Santa Cruz Yellowbanks

Channel Islands Dive Adventures has the Explorer chartered for a trip to Santa Cruz, Yellowbanks on Sunday, October 7, 2012. Yellowbanks is a large extensive area on the southeast side of Santa Cruz past Smugglers Cove. Yellowbanks has large kelp beds and equally large reefs. The reefs are a variety of different types. Some are parallel reefs with sand between them, some are low lying rocky reefs and others are large rocky outcroppings with small walls. With the entire good reef structure there is much to see such as fish, lobsters and lots of small invertebrates.

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 Yellowbanks for 3 dives with us getting back to the dock about 5:00pm. All dives will be at sites good for bug diving approx. 20’-60’ deep. Visibility often can be 20’- 50’. These should be some great dives for the hunter (only 2 weeks into lobster season), photographer and sightseer.

This trip is best suited for intermediate or advanced divers that have experience in cold water conditions possibly including some current, swell, kelp and possible limited visibility. Dive sites are to be determined by “BEST CONDITIONS” based on water visibility, tides, current, surge, swell and wind. Good buoyancy control and surface signal tubes are always recommended.

Trip Details

Where: Santa Cruz Island, Yellowbanks
When: Sunday, October 7, 2012
Time: Board at 7:00am (or after 7:00pm on Saturday night) with the Explorer departing at 8:00am, the approx. time back to the dock is 5:00pm.
Cost: $120.00 includes, 3 dives, food, snacks, drinks & air
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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 Peaceand 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