Southern California Brain-storm'in...

[tsuyoshi]

You can get Catalina express tickets with AAA membership discount about $7 round trip for up to six passengers also is free on Birthday. We met one diver at Casino point for his bday.

Well with ur experience level, it could be a check out dive for you. Enough for me to realize what a whimpy rookie i am having to deal w 20lbs of lead instead of 8. There were few folks doing their OW training.

Catalina express is a pretty big size ferry & not too choppy. Look up their site for So Cal exit points. There are hiking, sight seeking, zip lining, kayaking, fishing or just relaxing on Catalina. U may even be able to score a nice private place from airb&b there.

Biggest challenge may be preparing yourself mentally to the LA traffic. I once took almost 2 hours trying to leave LA on a Saturday morning at 1am.

 

[drrich2]

I get the sense a number of people prefer to stay on the mainland & boat over to Catalina, instead of staying on Catalina Island itself for a few days at a hotel. Any particular reason(s)?

Richard.

 

[merxlin]

Staying on Catalina is expensive. The boats form the mainland are almost the same price as the boats that are docked in Catalina.

For a single day dive out of the L.A. area to Catalina, you've already gotten great advice. If diving on a weekend I know Sundiver may allow you to bunk on "the big boat" the night before, even if you are on the Express. They also have a 6 pack that is really fast, and have the ability to arrange mid- week trips to the island. The good news is those trips and that boat can get to some of the sites the bigger boats can't, as well as the oil rigs (which if conditions are nice can be spectacular). They also have rental gear on the dock.

For a 2-3 day trip try to get to Santa Barbara and go with Truth Aquatics. They are one of the best operations around, and their boats are top notch. The water in the northern islands can get cold (high 50's), even when the waters are warm here in So Cal. But many dive in a 7mil and hooded vest. The boats leave early in the morning and you start diving at 8-9am.

 

[drrich2]

Thanks to everyone who replied; you've all been a big help at trying to make practical sense out of a bewildering array of options. I just fired off an e-mail to Scuba Luv to ask what a package would cost this year (might give me a rough estimate about next year, I figure).

Oddly enough, my parents in another state live on several acres in the country & have some old used golf carts. They're a fine option to ride our 2 year old around on, and the thought of renting & driving one around Catalina Island has an appeal.

Richard.

 

[jscan1]

You won't get blown out of San Diego, a remote chance if you were shore diving, almost nil by boat.

if I were you I would put together three distinct different boat says to get the most out of So. Ca.

1. Do Farnsworth Bank if you can....The Magician is a boat out of San Pedro that does it often. It's a challenging deep dive, and can have very strong current. If you get to dive it you will be rewarded with Purple hydro coral, and potentially torpedo Rays. As a bonus the third dive will typically be on the west end of Catalina, which will give you a taste of regular Catalina diving.

2. If you can't coordinate that, an oil Riggs trip is another best of So. Ca. And you can catch a boat also out of San Pedro (pacific star)

3. You could catch a Wreck Alley day boat aboard the Horizon in San Diego (the family will be happy down here with plenty to do, and you can Dive the Yukon, and Ruby E and still meet back up with them mid afternoon.

4. I wouldn't shy away from doing a shore dive at Shaws Cove in Laguna, one simple shore wave, usually non existent, with a very brief swim out, then an excellent shallow dive that will last an hour and has an excellent swim through.

if you want to PM me I can probably meet you in Laguna or LaJolla, as we dive one or the other usually weekly, and we are always happy to have someone along. As for 7mm will be certainly fine with the expected El Niño water is pretty nice

---------- Post added August 27th, 2015 at 10:38 PM ----------

I should also add the boats out of Ventura are great , and ventura is an active fun harbor with good restaurants, spectre is one of the better boats to sleep on, and their Anacapa trip is a good value

 

[Chiapet]

Hi Rich,

Since this may be the only time you do a dive trip to California I recommend that you do a multiday liveaboard. That will allow you to do up to 4-5 dives a day including a night dive. Many of these trips will visit more than one of the Channel Islands. Visibility at the islands is almost always much better than off the mainland. You'd also likely be able to find one buddy and stick with them for the duration of the trip rather than adjusting to a new buddy each day. In the summer and fall surface conditions are usually calm in So Cal.

Liveaboard boats I have been on and recommend:
Truth Aquatics - Most comfortable boats (all 3 of them), good service
Horizon Charters - Best service, second most comfortable boat, from mid August to November they ony do cage diving trips to Guadalupe, it only makes sense to use the Horizon if you are diving the southern islands since it is based out of San Diego
Peace (in Ventura Harbor) - the bunk area and galley of this boat are a touch cramped but its got a hot tub and good crew
Pac Star - very competent crew and usually one of the most affordable options. I always enjoy my trips on the Pac Star.

Recommeded Island Destinations:
Santa Barbara Island - I see sealions on almost every dive there ( the island has a large sealion rookery). Gorgeous kelp forests. This is the smallest of the Channel Islands, too small to provide good protection. If the wind or swell is up the boat may divert to another island. If you are coming from the LA area they'll often divert to Catalina. If you are coming from Santa Barbara they may divert to Santa Cruz or Santa Rosa.

San Clemente - My favorite kelp sites in So Cal are at the southern end of this island. Unfortunately the US Navy owns the island and all or part of it may be closed for diving at any given time. If you ever decide to try it this website gives you an idea of the bombing schedule. Hover over a section and a window with the schedule pops up: https://www.scisland.org/schedules/usageGoogle/usageGoogle.php.

