cushner@ttidcb.UUCP (Jeffrey Cushner) (04/30/85)
After not diving for ~9 mos. or so, my buddy and I, along with wives and
kids took a long weekend at Catalina Island. This is a popular vacation
spot in Southern California, located approx. 21 miles from the coast.
(dispite what the song says).
As it was a tuneup series of dives, we dove off Casino Point, which is
a protected marine reserve and dive park. The great thing about diving
here is that you don't have to do a beach entry, you select your depth
(the dropoff is *very* quick), and very little surge.
The entry is from rocks and not hazardous if you think about what you're
doing.
We took 2 dives during the day and 1 night dive. We had originally
intended to do 2 night dives, but my buddy lost a glove and I had a 1/8"
wetsuit and it was *cold*!
The day dives produced nothing new to those accustomed to diving in So.
Calif. (ya know, kelp, Garibaldie(sp.),kelp perch & bass, a few lobster
hiding in rocks. We did dive a wreck on the first dive. Nothing much,
just a rotting hull (bow 60' stern 90' of water).
But the night dive! We were tripping over lobster! The bugs were
*everywhere*. Since we were in a marine preserve there was good news
and bad. The lobsters were *big*, but we couldn't take any (even if we
could, it wasn't season).
The day dives were made considerably easier since a van that supplies
air and refreshments was there most of the day.
Diving from Catalina was a nice change of pace from boat and beach dives.
Instead of waking up at 3:00am and taking a boat 2 hours to a dive site,
(a group dive boat) or battling heavy surf entering and exiting, all
you do is take a taxi to the dive site and jump off some rocks, easy.
All in all a nice mini-vacation. But next dive, I want to *catch* something!
--
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Jeff Cushner @
Citicorp-TTI
Santa Monica CA 90405
(213) 450-9111 x2273
{vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcb!cushner