Hmmm... I just went through the new posts on ScubaBoard for the first time since last Friday when I left for a trip to San Miguel Island with Rod and the Roddenberry Dive Team. I was surprised to find no one has apparently posted on SB about that trip so I thought I would start a thread with my general observations from the trip, then follow up later with a more complete dive report. Perhaps it is the fact that I left my computer glasses either in my car or on the dive boat and was trying to read thread titles with my driving glasses!
This was an INCREDIBLE trip to a "remote" island that many trips never reach. I've been very fortunate in that I've made ot all four times, but my dive buddy Brian Ko (Clammy here on SB) had never made it. We knew one of us would break our string, and Brian was quite pleased that it was his we broke!
First, my thanks To Rod Roddenberry and Greg Martin for their very kind invitation to join the trip as their guest marine biologist. Of course that made the trip very special to begin with. To add to that, the weather was FANTASTIC. I never expected to get a mild sunburn out at San Miguel, but the sun was shining, the seas were flat and the visibility was quite good for this time of year in that location. EPIC conditions! My thanks also go out to the crew of the Peace Dive Boat for another great trip... especially Captain Kevin who I had seen in a while. The crew did their usual fantastic job!
I was up late last night editing the video shot during the four dives and on the way back to Ventura Harbor (about a six hour trip). I shot 75 minutes of footage and retained 62 minutes which is phenomenal for San Miguel due to the usual poor visibility, strong surge or swell. This trip even that stretch of the Pacific Ocean lived up to its name.
San Miguel is in a region of exceptional productivity due to the cold, nutrient-rich waters fed by upwelling off the coast north of Point Conception. The waters were teeming with life... visibility was only obscured by some phytoplankton and hoards of larger plankters including fish larvae, krill and other crustaceans as well as the occasional sea jelly and comb jelly. Blue whales spouted near our first dive site (the Pinnacles at Wilson) and were seen out in the open waters. Humpback whales were present in some numbers with behavioral displays including fin slapping and full breaches. Sea lions cavorted about us (which made me feel fairly secure that "the landlord" was not hungry that day!).
For those of you in SoCal who have not dived this outer Channel Island, and are more familiar with the warmer waters of Anacapa in the north or Catalina in the south, it is like taking a dive trip to some exotic location (cold, but exotic!). Critters that are never seen in Catalina's warmer waters (or if they are, only at depths greater than recreational where even our toasty waters are cold), are abundant here in the cold, productive waters. Sponges are abundant, rose anemones, red urchins and nudies were welcome subjects for my starved camera.
You'd have to have dived there (or watch my video footage) to understand just how productive these waters are. The visibility can be obscured by clouds of krill or fish fry that are just incredible. Even filming close-up, these critters would often swarm in front of my camera. Of course I didn't care... I'm always overwhelmed by how productive colder waters are compared to our clearer but warmer dive sites off Catalina.
As far as fish present out here, there were a few interesting observations. San Miguel is remote enough that most dive boats, as well as sport fishing boats, do not get out there often. The isolation helps protect the fish populations out there, but even they have been impacted over the years.
As on my earlier trips to the island, there were a few sheephead even in these colder waters. Being a member of the wrasse family, sheephead are generally considered a warmer water species. The interesting thing about the sheephead on San Miguel is that almost all I observed were males, a fact confirmed by several other divers when I mentioned it. I only remember seeing one or two "females" and they were already transitioning into males. I felt sympathy for the poor male sheephead... they must feel lonely just like I do out here on Catalina!
Rockfish populations were wonderful to see. Rockfish in general have been very much overfished in California waters and they are protected. I was able to observe and film a number of different species in these waters, some only found at extreme depths (130-200 fsw) off Catalina if they are present at all.
Although giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) was present in extensive beds in the Castle Rock foul area, I was very pleased to have an opportunity to film kelps we don't see off Catalina. The kelps can't "submerge" to deeper, colder waters off our coast because they are photosynthetic organisms and there is insufficient light at those depths. Species I was able to film off San Miguel included Laminaria dentigera and Pterygophora californica. Red algae dominated the rocks, most likely a result of the generally poor penetration of light in these often turbid waters.
In addition to the weather, critters and kelp, the trip was made more enjoyable by the presence of many divers I had never met before. I always enjoying meeting new divers and chatting with them about our passion. I especially enjoyed seeing Bill Powers again, who I've dived with in the past, and meeting Carl Mayhugh of Marissa Dive Charters in San Diego who shares my interest in the MLPA process. One of the more astounding divers was the woman who was diving cold San Miguel in a 3/2 surf suit. I thought I was a glutton for punishment when it came to cold water!
Rod Roddenberry certainly has the passion for diving, and I'm pleased to say he is another underwater imager which indicates he likes to take a closer look at what he is observing. His bright yellow Star Trek drysuit, made by Whites, made him easy to locate underwater. However, I didn't feel envious since I was diving quite toasty in my 7/5mm Neosport thanks to the new IST 3mm hooded vest I used for the first time. IST is an Asian company, and I should have realized an XL would be a buit small on my good German body. However, that tightness made me toasty in 50 F water with no observable camera shake.
I want to thank Brian Ko (Clammy here on SB) for suffering through four dives as my buddy. As many of you know, due to my video work I am usually a solo diver and a very poor buddy to dive with. I'm sure Brian would have preferred to do more exploring than my stop, wait and shoot approach allowed, but he was a real sport about it and a very skilled diver.
