Where to go from California?

[SCMZ]

Hi all,

I'm daydreaming about my next dive trip in late spring/early summer 2013 and wanted some advice on where to go. My husband/buddy and I live in Northern CA and are looking for something relatively affordable and not too far away for around a week. When we travel we usually stay in the cheapest hotels we can find (lots of interesting stories that way!) so we don't need a lot of luxury.

In general, we prefer shore diving because we feel like it's a better value for the money, but are definitely willing to go out on boats if there is no shore diving or the boat diving is much better. We dive regularly locally but I think I'm interested in finding some warm water for this trip (although we have floated the idea of the pacific NW). The only places we've ever been diving together (besides CA) are Hawaii (Kona and Oahu), Florida, and a couple dives while on vacation in Europe. We'd rather not go to Hawaii this time as I have family there and we will probably be going there separately sometime in the next year.

Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

Have you done the Channel Islands? LA's an easy drive for you, and the diving there can be absolutely mind-blowing. From Catalina to the oil rigs to the sea lion rookery on Anacapa, the diving off LA offers an amazing bounty of color and life and fun.

The PNW, of course, is my back yard. We have Giant Pacific Octopuses! But late spring and early summer are just about the worst times to come up here, because that's when you are going to run into the algae blooms that can drop our visibility into single digits. Now, if you are thinking of heading on up into Canada, things get a little better from the visibility perspective. Browning Pass, at the north end of Vancouver Island, ranks in the top dive sites I've done anywhere in the world.

If you're up for flying and a foreign country, either the diving off the Baja Peninsula (eg. Loreto) or on the Yucatan (eg. Puerto Aventuras) would be an option. PA has the advantage of having the cenote dives, if those intrigue you.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I was in Palau over two weeks, and if I didn't have to go home to Los Angeles to vote in the Tues 06 Nov General Election, I would still be out there in Micronesia/Oceania/SE Asia for the remainder of the year!

Palau Visitors Authority
Sam's Tours: Palau Diving Micronesia, Island Hopping and dive travels

Palau conveniently uses US Dollars currency, is relatively easy to get to from SFO, and is my favorite warm water tropical diving vacation, with the best overall variety of wall, healthy reef, big schooling fish & shark/manta ray action, and drift diving in the world. . . !

Budget accommodations often packaged with Sam's Tours Dive-ops above are DW Motel, and Lehns Motel ($45/night).

Many more airlines other than United are now flying to Koror Palau (Japan Airlines; Korean Airlines; China Airlines; Asiana and Delta), so shop around for the lowest fare.

http://www.cheapoair.com

 

[SCMZ]

Have you done the Channel Islands? LA's an easy drive for you, and the diving there can be absolutely mind-blowing. From Catalina to the oil rigs to the sea lion rookery on Anacapa, the diving off LA offers an amazing bounty of color and life and fun.

The PNW, of course, is my back yard. We have Giant Pacific Octopuses! But late spring and early summer are just about the worst times to come up here, because that's when you are going to run into the algae blooms that can drop our visibility into single digits. Now, if you are thinking of heading on up into Canada, things get a little better from the visibility perspective. Browning Pass, at the north end of Vancouver Island, ranks in the top dive sites I've done anywhere in the world.

If you're up for flying and a foreign country, either the diving off the Baja Peninsula (eg. Loreto) or on the Yucatan (eg. Puerto Aventuras) would be an option. PA has the advantage of having the cenote dives, if those intrigue you.

We actually haven't been to the channel islands. We were thinking of going around Thanksgiving, but it turns out I have to work so maybe we should just push it back until next summer. Thanks for the info on PNW - I do very much want to see a giant pacific octopus, so I'm sure we'll make it there someday!

 

[Keith.M]

Channel islands are very nice. Definitely want to dive more. Dove at Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa in October. 10 degrees warmer than Monterey too!

Lots of good deals and great diving on Cozumel, not too direct to get there from here but doable.

I want to check out that Palau diving, sounds great!

For flights, I picked up this link from someone here on ScubaBoard...

Matrix - ITA Software

 

[Kevrumbo]

We actually haven't been to the channel islands. We were thinking of going around Thanksgiving, but it turns out I have to work so maybe we should just push it back until next summer. Thanks for the info on PNW - I do very much want to see a giant pacific octopus, so I'm sure we'll make it there someday!

Well if you can make it down here to Ventura on the weekend of 01/02 Dec, go ahead and book two spots on the Peace diveboat heading out to the Northern Channel Islands, through the diveclub The Sea Divers ($335 pp).

Peace Dive Boat | Channel Islands Scuba Diving, Lobster Hunting & More
Sea Divers SCUBA diving club, Redondo Beach, California, est. 1965

 

[diversteve]

What's "not too far away"? The best shore diving within a day's travel (likely a red-eye from SFO) is going to be Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba or St. Croix.

Bonaire is the shore dive capital of the Caribbean - better than 70 named shore dive sites all along the west side of the island and most of the accommodations. It's not the cheapest/easiest to fly to and food costs are pretty high if you eat out - although there's a KFC, Subway and some local options. Most of the resorts/cheaper apt's bundle room/unlimited shore diving/truck rental as a package deal. Staying off the water can be pretty reasonable there - the Dive Hut has a week in the $550-650 range, Lagoen Hill is similar - a 1br cottage for the same price since it's about 10mins. from the water. Carib Inn for a more affordable on-water option. Or Coco Palm Garden/Casa Oleander. www.infobonaire.com for details on everything.

