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Here's some links and some general comments.
The 91 Freeway is bad every day. A lot of people that can't afford LA prices live near Riverside and drive in daily. Do two things - allow an extra hour to drive in for boat dives and get a traffic app for the area on your phone.
Pretty much every boat is listed here: California Dive Boats : The Official Page Most have online calendars.
For sea lions/kelp try to find someone going to Santa Barbara or Anacapa - google either for videos. There's a sea lion rookery on Santa Barbara so that's almost a given. Anacapa has a site called Cathedral Cove - if conditions are good you might find both kelp and sea lions on the same shallow dive - they like to play just outside the kelp.
No one has touched on this yet that I've seen but generally the DM stays on the boat. So if you feel you need a guide, they all have a list of contacts or can provide one. Generally around $150ish for the day. One other thing about Catalina - last year the Kelp didn't show up - probably something to do with the warmer water. drbill lives there and is a marine biologist who dives it often so closer to your trip maybe contact him.
For shore diving, look to Laguna Beach. You likely won't see any Kelp, maybe a few sharks and I doubt sea lions but you never know. The top seven sites on this list are easy options. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: California South, USA West As mentioned previously, parking is always an issue.
Here's sort of a shortcut to Laguna Beach also - it might be faster than I-10 because I-10 goes north around Riverside so you sort of have to drop back south into the OC. Hard to say - but it's a prettier drive as you near the coast. Check a map, some of these interchanges are sooner than others.Some may also be called different names by the cities they run through but IDK them.
State 60 to Riverside - State 91 to State 241 - State 241 to State 133 which ends about a block from Laguna Sea Sports.
Tanks etc. at Laguna Sea Sports as mentioned above. Part of Beach Cities Scuba
Pacific Wilderness has a good site also. At the bottom they have the live cams near some of the popular dive sites so you possibly get a sense of conditions before driving over. Dive Sites also: Dive Conditions
Another place for tanks is some of the Sport Chalet locations. There's a way to determine which ones but I can't remember how. Nice thing about them is they offer a one day grace period on returns usually. www.sportchalet.com
The 91 Freeway is bad every day. A lot of people that can't afford LA prices live near Riverside and drive in daily. Do two things - allow an extra hour to drive in for boat dives and get a traffic app for the area on your phone.
Pretty much every boat is listed here: California Dive Boats : The Official Page Most have online calendars.
For sea lions/kelp try to find someone going to Santa Barbara or Anacapa - google either for videos. There's a sea lion rookery on Santa Barbara so that's almost a given. Anacapa has a site called Cathedral Cove - if conditions are good you might find both kelp and sea lions on the same shallow dive - they like to play just outside the kelp.
No one has touched on this yet that I've seen but generally the DM stays on the boat. So if you feel you need a guide, they all have a list of contacts or can provide one. Generally around $150ish for the day. One other thing about Catalina - last year the Kelp didn't show up - probably something to do with the warmer water. drbill lives there and is a marine biologist who dives it often so closer to your trip maybe contact him.
For shore diving, look to Laguna Beach. You likely won't see any Kelp, maybe a few sharks and I doubt sea lions but you never know. The top seven sites on this list are easy options. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: California South, USA West As mentioned previously, parking is always an issue.
Here's sort of a shortcut to Laguna Beach also - it might be faster than I-10 because I-10 goes north around Riverside so you sort of have to drop back south into the OC. Hard to say - but it's a prettier drive as you near the coast. Check a map, some of these interchanges are sooner than others.Some may also be called different names by the cities they run through but IDK them.
State 60 to Riverside - State 91 to State 241 - State 241 to State 133 which ends about a block from Laguna Sea Sports.
Tanks etc. at Laguna Sea Sports as mentioned above. Part of Beach Cities Scuba
Pacific Wilderness has a good site also. At the bottom they have the live cams near some of the popular dive sites so you possibly get a sense of conditions before driving over. Dive Sites also: Dive Conditions
Another place for tanks is some of the Sport Chalet locations. There's a way to determine which ones but I can't remember how. Nice thing about them is they offer a one day grace period on returns usually. www.sportchalet.com
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