Freediving Laguna Beach, Heisler Park Reef
Heisler Park Reef by Andre Navarro
Lavishly gorgeous, Laguna Beach of sunny Southern California. Famous for it’s beach side art galleries, restaurants, shops and picturesque ocean views ! One of the most beautiful beach side parks of Laguna Beach and possibly all of Southern California is Heisler Park. Overlooking jagged shore reefs, near and far kelp forests and soothingly clear, light blue water. Hundreds of eager people visit this park daily to enjoy. But until you’ve experienced it’s underwater world, you haven’t seen what makes it special beyond the expected.
Heisler Park view by Andre Navarro
As you walk along the cliffs, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, you get the magical Heisler Park view. You’ll notice the combination of rocky reefs right up against the cliffs and then sandy beaches in the coves. There is plenty of areas to easily access the water. My usual entry is from Picnic Cove just north of Recreation Point. I like to enter from the sandy beach, right next to the shallow reefs that continue further out and break the surface. This location puts me right in the middle of the most interesting environments to explore.
Laguna Beach Underwater Arch by Andre Navarro
Just feet from shore is a Laguna Beach gem that hardly anyone knows about or has even heard of. To the point that I occasionally get accused of making it up because even most locals have not come across it. It's the beautiful Underwater Arch ! Part of the rocky reef that makes up what the surfers call Rock Piles. The Underwater Arch sticks out from the surface at low tide and is only about 100 feet from shore. I think that's what makes it so easy to miss as most divers swim past that area to get out to the deeper kelp forests. And the most popular areas for diving are to the north, like Shaw's Cove, Diver's Cove, Crescent Bay and Seal Rock. Most ocean goers don't even explore the area out front of Heisler Park.
Garibaldi and Underwater Arch by Andre Navarro
The underwater environment here is amazingly lush. Bright green, long swaying sea grass, dark green and yellow kelp and various shades of red and purple algae. Standing out in front of this vivid environment is the bright orange Garibaldi Damselfish, California's state fish. They love being in the mix and are not afraid to get up close. They also are natural born photo bombers, trying to steal the spot light of every photo and video taken. Being that this area is so close to shore, it is often rough. Swaying back in forth in the surge with waves rolling by and breaking right overhead. This is also part of the fun, the constant movement back and forth. But makes taking steady photos and videos extremely challenging.
Black Surfperch by Andre Navarro
There are many large gatherings of diverse and thriving fish along the shallow reefs. Like these Black Surfperch, which like to hangout in small groups of 9 to 20, swaying in the current along the bottom. Black Surfperch are very mellow and will allow close interaction. Another common fish in this area and my favorite to swim with, are the Calico Bass. Calico Bass are yellow and brown with a camouflage pattern to blend in with kelp. Their eyes are very reflective and often beautifully reflect the nearby environment. Calico Bass are very curious and often follow me around observing my underwater exploring.
Calico Bass by Andre Navarro
I love exploring this area. It's so beautiful below the surface and filled with life. From above, you just see the light blue water gently rolling under the sun. But unless you see what's below, you'd have no clue how much diverse and thriving life is beneath the waves. Thanks to Laguna Beach's strict conservation laws and fishing ban. Without help from people who care about the ocean and it's life, all of this would not exist as it does. The fish would be mostly gone with only a few species able to survive. With the lack of fear of being constantly hunted, they are relaxed and easy to approach without being frightened. It's awesome to see and be a part of nature as it's intended to be, in balance and thriving.
Freediving Heisler Park reefs by Andre Navarro
Depending on the time of the year, you can come across many Leopard Shark pups resting along the bottom of the reefs. Leopard Sharks are peaceful and non aggressive. They are usually very skittish and hard to approach without having them quickly leave the area. That goes for most of the common sharks in the area like Horn and Tope Sharks. I've learned when diving down to an animal, never to approach it head on and quickly. This appears like an aggressive attack and no animal is going to wait around to be eaten. Instead, I dive down parallel to the animal, quietly and calmly. No splashing or aggressive movements. I never swim directly to the animal or approach from directly above. I swim around the animal so it can see me approaching peacefully and recognize I am not a threat.
Leopard Shark by Andre Navarro
Another common fish you’ll see plenty of here are Zebra Perch. Medium large fish with dark horizontal stripes from head to yellow tail. You’ll more than often find Zebra Perch in large schools of 30 or more, swimming in large circles around a specific area. They like to be constantly moving. Assuming that you can swim without splashing, you can often join them in their laps, swimming right next to the school. Xantic Sargo with their famous horizontal stripe can also be found in abundance here. Xantic Sargo also like to swim in large schools of 30 or more. And like the Zebra Perch, they will allow you to swim with them. However, Xantic Sargo swim over larger areas more randomly and are often hard to catch up to initially.
Zebra Perch by Andre Navarro
Xantic Sargo by Andre Navarro
The shallow reefs of Heisler Park should be on your to do list if you are an avid ocean life explorer. Even if you’ve been to the nearby coves a dozen times. The views here above and below the surface are amazing and representative of the best that Southern California has to offer. There are even several kelp forest as part of the further out reef which we’ll visit another time.
Heisler Park Reef by Andre Navarro
Laguna Beach Coast by Andre Navarro
The accompanying Youtube videos are first hand footage captured by Andre Navarro while freediving Heisler Park of Laguna Beach, California. You can also view hundreds of beautiful photos of the awesome ocean life and underwater environments of Laguna Beach in the Photos section, Images of Laguna Beach, California.Published by: Andre Navarro of Ocean Earth Green
I’m Andre Navarro, Southern California freediver and underwater videographer. I create ocean life adventure videos to connect viewers to our amazing underwater world to motivate stronger conservation and ocean life awareness. You can follow my ocean adventures here at OceanEarthGreen.com and view all my current and past videos at Youtube.com/OceanEarthGreen.