Advice on where to dive

[motspach]

Hi guys,

My partner and I are going to be in california mid october for a fortnight. We're pretty keen to get in the water although I have absolutely no idea what the diving is like.

So where would you all recommend we go? We'd prefer to pick one location and do maybe 4 or 5 days in the water. Personally I like "easy" dives but as long as theres some variety I'm pretty happy.

Thanks for your help

 

[fnfalman]

I'd suggest taking a trip on the Peace boat on their 2.5-days outing. The best diver charter in SoCal by far.

Peace Dive Boat Calendar

 

[Teamcasa]

Catalina is always my first choice, especially for ease of diving and outstanding dives. I'd stay on the island a day or two then head south to San Diego for another day. Finaly finishing up by some shore diving in Laguna beach. Or just book a few dives on local boats to Catalina.

 

[SoCalRich]

Welcome to SoCal divin
Depending where you stay in Calif. It might be fun to work your way up or down the coast. We have lots of dive boats to choose fom in each area: San Diego, Dana Point, Alomitos, Long Beach/LA, Ventura & Santa Barbara/ Monteray

My boat dive pics would be: Kelp & wrecks in San Diego / Catalina island, wrecks & oil riggs from Alomitos or Long Beach/ Channel Islands from Ventrura or Santa Barbara. Monteray is cold and beautful.
Bring a Camera. 7mil. or dry suit.
Good Divin
SoCal Rich

 

[diversteve]

Some links to get started with:

http://www.cadivingnews.com/
California Scuba Diving BBS forum, news, photos, videos, dive boats, stories, and weather
California Dive Boats : The Official Page
SanDiegoDiving.com- scuba diving in San Diego California
Catalina Island Diving
http://www.divebums.com/

 

[geoff w]

...So where would you all recommend we go? We'd prefer to pick one location and do maybe 4 or 5 days in the water...

You didn't say what you like, what your experience level is, and what your budget is? Serious tech diving or easy recreational? How do you do in cooler water, like 66ºF (or 19ºC) and colder? Wrecks? Boat dives? Shore dives? There's a lot of variety here and you'll never get to see it all

We had friends visiting from Saudi Arabia in August who do lots of diving in the Red Sea. We took them on the ferry to Casino Point in Catalina one day, and had a great dinner afterward before taking the ferry home that night, and a few days later went out on the Peace Boat to Santa Barbara island for one day. None of the dives were particularly challenging, but they saw kelp forests, giant black sea bass, sea lions, rays, lots of local fish and had a fantastic time. The only shore dive I got him out on was the Point Dume pinnacles, which he thought was OK but everyone else loved (she didn't go, since she wasn't about to swim that far in cold water). I would have taken them down to San Diego to dive the Yukon, but that's a lot colder still. Other things I wanted to do with them were more of Catalina and Anacapa, and (since I haven't yet) Farnsworth Bank and some oil rigs. Plus more shore diving