You know what the three most important factors in Real Estate are, don’t you? LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. The new dive boat Island Diver has dropped in on a prime bit of diving real estate.

Wrecks, reefs, a submarine canyon, nearby islands, and lush kelp forests make up the stomping grounds for this new charter operation. Shhh! But the secret is out... the Santa Monica Bay is one of the most spectacular but underused piece of diving real estate in the California diving world. Did you know there is a WWI British warship that has been on the bay bottom since 1941 in only 80 feet of water? Or the 441-foot long Palawan that has rested on the bottom for nearly a quarter century. How about the Avalon, a former steamer serving tourists to Catalina Island, sits in only 70 feet of water. Kelp diving on the west side of Palos Verdes rivals Catalina Island. And speaking of Catalina, the Island Diver is only a 90-minute run to the island. It’s almost too good to be true.

And the Island Diver is an excellent dive platform. Starting with the hull, you could not get a more solid, yet fast sturdy foundation. The hull is surplus from days of U.S. Navy river boat patrols in Vietnam. Although fiberglass, it is literally bulletproof. The Island Diver is 36 feet long. Powered by a single turbo-charged diesel motor, the vessel cruises at a very fast, and smooth, 20 knots. With this sort of speed, and operating from the home port of Redondo Beach, dozens of dive sites within the Santa Monica Bay and off Palos Verdes are only minutes away. Finding the dive sites is accomplished with onboard radar, GPS and a color depth finder.

Trips can be customized to just what you want. Many wrecks are nearby. Artificial reefs, full of lobster and often surrounded by halibut, dot the bottom of the Santa Monica Bay. And Palos Verdes is famous for its excellent lobster and white sea bass hunting.

This is a “Six-Pack” boat meaning no more that six passengers are carried on any dive trip. The small group means greater comfort for the individual diver. And it is a big boat for a six-pack. There is a lot of room on deck and below. The forward bow area is large and where dive gear bags are stowed. On deck there is a center bench for seating while dressing in. A partial overhead cover is available for protection on the back deck. Along the side rails are unique stainless steel and strap tank racks that hold solid up to 22 tanks (over three per diver on this six-passenger boat). An interesting feature about the racks is they can be removed for fishing charters or replaced with a rack for kayak charters. The swimstep off the back is large and constructed from solid aluminum. A stainless steel ladder into the water has openings large enough to climb the ladder with fins on. Back on deck, there is freshwater rinse hose for camera and other delicate items of dive gear. With the dual on-deck bait tanks, one can be filled with freshwater for rinsing, and the other as a live game tank (the Santa Monica Bay and Palos Verdes, by the way, are excellent hunting grounds for lobster, halibut and other seafood).

Below deck is a large seating area (a table to be added soon) along with abundant space for dry storage. Also below is a private head that doubles as a dressing room. Everything is sparkling clean and smells wonderfully new.

The Island Diver is mostly a custom charter operation but also offers regularly scheduled “open boats” for night dives off Palos Verdes and in the Bay as well as day, night and weekend trips to Catalina Island (overnight accommodations can be arranged for on the island). Check the California Scuba Calendar section of this publications for trips. Tanks and weights are not supplied unless arranged for in advance.

For complete information, visit http://www.rockypointfun.com on the web or call (310) 374-9858.