Catalina: Lots of diverse sites and a very good chance of seeing Giant Black Sea Bass. Farnsworth on the backside is spectacular but may require a specialty trip. Since the site is deep and exposed, boat operators won't go there unless they are confident that all of the divers on board have good skills. Unfortunately this year the kelp forests at Catalina have been decimated by our unusually warm water temps. It was starting to come back when I was there a couple months ago but it was no where near the peak of its glory. (San Clemente's kelp forests were also thin this year and I didn't see as many animals as usual.) 2016 is predicted to be another El Nino year so we may have the same problem again.

Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa - I live down in San Diego so I have only dove these islands a few times. I enjoyed my dives at both. Parts of Santa Cruz were sad urchin barrens but some sites were very nice. Our Los Angeles area members can tell you more.

Miscellaneous:
CIDA (Channel Island Dive Adventures) - Ken the owner charters various boats for specialty trips. I've done a couple and they have been great. CIDA can get you to sites that are off the beaten path

Oil Rigs: Go! These are my absolute favorite So Cal dives. I have seen huge bait balls, mola mola, sealions, and even a wolf eel there. The rigs are also covered in anemones, scallops and nudibranchs.

Catalina based boats: They are regularly scheduled on the weekends. For weekday trips call ahead to see if they have enough divers to go out.

Happy dive planning!

 

[drrich2]

Looks like a lot of great info. for me to consider, and a big help making sense of the bewildering array of options for tourist diving California. I'm trying to make a tentative plan for vacation trips next year. I about choked when I looked at airfare for 4 flying from Nashville (BNA) to Long Beach, but looks cheaper to fly into LAX, and not far to taxi.

If I come alone, a Truth Aquatics 5-day limited load live-aboard with a paid guide sounds like the way to go, and perhaps booking through CIDA might be nice for a little extra hand-holding (their website is more informative than some others in the region). If I come with family, Catalina Island, with the choice between basing on the mainland diving the Sun Diver on the Express, or on the island diving with Scuba Luv & supplementing with Casino Point shore dives.

I hope to dive an oil rig one day; never have done that.

One fly in my ointment:

Catalina based boats: They are regularly scheduled on the weekends. For weekday trips call ahead to see if they have enough divers to go out.

My plan would be a 2 tank (3 if possible) boat dive Sunday - Thursday. If the boat only headed out Sunday, that would bite!

Richard.

 

[thez_yo]

The kelp beds off La Jolla, and a day trip down to the Coronados is a great way to get diving in, in San Diego. Granted, the latter is a Mexico dive, but the boats leave from San Diego. Some of the local boats include the Marissa, which I take out to the kelp beds morning or evening trip, or Waterhorse Charters, who go down to the Coronados and it's an 8am-2pm or so 'whole day' thing. Sometimes Horizon leaves out of San Diego too, and does day trips all around Point Loma (huge amount of kelp beds).

 

[KathyV]

drrich2, I'm not disparaging California but while you are thinking about that part of the world you might also consider going further south to Baja and the Sea of Cortez - warmer water and great diving! We did a liveaboard there once and we saw lots of life including larger animals; it was a great trip!

 

[drrich2]

KathyV:

Discriminating between dive destinations is a key interest, so I'll get into my decision 'tree' a bit. I was tempted by threads discussing Cabo Pulmo, live-aboard-based Socorro diving, etc... Warmer water sounds nice. Some of what drove my thinking...

1.) I've been branching out into more diverse diving. Nothing major (I have no plans for technical diving, cave diving, ice diving, etc...), just a willingness to dive a little outside tropical aquarium conditions (e.g.: 78+ degrees, 100' viz., no current, flat seas, shore diving or short boat rides). Hence Jupiter, Fl & Morehead City, NC. Southern California's cool water & limited viz. aren't ideal, but not too off-putting.

2.) Being south-central U.S.-based, I'm a little prone to 'identify' with major U.S. oceanic sites as 'home territory,' and to want to try them at least once. That was a secondary concern to the NC trip (#1 was sand tiger shark diving close up!). I don't want the Great Lakes (deep, dark, cold, freshwater) or the northeast (guy from Jersey described conditions to me; cold, low viz.) or northwest (Puget Sound posts sound really cold, rather poor viz., at times current issues). I would like to hit California, & someday to a trip in the M/V Fling out of Freeport, Texas to the Flower Gardens.

3.) Bottom Line: Knowing California diving is there will 'bother me' until I make it out there.

4.) Socorro live-aboard trips sound sweet, but expensive. On the bucket list.

5.) I've done some tentative research into Cabo x (x seems to be enough different names/places to confuse me), but it looks like conditions vary and whether you get good dives can be iffy. It doesn't seem to get near the forum 'mindshare' of more mainstream destinations (e.g.: Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, the Caymans) in that large general region, which makes me wonder why (kind of like my perpetual suspicions there's some reason Curacao doesn't seem nearly as scuba-popular as Bonaire).

Maybe it's getting to be time for one of those 'Why doesn't Destination X get more love?' threads about the Baha area land-based offerings (because people post plenty about the joy of the Socorros live-aboards!).

Richard.

P.S.: Despite the above, I love Caribbean diving. Lord willing & providing, I want to hit the Bahamas, Roatan, Little Cayman & a # of other places before I die. Vacation time, money, family & intolerance for very long flights rule out most distant destinations (e.g.: Philippines).