Curacao is probably cheaper/easier to get to from SFO - it is from Phoenix. You'd need a car there - much of the better diving is on the west side, most of the restaurants, markets etc. are clustered east near town. We've stayed two places there, Piscadera Bay Resort - 10mins. west of downtown - just over $100/nt. for a 2br/1ba duplex condo with a full kitchen. 5 min. walk to the beach and there's a Marriott, Hilton and a couple other eating options in that area. Also it's one mile to the Centrum Market for food. Willemstad has food in all price ranges, from Denny's/McDonalds to expensive waterfront restaurants.

The other place we stayed, My Dream's Apt's was in Playa Lagun, about 30mins. from town. $65/nt. for a 1BR apt. - cooking facilities are minimal. From there you'd drive to everything, there's 2 shore dives within 5mins but most of the food options are back in town. We stopped at Centrum for food b4 we drove out. IIRC we rented a truck at the airport for about $400/wk. Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean

Curacao is different than Bonaire for diving. On Bonaire tanks are usually available at your property, any dive sites not off dive resorts don't have facilities - you bring everything with you. Some of the south dive sites run back to back so you can easily do 4 shore dives/day. On Curacao they're more spread out - often 10-15mins. off the main road. Most have on-site operators and food options. Entries off Bonaire are often over ironshore - either on-shore or in the surge just off the beach. Entries on Curacao are almost all off a sandy beach but the reef is often a 5-10min. surface swim out - sometimes thru an opening in the ironshore cliffs - esp. on the west side. It's literally the same diving at either - the same reef just 50mi. apart. At some sites I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference

IDK much about Aruba except there's less shore diving there. See many of the shore dive sites - including entry photos - for all 3 islands here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

St. Croix is probably more expensive to stay - most of the shore diving is off an Cane Bay wall on the north side or there's the Frederickstad Pier - maybe a dozen sites total. Haven't been there but an acquaintance owns a condo there - he says the wall diving is just offshore and excellent. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: USVI, St. Croix

hth,

 

[kathydee]

The best shore diving I've encountered to date is right where you live, and in Seattle - both are cold.

The temps in Catalina are nice in late summer, Tulamben Bali Indonesia and Palau Weh, Sumatra Indonesia both have great shore diving & budget accommodations but take a l o n g flight to reach.

I'm very curious about Bonaire, would love to visit some day. Alternatively Utilia Honduras has nice inexpensive diving (boat) and is inexpensive top side with a chill environment (PM for details). I've also been curious about boat diving in Little Corn Island in Nicaragua & shore diving down in Baja Mx.

 

[SCMZ]

What's "not too far away"? The best shore diving within a day's travel (likely a red-eye from SFO) is going to be Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba or St. Croix.

Bonaire is the shore dive capital of the Caribbean - better than 70 named shore dive sites all along the west side of the island and most of the accommodations. It's not the cheapest/easiest to fly to and food costs are pretty high if you eat out - although there's a KFC, Subway and some local options. Most of the resorts/cheaper apt's bundle room/unlimited shore diving/truck rental as a package deal. Staying off the water can be pretty reasonable there - the Dive Hut has a week in the $550-650 range, Lagoen Hill is similar - a 1br cottage for the same price since it's about 10mins. from the water. Carib Inn for a more affordable on-water option. Or Coco Palm Garden/Casa Oleander. www.infobonaire.com for details on everything.

Curacao is probably cheaper/easier to get to from SFO - it is from Phoenix. You'd need a car there - much of the better diving is on the west side, most of the restaurants, markets etc. are clustered east near town. We've stayed two places there, Piscadera Bay Resort - 10mins. west of downtown - just over $100/nt. for a 2br/1ba duplex condo with a full kitchen. 5 min. walk to the beach and there's a Marriott, Hilton and a couple other eating options in that area. Also it's one mile to the Centrum Market for food. Willemstad has food in all price ranges, from Denny's/McDonalds to expensive waterfront restaurants.

The other place we stayed, My Dream's Apt's was in Playa Lagun, about 30mins. from town. $65/nt. for a 1BR apt. - cooking facilities are minimal. From there you'd drive to everything, there's 2 shore dives within 5mins but most of the food options are back in town. We stopped at Centrum for food b4 we drove out. IIRC we rented a truck at the airport for about $400/wk. Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean

Curacao is different than Bonaire for diving. On Bonaire tanks are usually available at your property, any dive sites not off dive resorts don't have facilities - you bring everything with you. Some of the south dive sites run back to back so you can easily do 4 shore dives/day. On Curacao they're more spread out - often 10-15mins. off the main road. Most have on-site operators and food options. Entries off Bonaire are often over ironshore - either on-shore or in the surge just off the beach. Entries on Curacao are almost all off a sandy beach but the reef is often a 5-10min. surface swim out - sometimes thru an opening in the ironshore cliffs - esp. on the west side. It's literally the same diving at either - the same reef just 50mi. apart. At some sites I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference

IDK much about Aruba except there's less shore diving there. See many of the shore dive sites - including entry photos - for all 3 islands here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

St. Croix is probably more expensive to stay - most of the shore diving is off an Cane Bay wall on the north side or there's the Frederickstad Pier - maybe a dozen sites total. Haven't been there but an acquaintance owns a condo there - he says the wall diving is just offshore and excellent. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: USVI, St. Croix

hth,

Thanks, this is all great info!