Jim Kelly-Evans
Senior Insider
In LA a few days early for a charter flight to Tahiti so I went scuba diving Friday in the kelp forest at the Casino Point Underwater Park on Catalina Island. It was cold water diving (56 degrees) so I'm sure I will enjoy the warm waters of French Polynesia next week. Catalina Island is about 22 miles off the LA coast. It takes the fast ferry about an hour to reach the port of Avalon on Catalina Island. We visited the island a couple of years ago when our cruise ship, the Celebrity Century stopped there. Catalina is a beautiful resort destination that offers many leisure-time activities. On the ferry there were sport fishermen, hikers, a boy scout troop from Redondo Beach, California, and lots of people who just wanted to escape the city for a day of sunbathing, etc. I did enjoy a dive in Catalina in 2014, but I did not have my camera so I was unable to take underwater photos. This time I brought my camera rig and I enjoyed two separate dives. The underwater environment in Southern California features kelp forests, a unique and beautiful type of vegetation. There is also a wonderful variety of fish and other wildlife that inhabit the kelp forests. I took these photos during my two dives yesterday.