Posted by chris on February 08, 2000 at 22:25:09:
In Reply to: Sea Conditions posted by Mark on February 08, 2000 at 19:06:26:
I find beach diving here not be great unless the conditions are very good.
Visibility along our coast is usually poor, unless we have had several days of minimal surf and wind.
The best diving in Southern California is on boat dives. For a newbie I would reccomend you start with the front side of Catalina or Annacapa.
The best deal on boat dives is almost always on open boats, rather than charters, since there is no middle man.
For a open boat to Catalina I mould try the Great Escape out of San Pedro ot the Bottom Scrather out of Long Beach.
For Annacapa I would take one of the boats out of Ventrua.
You can find all of the boats at http://CaliforniaDiveBoats.com.
As for today, the surf in front of my house (El Porto) was about 8 feet. Not much chance on good vis for a beach dive.