In the name of Independence Day I joined my usual group of scuba buddies at the Union Oil Pier in Avila Beach, CA. Oftentimes here on my localism blog I talk about going up in elevation whether it be mountains, Highway 1 or some other activity, however, one of my favorite activities is SCUBA and luckily for me the Central Coast offers an abundance of dive sites. While scuba is a sport that not all people will like I highly encourage people to give it a try if they get the opportunity and have the means. Below you guys will find my take on this wonderful 4th of July experience, ENJOY!
About the Union Oil Pier at Avila Beach: The small port city of Avila Beach use to be one of the most important shipping ports along the Coast of California and from the 1914-1922 time period was the largest crude oil port in the world shipping oil from the Santa Maria Valley and various other local fields. As the Union Oil and Standard Oil companies slowed down to an idle in the later part of the century the oil export ceased and now the pipelines and pier sit idle in the Avila Bay. The town has transitioned from a oil town to a small beach destination town that has a major attraction with one of the few South facing beaches in the area. Because of it's orientation it is consistently one of the warmer beaches in the area and draws many vacationers from near and far including divers, anglers, sailors and other water enthusiasts.
The dive site at the Union Oil Pier consists of parking along Avila Beach drive and donning your gear roadside. A diver can then walk down the sloping cliff to the side of the pier and depending on tide enter from the shale rock ledge OR walk underneath the pier to the boulder strewn beach to make a safer and easier beach entry. I prefer and advise the boulder beach entry. *Caution: when making a beach entry at this location, as with many others, keep an eye on the surf rogue waves can cause injury and knock off, damage or wash gear away. Once you get in the water the pier runs at a bearing of 0 degrees at the end and 180 degrees at the shore. If you proceed at 0 degrees via compass you can go out roughly 100 feet to the first rock reef and proceed out another 200+ feet to the second and third rock reef. This location does have sand and depending on current, tide and algal blooms visibility can be affected. Overall the sandy bottom is great halibut habitat and the kelp houses everything from perch, stripers, rock fish and octopusses.
Things To Take: As a SCUBA diver you will need the basics including air, wetsuit (probably a 7 mm), a bouyancy compensator, regulators, mask, fins, booties, gloves weights and I advise a hood. As a freediver I advise a 4.3 wetsuit, mask and snorkel, fins, booties and gloves as well as a removable weight belt. No matter how you dive i highly advise carrying a good dive knife witha blunt tip and line cutter, due to the occasional fishing line or thick kelp. I personally always carry a singaling whislte and dive with a buddy. There is no sense in putting yourself in unnecessarry danger.
What To Do: Get your gear on at the roadside and carry your bc tank and regs hooked up and adjusted as you would in the water as well as carry your fins and mask down to the water. This is where it pays to have a truck because the tailgate makes an awesome platform to set your tank and bc down on while you suit up and strap down. I find it particularly nice to sit down on a rock just at the water's edge and wash out my mask and put on fins and do my last buddy check before kicking out into the water. Once you are out there check out the pilons of the pier and you will find hundreds of rainbow colored starfish, crabs and smaller bait fish. If that doesn't catch your fancy kick on over to the rock reef and cruise through the kelp and you will find every other type of standard marine life from around these parts. Sometimes you will be greated by a local harbor seal curious about your bubbles or funny looking fins. Numerous times I have been surprised by these goofballs.
What To Expect: Prepare yourself for a great experience getting to know the local marine life as well as to not see anything. Depending on conditions you can have up to 15 feet of visibility or as little as 1-2 feet. If you take fish while you are down there make sure to check the state and local fish and game agencies to get up to date regulations but there are many species of fish, invertebrates, seals, sharks, and ocean birds.
How Did I Fare?: Weeellll, remember how I mentioned you should expect poor vis? That's probably because I had 3-4 feet of vis at best. Yea, it's a bummer but I still enjoyed getting in the water and keeping my gear in shape. The best thing of all is that I still fit in all of my gear, sometimes it amazes me how my wetsuit just seems to "shrink". While I was down I saw some crabs and some bait fish but nothing too amazing. On the other hand I got to play search and rescue for the borrowed pole spear that I accidentaly dropped in the surf zone. Surf zone = no visibility period which = Dom swimming back and forth aimlessly in the waves feeling for a skinny fiberglass pole. LUCKILY, my search and rescue paid off for me and I found my buddy's pole spear, phew! Nevermind the fact that I didn't need it. To top th dive off we drove over to Fat Cat's restaurant near the Olde Port Inn and had a great breakfast.
How Do I Rank It?: Because of the fact that the vis was poor I rank this dive at a low 3. If the vis had been up around 8-10 feet I probably would have given it an 8.
Other: The local dive shop that I recommend getting fills or gear from is SLO Ocean currents located on South Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo. If you are coming to visit the area give me a call and I would be glad to meet up and take you out for a local dive.
Pictures:
This is the view from the shore looking along the Union Oil Pier out to the South at 180 degrees.
This is the view from the Union Oil Pier out to Port San Luis. *note all of the sail boats moored out in the bay.
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