Good dive sites at L.A. og Baja?

I am going to Los Angeles august and wish to scuba dive there including
northern part of
Mexico / Baha.
Any recommendations of good dive sites and good dive guides?
Any recommendations of NOT good dive sites and NOT good dive guides?
Thanks...

BR Henrik

"Henrik Petersen" <hm@petersen.mail.dk> wrote in message
news:40c624b1$0$212$edfadb0f@dread12.news.tele.dk. ..
> I am going to Los Angeles august and wish to scuba dive there including
> northern part of
> Mexico / Baha.
> Any recommendations of good dive sites and good dive guides?
> Any recommendations of NOT good dive sites and NOT good dive guides?
> Thanks...

If by "dive guides" you mean books, there are several good ones I can
recommend. If by "dive guides" you mean people to lead you around
underwater, then you might not be too happy with Los Angeles/North Baja
diving. Probably the only consistent recommendation would be one of the
operations on Catalina Island, i.e. Scuba Luv or Catalina Divers Supply, who
actually do conduct guided dives off their boats. Otherwise, whether off
shore or off a boat, the diving around here is pretty self-sufficient and
assumes a basic level of semi-cold water and navigation experience in
moderate ocean conditions. There may be dive shops that will provide a
guide for hire, or you can check with the local dive clubs to see if you can
join a group dive, but then you're rolling the dice.

As for sites, any boat trip to Catalina Island (or Anacapa if you're north
of L.A.) will do for a start. More intrepid divers will want to catch a
longer boat ride to San Clemente or Santa Barbara Islands (or San Nic or one
of the northern Channel Islands), and for the real intrepid we have offshore
oil rigs and challenging underwater banks (Farnsworth, Cortez, Beggs Rock)
and even a couple wrecks. Shore diving is decent from several Malibu, some
Palos Verdes, and many Laguna sites. San Diego, a couple hours to the south
and on the way to Baja, has its locally famous Wreck Alley and some decent
kelp beds accessible by boat, plus shore diving in La Jolla. The North Baja
diving is usually done at La Bufadora, south of Ensenada. Dale's La
Bufadora dive shop may do guided trips there, but I've found them a bit
flaky. Don't expect warm water in North Baja. It's colder there in fact.