Catalina 5-22

[Knucklehead]

Played hooky from work on Friday and convinced a friend and his wife to do the same at the last minute. They live in Phoenix and made the drive out Thursday after work. We got up at 3:45am and made the drive to Long Beach to catch the 6:15 to the island. The couple that went with us had just got certified in AZ and dove on their Hawaiian vacation a couple months ago. They have never been to Catalina and this would be only my second trip there. We got off the boat and made a leisurely stroll to the point and they rented all their gear and we were in the water in no time. We were the second group of divers in the water. We got in three dives, vis was decent at about 50ft and dropping a bit as the day went on. The AZ couple had a blast after she got over a bit anxiety on the first dive. The combination of kelp and cold water prevented her from starting her first dive. But she joined us on the final two dives.

After a lunch we took the golf car tour of Avalon before catching the boat back. All in all we had a blast. Catalina is such a cool place to spend the day, it's very diver friendly. The AZ couple will be coming back and I hope to make my trips to Catalina more frequent.

Oh and the highlight of the day, met Dr. Bill as we were putting away gear. Good to meet you.

 

[ShakaZulu]

This thread is useless without pictures

 

[Knucklehead]

I'm a bit of a topside photo buff, I've yet to make the investment in UW equipment. But it surely is on the list.

 

[drbill]

OMG, Knucklehead... if meeting me was the highlight of your day, why are you coming back here! Seriously, nice to meet you... too bad we didn't have more time to chat. I always enjoy meeting other SB members.

 

[Knucklehead]

OMG, Knucklehead... if meeting me was the highlight of your day, why are you coming back here! Seriously, nice to meet you... too bad we didn't have more time to chat. I always enjoy meeting other SB members.

Well the bat ray was pretty cool too!

 

[on_two_wheels]

wow....soooo many AZ residents visiting lately!! Maybe I should move back to AZ. Seems they're getting more bottom time than me!!

 

[Hoomi]

I grew up in Southern California (San Bernardino area), and spent most of the first 35 years of my life there. My first (and so far only) trip to Catalina, though, was in February 2008, when my wife and I were on a cruise for our anniversary. We weren't scuba-certed then, and had it not been February, I might have considered one of the snorkel excursions.

I'd love to make it back out there and give it a shot. What's the fare these days for the ferry boats from the mainland?

 

[on_two_wheels]

Well, given the cost of the ferry, your best bet for scuba is to take a dive boat from long beach or san pedro, et al. You can take the Magician (love that boat) and do 3 dives around catalina for about $130 including air, breakfast and lunch. The shuttle costs about $65-70 r/t and you can do all three dives in the dive park or pay another chuck for one of the boats the stay in catalina. Now if you plan to stay on the island for a few days, that might make sense. However, there's more to do in the evenings/non-dive days and for family if you just stay on the mainland.

 

[Hoomi]

Thanks! My wife and I plan to get back out and see more of Catalina sometime, as we had only the one day while on our cruise. Since her mobility at the time was limited, we just bummed around Avalon for a few hours, and then headed back to the ship.