Revision 8/20/2009 6:01 PM
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Christmas Tree Cove
 Paseo Del Mar, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
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Entry Type: Shore
Bottom Composition: Sand/Rock
Aquatic Life: Plenty To See
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For the divers who dug deep into their dive logs to recommend this site, we appreciate your effort! However, we would not recommend attempting this dive for the near to distant future. The cliff access is now a fresh landslide. Please let us know when the site has its trail rebuilt!
Located in the posh Palos Verdes area, grab your street map and follow along: From the Pacific Coast Highway, head South on Palos Verdes Blvd for 1.4 miles. Turn right on Palos Verdes Drive West. In 3.8 miles, turn right on Paseo Lunado which becomes Paseo Del Mar. You’ll see the park on your right.
To all those who actually went diving here, you’re incredible. I’m not sure if the trail was ’rebuilt,’ but it’s a perilous climb down. What’s worse is that there’s a private trail with stairs and hand rails just teasing you, leading down from some huge mansion that probably belongs to one of the Lakers. My wife and I just brought our fins and mask for some free diving and the climb was tough. I can’t imagine going down with all my gear, tank and weights. BUT, if you do decide to take the challenge, it’s a beautiful and remote spot. Parking is a breeze and we only saw a couple of other friendly hikers, other than that, it was private. After the descent, we climbed (hand and foot) over some rocks to get to our entry point (divers probably enter just to the north of the hike down). Vis was about 10-15, but among the rocks, there were some amazing sea urchin beds, numbering in the hundreds, plus starfish and other exotic plant life. I’m no pro when it comes to identifying fish, but there were thin green schools about 4 inches long, 6 inch blue fish, and something big that looked like a trout. I’d love to revisit to scuba, but the hike is just too perilous, or would require 3 trips up and down.
http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/CalM/Christmas_Tree/index.htm