Catalina Questions

[Kimusubi]

Hi,

I'm from Arizona, and me and my friend are heading over to California for some dives in Catalina on Thanksgiving weekend. We were going to drive down there, and we were wondering if anyone knew of:

1. What's a nice and fairly cheap place to stay close by the boats? We'd prefer to have a Marriott hotel because we can get some nice deals from them, but we're open to anything else.

2. We're also looking for some boats that can take us out there and allow us 2-3 dives a day. We've both just gotten our open waters recently, and are looking for a boat that can do basic recreational dives and that can take us to a nice spot.

I tried searching through previous threads, but unfortunately I didn't know how to narrow the search down to make it less scattered. If anyone can give us any suggestions, we'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you for all the help in advance.

- Ali

 

[D_B]

This Catalina sticky has lots of info ... http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/231885-updated-great-catalina-island-info-sticky-thread.html

I like the Seaport Village Inn, they give you a discount for being a ScubaBoard member, it's within walking distance of down town and the dive park, plus they will transport you and your gear to the boat/dive park.

Scuba Luv is the boat we used and is a favorite of Dr Bill

 

[Teamcasa]

This may help if you plan on staying on the mainland.
California Dive Boats : The Official Page

The other alternative is to stay on the mainland and take the Catalina Express to the island for easy Dive Park diving, return in the evening.
Catalina Express // Daily Trips To Catalina Island

One way or the other, welcome to California and please, enjoy the diving!

 

[fnfalman]

Hi,

I'm from Arizona, and me and my friend are heading over to California for some dives in Catalina on Thanksgiving weekend. We were going to drive down there, and we were wondering if anyone knew of:

1. What's a nice and fairly cheap place to stay close by the boats? We'd prefer to have a Marriott hotel because we can get some nice deals from them, but we're open to anything else.

2. We're also looking for some boats that can take us out there and allow us 2-3 dives a day. We've both just gotten our open waters recently, and are looking for a boat that can do basic recreational dives and that can take us to a nice spot.

I tried searching through previous threads, but unfortunately I didn't know how to narrow the search down to make it less scattered. If anyone can give us any suggestions, we'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you for all the help in advance.

- Ali

Do you mean to want to stay on Catalina itself and dive there or stay on mainland and go out on boat dives?

The other posts already covered the staying on Catalina aspect, but if you don't mind staying on mainland and then take the dive boats out then you have many a choices. You can stay at Marriot Long Beach and take the dive boats that depart from either Long Beach port or San Pedro Port such as the Great Escape, the Magician, Mr. C, Island Time, the Sea Bass, etc. Yahoo! Yellow Pages - Marriott-Long Beach

Please let me know because I'd like to join you guys if you don't mind. I'm looking for dive partners during the Thanksgiving weekend as well.

 

[JMdiver]

If you're just here for the diving & aren't planning on doing anything else here your best bet is to stay on Catalina & do the dive boats there. Instead of a 2 hr. + boat ride you're right there & you can dive the park also. The Seaport Village Inn is a good deal.

John

 

[drbill]

Hi Ali... if you don't find the answers you need, feel free to PM me here. The Catalina sticky D_B mentioned is a good source since it was written by folks who visit the island rather than live here... and they often have great insights a local (or is it loco?) like me wouldn't think of.

 

[Kimusubi]

Wow! Thanks for the information. I have to admit, that was a lot more organized than what I had found. I just finished reading it though, and it opened up a lot of interesting options as well as a ton of questions. We had originally planned to stay on mainland, and just take a boat trip up to Catalina to dive, however, it seems that we will be wasting about two hours there and two hours back each day, which seems really pointless to me. So my main concern is going to be of the following:

1. We are going to drive there from Arizona (about a 6-7 hour ride) on Friday the 26th, and will probably get there in the afternoon. So would the ferry be able to take us to the island that late, or would we have to plan on getting there earlier? This would create a huge problem for us if we can't make it on time due to traffic and all, and will have no place to stay when we get there.

2. Since we are driving, I'm going to have to park somewhere since the ferry won't allow us to take the car. I know in one of the threads it was mentioned that you're allowed to park in the ferry's lot for a fee/day...so my question would be if that is a generally safe spot to park, and also how pricey would it get for the weekend.

3. Is staying on the Island going to be significantly more expensive than staying on mainland, simply do to food and room costs? Or do they fair about the same? What would be a decent, clean, and nice place to stay on the Island, that will be near to a lot of things and still save us a bit of money.

4. Lastly, if we do some diving in the park, is it generally just as scenic and filled with marine life as anywhere else or does it seem to be on the lower side? And if we decide to dive the park on one day, what are some other places we can go that will fair with our level of experience on the next day?

I know I've asked a lot, and I am sure that you guys have a ton of things to do, but again I truly appreciate all of your insight and can't express how thankful I am for any help that I get. I've never been to Catalina Island, and it's very new to me, so any information will be useful for me. And thinking about it now, just the experience of staying on an Island (never been on an island in my life) sounds very exciting to me. Thank you all again for your help and contribution.

 

[D_B]

1 ... the Catalina ferry has a boat leave Long Beach Downtown as late as 7pm on Friday ... Long Beach Downtown Landing Schedules & Fares // Catalina Express
2 ... I'm not familiar with parking there, it looks like above ground parking ... http://www.catalinaexpress.com/portLongBeach.php ... birds eye view ... http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v...&scene=32097020&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
3 ... lodging? maybe less than on the mainland ... Seaport Village Inn ... food, a bit more
4 ... The park is one of my favorite dive spots, lots of stuff to see, like maybe giant black sea bass (3, 4, 5ft long) sunk boats, kelp forests, plaques, and a boat will take you some nice reefs close by
5 ... you'll love Catalina, it's really a different place that's unlike anything on the mainland
Mo2vation took this pic that's a good one ... St-Lauren

from this thread (conditions were blown out due to a storm) ... http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/so...11-7-08-part-3-3-drys-aka-stuck-paradise.html

 

[Kimusubi]

Which boats take you to the reefs? I would LOVE to see some corals!

 

[JMdiver]

They all go to the reefs.

John