Like I tell everyone, the weather forecast is all a prediction based on many things that sometimes is correct and then sometimes NOT. The thing to remember is,  when you sign up for a trip- go to the boat unless you are called beforehand,  which is what will happen if it is really bad. I had 1 person call 3 days before this trip about the weather to see if we were still going out. Even when everyone boarded in the morning I had one friend say “I don’t expect anything more than single digit vis” today-more on this later.

On all the CIDA trips (even when close to home) I show up to the boat early the night before and sleep on the boat so I can greet people and make sure everything goes good and it just so happened that I had 2 friends come by the night before and leave their gear and after they left it was just me. Needless to say I sure had a nice quite sleep with no one else aboard. When I woke up in the morning it was beautiful out with no wind at all-the start of a great day!

It was a full trip and when everyone was signed in it was off for a fun day of diving. There was a swell crossing over to Anacapa but nothing like what the forecast was saying. The only problem was the swell was moving right into the area for the planned dives, O’ well-plans are made to change! It was now to the backside of Anacapa.  As we got around the backside it turned out the Peace and Spectre where both there because it was the best place to be, why? There was no swell, some current but the biggest plus was over 50′+ ft. of visibility. On every dive we did you could see the bottom from the boat..it was AWESOME!

Two  dives where in the Cat Rock area with the 1st at the south side of Cat Rock and the 3rd was at west Cat Rock and they were both fun except that the brittle stars have taken over the area. Brittle stars are great for photography because of all the colors and shapes they have but you might start getting tired of them if you are just sightseeing.

The 2nd dive was around the corner at inside landslide. This was a nice close to shore kelp dive with a beautiful reef. There was some surge here depending on what part of the reef you where at but it was still a fun dive. To top it off the topside weather was excellent and as the day progressed it got even better with a very nice smooth ride across the channel and back to the dock getting us in about 6:00pm.

FYI-I was told by Captain Dave and crew that the 22nd St. Landing restaurant has a good burger with fries for only $10.00 but you must ask for it because it is not on the menu.

In the morning we left at 7:00am for the short trip out to the Olympic II, it’s only about 4 miles out. After getting the anchor towards the middle of the wreck and getting the briefing we were ready to go. I dove with Marybeth  throughout the day and she was an excellent dive buddy. It’s funny how when you get back to the boat after a dive and find out most everyone is thinking the same thing about the dive and that’s what happened on this trip.

As we started to descend to the wreck all I was thinking is that this is going to be a crap dive (WRONG) because of the 10′ or less vis but all of a sudden when we got to about 70′ deep the vis opened up with probably close to 40′ of vis., the best I have ever seen on the Olympic II. It sure made for an excellent dive. I now have the whole vision of the wreck in my mind and actually drew a picture of it. So much better than seeing little parts at different times. Everyone came up thinking it was going to be crap and it turned out to be an AWESOME dive!

We stated our dive about mid section and went towards the bow (west) past the 4 big pillars then turning around going to the stern and then it was time to leave this beautiful dive. We then moved to the rig, Eureka where we made dive #2. The conditions we had were the worst I have seen on Eureka, Elly or Ellen but more like what we used to have on the northern rig, Grace. The vis was 10′-20′ with a nice size swell and strong current running through the rig. Marybeth and I still had fun, you just had to get into the sweet spot on the opposite side of the part of the rig you were diving to get out of the current.

After the dive I considered going back to the wreck as the conditions where much better there than normal and then one of the passengers (Louis) came up to me because he was sent as the messenger to ask exactly what I was thinking. I decided to take a vote and the wreck won by quite a bit so it was off to the Olympic II for the 3rd dive. We had another good dive and the vis had dropped to about 20′-25′ and was still much better than doing a 3rd dive on the rig. We then had lunch on the short trip back to the dock getting back by 2:45pm.

A big thank you goes out to Bluewater Photo and Keli for coming out on the trip and doing a photo demo day. It worked out great and I found out (just needed to confirm it) that I need to get a strobe for my camera. What a fun day…thank you to everyone that made it possible!

