Eight divers from our local South Carolina dive shop just returned from 3 days on Catalina Island. Here's our trip report:
Water temp was 64F at the surface, 61F at 30 60, and 59F below 80. I had our LDS owner order my husband and I 3mil Henderson core warmers a few months ago. We wore these under our 7mil full suits. This kept us thin-blooded Southerners more comfortable than just a 7mil alone. Air temps were in the mid 60s and pleasant. Skies were partly cloudy with a little rain once in a while. The seas were calm and a waste of a good ScopeDerm patch. The water temps warmed up too much this summer and most of the kelp died off. It was starting to come back by the time we were there, but not nearly as lush as it was when I dove here Oct 2005. What kelp was here was patchy. The best kelp stands were at the Casino Point diver park. The reefs overall were more brown than I remember, they seemed greener last year. But there was an abundance of other sea plants: gorgonians, algae, oarweed, southern sea palm and sea grasses lots of places for critters to hide.
We did 8 dives: 3 on Thurs, 4 on Fri (including a night dive at Hen Rock) and 1 shore dive on Sat morning at the Casino Point dive park. This last was the best dive for me: the most vegetation and very fishy. My buddy brought down some little boxes of breakfast cereal and I snapped pix as he got mobbed by a hundred kelp bass, garabaldi, and sheepshead. Another favorite dive site was Sea Fan Grotto: a combination of wall and caverns. The caverns were shallow, only about 25 and the ceilings were covered in sea fans growing upside down. About 25 into the back of one cavern, that was large enough for two divers to swim into, there was a large opening in the ceiling where daylight streamed through. My husband and I ventured inside and looked up through the opening to see the sea surge against the rocks above us. Way cool.
Little Gibralter Point was our first dive of the trip. Only about 30' viz, but more than enough to see the dozens of California Moray eels in every little nook and crany. It was a regular eel condo development! Some were even double-bunking.
I studied up on California fish, invertebrates and sea plants before the trip and brought my identification books with me. I was able to ID nearly every fish and invertebrate I saw and record my findings on survey forms for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) making all my dive boat fees tax deductible. Dr. Bill was on the Friday day dives. He is a well-known local marine ecologist, underwater photographer and SB poster. I had the good fortune to dive with him last year, too. He and I compared notes on the marine life we saw during our dives that day and he helped me ID some fish that werent in the fish books.
There were sea lions in the water at almost every dive site, but only one of our group got lucky enough to actually see them underwater during a dive. The rest of us just caught glimpses of them from the dive boat. We also saw leaping porpoises from the dive boat, but none while underwater.
Our accommodations were great. We stayed at the Pavilion: very comfy beds and definitely an upgrade from your BDA (basic diver accommodations). Best of all, it was only a short walk to the dive boat and the dive shop. SCUBA LUV did a great job for us, too. The King Neptune is a 65, 72-ton dive boat with full kitchen, salon and air compressor on board. We never took our gear off our tank. The dive crew just filled our tanks from air whips positioned every few feet around the stern. The crew always had snacks out for us, water and a soda fountain machine for our exclusive use. After the 2nd morning dive they served lunch, including homemade New England clam chowder. The chowder was everyones favorite. Ive never tasted soup so delicious as that hot chowder after a chilly dive. There was also a hot shower. We learned real quick that the best way to steel ourselves for getting back into that cold water was to fill our wetsuits and hoods with hot water just before we put them on or jumped in.
The dive briefings were thorough and they let us do whatever we wanted solo dive, take as much time as we wanted, etc. The divemaster stayed on the boat as surface support and simply turned us loose to have fun. There was never any danger of anyone getting lost at sea. The current was only moderate on some dive sites and weak on others. A diver could easily swim to the shore from any of the dive sites. Not many of us went deep because all the best stuff to see was above 60.
Am I going back? Most definitely! I plan to make Catalina Island an annual pilgrimage. I would like to try it right after Labor Day next time, when the water is a few degrees warmer.
