Good Boats/LiveAboards in CA?

[ucladiver]

Hey all,
I'm trying to get out on a boat sometime soon an wanted to know if anyone had any reccomendations for a liveaboard out here? I have looked around and there are a lot out here but none seemed to distinguish themselves enough. I wanted to hear what people whove been out there thought. I'm a pretty new diver fortunate enough to live in SoCal where the beach diving is really good (and really cheap ). The only boat trip I've been on is a 1 day to Catalina aboard the Westerly. It was a ton of fun.. and unfortunately it spoiled my girlfriend who now thinks thats the only way to dive. In an effort to get her out with me more often I made her a deal: do a couple trips to Laguna with me, I'll pay for a couple days on a boat. Hey it's a win-win all around! Now I just need to find a boat....

Thanks.

 

[kelpmermaid]

I haven't done it myself, but friends have done multi-day trips to the Northern Channel Islands with the Truth Aquatics folks and had good things to say. If you thought the Westerly was nice, check out the Great Escape or the Encore - nice, well maintained boats.

 

[Triton]

Ucladiver,

I usually do two trips a year with Truth Aquatics specially on the VISION which is the largest of their 3 boats and I always end up having a great time. :flips:

They have a really friendly crew who always seem to be around to help you on with your gear and to get out of the water as well as answer any questions you might have. Oh! Yeah, lets not forget the food which I think is terrific.

I already have two 3 day trips scheduled for this year, one is coming up on May 17 and the other in September 26.

I have also heard good things about the Peace which is a smaller boat, but I believe it has a jacuzzi on it, unfortunately I have not been on that boat YET…But I hope to do it soon.

 

[socaldiver]

UCLA, there are not a lot of boats that do multi - day diving anymore. Most seem to be doing the one day trips. However, the Great Escape and Truth Aquatics do run 2 and 3 day trips more often than most. You may also want to check out Pacific Star. Very comparable to the GE.

You can also go south to San Diego and catch multi days there as well.

 

[JustAddWater]

Ditto on the kudos to Truth Aquatics. The Vision really is a nice boat with a large galley and decent size bunks. For 3/4 day dive trips (3 dives) off of the near Channel Islands, I've had good trips on the Spectre. It operates out of Ventura. It's reasonably priced and convenient for those in the L.A. central Cal proximity.

 

[ucladiver]

thanks for all the info. I have checked out Truth on the web and they look great. I definately plan on trying them out some day. Especially since I want to check out the northern channel islands. I'm glad to hear good thinks about spectre as well b/c they have great prices. Thanks again.