Where do Californians travel to dive?
- Thread starter Lopez116
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Lopez116
Contributor
Hoosier- you are a hardcore diver sir!
Most people would opt to ski in that weather
Most people would opt to ski in that weather
Woodiver
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If you are into wide angle, Fiji is a good choice and an easy flight from LAX. Air Pacific flights leave LAX at 11:30pm and arrive in Nadi around 5am. Great soft corals so lots of color and millions of anthias but Fiji doesn't have the biodiversity of the coral triangle (Indonesia, PNG, Philippines). This may not be an issue since you are not into macro.
Indonesia is a huge country so you have many choices to choose from, a Komodo liveaboard has a good mix of large and small or Raja Ampat maybe an option, it depends on the season you plan to travel for RA. Northern Sulawesi is macro. Plan on a full 24hrs to get to Bali from LAX. Some Komodo trips sail from Bali and require a long steam to get to the good diving but many depart from Bima or Labuan Bajo which are a short flight from Bali. Getting to RA is much more difficult.
Palau is another option but flights are long and pricey. United routing takes you from LAX to HLN, HLN to GUM, GUM to KOR and the return flight leaves KOR at 1:30am. You can do land based or a liveaboard, land based requires long travels each day and is largely two dives per day unless you do a third dive late in the afternoon at the local sites inside the lagoon around Koror. Liveaboard diving will give you up to five dives a day including a night dive.
Any of these options will blow away anything in the Caribbean. For a sample of photos, click you this link: woodiver15's photosets on Flickr
Indonesia is a huge country so you have many choices to choose from, a Komodo liveaboard has a good mix of large and small or Raja Ampat maybe an option, it depends on the season you plan to travel for RA. Northern Sulawesi is macro. Plan on a full 24hrs to get to Bali from LAX. Some Komodo trips sail from Bali and require a long steam to get to the good diving but many depart from Bima or Labuan Bajo which are a short flight from Bali. Getting to RA is much more difficult.
Palau is another option but flights are long and pricey. United routing takes you from LAX to HLN, HLN to GUM, GUM to KOR and the return flight leaves KOR at 1:30am. You can do land based or a liveaboard, land based requires long travels each day and is largely two dives per day unless you do a third dive late in the afternoon at the local sites inside the lagoon around Koror. Liveaboard diving will give you up to five dives a day including a night dive.
Any of these options will blow away anything in the Caribbean. For a sample of photos, click you this link: woodiver15's photosets on Flickr
Kelp is beautiful, but there's not much that makes donning 7 mm of neoprene and 25 lbs. of lead worth the trouble to me. It would be interesting to know how many CA residents dive only in tropical destinations and how many CA residents dive locally on a regular basis.
Shortly after moving from CA to the Southeast, a diving acquaintance took me to a quarry. It took me only one dive in a quarry to vow "never again."
Shortly after moving from CA to the Southeast, a diving acquaintance took me to a quarry. It took me only one dive in a quarry to vow "never again."
muzikbiz22
Contributor
I live here in Southern California, and I will go to Florida and Caribbean about 4 to 6 times a year.
cbm32
Contributor
I am in SoCal most of the year but have never dove here. Mexico is close enough. Kauai is pretty decent and I understand Niihau is fantastic but you can only get there from Kauai certain times of the year. Fiji is GREAT!!! And although it is a 10 1/2 hour flight, I found it to be an easy flight since it is overnight and so easy to catch some sleep and arrive early in the am ready to go.
Edited this to add that although the air fare to Fiji is double that of HI, everything else is so much cheaper in Fiji that it is actually less expensive to go there and dive than HI. Especially if you can arrange to stay for a little longer period of time.
Edited this to add that although the air fare to Fiji is double that of HI, everything else is so much cheaper in Fiji that it is actually less expensive to go there and dive than HI. Especially if you can arrange to stay for a little longer period of time.
Carl E. Osborn
Registered
Lopez:
FWIW, I've never gone to anyplace twice except the Channel Islands and freedive spearfishing trips to Baja. Always seemed like there were too many new places to try. You said that you're going "back to Grand Cayman in April". I did that trip in the 1980s, including the Southern Cross Club on Little Cayman, and although that locale had the prettiest reefs I've ever seen, I'll never go back - too much else in the world to see. I advocate creating a flexible lifetime dive plan - I refuse to use the term "bucket list" - that takes me everywhere of interest once. Just lately I've been really intrigued by the possibility of diving the areas of the Pacific that were used for nuclear testing right after WWII - no more kids for me anyway, so.... And maybe Truk next year. Life is WAY too short to get stuck in a dive rut. Unless, of course, the White Seabass are running....
Carl
FWIW, I've never gone to anyplace twice except the Channel Islands and freedive spearfishing trips to Baja. Always seemed like there were too many new places to try. You said that you're going "back to Grand Cayman in April". I did that trip in the 1980s, including the Southern Cross Club on Little Cayman, and although that locale had the prettiest reefs I've ever seen, I'll never go back - too much else in the world to see. I advocate creating a flexible lifetime dive plan - I refuse to use the term "bucket list" - that takes me everywhere of interest once. Just lately I've been really intrigued by the possibility of diving the areas of the Pacific that were used for nuclear testing right after WWII - no more kids for me anyway, so.... And maybe Truk next year. Life is WAY too short to get stuck in a dive rut. Unless, of course, the White Seabass are running....
Carl
Although my last two trips have been to the Caribbean (Belize/Honduras and the Bahamas), my preferred dive flight direction is west (go west, young... er, old... man). Although I enjoy diving almost anywhere, the Caribbean doesn't compare to the sites in Asia. The Philippines are my next trip (in April).
My philosophy is 180 degrees from yours. Not saying I'm right and you're wrong. Not at all. Just different approaches. I love diving the same locations many, many times. Getting to know them well, seeing them in different seasons, seeing things that I'd missed the first dozen times. It's just a different approach.
muzikbiz22
Contributor
I'm one who can appreciate this philosophy. When I return to see familiar wrecks and reef in Florida & Caribbean, it's like visiting old friends. Often it's not just the diving. When I go to Florida for one of my "long weekends to dive", I'm also going to see Tony at the car rental place by the airport, have my favorite Cafe con Leche at a handful of different places, see my friends at Reef Photo, eat at a variety of restaurants that have fond & familiar memories, etc. I have a few spots in the Caribbean, as well. While I do appreciate adventure and the unknown/unfamiliar, I'm more appreciative of the places I've been & dove, that provide consistent great memories, that keep bringing me back
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