Scuba Diving Destinations & Tips
We’ve met lots of good friends on cruises, who we travel with over and over again. Dave Patch is one of those friends who we enjoy seeing as often as we can, but he is also an avid scuba diver, having dived more than 100 times all over the world. At Dave’s encouragement, I became scuba certified in 2009. I asked Dave to share some of his best scuba tips and destinations as a guest blogger, in hopes that more folks will become scuba certified to experience the amazing underwater world. Here is Dave’s first guest blog, with more to follow about dive destinations and tips.
Casino Point, Catalina Island, CA
A Cruise Dive Excursion
Scuba diving has been a passion of mine for many years. In 2006, I was introduced to crusing and totally enjoy cruise travel. I found that combining the fun of cruising with the joys of diving would become an important option when planning a cruise. I have been able to dive in cruise destinations that include: Catalina Island, Cabo San Lucas, San Diego, St. Thomas, St. Martin, and Bermuda, as well as many more cruise destinations during land vacations.
I usually book my diving excursions with an independent dive shop rather than booking a dive excursion offered by the cruise line. This is a personal choice of mine and should not be taken as a slap against the cruise line or the excursions they offer. I prefer to patronize dive operators recommended by other dive friends or a company I used in the past. On occasion I have tried to book independently with the same dive operator the cruise line uses for their excursions. Sometimes the dive operator has a no competition agreement with the cruise line and is not allowed to offer the excursion for less to ship passengers booking on our own.
On March 1, 2010, I’m heading out on a four-day cruise departing from Long Beach, California, with ports of call to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. I plan to dive in Catalina, and this is not my first time to this amazing dive spot. Catalina has a wonderful underwater park just off Casino Point in the Avalon Harbor. The park offers 2.5 acres of underwater life, from thick kelp forests to the bright orange Garibaldi, a fish only found off the coast of California. An abundance of sea stars, sea cucumbers, lobster, crab, and at times some very large black sea bass, some as long as three to four feet, makes Catalina an amazing dive spot. This site really took me by surprise as I was not expecting it to be just so so, but I’m really looking forward to seeing it again in a couple of weeks.
Look for Dave Patch to return for future guest blogs with more info about other dive destinations, as well as important considerations as you plan dives in cruise ports.