Difficulty
intermediate
Viz (last reported 108574h ago)
Max Depth
29.9 ft
Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at White Point
There's something for everyone at White Point. Beginner and expert divers will find interesting underwater vistas to explore. Ship wrecks and old construction have left bits and pieces of history strewn through the area. Plus, reefs and kelp around the point are harbors for the elusive critters.
The Big Attraction here is the Warm Water Vents in the Shallows. About 50 Yards out you'll find areas with almost no growth and a mixed White and Black Sandy Bottom. You may see "Murky Water" in these areas as well. If so, you're over the vents - Try taking your Gloves off and putting them in the sand, you'll feel the Heat - It's pretty Cool (or is that Hot)!
Expect to see Bat Stars, Sea Cucumbers, Moray eels and lots of Nudibranchs as you venture away from the Vents. Go a little Deeper and East and you'll run into Kelp and Rock outcrops loaded with goodies.
The best diving is in the kelp bed about 200 yards east of the cove, Rock formations with dramatic overhangs, schools of fish darting throughout the kelp, barracuda, Giant Seabass, lobster, large sand rose anemones and batrays can be found here.
Entry in the cove can be tough. Slippery rocks and shallow water extends more than sixty feet from shore. It is best to dive here at high tide.
The park is closed at night, but you can enter via the fire road east of the baseball field and enter the water on either side of the point.
Two thousand feet offshore is a beautiful reef with several species of sponges, different nudibranchs than those found inshore and various rockfish. The reef is about thirty feet wide and one hundred feet long and rises twenty feet above the sand. There are smaller rocks about fifty feet NE of White Point Rock.
The only location on Palos Verdes Peninsula with parking right by the water. Swim approx 200 yards straight out at 40' depth.
1.5 miles East of the junction of I-110 and the Pacific Coast Highway, take Western Ave South toward the ocean. In about 5.5 miles, it will merge with West Paseo Del Mar. You'll see the view of the following picture.
Access
shore
boat
View
Nearby Shops
Tide Report
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Colin MacDiarmid
Dec 29, 2001, 12:00 AM
scuba
White Point is the only site in Southern California where you can park just steps from your entry/exit point. The quickest entry can be made in the center of the cove. Hide tide is the best time to dive here. The entry is a series of jumbled boulders waiting to trip up the unsuspecting diver. At high tide, you can make your way to knee deep water, then leap forward and start kicking fast! Depths inside the cove are shallow until you reach the open sea, where the bottom drops to twenty feet. Just outside the cove are warm water vents. The sulpher from these vents covers rocks and plants with a white coating. To the East of the cove are small walls about fifteen feet high that can be covered with lobsters at night. If the conditions are calm, you can venture into the shallow surge channels just East of the exposed rocks here. You will find remains of a small train that used to run next to the hotel and pool before World War 2. The wheels are about six inches in diameter. A healthy kelp bed is found just offshore from the East side of White Point. Here you will find Calico Bass, Garibaldi, Batrays and the occasional Smoothhound Shark. Straight out from the center of the cove is a reef system marked by a plaque dedicated to divers and a scientific study by USC marked by floating bleach bottles. Please do not disturb the area. West of the cove near the lifeguard tower are the scattered remains of the ferry Melrose. It was the first ferry used to transport autos. After a long career in the San Francisco Bay it was converted into a fishing barge until a storm beached it here. The best part about diving here during high tide is the exit. There are two concrete slabs about eight feet square that are exposed, but close to the water's edge. Here you can remove your gear, shower with a bottle of water heated by the sun in your car while you were diving. You can then put on dry clothes and pack your gear without getting sand in your car. Diving White Point at night can be very exciting. Since the parking lot closes at dusk, you must park at the top of the fire road South of the baseball field and hike down to the water. Because of the rocky bottom terrain, exits must be made carefully and quickly to avoid incoming waves. Visibility is usually poor, with five feet being average. However several times a year the visibility can reach forty feet. These are the days to explore as much of the area as possible.
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