ucladiver
Guest
Just got back from Memorial Day weekend on Catalina Island and I thought I'd let you all in on the fun.
Before we left I told work I was going to be unreachable and if they needed anything that they were SOL. My boss was pleased to hear that, so the first thing I did was turn off my cell phone and leave it in my suitcase.
This was already a great vacation.
Day 1:
We arrived on Friday evening and after the fun fun hustle bustle of fighting LA traffic to get on board Catalina Express we were just too pooped to dive. We checked into the Hotel Atwater. It's a small simple hotel with a friendly staff and they are very diver friendly. They have a wash area and a large storage area for your gear. They didn't seem to mind our constant tramping in at out with loads of gear. After getting settled in the room we strolled around Avalon, had a good seafood dinner on the bay and enjoyed just being away from it all. (The memorial day crowds hadn't hit the Island yet). Got to bed early to be ready for our boat dive on the King Neptune.
Day 2:
We spent the day on the King Neptune, the biggest boat based in Avalon. The crew was amazing. Very knowledgable and they wouldn't let us lift a finger, always saying "You're on vactaion" as they plucked our gear out of the water to hook it up and get it filled again. We dove 3 spots: Sea Fan Grotto, Yellowtail Point, & Torqua Springs. We got some depth at Sea Fan Grotto (~80') and checked out the little caverns full of beautifull sea fans. As usuall, the kelp at Catalina amazed me. Yellowtail point is a more open dive with lots of areas to explore that are right on the edge of the kelp forrest. You get to see that fascinating transition between the two worlds. There we saw a group of 8-9 Garibaldi baraging a huge sea urchine for lunch. The DM picked up a horned shark while were down there and we happened to be near him at the time so we got to take a close look at it -- amazing creature. The last dive was a dense kelp forrest. It got downright dark at about 45'. We were advised to keep a lookout for Lepoard Sharks but we had no such luck. The day ended with Sushi at Flipp's in Avalon and a stroll around town.
Day 3:
Spent the day diving Casino Point UW park. Niether one of us had dove here before and we were looking forward to it. The breakwater was swarming with divers and my first thoughts were..yuck! But there is a lot of room down there. I only had one student dive bomb me from above. The park is a fantastic place to dive if you have never been there. BIG Kelp bass & Garibaldi are everywhere. We saw several sneaky scorpion fish as well. The temp is about 60 degress F and the vis is around 30 feet or so. The kelp is healthy and abundant with life. After a couple dives there we spent the rest of the day shopping in the Avalon shops My dive buddy is also my girlfriend and you don't want to upset your buddy (or your girlfriend), by denying the shopping experience! We finished the day with a twilight dive in the park. Niether of us had done a night dive before so this was a new experience and we thought it best to enter with a still a little light left. WOW! The world so different. We got to see the fish slowing down and settling towards the bottom to go to sleep. By the time we exited, it was completely dark. What a neat experience. We didn't get to stay down long enough to see the night critters come out to play, so we'll save that for another dive. We finished the night with pizza at Antonio's overlooking the bay.
Day 4:
We left Avalon after a nice lunch and a stroll to the lookout point near the bell tower. It was a wonderfull trip and I would reccomend it to anyone who has not had the chance to see the unique Southern California diving experience.
Before we left I told work I was going to be unreachable and if they needed anything that they were SOL. My boss was pleased to hear that, so the first thing I did was turn off my cell phone and leave it in my suitcase.
This was already a great vacation.Day 1:
We arrived on Friday evening and after the fun fun hustle bustle of fighting LA traffic to get on board Catalina Express we were just too pooped to dive. We checked into the Hotel Atwater. It's a small simple hotel with a friendly staff and they are very diver friendly. They have a wash area and a large storage area for your gear. They didn't seem to mind our constant tramping in at out with loads of gear. After getting settled in the room we strolled around Avalon, had a good seafood dinner on the bay and enjoyed just being away from it all. (The memorial day crowds hadn't hit the Island yet). Got to bed early to be ready for our boat dive on the King Neptune.
Day 2:
We spent the day on the King Neptune, the biggest boat based in Avalon. The crew was amazing. Very knowledgable and they wouldn't let us lift a finger, always saying "You're on vactaion" as they plucked our gear out of the water to hook it up and get it filled again. We dove 3 spots: Sea Fan Grotto, Yellowtail Point, & Torqua Springs. We got some depth at Sea Fan Grotto (~80') and checked out the little caverns full of beautifull sea fans. As usuall, the kelp at Catalina amazed me. Yellowtail point is a more open dive with lots of areas to explore that are right on the edge of the kelp forrest. You get to see that fascinating transition between the two worlds. There we saw a group of 8-9 Garibaldi baraging a huge sea urchine for lunch. The DM picked up a horned shark while were down there and we happened to be near him at the time so we got to take a close look at it -- amazing creature. The last dive was a dense kelp forrest. It got downright dark at about 45'. We were advised to keep a lookout for Lepoard Sharks but we had no such luck. The day ended with Sushi at Flipp's in Avalon and a stroll around town.
Day 3:
Spent the day diving Casino Point UW park. Niether one of us had dove here before and we were looking forward to it. The breakwater was swarming with divers and my first thoughts were..yuck! But there is a lot of room down there. I only had one student dive bomb me from above
. The park is a fantastic place to dive if you have never been there. BIG Kelp bass & Garibaldi are everywhere. We saw several sneaky scorpion fish as well. The temp is about 60 degress F and the vis is around 30 feet or so. The kelp is healthy and abundant with life. After a couple dives there we spent the rest of the day shopping in the Avalon shops My dive buddy is also my girlfriend and you don't want to upset your buddy (or your girlfriend), by denying the shopping experience! We finished the day with a twilight dive in the park. Niether of us had done a night dive before so this was a new experience and we thought it best to enter with a still a little light left. WOW! The world so different. We got to see the fish slowing down and settling towards the bottom to go to sleep. By the time we exited, it was completely dark. What a neat experience. We didn't get to stay down long enough to see the night critters come out to play, so we'll save that for another dive. We finished the night with pizza at Antonio's overlooking the bay.Day 4:
We left Avalon after a nice lunch and a stroll to the lookout point near the bell tower. It was a wonderfull trip and I would reccomend it to anyone who has not had the chance to see the unique Southern California diving experience.
