Anacapa- Arches & Sea Lions
Channel Islands Dive Adventures has the Explorer chartered for a trip to see some of Anacapa’s 3 underwater arches and sea lions on Sunday, April 15, 2012. Diving the 3 underwater arches of Anacapa is always a fun and relaxing day and with the sea lion action you get at them ths can make for a special day of diving.
The plan is to board at 7:00am Sunday morning (or after 7:00pm on Saturday night) and depart at 8:00am for a nice ride over to Anacapa for 3 dives starting at Barracuda Rock, located at the west end front side of Anacapa. We will then do 2 other dives getting back to the dock about 5:00pm.
Barracuda Rock is a large underwater arch you can swim through in a Marine Protected Area (MPA) and is a very nice shallow dive about 25’-35’ deep with a healthy reef and good structure with kelp, fish and big lobsters. For the 2nd dive the plan is to move to the Landing Cove at the east end of Anacapa to dive another underwater arch. This area is 40’-60’ deep, in an MPA and is another great dive. For the 3rd dive we hope to move to another of Anacapa’s underwater arches around the backside of the east end. This shallow underwater arch is a great way to end the day. It is a very scenic dive spot about 35’-40’ deep and usually has some playful sea lions around it waiting to play with divers. Visibility at the sites could be 20’-60’. The sites we will visit are great for the photographer and sightseer and should be lot’s of fun
This trip is best suited for all level divers and a great choice for divers wanting to sharpen their diving skills for more advanced trips. The dive sites visited have something for everyone. Good buoyancy control and surface signal tubes are always recommended.
Trip Details
- Where: Explorer to Anacapa’s Arches & Sea Lions
- Depart from: Ventura Harbor, Ventura
- When: Sunday, April 15, 2012
- Time: boarding at 7:00am Sunday, April 15, and departing at 8:00am (or after 7:00pm on Saturday night), approx. time back is 5:00pm
- Cost: $120.00 includes, 3 dives, food, snacks, drinks, & air
- Pay Online-click here to pay with Mastercard, Visa, Discover, PayPal, Google or call to pay by check or cash
The Explorer is 65’ x 22’ and set up for 28 divers, but 18-22 works best. Her owners Tony and Candee have been running the Explorer for a long time now, always treating their customers like family. Safety is of utmost importance to them and having fun diving some new places is right behind that plus their crew is very friendly and helpful. There is a nice comfortable galley with seating for about 18 where you can get your cooked to order meals. You can get things like breakfast sandwiches, burritos, burgers, tuna melts, chowder, soft drinks and to top off the day special treats like Klondike bars, plus lot’s of snacks between dives. Above the galley there is also a very nice and large uncovered upper deck which also doubles as a place to store dive bags.
The dive deck has wrap around bench seating with gear storage and for the hunters there is a bait tank in the middle of the dive deck and 2 large fresh water buckets for cameras. The submerged swim step and large platform is easy to exit the water and air fills are done with 1 compressor filling to 3400psi (please bring only 1 tank) and there is no nitrox available on the boat. There are several options for nitrox, but this would have to be taken care of before the trip. The Explorer is also rebreather and doubles friendly.
The Explorer also has 26 single and 8 double bunks if you want to have a nap between dives or if you would like to board the night before a trip. Bunks are available on a first come first serve basis (please try to save the double bunks for couples). There are 2 bathrooms outside on either side of the boat and 1 outside shower on the port side and 1 shower all the way forward in the bunk room. The Explore does not provide rental gear, but you can reserve rental gear through the Peace and they will deliver it to the boat and pick it up afterwards.
All trips on the Explorer include food, snacks, drinks & air.
The Explorer Dive Boat is located at Ventura Harbor, 1583 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura, California, 93001, Dock D-11 (Directly behind the Greek Restaurant). Ventura Harbor Village is located on US-101 approximately 30 miles south of Santa Barbara and 65 miles North of Los Angeles. For a map click here. For general information about Ventura Harbor Village, you can visit them online at www.venturaharborvillage.com
To sign up and pay for the trip or if you have any questions, please contact Ken at
info@channelislandsdiveadventures.com or call (805) 469-7288
Hi Howard,
There is about 10-12 spots on the April 28th trip to Santa Rosa and about the same on the May 12th to Catalina. Don’t forget the club gets a discount on the listed price.