Boat Dive Trip to Catalina Island

Avalon Harbor Clean-up Weekend

By Jerry Dyer

I left Victorville at o-dark thirty, Friday, February 20, to meet Jay Justus at his house in LaVerne to load up and head for Los Alamitos harbor to launch his nice 35-foot boat. Destination, Catalina Island, for a couple of dives and the clean-up the following day.

We launched from the harbor around 10 am and arrived at Avalon Harbor approximately 1 hour later. The crossing wasn’t bad even though it was raining on and off. We tied off to our mooring in the harbor and had lunch.

After lunch we headed out towards the Italian Gardens for a couple of dives. The conditions didn’t look promising but we had to take a look around Long Point anyway. Just as we thought, it wasn’t worth diving, so we turned around and headed back east around the point to White’s Cove.

The cove was pretty well protected and the diving in shallow was enjoyable. Good spot to snorkel if your ever there. We spotted some California Spiny Lobster, Moray Eels, a Sheepscrab and the largest Bat Ray either of us have ever seen just lying in the sand. When we returned to the boat we found the winds had died down as well as the swells. Actually it was starting to look darn good for a second dive.

We pulled anchor and headed east to Moonstone Cove. The diving here was great with visibility around 40 feet, and water temp a balmy 56 to 58 degrees. The bottom terrain is diverse with rocky reefs, crevices, overhangs and Jay even spotted one cave. This spot is definitely one Jay and I will be returning to in the future.

After the dives we headed back to Avalon Harbor, moored, showered and met Jody and Elissa on shore at a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. The food and drinks were great, especially after a day of diving. Afterwards Jay and I went back to the boat and attempted to watch a movie, but neither of us made it to the end.

In the morning we went ashore and filled our tanks for the clean-up dive. We met the rest of the SCDCIE crew at the Casino Landing, listened to the dive briefing, and then hit the water scouring the bottom for trash, souvenirs, and whatever.

Jay and I were amazed at the stuff we encountered and brought back to shore. The first thing we found was a refrigeration unit, but it proved too bulky so we passed on it. We did bring back bottles, 2 full beers, a fishing pole with reel, snorkel, some hoses, a John Deer Foot Mat, a reel

off a sail boat and a Cut-Off saw that just about killed Jay and I bringing it back to shore. Next year I’m bringing a bigger bag. By the way, somebody did bring back the refrigeration unit. Other items found were glasses, cell phones and would you believe a Pachinko Pinball Machine. This was the first time Jay and I attended the clean-up and it was very interesting and a “must do” if you’ve never done it before.

Afterwards Jay and I headed back home and the crossing was a little rough, but Jay is a good skipper and we made it back safe and sound to dive again.