frogoutofwater
Guest
I've persuaded my parents to stay down south for Christmas (instead of returning to Canada), so my husband and I will be flying from Paris (our new home - hence my nickname) to Palm Desert to meet them for Christmas. Then we've got a few days (Dec 26-29) in Southern California (with a rental car) before flying to Vancouver on the 30th to meet my sister for New Years, and then home to France.
We'd like to fit a couple of dives into the trip (one dive day max.), if possible, probably on the 26th or 27th (if we detour to San Diego) or the 27th or 28th (if we go straight to LA from Palm Desert). Mr. frogoutofwater is an ex-LA resident, but has never dived in California. I've been to Catalina but never dived there. We're both novices (he was certified 10+ years ago, I was certified only two years ago) and a bit rusty, so we'd like something easy in terms of logistics and access (e.g. boat dive, with a dive shop that will rent us almost everything and help us lug the tanks to the boat - but the boat doesn't have to be fancy), easy in terms of dive difficulty, and we prefer fauna to flora or wrecks. Diving near friendly sea lions would be great. Diving in cold water doesn't worry us (we're Canadians, after all) provided that a 7mm suit (or a 7mm layered with something else) will be enough (I've never used a drysuit before).
Checking out this forum, I've seen a few possibilities: Catalina (but that seems a little challenging in terms of logistics/access), Channel Islands (interesting but too long a trip) or San Diego. I'd appreciate any suggestions for dive shops, boats, locations and nearby accommodation (either specific hotels or neighbourhoods) that fit our itinerary. Thanks.
We'd like to fit a couple of dives into the trip (one dive day max.), if possible, probably on the 26th or 27th (if we detour to San Diego) or the 27th or 28th (if we go straight to LA from Palm Desert). Mr. frogoutofwater is an ex-LA resident, but has never dived in California. I've been to Catalina but never dived there. We're both novices (he was certified 10+ years ago, I was certified only two years ago) and a bit rusty, so we'd like something easy in terms of logistics and access (e.g. boat dive, with a dive shop that will rent us almost everything and help us lug the tanks to the boat - but the boat doesn't have to be fancy), easy in terms of dive difficulty, and we prefer fauna to flora or wrecks. Diving near friendly sea lions would be great. Diving in cold water doesn't worry us (we're Canadians, after all) provided that a 7mm suit (or a 7mm layered with something else) will be enough (I've never used a drysuit before).
Checking out this forum, I've seen a few possibilities: Catalina (but that seems a little challenging in terms of logistics/access), Channel Islands (interesting but too long a trip) or San Diego. I'd appreciate any suggestions for dive shops, boats, locations and nearby accommodation (either specific hotels or neighbourhoods) that fit our itinerary. Thanks.