This day was just full of superlatives. I can't say enough about what an incredible day of diving it was. Thanks again to all who made it so! If you get a chance to dive with Rod and the Roddenberry Dive Team on one of their upcoming trips, I highly recommend it!
This was an INCREDIBLE trip to a "remote" island that many trips never reach. I've been very fortunate in that I've made ot all four times, but my dive buddy Brian Ko (Clammy here on SB) had never made it. We knew one of us would break our string, and Brian was quite pleased that it was his we broke!
First, my thanks To Rod Roddenberry and Greg Martin for their very kind invitation to join the trip as their guest marine biologist. Of course that made the trip very special to begin with. To add to that, the weather was FANTASTIC. I never expected to get a mild sunburn out at San Miguel, but the sun was shining, the seas were flat and the visibility was quite good for this time of year in that location. EPIC conditions! My thanks also go out to the crew of the Peace Dive Boat for another great trip... especially Captain Kevin who I had seen in a while. The crew did their usual fantastic job!
I was up late last night editing the video shot during the four dives and on the way back to Ventura Harbor (about a six hour trip). I shot 75 minutes of footage and retained 62 minutes which is phenomenal for San Miguel due to the usual poor visibility, strong surge or swell. This trip even that stretch of the Pacific Ocean lived up to its name.
San Miguel is in a region of exceptional productivity due to the cold, nutrient-rich waters fed by upwelling off the coast north of Point Conception. The waters were teeming with life... visibility was only obscured by some phytoplankton and hoards of larger plankters including fish larvae, krill and other crustaceans as well as the occasional sea jelly and comb jelly. Blue whales spouted near our first dive site (the Pinnacles at Wilson) and were seen out in the open waters. Humpback whales were present in some numbers with behavioral displays including fin slapping and full breaches. Sea lions cavorted about us (which made me feel fairly secure that "the landlord" was not hungry that day!).
For those of you in SoCal who have not dived this outer Channel Island, and are more familiar with the warmer waters of Anacapa in the north or Catalina in the south, it is like taking a dive trip to some exotic location (cold, but exotic!). Critters that are never seen in Catalina's warmer waters (or if they are, only at depths greater than recreational where even our toasty waters are cold), are abundant here in the cold, productive waters. Sponges are abundant, rose anemones, red urchins and nudies were welcome subjects for my starved camera.
You'd have to have dived there (or watch my video footage) to understand just how productive these waters are. The visibility can be obscured by clouds of krill or fish fry that are just incredible. Even filming close-up, these critters would often swarm in front of my camera. Of course I didn't care... I'm always overwhelmed by how productive colder waters are compared to our clearer but warmer dive sites off Catalina.
As far as fish present out here, there were a few interesting observations. San Miguel is remote enough that most dive boats, as well as sport fishing boats, do not get out there often. The isolation helps protect the fish populations out there, but even they have been impacted over the years.
As on my earlier trips to the island, there were a few sheephead even in these colder waters. Being a member of the wrasse family, sheephead are generally considered a warmer water species. The interesting thing about the sheephead on San Miguel is that almost all I observed were males, a fact confirmed by several other divers when I mentioned it. I only remember seeing one or two "females" and they were already transitioning into males. I felt sympathy for the poor male sheephead... they must feel lonely just like I do out here on Catalina!
Rockfish populations were wonderful to see. Rockfish in general have been very much overfished in California waters and they are protected. I was able to observe and film a number of different species in these waters, some only found at extreme depths (130-200 fsw) off Catalina if they are present at all.
Although giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) was present in extensive beds in the Castle Rock foul area, I was very pleased to have an opportunity to film kelps we don't see off Catalina. The kelps can't "submerge" to deeper, colder waters off our coast because they are photosynthetic organisms and there is insufficient light at those depths. Species I was able to film off San Miguel included Laminaria dentigera and Pterygophora californica. Red algae dominated the rocks, most likely a result of the generally poor penetration of light in these often turbid waters.
In addition to the weather, critters and kelp, the trip was made more enjoyable by the presence of many divers I had never met before. I always enjoying meeting new divers and chatting with them about our passion. I especially enjoyed seeing Bill Powers again, who I've dived with in the past, and meeting Carl Mayhugh of Marissa Dive Charters in San Diego who shares my interest in the MLPA process. One of the more astounding divers was the woman who was diving cold San Miguel in a 3/2 surf suit. I thought I was a glutton for punishment when it came to cold water!
Rod Roddenberry certainly has the passion for diving, and I'm pleased to say he is another underwater imager which indicates he likes to take a closer look at what he is observing. His bright yellow Star Trek drysuit, made by Whites, made him easy to locate underwater. However, I didn't feel envious since I was diving quite toasty in my 7/5mm Neosport thanks to the new IST 3mm hooded vest I used for the first time. IST is an Asian company, and I should have realized an XL would be a buit small on my good German body. However, that tightness made me toasty in 50 F water with no observable camera shake.
I want to thank Brian Ko (Clammy here on SB) for suffering through four dives as my buddy. As many of you know, due to my video work I am usually a solo diver and a very poor buddy to dive with. I'm sure Brian would have preferred to do more exploring than my stop, wait and shoot approach allowed, but he was a real sport about it and a very skilled diver.
This day was just full of superlatives. I can't say enough about what an incredible day of diving it was. Thanks again to all who made it so! If you get a chance to dive with Rod and the Roddenberry Dive Team on one of their upcoming trips, I highly recommend it!
