Thanksgiving week suggestions

[Keith.M]

Unbelievably, my son has a soccer tournament in San Diego Friday - Sunday after thanksgiving.

So I am looking at taking the week off and getting some dives in So Cal up until the weekend with my son. It will suck to be gone for Thanksgiving, but it is what it is.

I have done a bit of diving around San Diego both on local dive boats and shore dives in La Jolla cove. My son has dives in Monterey as well as a few lake dives. Total of 17 dives for him. He is 17.

I am interested in possibly diving Catalina but I am unfamiliar with the ways of the ferry and how much you can bring with you.

I am also interested in any other shore diving anywhere from LA area to San Diego so any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Keith.M]

62 views and not a peep? Come on folks, little help here...

So as I continue to plan, I am leaning toward just going and staying and diving on Catalina either Monday or Tuesday through Thursday. (2 or 3 nights)

So now I am looking for a hotel. This is for me and my 17 year old son. I would like to save as much as I can so I'm not interested in any high end hotels.

I am looking for something clean with 2 doubles or queens. It would be nice if they had a grill your could use, but not a deal breaker.

 

[akivisuals]

Are you looking at hotels on the mainland or Catalina? What part of SoCal did you want to stay if on the mainland?

For shore dives there's stuff in Malibu, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, and plenty in South Orange County like Laguna Beach.

Here's a list of some local dives:
Southern California's Best Beach Scuba Diving Sites

 

[Keith.M]

Thanks for the reply!

I think at this point I am looking to just stay on Catalina for 2 or 3 nights.

So far I am looking at Atwater or Seaport Village Inn

 

[blue steal]

I've stayed at the Seaport Village Inn a few times. They will pick you up at the ferry dock and take you back, plus will drive you down to the park using their small cart. they do serve a breakfast, but it is pretty weak. I alway opt for the catalina room, nice and roomy, clean. Many divers stay here. It is a bit of an uphill walk from the maindrag or casino, but does not bother me. You can also leave you stuff in a small closet next to the lobby if you have an afternoon or late ferry trip back. I find you can sometimes get a better rate if you call them directly.

 

[decidedlyodd]

Hotel Atwater is fine. I've stayed there twice on trips where we dove the Casino park for a couple days. It's nothing fancy, but well located in town and clean.

We just ended up borrowing a cart from Scubaluv (one block away) and rolling it to the park (maybe 10 minutes time and fairly flat). I found the hotel pretty diver friendly in that they helped us get the cart with our gear into the storage room each day.

Scubaluv will sell you a package (call them--they don't list these on their website) which includes the Express ride over, hotel, tanks/weights and (I think) luggage transportation. They make the arrangements and you just pay the shop once you're there. The fill station at the park is run by the other dive shop, CDS, but they will fill Scubaluv tanks too. I'm not sure if it's open year round mid-week, so it's probably worth checking ahead of time and planning your surface intervals/# of tanks accordingly.

 

[Keith.M]

So I am all set for next week.

We will be arriving on Catalina around 11:00am on Tuesday 11/25 if all goes well with flight and rental car and make the 10:00 ferry.

My son and I will be diving Tuesday, Wednesday and possibly a dive on Thursday morning. I would say a minimum of 6 dives.

So now I am working on some dive plans.

I have come across two maps of the dive park, neither all that great and the two of them don't agree on the placement of the buoys.

Casino Point

http://divingcatalina.com/maps/dive-park-map.pdf

Does anyone know of a better map?

Any suggested dive plans would be of interest as well.

Thanks!

 

[decidedlyodd]

The dive shops sell a laminated map that is a bit better than the one linked.

 

[Keith.M]

Excellent, thank you.

 

[bperc]

You don't need to buy a map. The online map is more than adequate. Once you get to the park you will see it's easy to navigate. Take some compass headings from the steps and go explore. You will have a great time.