KevinA
Registered
Last weekend I had my chance to dive in Southern California for the first time. Based on the recommendations here on the board, I spent one day on a dive boat visiting the channel islands (Anacapa & Santa Cruz). The next day I went over to Catalina and dove the Casino Point park.
The dive boat trip aboard the Spectre out of Ventura was really great. They have a wonderful staff on the boat and they make an effort to ensure everyone enjoys the trip. I was a little concerned about the wet-suit decision as everyone said I needed to use a 7-mil suit there. Well after one dive, I was ditching the 7-mil and wore a 3-mil for the rest of the weekend. 72+ at the surface and even 70F at 60 feet was not the frigid conditions I was expecting! LOL (I understand that is not normal there). Diving around kelp for the first time was truly a special feeling. Also seeing things like The Underwater Island at Anacapa was really cool. At first, I thought I was swimming over some soft coral until my dive buddy went down and picked up a brittle starfish to show me what was really there. The entire area is covered with what seemed like millions of brittle stars.
The next day at Casino Point, I was even more impressed with all of the marine life in the park. I hired one of the ScubaLuv instructors (Tim) for a couple of guided tour dives. He was truly great at making it a memorable set of dives. Although, I didn't see even one sea lion at Anacapa I was treated to surprise visit by one large bull sea lion during the tour in Casino Point. The Garabaldi, kelpfish, and catalina gobies were everywhere I looked. I met the resident octopus and truly got the sense of "dissapearing" in the kelp. After my first dive, I lucked into meeting DrBill as we were putting gear back in the truck. He is truly a great guy.
Although it is quite different from a Caribbean dive, I'd rate the dives I had in Catalina right up near the top of my experiences in the ocean. I hope to get back out there someday and enjoy it again!!
The dive boat trip aboard the Spectre out of Ventura was really great. They have a wonderful staff on the boat and they make an effort to ensure everyone enjoys the trip. I was a little concerned about the wet-suit decision as everyone said I needed to use a 7-mil suit there. Well after one dive, I was ditching the 7-mil and wore a 3-mil for the rest of the weekend. 72+ at the surface and even 70F at 60 feet was not the frigid conditions I was expecting! LOL (I understand that is not normal there). Diving around kelp for the first time was truly a special feeling. Also seeing things like The Underwater Island at Anacapa was really cool. At first, I thought I was swimming over some soft coral until my dive buddy went down and picked up a brittle starfish to show me what was really there. The entire area is covered with what seemed like millions of brittle stars.
The next day at Casino Point, I was even more impressed with all of the marine life in the park. I hired one of the ScubaLuv instructors (Tim) for a couple of guided tour dives. He was truly great at making it a memorable set of dives. Although, I didn't see even one sea lion at Anacapa I was treated to surprise visit by one large bull sea lion during the tour in Casino Point. The Garabaldi, kelpfish, and catalina gobies were everywhere I looked. I met the resident octopus and truly got the sense of "dissapearing" in the kelp. After my first dive, I lucked into meeting DrBill as we were putting gear back in the truck. He is truly a great guy.
Although it is quite different from a Caribbean dive, I'd rate the dives I had in Catalina right up near the top of my experiences in the ocean. I hope to get back out there someday and enjoy it again!!