Anyways we departed on time at 4:00am and had a nice ride out to our first dive spot-Del Mar Caves.  My buddy and I started the dive going to the west and I thought “this is a bit boring” and then we turned and headed east more along the edge of the island. We didn’t have to go far to see the dive was much more interesting then I thought, there were very large rocks covered with life. It actually got me a bit confused because it was one of those times it was just hard to believe your compass. Del Mar Caves turned out to be a cool dive, the only problem was the vis was only about 10′-20′ for the whole day. Eric said the vis had been great the week before, I guess it was just one of those days.

Kevin did try and to back to the west end to see how it was and it still was not very good for diving so we continued to head east down along the island. our second dive was at West of West Grotto which I sat out after starting the dive and having a computer malfunction. I was told the vis was only about 10′ at this site and lots of people said it was probably a great site if you could see something. Afterwards we went to West of Hazards and then ended our day at Diablo Rock. The vis at Diablo was the best for the day and this spot has a nice drop off along the west to northwest side where I seen lots of bigger fish. I guess my day was filled with little gear problems because on this dive my mask wouldn’t quite slowly filling with water which was a pain.

All in all it seemed like everyone had a great time with a nice ride back to the deck getting in about 7:00pm. Thank you to the Whalers and Soule Searchers dive clubs. There were 10 Whalers and 5 Sole Searchers.  If you’re not in a club you should check into them because it’s always fun to go out with a bunch of friends for a fun day of diving!

We first headed out the short distance to the Kopco Star and my friend, Jonathan really helped everyone on this dive. Jonathan knows the Kopco Star well and sacrificed his 1st dive to check the conditions before everyone jumped in.  We decided that Jonathan would go down and if the visibility was better than 8′ ft. he would send up a marker buoy letting us know to send in the divers. Unfortunately we seen him coming back up the line way to early and when he surfaced he said the visibility was 0′ and dark.

Now it was time to head to Anacapa to get some diving in and again things didn’t go as planned. The weather was still nice but the current was too strong for us to dive any of the outer reefs so we did our 3 dives on the backside of Anacapa all in less than 60′ deep. The dives were OK and none had great vis but then you just gotta take what mother nature gives you and make the most out of it.

Tony and Candee (the owners of the Explorer) did everything they could to make our day a good one and even if the dive conditions weren’t the best it sure looked like everyone was having a good time. The nice thing about the Explorer (and why CIDA uses it) is that they just aren’t happy stopping any old place and dropping the anchor to get a dive over with. They always go out of there way searching and looking for the best dive spots they can find and because of this we did get back a little later than expected but that seemed to be OK with everyone as it looked like everyone had a good time.

On this trip the plan was to dive the Olympic II for the 1st dive and then go to the rigs to finish our day of diving. The Olympic II is a short distance and it takes longer to fill the tanks then to get to the dive site. As we anchored I thought it should be a great dive because the sea & topside conditions were excellent and in fact as the day went by the ocean became flat as a lake with no wind and some cool clouds overhead. It was so calm that there were 2 boats pulling water skiers.

While the anchor was being set we all got suited up and then had the dive briefing and this is where things started to change for some (most) of us. The anchor was close to the wreck because  there was a trap close to where we wanted to be and most of us (including myself) just didn’t listen to the briefing very good plus the briefing could have been a bit more detailed so everyone knew that we needed to take a compass heading on the float over the wreck. Because of this some aborted their dive, some had a nice sand dive (my buddy and me) and a few listened and made it to the Olympic II. I heard there was about 15′ vis and a nice size ling cod was seen. O’ well you win some and lose some. For now on I am going to try real hard to make sure everyone understands what to do when we are not anchored directly to or next to a dive site.

I guess everything works out for a reason because we may have not found the wreck but the whale watching we had during our surface intervals made up for it and then some. That’s one (of many) thing I like about Captain Dave and the crew of the Pacific Star, there not into rushing and want to just have fun like everyone else but when it’s time to be serious and they have the safety of the passengers in their hands they don’t disappoint. They gave everyone plenty of time to see and get pictures of all the whales. One friend (Howard) said he should bring his wife out on the next rig/wreck trip because we have seen more whales on the trips then they ever have on a dedicated whale watching trip.

