Not a bad day of diving. Strange weather. We boarded the night before and loaded on. We met up with Nicole and Stephen and went to dinner, came back and crashed hard. No wind, calm harbor, all good.
One of the objectives Chica and I had on this trip was to continue to spoil Stephen and Nicole with quality gear, good diving and lots o' fun! We brought an SPG for Nicole to try out (even on a 22" hose... it seemed so long on her tiny frame!) we brought scooters for them to try out. We brought HID's for them to dive with. Basically, we're gonna be their gear pushers, mainlining scuba crack a little bit at a time every time we're together.
Woke up Saturday and it had cooled way down. It was pretty chilly in the AM. I had some work to do to assemble the deathstar, and I wanted to replace some cording on my CK-FK002, so I woke up early and stayed up for the drive out of the harbor to Anacapa.
We had some rollers. Several times Capt Ted had to power back the Spectre to keep from taking a big swell to the teeth. People on the back deck were getting spray all the way out to Anacapa. I figured this was gonna be a bad day.
It wasn't.
We did the first two dives at Anacapa, then we had to duck out and make a run to Santa Cruz.
Dive 1 - Underwater Island (one of the better spots on a bad day)
This is always a solid spot. So many octopus. Dette and I dived together and took the scooters on a complete circle of the structure. The tombstone is still there, as are all of the octos and juvi tree fish. What we didn't see were Nudis. We saw some Fed Ex and Sandys - that's it.
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Dive 2 - Channels - I usually hate this site.
Its always surgy, and only rarely is there cool stuff to see. Today was no exception - lots of surge. So Dette and I ran the scoots way east down island - and an amazing thing happened. The "channels" get a lot deeper, and wider. We saw several more octos (it was octo day, for sure) and we had a harbor seal come play with us. First time ever for me - they're usually so aloof. This fatty kept coming back again and again. Lots of fun, and probably my best dive at Channels.
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Dive 3 - Red Bluff (Santa Cruz) (no Sensus info)
After lunch the boat made a run to Santa Cruz to get out from the swell and wind. There was a site Capt Ted wanted to get to, but there was a boat sitting on it already, so we stopped one site over at Red Bluff. Not a great dive - viz was pretty poor, but there was kelp and fish and stuff. We finally saw yet a third species of Nudi on the day (Lemon...) Very strange - never seen so few Nudis at Anacapa / Santa Cruz. More octos and more Juvi tree fish. They were all over the place.
On this dive Dette and I continued the crack injections and brought in the 3rd scoot for Nicole and Stephen. The plan was Dette would tow me, and we'd let N&S zoom zoom while I got shots of them. Lots of shots of the two of them, then I corralled Claudette over and got a shot of the three of them on scooters.
About 30 minutes into the dive, the batt in my buddy scoot came loose - so it was like a bowling ball sliding around in there. Nicole and Chica traded scooters and it was all good. We split up so I could go to get some shots of Dette with the X1... but the conditions were pretty bad for that.
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Dive 4 - Radio Tower Drop Off
I left my cam aboard to dry out. With the day we'd been having (one Nudi shot and lots of octos) I fugured I'd miss nothing by leaving it on the boat.
MISTAKE! This was the dive of the day, and its a serious front runner for dive of the month.
WOW.
I've probably done over 50 dives of the Spectre - and I've never dived this site before. I can't remember the last time the Spectre put us on a forth dive where I could get to 70 feet! 6 species of Nudi's (finally) and so many huge schools of bait fish. This is a thriving reef, amazing terraced topography, kelp, fish, inverts - this site had it all.
I could not be more impressed.
Dette and I buddied while Nicole and Stephen went on their own. Chica and I kept looking at each other - we couldn't believe it. The site was pretty clear, and just packed with life. What a turn-around this day was taking.
When we surfaced the wind was gone, the sea was flat, the sun was out an it was a gorgeous day. The ride back to Ventura was also smooth - nothing like the ride out - when's the last time a day in Ventura got smoother as the day went on??!!??!!
So the day that started out pretty rough and ugly came about and ended calm and gorgeous.
Huge thanks to Claudette - the best buddy yet minted. You are one in a zillion.
More thanks to Stephen and Nicole - you guys bring the fun, and it was great diving and hanging out with you. Its fun to be your dialed-in SCUBA pusher. You are welcome to dive with us anytime!
As always - major props to the Spectre. Capt Ted, Shannon and everyone on board. You guys always make the best of the conditions. I know that no matter what the islands throw at us, the Spectre will find the best sites and have the best dives of that day. You guys are the best!
Some pics below. I didn't take many, as there wasn't much to shoot for the first three dives, and for the Dive of the Month (Dive 4) my cam was on the boat.... ugh.
