Catalina shore diving is top notch
Just returned from a trip to Catalina Island and had a great time. My last trip to CA included shore diving from the mainland, and the price of the trip to Island is cheap considering the quality of the diving. Made 3 shore dives at the dive park at Casino Point in Avalon. This really is first rate diving. Steps take you into the water, and then you are on your own from 15 to 80 feet. A wide range of bottom topography, kelp, sunken boats, and a lot of marine diversity make this location a great place to dive repeatedly while you are on the island.
I also made 3 boat dives with my dive partners on the King Neptune through Scuba Luv. This is a roomy boat, but that is the only real positive about the operation. The boat is showing some wear and tear, and could really use some updating. In the boat and dive briefings, the crew made jokes about how funny certain mistakes would be if divers made them (trouble boarding, trouble exiting, etc). Indeed, the crew then seemed to just stand around and witness the mistakes rather than helping and educating. While I followed procedures as instructed by the crew, the whip was never placed on my tank after dive 1 so I ended up switching tanks because I was not refilled. A less observant diver might have jumped in the water thinking they had been filled only to find an empty tank. The DM watched divers struggle on the platform exiting the water but avoided stepping down to lend a hand. There was as little assistance as I've ever seen on a boat. Even the site briefings were minimal at best. Only cursory information was provided with no discussion of currents or potential hazards to be aware of.
We dove three sites (Longpoint, Henrock, Torqua) very close together. Henrock was by far my favorite, although all were unique and fascinating. Each provided different bottom topogrphy and marine life changed at each site. The diving was good, although not substantially better than on shore at the dive park. Generally we stayed in 30'-60'.
CA diving is very different than wam-water diving, and I highly recommend it to everyone. If you are in southern CA, then Catalina Island is well worth the money. There are two primary dive operations on the island, and I only dove one so cannot compare them. In the end, the diving was great, the dive operator only adeqaute.
Just returned from a trip to Catalina Island and had a great time. My last trip to CA included shore diving from the mainland, and the price of the trip to Island is cheap considering the quality of the diving. Made 3 shore dives at the dive park at Casino Point in Avalon. This really is first rate diving. Steps take you into the water, and then you are on your own from 15 to 80 feet. A wide range of bottom topography, kelp, sunken boats, and a lot of marine diversity make this location a great place to dive repeatedly while you are on the island.
I also made 3 boat dives with my dive partners on the King Neptune through Scuba Luv. This is a roomy boat, but that is the only real positive about the operation. The boat is showing some wear and tear, and could really use some updating. In the boat and dive briefings, the crew made jokes about how funny certain mistakes would be if divers made them (trouble boarding, trouble exiting, etc). Indeed, the crew then seemed to just stand around and witness the mistakes rather than helping and educating. While I followed procedures as instructed by the crew, the whip was never placed on my tank after dive 1 so I ended up switching tanks because I was not refilled. A less observant diver might have jumped in the water thinking they had been filled only to find an empty tank. The DM watched divers struggle on the platform exiting the water but avoided stepping down to lend a hand. There was as little assistance as I've ever seen on a boat. Even the site briefings were minimal at best. Only cursory information was provided with no discussion of currents or potential hazards to be aware of.
We dove three sites (Longpoint, Henrock, Torqua) very close together. Henrock was by far my favorite, although all were unique and fascinating. Each provided different bottom topogrphy and marine life changed at each site. The diving was good, although not substantially better than on shore at the dive park. Generally we stayed in 30'-60'.
CA diving is very different than wam-water diving, and I highly recommend it to everyone. If you are in southern CA, then Catalina Island is well worth the money. There are two primary dive operations on the island, and I only dove one so cannot compare them. In the end, the diving was great, the dive operator only adeqaute.
