Here is another option for your consideration: this is like the "best of the best" given your timeline.
Thur: Take the 6AM Catalina Express ferry out of Long Beach, make two or three dives at the Park. Have lunch at Desconso Beach Resort (your wife will like this spot), take the 3:50 ferry back. Take a cab from the ferry terminal to the dive park, and from D-beach back to the ferry ($16 each way). The cabs will be waiting when you get off the ferry, walk past the terminal building and you will see them.
The dive kart opens at 8am. by the time you unload your gear and stretch out the kart will be opening. Rent your tanks and weights from the kart. Rent steel tanks if you can. Bring a plastic throw away painters sheet (heavy not the 1ml crap) to spread out on the ground at the park to don and doff your gear on. Rent a few extra weights to hold it down. Toss it when done (I know its being a consumer, but it will be filthy). Pick out one of the benches that rim the casino as your gear spot. The breakfast burritos at the Long Beach Ferry Terminal make a nice snack to eat immediately, or later.
Descanso Beach Club | Catalina Island | Visit Catalina Island
Stay at a hotel in Long Beach: Maya or Aria are good, avoid the Queen Mary. Other choices nearby.
Friday: drive to Ventura Harbor and dive the Spectre:
Dive Trips | The Spectre Dive Boat
They will take you to Annacapa Island: 1 hour short boat ride and great, great diving! Remember to reserve your tanks and weights from the Spectre.
Your only hiccup is Friday night: are you flying back on Sat? Stay around Ventura Fri and head for the airport on Sat.
Here are some reasons I like this schedule. It avoids LA Traffic, and divides the trip up into nice dive-rest-dive segments. Although you have to get up early on Thur. you have a very nice kick back on the Island after diving. You could extend your time on Catalina by coming back on the 6:15 boat, but this will start to feel like a long day. The two hotels I recommended are right across the bay from the ferry terminal, and you can take the water taxi from them to the Pike Ave. restaurants. No driving after your dinner cocktails!
If you only do two dives in the park, you would have time for visiting the brand new Museum or taking the Casino Tour, or just walking the main street in Cat and shopping.. Both are very nice. The Casino is not a gambling place, it was the center of ballroom dancing in the 30's and is very historical. There is also a dive museum at the Casino which may be open too.
If your budget permits, upgrade your ferry ride to the Captains Lounge. Your wife will think you are a shooter. General Boarding seating tip: The farther forward you sit on the ferry the more isolated you are from the engine noise.
In general, boat diving in SoCal is not guided diving. The dive master will give you a very thorough description of the dive sight, but you are expected to navigate to and from the boat on your own.
You can hire a dive guide for the Park, but its not that necessary as you can just follow the point out and back. You can buy the "map" to the park at the kart and it is a nice memento of your trip. Make sure you hit the Sujac wreck, and I hope the Giant Sea Bass are still hanging out there.
Let us know how your trip went!