We finished the day off with our 2nd & 3rd dives on the rig-Eureka and like always they were great. There is just something about cruising through what seems like a giant erector set with cross beams and pipes covered with life to see, photo, video and collect scallops. Under the rig we had a good 50′ ft. + visibility , blue water and just a little current-what a great couple of dives. It’s funny because with a full boat of divers all on the same rig you would think it would be divers everywhere and you would be bumping into each other and you’re not. Everyone gets going in their direction and it works out great.

The ride back was equally as good talking with friends and having an ice cold beer with us getting back about 4:00-4:15. If you’re looking for a photo only trip to the rigs, CIDA has partnered with Bluewater Photo for a tips & demo day on Saturday, April 7, 2012. Hope to see you there!

Before the trip there was some concern about the weather. The forecast called for 20-30 mph winds, rain and 3′-5′ swell and another forecast called for less swell . So who do you believe? I found it best no matter what the report says or what it’s like where you live to just go to the boat (unless you get the call not to) and see what happens. The forecast has been wrong before and it sure was on our rig trip. The conditions we had for the day was flat calm seas, no surge, maybe 1′-2′ swell, no wind at rig and some when we dove the wreck, cloudy with some sunshine coming through and a few rain drops, 50′+ vis on the rig and 30′+ vis on the wreck and high 50′s water temperature.

The day did start with some confusion and the captain dropped the anchor on a wreck that was 125′ deep (too deep for this trip). It turned out to be the Ace 1 which we will schedule for another trip. We then pulled anchor and headed over to the rigs. We did 2 dives on Eureka and with the conditions we had they were excellent dives! What is really nice is that the rigs and wrecks are all quite close to the San Pedro Harbor.

We then slowly moved to the next dive site for our 3rd dive which would be on the Georgia Straits, only about 3 miles out of the harbor. The Georgia Straits was a tug boat that sunk in August of 1965. There really isn’t much left now except for a small debris field and its engine, but it is a pretty dive with sea fans and metridums growing on pieces of the wreckage and it makes a good home for plenty of fish.

As I dropped down the anchor line I could tell we would be in for a treat diving the wreck because there was about 30′+ of visibility and no swell or surge. The wreck is sitting on a sandy bottom at about 80′ deep and because we were able to get a long surface interval before the dive I was able to inspect every nook and cranny. It was a great way to end the day! Once getting back topside the captain had set-up large rinse buckets with simple green and fresh water to clean our gear and then it was only about a 20 minute ride back to the dock. To top it all off the crew unloads your gear (if you want) and they take it all up to the loading dock for you, now that’s service! All this and we where back by 4:00pm.

If you would like to get in on another CIDA rig/wreck trip there are several scheduled throughout the year with the next one coming up on January 14, 2012.

I hope to see you on the next CIDA adventure!

Any way’s, plan B (outer reefs of Anacapa) was also out because of the direction of the wind which became much stronger,  faster and sooner then expected so we went with plan C to Yellowbanks, Santa Cruz.

Yellowbanks is never disappointing and even with the wind we were able to get in 3 good dives with 30’+ visibility and water temperature around 60°. The wind did keep us from diving the deeper areas I had hoped for but we still got in the first 2 dives at around 50’-60’ and the 3^rd was around 35’ deep. The area’s had good structure, no surge or swell and lots of lobster.

I managed to get 3 bugs and I grabbed many with most all of them just not yet legal and wanted to hang out till next year. I did see lots in groups of between 4-8 and lots of them were out, but of course they would then back way into their holes so all you could do is get frustrated. I think some night diving would be great in the area we where in so maybe a trip back at night before the end of bug season will be in order.

Again, the Explorer worked out great and it was very nice to hear that after talking to the owners (Tony & Candee) about the fills they decided to bump up the fill pressure from 3000psi to 3400psi, now that was a very good improvement! We also found out how to turn the bunk room lights off at night and for me being a very light sleeper this was another good improvement. There were others that really liked this and who wouldn’t. It’s nice to sleep when it’s dark. It goes to show you, surveys do help!

CIDA is getting ready to charter the Explorer for 6-8 trips through out 2012 so stay tuned and hopefully you can join us on some of them.

