Photos of diving Catalina Island
Anna, Pete, Paul, and myself had a great time on Catalina Island last weekend. We started in Avalon, had a nice night in the Aurora Hotel, and then took a taxi van overland to Two Harbors. The ride was a bit crazy but provided great views of the island and even a few bison along the way. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The Santa Ana winds that were burning north LA were calming the seas and warming the air on the island. We did several dives over the course of the weekend, here is a quick round-up:
- Friday afternoon we swam over to the north point off of two harbors for a nice easy dive. Run time was about an hour due to the shallow depth. Visibility wasn’t amazing, but there was a fair bit of life around to explore.
- Saturday morning we dive Ship Rock with a bit of current. Loads and loads of blacksmith in the kelp with a curious sea lion buzzing the divers. The swim south was tough going against the current, but gliding back around the rock in the current on the way back was a lot of fun. Visibility was decent, 25-50 feet.
- Late Saturday morning we dove the NE side of Bird Rock. We started to the east on the fantastic gorgonian walls - I love em. After that we explored the north wall and the shallow kelp.
- Saturday afternoon we kayaked over to the marine preserve and went free diving and snorkeling in the kelp. No seal buddies were there to play, but the lobsters and horn sharks were fun.
- Sunday morning we tried a kayak dive off Isthmus Reef. The reef wall was interesting, but very bare. The life at 20’ more than made up for it - lots of leopard sharks and other fish.