Most Excellent Shore Diving Reviews of Owen DeLong!

Review Date       AVG       ShoreDiving Site

04/18/2005        2.97      Butterfly House California North, USA West

This is a great place to dive on a good day, and, outright dangerous on a bad day. Conditions can change rapidly between entry and exit, so, if you notice increasing surge or changes in current/surge/visibility while down, it might be worth surfacing and evaluating an exit. Access to the site is difficult, involving climbing down a rocky cliff face, but there is ample safe space for setting up your gear on some mostly flat rocks before climbing the rest of the way down to the entry. The climb down from the staging area to the entry is not difficult. Take your time, and make multiple trips to the staging site rather than trying to carry too much. Keep one hand free for steadying at all times. Conditions in the water are good visibility, some very nice kelp forests and a couple of good reefs as well as some good sand channels. Multiple forms of inner bay and outer bay life are within easy kicking range, and, you can kick out to significant depth if you are so inclined. Average depth very near the entry is 40-60 feet, getting deeper as you kick out further. There is a long rock-reef along the left of the entry. Avoid this while at the surface, and do not surface close to it. It is a very hazardous area with frequent rogue waves. I recommend avoiding it under water as well, although on very calm days, it is a great reef to explore near the bottom at calm high tide.

04/18/2005        3.34      Crystal River Florida, USA East

Crystal River and Crystal Springs are a vast area incorporating many dive sites, but, all have similar properties. The particular sites in this review are Banana Island (Manatee Preserve) and Twin Sisters. Banan Island is a fantastic site for manatee encounters. There are many manatees present and they are very friendly and accommodating to people. Indeed, many of them are even social, approaching groups of people and tumbling themselves to get their bellies scratched. They are incredibly gentle and very docile. Although strange in appearance, they have an amazing friendly and "so-ugly-it's-cute" quality that is hard to explain. There are also some caverns and swim-throughs and a wide variety of mullets, catfish, tarpon and other wildlife. I entered the site via boat, so I can't evaluate the shore entries, but a number of possible shore entries were visible from the site, including some docks with ladders that appeared to be public access. (Giant stride entry off the dock, ladder for exit)

02/13/2005        2.67      Monterey State Beach California North, USA West

Commonly known as "Del Monte Beach" by locals, this is a decent beginner site and a good place for Rescue classes. If you want any real depth, you need to swim out to the concrete anchorages or beyond (a healthy surface swim). The anchorages are in about 25 feet. Conditions are about the same year round.

02/13/2005        4.53      McAbee Beach California North, USA West

McAbee offers a variety of reef, Kelp Forest, and Sandy bottom types. Everything from Hermit Crabs to Kelp Bass to giant Jelly Fish. Rubber Lip Surf Perch, Black Eye Gobies and Sail Fin Sculpins are also common here. Lots of lush kelp and some old cannery pipes provide a rich habitat for a wide variety of fish and invertebrates. This is one of my favorite dive sites.