Casino Point, California

Avalon's Underwater Park

Story and Photo by Linda Lee Walden

You wouldn't expect to find one of the West Coast's busiest scuba training venues right on the doorstep of the world's largest circular ballroom. Yet that's exactly the situation at Casino Point underwater park on Catalina Island.

The park is named for the imposing round building known as the Casino, the most familiar landmark of the quaint resort town of Avalon. The structure, built in 1929, has never housed a gambling establishment. Once dedicated to ballroom dancing, it now serves as a movie theater and hall for special functions. Literally in its shadow, along the outer, northern wall of the Avalon Harbor breakwater, lies Casino Point underwater park. This Avalon city park, designated in 1964, is one of the most popular sites in southern California for open-water scuba training.

Avalon is the gateway to Catalina Island. Located only 22 miles (35 km) from greater Los Angeles, the 76-square-mile (197-km²) island is a popular year-round tourist destination. The main street of Avalon borders a narrow, crescent-shaped bay on the easternmost corner of the island. From the ferry docks on one end of the bay, thousands of day-trippers and vacationers fan out to explore the unique shops and restaurants packed into the mile-long beachfront downtown area, or climb the steep, winding streets to their hotels and guest houses in the surrounding hills. Divers head for the Casino at the opposite end of town.

Although scores of private and commercial dive boats travel regularly to various anchorages around Catalina Island, Casino Point park is the only place within the city of Avalon where scuba diving is permitted. This designated diving area is off-limits to the masses of pleasure boaters who enjoy Catalina's sheltered waters. A string of marker buoys denotes its boundaries, which measure roughly 200 yards (183 m) along the shore and extend 100 yards (91 m) seaward. Entries and exits are made from shore just beyond the Casino. Divers either climb over the smooth and sometimes slippery boulders or choose a short section of the breakwater that has been covered with cement for easier water access.

Because fishing, game collecting, and boating are all prohibited, marine life in the park reflects a healthy, kelp-based ecosystem. Feather boa and elkhorn kelp grow in the shallower waters, but giant kelp dominates below 25 feet (8 m). In addition to the trademark orange garibaldis, divers are likely to spot se96oritas, rock wrasse, yellowtail, and white and black bass. Seals and sea lions are not uncommon. Oscar, a huge sheephead, hangs around looking for food. Horn sharks hide among the boulders of the breakwater, and angel sharks cruise the sand. As for invertebrates, three species of sea urchins live here, plus numerous brittle stars, sea cucumbers, hydroids, gorgonians, anemones, and nudibranchs, as well as crabs and lobsters. Strewn around the bottom are several small, nonpenetrable wrecks, including the Sue-Jac, a cement-hulled schooner.

Casino Point draws many thousands of divers throughout the year, peaking on summer weekends with as many as 350 a day. An estimated 60 to 70 percent of the total are students. In addition to the wide assortment of easily approachable marine creatures, the nonthreatening underwater topography and reliably good diving conditions at the park make it ideal for teaching.

Just off the entry point, the rock breakwater slopes to meet the sand at a depth of 20 to 25 feet (6 to 7.5 m). Instructors typically perform underwater skill sessions here, then lead their students along the gently sloping bottom to the nearby rocky reefs and stands of giant kelp. Advanced and specialty courses center in the deeper waters of the park (to 95 feet [29 m] at the Sue-Jac). A simulated archaeological site has recently been created near the park's western boundary. The site recreates a 17th-century Spanish galleon, complete with a ballast stone pile, anchor, and pottery shards. A variety of courses are taught here under the auspices of the Sea-Lab Catalina marine science education program.

Catalina's climate is semiarid, with little rain to cause runoff. In the autumn months visibility can reach 80 feet (24 m), but it averages between 40 and 60 feet (12 and 18 m). Because it faces the California coast rather than the open ocean, Casino Point typically has negligible current with flat or gently rolling surface conditions. When sites along the mainland coast, which faces southwest, are blown out by prevailing westerly winds, this is often the best location in the area for diving. Only when the periodic Santa Ana winds blow from the mainland in the winter do visibility and surface conditions at the park deteriorate significantly.

The water temperature at Casino Point is typical of southern California diving. In late summer, seas warm up to the high 60s (A1F, about 20BCC) at diving depth; in January and February, they drop to the mid-50s (about 13BCC). Air temperatures are moderated by the ocean, never rising much above the mid-70s (about 24BCC) or falling below the mid-50s.

One of the more interesting aspects of diving Casino Point is getting there. Although some divers make the trip by private boat, the majority arrive by passenger ferry. The 149-passenger Catalina Express makes the trip in just over one hour from the harbor at either San Pedro or Long Beach, departing almost hourly from early morning through evening. Although tank and equipment rentals are available from the two dive centers in Avalon, most divers bring all their own gear, including a tank. Tank racks are provided on the deck of the ferry.

Only a handful of cars are allowed on Catalina Island, and transport within Avalon is commonly by golf cart, bicycle, or foot. For about $7, a taxi or chauffeured golf cart will drop you and your gear at Casino Point, or you can rent a hand cart from one of the local dive operators ($5) and push your gear along the paved walkway yourself.

Gearing up is done just behind the low wall lining the breakwater, and on busy days the paving stones become a staging area for equipment assembly. Catalina Divers Supply holds the concession to supply on-site air fills at the Point. Their air van also sells munchies, and rents tanks and weights. Restroom facilities are provided in the adjacent Casino building, and public showers are a few minutes walk toward the center of town.