Water temp was 64F at the surface, 61F at 30 60, and 59F below 80. I had our LDS owner order my husband and I 3mil Henderson core warmers a few months ago. We wore these under our 7mil full suits. This kept us thin-blooded Southerners more comfortable than just a 7mil alone. Air temps were in the mid 60s and pleasant. Skies were partly cloudy with a little rain once in a while. The seas were calm and a waste of a good ScopeDerm patch. The water temps warmed up too much this summer and most of the kelp died off. It was starting to come back by the time we were there, but not nearly as lush as it was when I dove here Oct 2005. What kelp was here was patchy. The best kelp stands were at the Casino Point diver park. The reefs overall were more brown than I remember, they seemed greener last year. But there was an abundance of other sea plants: gorgonians, algae, oarweed, southern sea palm and sea grasses lots of places for critters to hide.
We did 8 dives: 3 on Thurs, 4 on Fri (including a night dive at Hen Rock) and 1 shore dive on Sat morning at the Casino Point dive park. This last was the best dive for me: the most vegetation and very fishy. My buddy brought down some little boxes of breakfast cereal and I snapped pix as he got mobbed by a hundred kelp bass, garabaldi, and sheepshead. Another favorite dive site was Sea Fan Grotto: a combination of wall and caverns. The caverns were shallow, only about 25 and the ceilings were covered in sea fans growing upside down. About 25 into the back of one cavern, that was large enough for two divers to swim into, there was a large opening in the ceiling where daylight streamed through. My husband and I ventured inside and looked up through the opening to see the sea surge against the rocks above us. Way cool.
Little Gibralter Point was our first dive of the trip. Only about 30' viz, but more than enough to see the dozens of California Moray eels in every little nook and crany. It was a regular eel condo development! Some were even double-bunking.
I studied up on California fish, invertebrates and sea plants before the trip and brought my identification books with me. I was able to ID nearly every fish and invertebrate I saw and record my findings on survey forms for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) making all my dive boat fees tax deductible. Dr. Bill was on the Friday day dives. He is a well-known local marine ecologist, underwater photographer and SB poster. I had the good fortune to dive with him last year, too. He and I compared notes on the marine life we saw during our dives that day and he helped me ID some fish that werent in the fish books.
There were sea lions in the water at almost every dive site, but only one of our group got lucky enough to actually see them underwater during a dive. The rest of us just caught glimpses of them from the dive boat. We also saw leaping porpoises from the dive boat, but none while underwater.
Our accommodations were great. We stayed at the Pavilion: very comfy beds and definitely an upgrade from your BDA (basic diver accommodations). Best of all, it was only a short walk to the dive boat and the dive shop. SCUBA LUV did a great job for us, too. The King Neptune is a 65, 72-ton dive boat with full kitchen, salon and air compressor on board. We never took our gear off our tank. The dive crew just filled our tanks from air whips positioned every few feet around the stern. The crew always had snacks out for us, water and a soda fountain machine for our exclusive use. After the 2nd morning dive they served lunch, including homemade New England clam chowder. The chowder was everyones favorite. Ive never tasted soup so delicious as that hot chowder after a chilly dive. There was also a hot shower. We learned real quick that the best way to steel ourselves for getting back into that cold water was to fill our wetsuits and hoods with hot water just before we put them on or jumped in.
The dive briefings were thorough and they let us do whatever we wanted solo dive, take as much time as we wanted, etc. The divemaster stayed on the boat as surface support and simply turned us loose to have fun. There was never any danger of anyone getting lost at sea. The current was only moderate on some dive sites and weak on others. A diver could easily swim to the shore from any of the dive sites. Not many of us went deep because all the best stuff to see was above 60.
Am I going back? Most definitely! I plan to make Catalina Island an annual pilgrimage. I would like to try it right after Labor Day next time, when the water is a few degrees warmer.
