I decided to jump on this offer even though I had to work this morning because conditions were to be perfect. It did not disappoint, the weather was clear with no wind at all and the surface was flat.
I showed up at the scheduled time and the boat was waiting to load my gear and depart. To my surprise it was only me and 1 other diver with captain AJ. I figured at $50 per head we would have been squeezed in the boat like sardines. How didn't anyone else take these guys up on a $50 night dive special? I know it was a weekday, but I was still home in Calabasas by 11:30pm.
1st Dive 8pm - Santa Monica Bay - 60ft of water on a unknown reef, Lets call it Cool spot #1. We threw anchor and geared up with the assistance of the Captain. He told us a bit about the site, where to look for bugs and what to expect. Jorge and I did the back roll off the side and down the anchor line into the abyss. At 25 feet we were bombarded with Squid, which was amazing everywhere we looked we saw squid in the water. We paused for a moment and continued our decent until we hit bottom. The site was not huge, but what it lacked in Size it made up for in life. There were tons of Sculpin, Sand Bass and baby black Seabass all over this rock peak that rises to maybe 10-15 feet above the sea floor. There were tons of little cracks and holes where the lobsters and big Sand Bass were still tucked away safe. We also saw a large amount of crabs, but they did not have the spotted underside of a Rock Crab, but looked alike, next time I'm bringing one home to ID. Overall the dive and divesite was very good. Lobster was taken by both divers and when we made it back to the boat there was Hot soup waiting for us to eat while we did our surface interval.
2nd Dive - Santa Monica Bay - 50ft of water on a unknown structure. Same as Dive #1 we suited up and the captain told us the depth, water temp and then said "I found this place awhile ago on sonar but never dove it, it should be nice." Jorge and I kind of looked at each other and just smiled and rolled off into the water, met at the anchorline and decended. As we went down the anchorline the top 15-20ft of the water was filled with plankton and other stuff. Once we hit bottom we were directly on the top of this reef. It was amazing the entire area was covered top to bottom is Sea Fans. I've never seen anything like this EVER, Sea Fans as far as we could see. Under these sea fans we could see fish, lobsters and Crabs in the holes moving around. This area was loaded with Rock Scallops too....Yup I do not think anyone has dove here recently if ever. I also noticed a Large Trigger Fish which is something I've only seen on my dives in the Sea of Cortez, never in So Cal waters. Another Great Dive
After doing this trip on The Goby I'll definitely be up for more weekday "Night Dive" trips. I'll admit I was a little tired this morning, but the lobster dinner and great adventure was well worth the effort. Look up The Goby for some great diving and if you need someone to fill the boat up contact me as I plan on going back allot.
Iggy
