My wife and I just returned from about 3 days in Avalon. Although I had lived in SoCal before, I never made it out to Catalina until now that I live on the other coast! We had a great time, and I can't believe it took me this long to visit. I learned to dive in SoCal, but it's been about 15 years since I've been in that cold water and haven't really been itching to go back.
The Catalina Express from Long Beach ($69 r/t) was a breeze and takes 65 minutes to cross the channel. We stayed at the Atwater Hotel, one of the more economical lodging options, apparently popular with divers. From some reviews, I had anticipated a dingy place. But we were pleasantly surprised. Our room was clean, had new carpet, a decent King bed, and no bedbugs. Free morning coffee in the lobby and personable staff. The negatives were: street noise (but we brought earplugs as we always do), a lack of an elevator (with dive gear, that's a big deal) and a tiny bathroom. But the Atwater was still far better than some of the budget places we've stayed in the world. I wouldn't hesitate to return.
None of the three shops in Avalon had enough divers for a boat dive on the days we were there, so we contented ourselves with two days of shore diving from the Casino Point dive park. We brought BCDs and regs but rented suits, since we only own tropical suits. Catalina Scuba Luv gave us a hand cart to take our gear down to Casino Point. Not overly difficult, but certainly a new experience for us. We're used to resort diving or, at the most taxing, driving the truck right up to the dive site in Bonaire.
The entry is the easiest in the world: Walk down the wide steps with convenient railing, don fins, and walk into the water. There was some surge, but not bad at all. I can't say we saw that much of interest, but the one giant seabass made up for it. Wow! We tried to look for small stuff as well and managed to find a couple of nudibranchs. I'm sure if we knew what to look for we would have noticed much more. But the real experience, at least for my wife, was just diving through the forest of giant kelp. It's really pretty in the afternoon sunlight.
We enjoyed dollar tacos during happy hour at The Sand Trap. The Lobster Trap was a nice meal as well. Plenty of places to spend one's downtime, and prices, though higher than the mainland, were not astronomical.
The Catalina Express from Long Beach ($69 r/t) was a breeze and takes 65 minutes to cross the channel. We stayed at the Atwater Hotel, one of the more economical lodging options, apparently popular with divers. From some reviews, I had anticipated a dingy place. But we were pleasantly surprised. Our room was clean, had new carpet, a decent King bed, and no bedbugs. Free morning coffee in the lobby and personable staff. The negatives were: street noise (but we brought earplugs as we always do), a lack of an elevator (with dive gear, that's a big deal) and a tiny bathroom. But the Atwater was still far better than some of the budget places we've stayed in the world. I wouldn't hesitate to return.
None of the three shops in Avalon had enough divers for a boat dive on the days we were there, so we contented ourselves with two days of shore diving from the Casino Point dive park. We brought BCDs and regs but rented suits, since we only own tropical suits. Catalina Scuba Luv gave us a hand cart to take our gear down to Casino Point. Not overly difficult, but certainly a new experience for us. We're used to resort diving or, at the most taxing, driving the truck right up to the dive site in Bonaire.
The entry is the easiest in the world: Walk down the wide steps with convenient railing, don fins, and walk into the water. There was some surge, but not bad at all. I can't say we saw that much of interest, but the one giant seabass made up for it. Wow! We tried to look for small stuff as well and managed to find a couple of nudibranchs. I'm sure if we knew what to look for we would have noticed much more. But the real experience, at least for my wife, was just diving through the forest of giant kelp. It's really pretty in the afternoon sunlight.
We enjoyed dollar tacos during happy hour at The Sand Trap. The Lobster Trap was a nice meal as well. Plenty of places to spend one's downtime, and prices, though higher than the mainland, were not astronomical.