The week before I talked to a friend who had just been on a 3 day San Nick. They made it there, but it was rough, people were getting sick and the diving conditions sucked so they decided to leave and finish the last 2 days off at Catalina.

I watched the weather report the week before and they expected a mixed swell with wind, it didn’t look bad but I can tell you our trip wasn’t anything like the report said.

Now to the trip, like always there was traffic and I had hoped to get to the boat earlier then we did because I had a large Rubbermaid cart I was donating to the Pacific Star that I had disassembled in our car and I still needed to put it together so it could be used and not to mention I had the bunk assignments. When we arrived a crew member came out to our car and immediately put their new cart to use. I also like to get to the CIDA boat trips early so I can greet everyone as they show up.

After the boat briefing at 10:30pm most everyone went to bed for the trip out to San Nick. I couldn’t sleep and heard the boat start moving away from the dock. As we continued I kept hearing the boats transmission go into neutral and then forward again. I thought we were still in the harbor with problems so I went  up to see what was wrong and it was then that I realized we were quite a few miles out of the harbor and the ocean was so calm that you couldn’t even tell the boat was moving. I also found out the problem was the crew was just adjusting the line on the skiff. With the ocean as calm as it was I could tell we were in for a treat!

We arrived to San Nick about 7:30am and it was just about calm enough to go water skiing. After breakfast the diving began with short moves, I should have asked for us to move a bit further each time-next year. The first couple of moves didn’t seem all that good and as we moved further west the structure got bigger and more lobsters were seen the only problem was that they were in the holes a bit to far to grab. The diving conditions were good especially because the week before was terrible. We had 10’-20’ of vis and the water temperature was in the low 60’s and very little surge.

The bug yield was OK, you really had to look for them and the best bug catching was in the shallow areas. I dove with a friend (Kristine) and most all our dives were between 10’-40’ deep. I was able to get a 7-8 pounder and another guy (Jimmy) caught a huge bug, over 10lbs. After dinner quite a few of us did the night dive which really was productive for most of us. Two people caught bugs that were easily over 10lbs. What would have been best would have been the chance for another night dive which I am going to work on for the 3^rd Annual CIDA Bug Fest. After all the pictures and excitement it was time for bed and the trip over to Santa Barbara Island.

We left San Nick about 2:00am for Santa Barbara and I didn’t even know we were there until I heard the anchor drop, now that is a calm ride. After breakfast we moved to an outer reef in an area we did very well a few years back. We ended not being able to get on the spot we wanted and tried another spot close by. It was a pretty spot with lots of purple hydrocoral, but no bugs. We then moved to another spot with lots of playful seals and did find some bugs in the shallow area along some wash rocks along with lots of urchins. Vis was great at Santa Barbara running about 40’ and again with excellent dive conditions.  The only problem was that timing for the day didn’t work out well and we only were able to make 2 dives. Next year I will have to get with the captain to make sure we can at least get 3 dives in on the last day.

Other than that, the trip was excellent and of course what made it so good was the people on the trip. My total take for bugs was 5 with a few others getting twice that and the total take for the trip was around 40. There were also 3 that were bigger then 12 lbs each and personally if I caught one that big I would take a picture of it and release it under water so it could return to its family and make many more lobsters for the coming years.

I did turn several people away from this trip because they were looking for a pretty day of diving like at Anacapa and I was sure that wasn’t going to happen and I was right. Going north up the coast is much different then going south down the coast like around the Deep Hole area. The area between the Rincon and Montecito is shallow low lying reefs and usually not the best vis.  The reason to go is because you are looking for something different and explore. I sure wasn’t disappointed and I know most others agreed.

We had a full boat (a few didn’t make it due to sickness) and with some dive spots to check (thank you Jonathan) out we left at 7:30am, did 3 dives and were back about 4:00pm. We first checked out a couple of spots along the Rincon from the surface to get an idea of the conditions and then decided on starting the dive day at Horseshoe Reef. I was diving with my grandson (Louie) and because I headed the wrong way it was towards the end of our dive when we finally came to the reef, just wish we had more time on it. The vis was about 10’-15’ and water temp was about 62° on all the dives. Horseshoe Reef was about 50’ deep and made up of smaller boulders with lots of sea fans, some bigger fish and few bugs. Some of the divers did see lots of swell sharks here and one friend happened to grab 4 bugs here.