Enjoy!
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Ken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Crew! Dette on the left with my scoot, Stephen in the middle with Dette's scoot, and Nicole on the right with my buddy scoot. All four of us look like a Deep Sea Supply ad, as we were representing DSS hard on this trip!
Nicole's first taste of the Scooter Drug - this is Nicole, as she's getting squared away for her first scooter dive.
Stephen's first moments on the scooter - the guy took the throttle, hit it and never looked back!
Underwater Island Fatty Octo - this guy was darn big. He was hanging out in a crack watching all of the other divers go by. I finally flagged down someone with a P&S and he came over and took the octo's pic as well. When an octo is posing this high in a hole, its a shame not to get a shot of it! I took several. Here are a couple.
Huge Sandy - I shot this at Channels. This guy was one of the biggest Sandy's I've ever seen. They're so ivory colored on Anacapa - not like the white ones we get at Catalina or along the coast of SoCal. All of the nudis had Gill Ring envy - this guy had it and was flaunting it.
Wall of Octo - this was shot at Channels. We were zooming along and there was this alcove, sort of a grotto on a large rock. Picture a 2-foot square hewn about a foot deep into solid rock. In the large, open hole was a smallish gorgonian, and next to that was an octo (yet another one on this Octo-rich day.) Dette saw it and called me over. This octo was huge, and he was absolutely out in the open. Imagine an octo just hanging on the wall of the alcove, like a painting. I stopped and re-directed the strobes, as lighting INTO this hole was going to be tough, as I had to set up so far away with the 105mm telescope on. I snapped the shot, looked at the LCD on the camera and was sad. I couldn't see the octo - just the gorgonian. I looked up and the octo was gone - he had retreated into a hole that he was covering. I got home and downloaded the card onto my large monitor, and I was stunned to see the octo was there!!! Its not a great shot, but its an amazing shot. This is full frame - no crop. The shot is just filled wall to wall with the massive wall-hanging-way-out-in-the-open octo.
Stephen dialed in - Within about 2 minutes, Stephen had the scooter under control and was managing it great. We took off from the open water we started them in and ran right into the kelp to zoom about in the stipes. Dude is a natural.
Nicole not to be outdone - she also took right to it. Within moments, she two was blasting in and out of the kelp. Good form, control and able to get the scoot to do what she wanted it to do.
.
.
.
.
.
.
One of the objectives Chica and I had on this trip was to continue to spoil Stephen and Nicole with quality gear, good diving and lots o' fun! We brought an SPG for Nicole to try out (even on a 22" hose... it seemed so long on her tiny frame!) we brought scooters for them to try out. We brought HID's for them to dive with. Basically, we're gonna be their gear pushers, mainlining scuba crack a little bit at a time every time we're together.
Woke up Saturday and it had cooled way down. It was pretty chilly in the AM. I had some work to do to assemble the deathstar, and I wanted to replace some cording on my CK-FK002, so I woke up early and stayed up for the drive out of the harbor to Anacapa.
We had some rollers. Several times Capt Ted had to power back the Spectre to keep from taking a big swell to the teeth. People on the back deck were getting spray all the way out to Anacapa. I figured this was gonna be a bad day.
It wasn't.
We did the first two dives at Anacapa, then we had to duck out and make a run to Santa Cruz.
Dive 1 - Underwater Island (one of the better spots on a bad day)
This is always a solid spot. So many octopus. Dette and I dived together and took the scooters on a complete circle of the structure. The tombstone is still there, as are all of the octos and juvi tree fish. What we didn't see were Nudis. We saw some Fed Ex and Sandys - that's it.
.
.
.
.
.
Dive 2 - Channels - I usually hate this site.
Its always surgy, and only rarely is there cool stuff to see. Today was no exception - lots of surge. So Dette and I ran the scoots way east down island - and an amazing thing happened. The "channels" get a lot deeper, and wider. We saw several more octos (it was octo day, for sure) and we had a harbor seal come play with us. First time ever for me - they're usually so aloof. This fatty kept coming back again and again. Lots of fun, and probably my best dive at Channels.
.
.
.
.
Dive 3 - Red Bluff (Santa Cruz) (no Sensus info)
After lunch the boat made a run to Santa Cruz to get out from the swell and wind. There was a site Capt Ted wanted to get to, but there was a boat sitting on it already, so we stopped one site over at Red Bluff. Not a great dive - viz was pretty poor, but there was kelp and fish and stuff. We finally saw yet a third species of Nudi on the day (Lemon...) Very strange - never seen so few Nudis at Anacapa / Santa Cruz. More octos and more Juvi tree fish. They were all over the place.
On this dive Dette and I continued the crack injections and brought in the 3rd scoot for Nicole and Stephen. The plan was Dette would tow me, and we'd let N&S zoom zoom while I got shots of them. Lots of shots of the two of them, then I corralled Claudette over and got a shot of the three of them on scooters.
About 30 minutes into the dive, the batt in my buddy scoot came loose - so it was like a bowling ball sliding around in there. Nicole and Chica traded scooters and it was all good. We split up so I could go to get some shots of Dette with the X1... but the conditions were pretty bad for that.
.
.
.
.
Dive 4 - Radio Tower Drop Off
I left my cam aboard to dry out. With the day we'd been having (one Nudi shot and lots of octos) I fugured I'd miss nothing by leaving it on the boat.
MISTAKE! This was the dive of the day, and its a serious front runner for dive of the month.
WOW.
I've probably done over 50 dives of the Spectre - and I've never dived this site before. I can't remember the last time the Spectre put us on a forth dive where I could get to 70 feet! 6 species of Nudi's (finally) and so many huge schools of bait fish. This is a thriving reef, amazing terraced topography, kelp, fish, inverts - this site had it all.
I could not be more impressed.
Dette and I buddied while Nicole and Stephen went on their own. Chica and I kept looking at each other - we couldn't believe it. The site was pretty clear, and just packed with life. What a turn-around this day was taking.
When we surfaced the wind was gone, the sea was flat, the sun was out an it was a gorgeous day. The ride back to Ventura was also smooth - nothing like the ride out - when's the last time a day in Ventura got smoother as the day went on??!!??!!
So the day that started out pretty rough and ugly came about and ended calm and gorgeous.
Huge thanks to Claudette - the best buddy yet minted. You are one in a zillion.
More thanks to Stephen and Nicole - you guys bring the fun, and it was great diving and hanging out with you. Its fun to be your dialed-in SCUBA pusher. You are welcome to dive with us anytime!
As always - major props to the Spectre. Capt Ted, Shannon and everyone on board. You guys always make the best of the conditions. I know that no matter what the islands throw at us, the Spectre will find the best sites and have the best dives of that day. You guys are the best!
Some pics below. I didn't take many, as there wasn't much to shoot for the first three dives, and for the Dive of the Month (Dive 4) my cam was on the boat.... ugh.
Enjoy!
---
Ken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Crew! Dette on the left with my scoot, Stephen in the middle with Dette's scoot, and Nicole on the right with my buddy scoot. All four of us look like a Deep Sea Supply ad, as we were representing DSS hard on this trip!
Nicole's first taste of the Scooter Drug - this is Nicole, as she's getting squared away for her first scooter dive.
Stephen's first moments on the scooter - the guy took the throttle, hit it and never looked back!
Underwater Island Fatty Octo - this guy was darn big. He was hanging out in a crack watching all of the other divers go by. I finally flagged down someone with a P&S and he came over and took the octo's pic as well. When an octo is posing this high in a hole, its a shame not to get a shot of it! I took several. Here are a couple.
Huge Sandy - I shot this at Channels. This guy was one of the biggest Sandy's I've ever seen. They're so ivory colored on Anacapa - not like the white ones we get at Catalina or along the coast of SoCal. All of the nudis had Gill Ring envy - this guy had it and was flaunting it.
Wall of Octo - this was shot at Channels. We were zooming along and there was this alcove, sort of a grotto on a large rock. Picture a 2-foot square hewn about a foot deep into solid rock. In the large, open hole was a smallish gorgonian, and next to that was an octo (yet another one on this Octo-rich day.) Dette saw it and called me over. This octo was huge, and he was absolutely out in the open. Imagine an octo just hanging on the wall of the alcove, like a painting. I stopped and re-directed the strobes, as lighting INTO this hole was going to be tough, as I had to set up so far away with the 105mm telescope on. I snapped the shot, looked at the LCD on the camera and was sad. I couldn't see the octo - just the gorgonian. I looked up and the octo was gone - he had retreated into a hole that he was covering. I got home and downloaded the card onto my large monitor, and I was stunned to see the octo was there!!! Its not a great shot, but its an amazing shot. This is full frame - no crop. The shot is just filled wall to wall with the massive wall-hanging-way-out-in-the-open octo.
Stephen dialed in - Within about 2 minutes, Stephen had the scooter under control and was managing it great. We took off from the open water we started them in and ran right into the kelp to zoom about in the stipes. Dude is a natural.
Nicole not to be outdone - she also took right to it. Within moments, she two was blasting in and out of the kelp. Good form, control and able to get the scoot to do what she wanted it to do.
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