Club Beach Dive at Point Dume

By Dave Garthwaite

Friday night, I reviewed the flyer on the Point Dume beach dive. To my surprise there was no dive time! Since I was the DM for the dive, I hoped everyone would still show up at the usual time, 9:00 a.m.

It was a clear morning, and looked to be a fine day for diving. After about a hour and a half drive from Rancho, I was in Malibu. I arrived early to check out the location.  It was not too shocking to find no SCDCIE members there at this time.

The surf was about 1 to 2 foot, with larger waves if you waited long enough. The sky was crystal clear. The water was flat, and the air temp was in the 70’s and this was at 9 a.m.

Candace Reno, the only regular beach dive attendee, showed up about 9.  Ricardo Felix and Carlos Soriano arrived shortly after.  Candace said her dive buddy was on his way, and since there was no time on the flyer, I decided to wait until 10 before the briefing.

From our cars, which were 50 yards from the water (no stairs), we could see sea lions swimming. Also a pod of dolphins was cruising up and down the beach about 30 yards offshore. Since other divers arrived, I held the briefing, and sent the group of three on there way. When they came back, they reported sighting the sea lion, but didn’t see the dolphins. 

The water temp was in the mid 50’s and the visibility was 30 to 40 feet.  I wish I could have gone with them.  As far as beach dive sites go, this is one of the good ones. Sorry more members didn’t show up.