After the discussions of sharks and kelp potentially killing me or not, I finally got to my day trip out to the channel islands yesterday. It was good diving, which is better than no diving by a long shot. The long and short of it...
Boat good.
Diving good.
Chatting with other divers and seeing the spearos in action, good.
Instabuddy, better than good.
3 Dives on tables with no issues, good.
Computer battery dead with incorrect replacement battery from misinformed Florida shop, not so good.
Seasickness despite a Scopolamine patch, not so good.
Goods=5, not so goods=2; Overall +3 good diving trip.
The Vision is one of three live aboard style boats that Truth Aquatics runs out of the Santa Barbara Marina. It sleeps around 40 passengers and crew in padded plywood berths that are sufficient if not incredibly comfortable. At 6'1" I even had a little extra head room so I couldn't complain at all. Provided pillow and blanket, all the better. The unexpected rental charge for tank and weights (or possibly just the weights, I'm not sure) on top of the trip fee was not great but overall it was still a relatively cheap trip when comparing accommodations to other day trip boats I've been on thus far.
Boarded the boat about 8 pm Saturday night for a proposed 3am departure to the outer channel islands of San Miguel and Santa Rosa. First come first served basis for bunks so I grabbed one and settled my gear in and read for a bit in the galley area. We got underway sometime around 0345 and we were at Santa Cruz by 0700. Winds and swells had kept us somewhat confined to Santa Cruz, so our first dive was at Bowen Point/Coches Prietas. Nice site with a bunch of Garabaldi, albino rock fish and of course spiny urchins, plus a mid sized (3.5-4 ft) leopard shark, which was the highlight of the dive for me. Unfortunately I got cold because my suit leaked again, I think due to my giant stride entry. In 12C water, skins don't cut it as undergarments if you've gotten wet. ~30 minutes of me hogging all the air I can at 14 meters, and we get back to the anchor line and the surface with smiles, despite the cold.
Second dive was at Valley Anchorage after a 1:26 SI. (Pressure Group B, if my calculations were right.) Switched rash guards and added a fleece vest for the second dive thus keeping me a little bit warmer. The surge and mild current got to me and we surfaced at about 28 minutes. 10 m depth should have allowed significantly longer bottom time than that, but I'm nothing if not an air hog. Primary sightings were dungeoness crabs, maybe a dozen of them. And seals/sea lions playing at the surface before we dropped but none to be seen while underwater. I felt a little floaty during this dive and my buddy, Brian, suggested maybe adding a couple pounds for the next dive. I concur and plan accordingly. By my calculations Pressure Group G at the end of the dive. (eRDP says group I, now).
Third dive after a 1:40 minute SI (pressure group B again) we dropped for our third and final dive of the day. 20 m max depth, 33min bottom time. (Pressure group S). We say some more Garabaldi, an octopus being eaten by a bunch of fish, and generally enjoyed the mellow dive. A couple degrees C warmer water and the "Heart Attack Reef" made for a nice dive with a bunch of color and interesting topography. We had a little bit of current but it wasn't horrible and Brian took the opportunity to practice shooting a bag during our safety stop and I filmed him so he can self-critique later. Brian also was kind enough to take some video of me so I finally have an idea what I need to work on with my trim.
Looks like I'm ever so slightly feet down, except when I'm making a conscious effort to arch my back. Clearly need to work on that a little bit. My tank also wasn't centered super well on my back for any of these three dives and my left shoulder strap was a bit too floppy. Need to make some minor adjustments there.
I had built a light housing for my camera a la guba's thread here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/439374-constructing-cheap-uw-video-light.html but I didn't get the gasket sized quite right so it leaked a bit... luckily I took it for a trial run with no light in it. Back to the drawing board, so to speak, and probably get a true o-ring rather than just a gasket.
And, last but not least, scopolamine apparently doesn't work any better for me than bonine/dramamine do. Next option... anyone? anyone?
Now for some pics:
Boat good.
Diving good.
Chatting with other divers and seeing the spearos in action, good.
Instabuddy, better than good.
3 Dives on tables with no issues, good.
Computer battery dead with incorrect replacement battery from misinformed Florida shop, not so good.
Seasickness despite a Scopolamine patch, not so good.
Goods=5, not so goods=2; Overall +3 good diving trip.
The Vision is one of three live aboard style boats that Truth Aquatics runs out of the Santa Barbara Marina. It sleeps around 40 passengers and crew in padded plywood berths that are sufficient if not incredibly comfortable. At 6'1" I even had a little extra head room so I couldn't complain at all. Provided pillow and blanket, all the better. The unexpected rental charge for tank and weights (or possibly just the weights, I'm not sure) on top of the trip fee was not great but overall it was still a relatively cheap trip when comparing accommodations to other day trip boats I've been on thus far.
Boarded the boat about 8 pm Saturday night for a proposed 3am departure to the outer channel islands of San Miguel and Santa Rosa. First come first served basis for bunks so I grabbed one and settled my gear in and read for a bit in the galley area. We got underway sometime around 0345 and we were at Santa Cruz by 0700. Winds and swells had kept us somewhat confined to Santa Cruz, so our first dive was at Bowen Point/Coches Prietas. Nice site with a bunch of Garabaldi, albino rock fish and of course spiny urchins, plus a mid sized (3.5-4 ft) leopard shark, which was the highlight of the dive for me. Unfortunately I got cold because my suit leaked again, I think due to my giant stride entry. In 12C water, skins don't cut it as undergarments if you've gotten wet. ~30 minutes of me hogging all the air I can at 14 meters, and we get back to the anchor line and the surface with smiles, despite the cold.
Second dive was at Valley Anchorage after a 1:26 SI. (Pressure Group B, if my calculations were right.) Switched rash guards and added a fleece vest for the second dive thus keeping me a little bit warmer. The surge and mild current got to me and we surfaced at about 28 minutes. 10 m depth should have allowed significantly longer bottom time than that, but I'm nothing if not an air hog. Primary sightings were dungeoness crabs, maybe a dozen of them. And seals/sea lions playing at the surface before we dropped but none to be seen while underwater. I felt a little floaty during this dive and my buddy, Brian, suggested maybe adding a couple pounds for the next dive. I concur and plan accordingly. By my calculations Pressure Group G at the end of the dive. (eRDP says group I, now).
Third dive after a 1:40 minute SI (pressure group B again) we dropped for our third and final dive of the day. 20 m max depth, 33min bottom time. (Pressure group S). We say some more Garabaldi, an octopus being eaten by a bunch of fish, and generally enjoyed the mellow dive. A couple degrees C warmer water and the "Heart Attack Reef" made for a nice dive with a bunch of color and interesting topography. We had a little bit of current but it wasn't horrible and Brian took the opportunity to practice shooting a bag during our safety stop and I filmed him so he can self-critique later. Brian also was kind enough to take some video of me so I finally have an idea what I need to work on with my trim.
Looks like I'm ever so slightly feet down, except when I'm making a conscious effort to arch my back. Clearly need to work on that a little bit. My tank also wasn't centered super well on my back for any of these three dives and my left shoulder strap was a bit too floppy. Need to make some minor adjustments there.
I had built a light housing for my camera a la guba's thread here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/439374-constructing-cheap-uw-video-light.html but I didn't get the gasket sized quite right so it leaked a bit... luckily I took it for a trial run with no light in it. Back to the drawing board, so to speak, and probably get a true o-ring rather than just a gasket.
And, last but not least, scopolamine apparently doesn't work any better for me than bonine/dramamine do. Next option... anyone? anyone?
Now for some pics:
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