharks, Sea Stars, Sting Rays, Surf Perch (which usually swim near the surface so just glance up to see them in about 10-15ft of water.), numerous schools of bait fish, huge sand dollar beds and there are lots of other things you can see that I have probably forgotten to mention. To get to the main point of the drop off head straight out from the bathrooms on vallecitos street and there will be a white buoy to your left anchored at about 40 feet that will mark the start of the drop off. Don't swim over to the buoy, just use it as a reference point. One you descend down to the ledge follow it north about 100 yards and you will come to a point where large sheephead like to hang out. The cool thing is, they aren't that timid and will swim up and say hi. At this point I have also seen huge schools of baitfish. This is a must see spot when you dive at the shores. When you dive there you'll want to bring a light to look in the holes at the ledge and a large wetsuit because it gets really chilly around 60 ft. You'll also want to watch where you put your hands if you decide not to remain nuetral as you coast along the bottom or you might hit some stingrays. Which brings up another point, there are hundreds of stringrays and guitar fish buried in the sand and they dont move untill you touch them or swim above them. La Jolla Shores is also used by dive classes for certification requirements. So don't be surprised if you see a bunch of students.
Squid Spawning-
The Squid Spawning is perhaps one of the finest attractions of La Jolla Shores. Around Spring Break thousands of squid come up from the depths to spawn at the beginning of the drop off. At times all you can see below you are white pulsating squid eggs and all you can see around you are squid. It's an awesome spectacle of mother nature. Huge bat rays can be seen feeding on the squid eggs and by huge I mean 6+ ft wing spans. There will also be other fish feeding on the squid eggs as well. You can tell it's squid spawning time by looking for the large amounts of birds just offshore feeding on the squid. If possible do a squid dive. You'll never regret it.
Casa Cove, or the Childrens Pool, is a popular dive site among underwater hunters due to the fact that right outside the jetty (see picture below) is a large reef where you can find lobster and all kinds of good stuff. One interesting feature about Casa Cove is that seals use it as a beaching spot year round. They usually stay at a rock just offshore but at high tide they all get washed off the rock and beach themselves. At times I have counted 70 seals/sea lions just sitting there on the beach. When you go in the water with them they will often come up and say hi by tugging on your fins or investigating your catch as you return in. There is a barrier which protects the seals though, the Marine Mammal Protection Act is actively enforced there so if you happen to pet one and they see you petting it they will throw a large fit saying you were harassing the marine mammals. Despite the fact it swam up to you and nudged against your arm. There is always this guy there that some of us have nicknamed "The Head Trainer" as in head seal trainer who takes it apon himself to rope off over 75% of the beach to keep people away from the seals. If he bothers you just say something about the fact that he is encouraging the seals to flock to our area so the big animals that eat the seals also come, and the fact that the Childrens pool is often closed due to contamination due to the bacteria given off by seal droppings, but that's another story. There is often a large rip current throughout the Childrens Pool which is good if your heading out. I've also heard that there is an opposite rip current that takes you back in but I haven't been able to find it. There are bathrooms and showers there also and plenty of places to park along the street at night. During the day there is always a parking problem except if you arrive in the early morning.
South Casa Cove is located within walking distance of Casa Cove. It is the cove/reef that extends from the back side of the jetty down to Hospital Point (the point on the right in the photo above) . This is an extremely good place for spearfishing and hunting/gathering due to the large amount of reefs. Due to it's close proximity to Casa Cove you can often see seals and sea lions swimming around and checking out lobster traps. Depending on the size of the surf the entries can range from extremely easy to extremely difficult. I had one dive there where I crawled on my hands and knees up the beach. Getting down the large cliff isn't a problem since there are steps in at least two places that get you 3/4ths of the way down. The other fourth is a little dropoff which is about 3 feet high. Since this is an open area for hunting and is used more since you can't carry spears through the Childrens Pool you're not likely to see many free swimming fish here. I haven't seen very many anyway. The seals eat most of the stuff in the area. Overall this is a pretty good hunting dive site.
