News
Catalina Island, California.
30/09/08
Extract from diary, Catalina : Took 3 tanks each, expecting to spend all day at casino point. Wasn't busy at the point. Clear smooth water, looked nice & flat. Got kitted up & straight in.
Kelp streams are beautiful in the right light. Saw Garibaldis, 'stare-you-out-ums' (see the photos), more kelp. Good visibility, better buoyancy, all went well.
Got quite busy at the point during our surface hour. A group of new divers with a tutor, plus some other couples. 2 dry suit techie geeks who took over an hour to gear up, went in for less than 30 mins. then went ON & ON & ON about how great the dive was. Definitely needed slapping.
We got some sun & went in again for another hour, but same entry point, so of course covering the same ground as the previous dives, so by the time we came up we'd both decided we wouldn't bother with the 3rd tank.
Had a Buffalo Burger at 'Eric’s on the Pier' instead, much more satisfying!
Had sorted out the buoyancy (new, thick wetsuits) & the temperature & realised we really need 3mm long johns & keep the 7mm tops we've got (currently got 7mm johns as well as tops & they're just too buoyant). Got on the internet at the radio shack (that’s what I mean by ‘quaint’!!) to find out where the Henderson dealers are in LA....hoping we'll be able to pick up some new suits on our way through next week.
Al finished the 1st full draft of his best man speech. Sounds great, but may still need to cut some - too much material – he’s known Paul too long!!
Tried to just have a snack because we've been eating so much, but the nachos we ordered for dinner would have fed a family of 6 & still had some cheese left over & yes, you guessed it, we’d ordered one each!!!!!!! V difficult to eat normal portions!! Very difficult to find any meal that doesn’t have at least 5 varieties of cheese in it.
Bed early - aching from the exertion & the lugging around today - up early for the boat dives tomorrow.
Quite a smooth operation at the dive shop. Gear to them by 08:30, boat leaves at 9. Boat was full, but split into 3 groups, so had enough room for gearing up. Well organised. This is where I was really hoping for seals & sea lions. We saw plenty from the boat on the way to the sight, plus a shoal of dolphins on the surface, very nice, but the dive was just kelp, Garibaldis, stare-you-out-ums & kelp.
Maybe there'll be seals on dive 2.....Exactly the same. Maybe dive 3.....Saw some sea lions playing as we pulled up at the dive site. They disappeared as soon as we got in & the dive was EXACTLY the same!!!! Happy to be diving properly and to have tried all the kit out (didn’t need most of our dive gear in Guadalupe), but not impressed by the variety of sites so far.