Cress Street/Mountain Road.

All of Laguna is an MLPA area and everything has been protected since 2012.
So all of Laguna is a 'Not take' area.

I like just about everything about this Dive Site. Good parking, pretty easy access, great diving and lots of stuff to see here.

On more than one occasion, Gray Whales have been spotted here. In fact, you always need to "Keep your eyes & ears open" during the Gray Whale migration. I've been diving a very long time and I'm still waiting for my FIRST 'Gray Whale encounter'. Several of the Dive club members have seen them here, it's quite a site from what I've been told. There are quite a few good parking places here at Cress, all metered so have your quarters ready. This is what we do: Put your quarters into the meter at the 'Very last moment' before you head to the beach, it will take just about the whole 2 hours to make your dive here, including the swim. We generally park on Mountain Road, it is easier when you have a 'group'. This is also near the center of Laguna's Gay community, so if this kind of thing bothers you, you'd be better off going somewhere else. Cress Street & Mountain Road is the main area. The people around here are very nice and "Mind their own business" but it can be rather obvious, that's all we're saying.

Fast Facts: Map of 3rd Reef Parking meters: Like all of Laguna, bring your credit card. Don't run out on meter!! Structure: Rock and Sand and Sea weeds. Precautions: Surf & surge. Waves can crash over exposed reefs. Experience levels: ALL levels, remember the outer reefs are quite a ways off shore. After Diving spots: Taco Loco ($) on PCH, all the way up to Beach House ($$$$).

There are 3 streets all having access to the reefs around Cress Street. They are Brooks Street and Mountain Road. I would not suggest doing surf entries or exits from Brooks due to it being "Solid rock", for some reason, Rock, Waves, and Shins don't work well together here. But on those days when the tide is very high you may have to use Mountain Road to exit back to Cress, it is a very good secondary exit place, I've used it many times.

	This is a good example of how Cress Street is "Laid out" the rocks in the foreground is where the diving is at and this gives you the idea how much swimming is involved for diving in Laguna. But just like all the other areas in Laguna, always try to make your way back underwater, less surface swimming.

When entering the water at Cress, it looks like the easiest entry is right near the "Foot" of the steps. This is actually the worst place to do your entry and exit, why? Rocks, and big one's too. The waves right here get a very unusual shape due to the reefs and they can become very large and dangerous at this spot. A good warning sign is when there are surfers here, but not on the other side. The best place to entry exit is farther along the beach going past the rock formations in the water, there is also a lifeguard here when they are on Duty. Just past the lifeguard station, enter the water. Swim out past the 2nd set of rocks to where you are within 50 yards of the final set of exposed rocks. Drop down right here. Make your way along a South/southeast heading and check all the crevices and holes, there is "Lots to see" here. On one dive here we had a school of Barracudas swim by, just one example of the "Visitors" that cruise by Laguna from time to time. During the El Nino year, I was looking at some really small stuff on the rocks when I saw an Arrow Crab, they aren't found in these parts, great to see this kind of thing with the changing water currents and water temps.

As you make your way along the rock formations, keep an eye open for the large underwater Arch, it's big enough to swim through. After going through the Arch, turn to your right, you will find the water chute here. On days when the tide is low and there's some decent surge, you can quite literally "Fly through" this area, it's about 30-50 feet long, make sure your are "Exhaling" as much as possible and only go through this area one diver at a time, otherwise you can "Crash" into others on the way through, it's quite a ride. The maximum number of people we had "Fly through" here was 8 on a low tide day with good surge. Everyone commented how it was a "Bad VIZ" day, but that "Ride through the chute" made everyone's dive.

Again, as always, start your trip back on a North/northwest direction with about 1000-1200 lbs of air so you can get back into the "Shallows" before surfacing. It will take you about 4-10 dives here to get used to the surge and the Rock formations, once you do, you'll find the "Arch" nearly every dive.

This is a FUN place to dive.

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Since 04-24-01