We then pulled anchor and checked out Carp Reef which was only about 10 minutes away. We found a spot around the outer center and only about 25’ deep. Louie and I headed west through a sand area with some kelp and small rocks and didn’t see anything of interest so we turned and went towards the shore. I a short time we came to an area with bull kelp that was only about 3’ tall. This turned out to be a great spot and fun. We discovered that if we cruised along the bottom under the top of the bull kelp you would come up to area’s were the bugs were out and gathered in a group so then all we had to do was grab the largest ones which were all just a little bigger then legal size. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but we did manage to bag 3. We did try an area with lots of kelp and big rocks, but didn’t see anything there so we went back to the bull kelp and had more fun.

Afterwards we went did a little exploring (must go back to a few spots) and then went to 3 Spot reef for the 3^rd dive. 3 Spot reef was only about 25’-35’ deep and was a great dive. When I started to dive on the reef I thought that with all the big and little boulders this dive site looked like a submerged ancient beach and it turned out I wasn’t the only one who thought the same thing. I liked this spot with the big boulders and crevices everywhere there was plenty to explore. Again, lots of sea fans, bigger fish and some bugs (I got 1). This also turned out to be a much bigger reef then we first expected and would love to go back again.

Now with the diving over it was time to head home. It was a beautiful day out, calm seas and cruising back along the coast was awesome. Trips like this is what Channel Islands Dive Adventures is all about, unique dive trips to places most people will never have the chance to check out. Take a look at the Channel Islands Dive Adventures dive schedule for more exciting trips like this one!!!

The winds kept us away so it was on to plan B for this trip which was Santa Barbara & Santa Cruz Islands. As it turned out I don’t think anyone was disappointed by the end of the trip. The ride out and back was a bit bumpy from the swell and wind, but once at Santa Barbara everything was good for the most part. We left at 2:00am instead of the scheduled 12:00 midnight and arrived about 8:00am. The only problem with Santa Barbara when topside conditions are less then ideal is that the dive site choices become few. We started our diving at Rookery Wall and then moved to 3 other spots during the day staying at Arch Point for the later part of the day/evening.

The other dives where at Sutil Wall and Cat Canyon all with a water temperature of 62° and vis of about 40’. My favorite dive was Cat Canyon because there was a small wall with ledges, lots of kelp and plenty to see. The weather changed quickly I guess once we got in and when we came back the wind was howling and getting back onto the Peace was fun. This is where an easy dive turned into an advanced dive and why some trips like this are not for the newly certified diver. Diving the Channel Islands can go from easy to hard very quickly and that is why I try to have the newer diver to our area try Anacapa or Catalina first.

Of course the crew of the Peace is always on their toes watching in case any problems should arrive. They make it look easy, but it isn’t always. Then the whole time we are out diving and having fun and the crew are working the deck, Joe is inside whipping up something good to eat. From breakfast to lunch to dinner and all the snacks he just keeps surprising you with lots of excellent food and then dinner is always a nice sit down meal with the crew doing all the work.

After dinner was the entertainment…The seals were chasing the flying fish into the boat so they would hit it and get stunned and then the seals would enjoy a good snack. You could watch for hours if you wanted to or at least until you got to cold. That morning we left at about 2:00am again to finish our trip at Santa Cruz around the Yellowbanks area.

When we woke up we were treated to no wind, flat calm seas and a cloudless warm day plus the vis looked to be very good. We didn’t have to move to far for any of the excellent dives we did. We dove Deep Fenceline, Drop Off reef, Deep Sandstone and Flame reef. The best part of all this was the vis was 50’+ and again warm water with a temperature of 62°. The dives were all excellent and from listening to everyone talking about the dives I am sure they all agreed. What I think was really cool was that we had a wide range of divers from sightseers to hunters to photographers and others with scooters having fun zipping around the dive sites.

Well, every trip must end and for the ride back we were treated to some rockin and rolling along with some excellent desert and a case of beer I brought along to share. We arrived back to the dock about 6:30 only to have to say bye to new and old friends. San Miguel may have been elusive, but it still was one %#& of a good trip!