BSAC TRAVEL CLUB - California,USA

TRAVEL CLUB

California, USA
The Golden State stretches for most of the U.S.A.’s western seaboard. Synonymous with the beach life through numerous T.V. shows and films, it offers plenty of attractions to the visitor. Sure, the beaches are endless – not all as golden and sandy as the films often portray, but there are also awe inspiring mountains and deserts, lakes, endless wilderness and forest, mighty rivers, the wine country, offshore islands and sophisticated cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.

Americans holiday here so the tourist facilities are absolutely first class and you will find accommodation and restaurants to suit every pocket. You can have a wonderful vacation in California – it’s a place that will please the whole family. Fantastic diving, shopping, whitewater rafting, theme

It's a difficult choice to know where to base yourself - the only answer is to multi-centre. San Diego is always popular for it's beaches, Seaworld, diving and Spanish-American ambiance. Laguna Beach is a beautiful artists' community south of Los Angeles that is also host to fantastic shopping and excellent diving, not to mention golden beaches.
Los Angeles of course is a destination all in it's own right - Hollywood, Long Beach, Beverly Hills, Disneyland, Universal Studios - they're all here. Santa Monica is one of the nicest beach resorts in this part of California. The beach is simply huge, with excellent facilities, a pier, unbelievable shopping in town, restaurants and all in one of the safest environments in the U.S. The Central Coast has many small coastal towns that play hosts to charming cottage hotels and big empty beaches - it's a romantic area. Monterey is steeped in maritime history - visit Cannery Row and the fantastic Aquarium there - you can even dive. San Francisco is home to the largest Chinatown outside of China, trolleycars, the Wharfs.... Northern California is more rugged still, with sequoia forests and wineries.

If you can tear yourself away from the coast, of course you have the delights of the desert in the south and the National Parks like Kings Canyon, Sequoia Canyon, Yosemite and of course Death Valley. These are some of the most spectacular places on Earth - don't miss them.

California is famous for it's wine and cuisine. There are many fantastic restaurants here - not always expensive. Many innovative chefs work in the state. Napa Valley is a must see for wine enthusiasts - try and stay in one of the charming wine lodges.

The long coastline means that the diving is very various, but never less than exciting and excellent. There is a lot of beach diving available up and down the state. Sometimes this can be interesting. You have to get out through the surf first….. Of course coming back is a very streamlined affair. There are also excellent dives at the offshore islands – the Channel Islands, most famously Catalina. Here, as in other places, you will have the opportunity to dive in the amazing kelp forests which populate the water and attract a great deal of life.

There is plenty of fascinating sealife on view: seals, sea lions, sea otters, sharks, mantas and at times, whales. There are also plentiful lobsters, crabs and other shell life.

Water temperatures range from 6 to 23°C depending on the time of the year. You will need a decent wetsuit.

An exciting trip from the San Francisco area is to the Farallon Islands. In the autumn, thousands of marine mammals congregate on this rocky promontory to breed and calve their young. This event attracts the largest White Sharks in the world to South East Farallon Island (SEFI), where they feed on Elephant Seals before their long trans-Pacific migration.

Worldwise
The surf has travelled thousands of miles before it hits those golden beaches. There is an almost constant swell once you’re away from the beach which some people find uncomfortable. Shore diving is fantastic fun and the best way to dive some of the marine parks along the coast. However, if the surf is high you need to take advice from locals on how best to enter and exit the water.