Posted by Walt on April 19, 2004 at 12:44:20:
In Reply to: What happened to a reasonable trip to Catalina? posted by AD on April 04, 2004 at 09:53:23:
Just dove the Magician on 4-18-04, my first time on it. Price was all-inclusive $105. I was concerned given a couple of the posts, but I thought I'd see for myself.
Bottom-line: I believe this is a fair and reasonable price for a great day's diving.
Details:
Breakfast was sausage links, scrambled eggs, and thick french toast..lunch was stir-fry chicken, rice, and egg roll..cake and ice cream topped off the day. There were fruits and snacks available all day plus lemonade, ice tea, and water. Air was included, even filling our tanks before the dives, something I would have happily paid for, as Santa Clarita SportChalet's compressor was broken (again). The captain and crew were wonderful - as friendly as any operation in SoCal.
Each site featured a good briefing by the captain and dive masters as to what to see and how to find it.
I just wish the beam was 3' wider (or that new divers wouldn't bring all of their toys and resultant clutter). Captain Jerry has some good ideas for improvements - a hot tub and maybe a camera area. Frankly, I'd limit the load to 20 divers and up the price.
The galley area was clean and inviting, the bunk area was clean and comfortable, and the bathrooms were fairly spacious - a novel idea is a mens and women's bathroom, though only tho women's had a shower.