In Reply to: How was Aero California? posted by Walt on December 30, 2005 at 21:31:11:

Follow up Q/As for Walt –

Shore diving in LaPaz – no can do. The dive sites are all about 90 minutes away. There is a beach hotel called La Conchita, very beautiful, on the north side of town, with a beautiful beach, on which you could beach-snorkel. But not beach scuba dive. La Conchita is however very isolated, and unless you take a cab into LaPaz you cannot see the city life (restaurants, dancing, strip tease bars, etc) if you are staying at La Conchita. If you are the kind of person who likes to take all your meals at the hotel, then the beach at La Conchita is worth it. Otherwise, if you like nightlife, I recommend Los Arcos.

For shore diving, Cabo would be a better destination in BCS (Baja Calif Sur).

Hood & Gloves – definitely bring a hood. My drysuit hood, which cuts off at the neck, without the overlapping flaps, worked fine for me. Gloves are not necessary.

Flying with gear – my soapbox on this is to take your reg, mask, computer, hood, boots, and anything else that is critical, with you on carry-on. Any luggage you check could get lost. The chances of lost luggage on a Mexico hop (direct flight) from LAX is very slight to virtually impossible however. You get into trouble with luggage normally when you have several connecting flights.

Aero California in general -- I have heard from different people that “all” of the Mexican airlines are “fvcked up.” However I was lucky on Aero California this time. Pick your poison. I think Mexicana is probably the biggest, but for me Aero Calif had the flights available on the times I wanted to go.

If you go to LaPaz, bring binoculars with you. The views along the coast are spectacular. Waterproof hunting binoculars, 10x, would be the best. I forgot to bring mine, and I wished many times I had them along for the boat ride out to the islands and seamounts.

I also carry with me an extra reg as well as an extra power inflator for my B/C. This time, I did not need the extra reg, but I did need the extra power inflator (on the 2nd last day of diving).

• Thanks! Walt 10:22:34 01/03/06 (0)