I was reading the thread about the Instructor pushing divers off the line and I have to wonder why go to Avalon in the first place. Avalon sucks. It sucked in the 70's when I first dove it, it sucked in the 80's and the 90's, and it still sucks today in 2011.
Why does it suck? Will let me count the ways.
First getting there has always sucked. Today you have to take the Express ( which has become expensive and less friendly). Parking is a pain (and expensive), carrying the equipment up the stairs and out to the boat is a pain( you need a two wheeler or a four wheeler to make it reasonable). The crew on the Express seems to be getting the same attitude as the old Catalina ferry crew had.
Once there, there is no transportation. You have to "again" carry or wheel your gear up to the top of the dock. There you need to find a taxi (which are expensive) or go on one of the trucks (which very often destroys your gear), or walk a half mile with a 100 pounds of gear. Once at the Park you have to "again" handle the equipment (this is the fourth time so far on this trip) . At the park everything becomes territorial (with divers all trying to mark their space).
Then you suit up, if you brought your own tanks you have a chance of getting in first. You do your gear checks before you go to the stairs, and look down at your gear bag, (and hope it's still there when you come back). Down the stairs you go (but wait here's someone doing a gear check or is she putting on her make-up, no she forgot her fins, Oh no someone didn't turn on their air, is that a regulator on backwards, a weight belt just fell off, wait is that their instructor who's tank just fell out of his backpack). After what seemed to be an hour you finally get into the water, you and about a 100 other divers. You take a quick look at the 30 to 40 foot vis because you know that in a few minutes it will be a dirty 10.
Down the hill you glide , Avalon is steep and deep and at times heavily kelped (it's an Advanced dive not an entry level student dive or a dive for someone new to the sport ). At 70 feet you look back up the hill and see classes passing by (with great rolling dust clouds behind them). You try to stay out at the lines, hoping for less traffic (is that a lost student sitting in the bull kelp just up ahead?). Your gas is at 2/3's so it's time to start back up the hill. You level off a 15 ft. and watch all the legs and fins thrashing about at the stairs. You surface and see lines of divers at the stairs. You exit on the rocks just like the old days. You look over and see the line at the fill station, and another transport truck with a new group of divers. Your buddy gives you the UP hand sign and we both start packing our gear so we can get the hell out of here. You call a taxi and wait and watch the chaos(I will admit there is some high entertainment value at the dive park). The taxi comes and you pick-up your gear again and put in the taxi. You go to the mole and take the gear off the taxi and put your gear in storage(if you count it, you have had to pick-up your gear and handle it a minimum of 10 times for an Avalon trip).
After lunch you take the early boat back to Long Beach. As you are paying the man at the parking gate ( you think, that really sucked, I wish I sent that $120 on a dive boat instead).
Avalon sucks.
Why does it suck? Will let me count the ways.
First getting there has always sucked. Today you have to take the Express ( which has become expensive and less friendly). Parking is a pain (and expensive), carrying the equipment up the stairs and out to the boat is a pain( you need a two wheeler or a four wheeler to make it reasonable). The crew on the Express seems to be getting the same attitude as the old Catalina ferry crew had.
Once there, there is no transportation. You have to "again" carry or wheel your gear up to the top of the dock. There you need to find a taxi (which are expensive) or go on one of the trucks (which very often destroys your gear), or walk a half mile with a 100 pounds of gear. Once at the Park you have to "again" handle the equipment (this is the fourth time so far on this trip) . At the park everything becomes territorial (with divers all trying to mark their space).
Then you suit up, if you brought your own tanks you have a chance of getting in first. You do your gear checks before you go to the stairs, and look down at your gear bag, (and hope it's still there when you come back). Down the stairs you go (but wait here's someone doing a gear check or is she putting on her make-up, no she forgot her fins, Oh no someone didn't turn on their air, is that a regulator on backwards, a weight belt just fell off, wait is that their instructor who's tank just fell out of his backpack). After what seemed to be an hour you finally get into the water, you and about a 100 other divers. You take a quick look at the 30 to 40 foot vis because you know that in a few minutes it will be a dirty 10.
Down the hill you glide , Avalon is steep and deep and at times heavily kelped (it's an Advanced dive not an entry level student dive or a dive for someone new to the sport ). At 70 feet you look back up the hill and see classes passing by (with great rolling dust clouds behind them). You try to stay out at the lines, hoping for less traffic (is that a lost student sitting in the bull kelp just up ahead?). Your gas is at 2/3's so it's time to start back up the hill. You level off a 15 ft. and watch all the legs and fins thrashing about at the stairs. You surface and see lines of divers at the stairs. You exit on the rocks just like the old days. You look over and see the line at the fill station, and another transport truck with a new group of divers. Your buddy gives you the UP hand sign and we both start packing our gear so we can get the hell out of here. You call a taxi and wait and watch the chaos(I will admit there is some high entertainment value at the dive park). The taxi comes and you pick-up your gear again and put in the taxi. You go to the mole and take the gear off the taxi and put your gear in storage(if you count it, you have had to pick-up your gear and handle it a minimum of 10 times for an Avalon trip).
After lunch you take the early boat back to Long Beach. As you are paying the man at the parking gate ( you think, that really sucked, I wish I sent that $120 on a dive boat instead).
Avalon sucks.
