In Reply to: How much swell would you consider *too much* - Diving around PV (Haggerty's, Flat Rock) posted by Pauline on January 19, 2011 at 11:57:43:

I pay more attention to the intervals. Three foot swells at eight seconds can make for a bouncy ride and a difficult climb back up the dive ladder. Six foot swells won't keep you from going to Catalina if they are far apart, however the larger swells stir up silt at depth more than the smaller ones.
I look at several swell models and live cameras, but nothing beats looking at the water yourself before going out.
I was diving a deep site off Pt. Fermin with my buddy Ross once in miserable conditions. The swells were huge and close together, but Ross really wanted to check out the site. Three feet below the surface, it was as calm as any dive I've made and the vis was good. When we surfaced, Merry and Elaine were wearing life jackets and telling us that they thought the boat was going to roll over when a large swell broadsided them.
Some of my favorite websites to check before going out are
http://cdip.ucsd.edu/themes/user_groups/mariners?u4=c:nowcast:r:Southern_California_Swell_Model:t:summary:p:Hs

http://www.redondobeachresort.org/play/web_cam.asp

http://watchthewater.org/beach.cfm?bid=31

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/?lat=33.728908&lon=-118.424377&zoom=9&type=h&status=r&pgm=&op=&ls=false