Coral Reef Travel is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting coral reef ecosystems through education and action. Also providing diving related information.
// June 21st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // USA Dive Guide
Not since last century’s slaughter of whales has an animal been so doggedly hunted. And talk about bad press: The fearsome, loathsome shark has long since replaced Moby Dick as the symbol of all that we puny humans fear about the sea. No wonder we kill them by the millions, for their fins, for their cartilage, for the sheer hell of it.
// June 21st, 2010 // 2 Comments » // USA Dive Guide
Eat, sleep, dive. What could be better than the routine of live-aboard diving? Maximum bottom time, minimum travel time. All the comforts of home, on the reef.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
I’m 20 miles out to sea off the coast of San Diego, miles from the closest diveable reef, and everywhere I look there are blue and shortfin mako sharks knifing through the iridescent blue of the Pacific.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
Just 15 minutes north of Santa Barbara’s celebrity-studded beaches, we stopped by the road and I stared out at a thick amber snarl of giant weeds adrift offshore. This kelp bed in the string of reefs known as Tajiguas has long been considered one of the best shore dives in Santa Barbara County. And all that stood between the kelp bed and me was a scree-covered cliff, a curving goat path, a challenging surf entry and a healthy hundred-yard kick.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
When my dive partner, a novice from the East Coast, asked for an introduction to California diving, I knew just the place – McAbee Beach in Monterey.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
Laguna’s Festival of Arts and famed Pageant of the Masters attract crowds of art aficionados to this scenic Southern California playground. So an encounter with another master’s underwater artistry should come as no surprise.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
Noyo Cove, MacKerricher State Park, Mendocino
It’s a rugged coastline where the diving facilities are few and far between. A scattering of state parks and private campgrounds attract hardy game hunters who come in search of red abalone, California’s largest mollusk, along with a variety of fin fish. Big abs can be found at Noyo Cove along a boulder-strewn bottom. At MacKerricher State Park you’ll find red and pink strawberry anemones, giant green and red rose anemones and an assortment of nudibranchs and crabs beneath a canopy of bull and palm kelp.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
It is an ironic twist of fate that several small kelp fronds have crowned the collapsed deckhouse of the El Rey, off San Diego’s Mission Point. For almost 40 years, the El Rey (“The King”) could be seen moving through the kelp forests off Point Loma and La Jolla, harvesting 300 tons of kelp on each voyage for the Kelco Co.
// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // USA Dive Guide
Streams of topside tourists navigate Big Sur’s curly Highway 1 south of Monterey, filling their Nikons with what could be the world’s most inspiring coastline: waterfalls splashing onto white-sand beaches; prehistoric cliffs textured with tunnels, caves and arches that offer a brief glimpse into nature’s wild heart.
// June 15th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // USA Dive Guide
The anchor chain rattled down just after 6 a.m. Divers emerging from below rubbed sleepy eyes and looked around. What they saw was not encouraging. Everywhere, the cold, gray Pacific faded into a January fog with no visible horizon. Only one black rock broke the surface a hundred feet away. “OK,” said the divemaster. “Time to get wet!”
