My original intention when I decided to come to Los Angeles for a month was to use the opportunity to head up to Washington State and dive there. However, poor communication by the dive shop that runs the trip meant that the opportunity slipped through the cracks of life. As B*witched once said, "C'est la vie "
Instead, as though in compensation, my Los Angelino friends offered to take me to Santa Catalina Island and dive at the Casino Point Dive Park in the city of Avalon.
Santa Catalina is primarily a resort island, which in its hay day was the playground of LA's rich and famous it and owned by the Wrigley family. Today, it's a kitsch entertainment district and wildlife reserve that includes a vibrant marine reserve.
Our plan was to take the 6.30am (yes, early starts are the domain of divers the world over) ferry from San Pedro to Avalon. I won't lie I'm not a fan of the early start, but to be amongst the first in the water was satisfying ex post.
We arrived at the site where Gill (my wife) and I hired tanks, weight and BCDs. We were diving as part of a mixed ability group that ranged from relatively new open water divers to me, amongst the most experienced in the group with a little over 300 dives.
Gill and I buddied up, did a quick buddy check and swam out to the marker buoy that marks the edge of the park and the wreck of a glass bottom boat.
The vis was a respectable 10-15m at a depth of around 25m. I was glad of my Fourth Element Thermoclines beneath my 5mm wetsuit as we passed through a thermocline that tipped the water temperature below 17c. Gill, in her drysuit, was oblivious to the cooling temperatures.
In terms of life there was lots to see. The star of the show is California's state protected fish, the Garibaldi. The Garibaldi is essentially a bright orange damselfish. For those with a keener eye you'll see moray eels, a variety of bass, spiney lobster and nudibranchs all lurking amongst the giant kelp forest.
It's not unheard of to see a variety of sharks at Catalina too - including Horned, Blue and Great Whites. Unfortunately for me, the closest I came to a shark was a 5 foot Bat Ray gently passing between myself and my buddy for the second dive - by coincidence named Ray. Perhaps I should have dived with a buddy named Shark. I'm sure someone in California has a name like that, right?! Sadly, I got no pictures of it as I had just packed away my little camera in preparation for exiting the water at the steps
I wouldn't describe this as the best dive I've ever done - that accolade naturally goes to the A-Frames, Loch Long *coughs*. However, if you're in LA with a day to spare you could do a lot worse than spending $75 on a return ferry ticket and up to $75 for full kit hire at Casino Point. Beyond getting there, there is no cost to diving in the marine park, Which means that you can squeeze in up to 4 dives for $150.
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| Entry Stairs |
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| Moray Eel |
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| Turbot |
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| Spiney Lobster |
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| Bass |
