Posted by kelphead on July 19, 2000 at 09:59:35:
In Reply to: Diving at Christmas 2000 posted by Rachel Crozier on July 19, 2000 at 01:59:03:
rachel, i understand that it's long distance to be
calling several times, but here is a link for you
to contact the dive boat ops directly to ask them
your querie, if you haven't checked it out already:
http://CaliforniaDiveBoats.com/
also, we have a local dive paper that can be found
online at:
http://saintbrendan.com/
they have boat trips listed for the entire year that
they display on a monthly basis. you can check out
their dec 1999 and jan 2000 dates just to give you
some idea of what to expect for dec 2000 and jan 2001.
you can also find some very specific articles there
relating to cal diving and the local dive community.
also, if you receive the american dive mag called
"rodale's scubadiving magazine", you'll find in this
month's issue an article about diving w/big animals
in california waters. if you don't subscribe to
this mag, you can check out some more cal articles
on their website at:
http://www.scubadiving.com/US/west.shtml
to answer your question more directly, yes, you
can find diving year round here in southern
california, but i'm not sure what the conditions
are like up in the central/north coast during the winter
months (their water tends to be ~10-15 degrees F cooler
than socal water and i'm not sure how calm their
water is during the winter months).
sea otters are found only in aquaria in socal, but are
plentiful in their natural habitats in norcal. seals
and sea lions can be found both south and north. whales
can be found south as well, but you won't be diving w/them,
just viewing them from a distance.
however, that being said, there are a few ops that
will shut down one or two weeks around x-mas, so
you very well want to confirm dates for the ops
you want to use.
beach/shore diving is always available and free.
= : )
if you specifically want caged shark diving, you can find it
off catalina island (off the l.a. coast) and in
san diego--don't know much about up north.
if you want me to mail you any literature, just
pop me an e-mail w/your snail mail addy and i'll
send you some info.
hope all this helps.
best wishes for a fun time!
= : D
kelphead.