Wrinkles November '07 Dive Planning Thread - Catalina Island

[headhunter]

Just out of curiosity where would an out-of-towner fly into to crash this little party? If I'm not already booked for something and the airfare is reasonable I just might see if hubby wants to wander out that way for a long weekend.
Ber :lilbunny:

Ber,

LAX would definitely be the place to fly into for this little shin dig.

By the way, the visibility typically starts to increase greatly as we move toward the winter months, so this would be a great time to come to Catalina. Not that the vis was bad when we went on July 14th, but it's usually better during our November and March trips.

Hope you can make it out! It would be great to finally meet you in person!

Christian

 

[JMdiver]

I think Long Beach airport is closer to the Catalina Express if I'm not mistaken.

John

 

[scjoe]

Long Beach is closer, but you will have fewer flight options than LAX and it will probably cost a bit more.

 

[JMdiver]

I've flown in there from NY w/ Jetblue & it cost less at the that time.

John

 

[Divmstr223]

Um, will you let me know where you're having dinner before hand? Just teasing you, Christian. Unless I'm in Florida or the Red Sea, I'll be there.

At least Ted and I had the luxury of hanging out with Dr. Bill for a bit after we scooped him up and headed on over to the Galleon (after the secret dinner)...

Christian....I'm a 100% YES for this trip...Catalina rocks! Wouldn't miss it...:14:

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Ber,

LAX would definitely be the place to fly into for this little shin dig.

By the way, the visibility typically starts to increase greatly as we move toward the winter months, so this would be a great time to come to Catalina. Not that the vis was bad when we went on July 14th, but it's usually better during our November and March trips.

Hope you can make it out! It would be great to finally meet you in person!

Christian

Just for a baseline what do you consider "bad"? Less than 10 feet really isn't worth a trip that far while 50 feet is outstanding visibility and anything more is a bonus.

I would love to get a chance to come out and meet everyone and dive Catalina.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[D_B]

Bad for Catalina 10 to15ft (?) ... Good viz 60-70ft .. Riguerin had that much on his dives on the back side of Catalina last weekend

Come on out Ber! ... Diving Catalina in general, and with 60 to 70 ft viz in the kelp forest ... is freak'n awesome!

 

[headhunter]

Just for a baseline what do you consider "bad"? Less than 10 feet really isn't worth a trip that far while 50 feet is outstanding visibility and anything more is a bonus.

I would love to get a chance to come out and meet everyone and dive Catalina.
Ber :lilbunny:

When talking about the Dive Park at Catalina it's sort of like this.

In the summer months when the visibility gets bad, it could be down to 35 or 40 feet as it was a week ago when we were at our Wrinkles dive. At times, we found vis that was around 50+ feet that weekend. Vis can get worse, but it's not normally down to 10 feet there. Mainland dives are another story.

In the colder months like November, December, January and February it's often over 50 feet with some days over 100 feet.

Of course, this depends on storms, runoff and a few other things.

Maybe Dr. Bill can pop in and give us some more accurate stats that are not "off the top of my head" the way these were.

While there are no guarantees in life, I'd be surprised if you didn't have good vis there in November.

Christian

 

[headhunter]

I think Long Beach airport is closer to the Catalina Express if I'm not mistaken.

John

It is closer. Sometimes the prices are better and sometimes they're much higher depending on where you are coming from. Generally, there are more options at LAX, but if you get a better price at a time that works for you, I'd say Long Beach is a great way to go.

Christian

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Ok, right now I'm looking at roughly $250 per person to fly to LAX from Dayton which is less expensive than flying to most places in Florida. Have to figure out if anything else is going on that weekend but at the moment it looks like we may be able to come out YAY!

I can't get Jim's Catalina Sticky Thread to open. If we make it we would fly in on Friday morning and leave Monday afternoon. Any tips/advice regarding drive time from airports (will check Long Beach when I get some free time) and what diving would be done on Sunday would be greatly appreciated. I've never been to California except LAX on a layover.
Ber :lilbunny: