Diving San Miguel on the Conception

I got to dive San Miguel last Sunday with my friend Larry and my son Chris aboard the Conception. We left Santa Barbara at 3:00 AM and arrived at our first dive stop about 7:00 AM. We were on the south side of the island in an area known as Tyler Bight. The visibility was limited due to plankton and krill. Our first dive was an average of 43 fsw (56 max) with a temp of 52. The second dive was an average of 51 fsw (66 max) and a temp of 54. The last dive was an average of 24 fsw (32 max) and a temp of 61.
There were strawberry anemones (Corynactis californica) covering every rock. If anyone ever wants to do a study on them, this is the place to go. We saw some rock fish on the first dive, but hardly any fish on the other two dives. On the second and third dives we saw lots and lots of huge abalone. More than I have ever seen anywhere else. We had a few sea lions dive bomb us also.



Here is a link to more photos from our trip. Diving San Miguel 6-10-12 - a set on Flickr

Thx for the report. Strange that you saw hardly any fish on your dives. Maybe the landlord was lurking about

We wouldn't have known unless he was within 10 feet of us. I thought it was strange too. We were diving in pretty thick kelp and usually there are lots of fish in the kelp.

Wow -- we've always seen quite a few fish there. But the big draw of San Miguel for me has always been the amazing color, the kelp, and the jellies on deco . . .

I'm utterly envious. My San Miguel outings had been zero for three thus far. The boat couldn't make it to San Miguel and we had to settle for Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz.

I feel pretty lucky. I am 2 for 3 attempts. On my first trip to San Miguel, several of the other divers commented on how lucky I was to make it to the island on my first attempt. The next trip we only made it to Santa Rosa. This trip was really nice. The swells weren't very big and there wasn't much wind either.

@TSandM I am just amazed at how much life there is around San Miguel. Compared to the other islands it appears almost overgrown.