Charlie's Diving Blog: November 2022

I'm just back from a nine day diving trip on the dive boat Vision with Guy Foster and Richard Salas and 14 other divers plus crew. We visited the following Channel Islands, some more than once: Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Anacapa, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente. Our first couple of days were limited by an approaching cold front with rain and wind. We also had to put back into port at Avalon on Santa Catalina and back to Santa Barbara to get the electrical sub-panel replaced on the Vision. A day after our two days with the Vision in Port, one of us tested positive for Covid followed by two more on our final day and another the day after the trip ended....So, we had our challenges along with some excellent diving and really superb meals. Though a number of days couldn't follow the standard schedule, here's how a typical day was spent: 1. Continental Breakfast from about 6 am (coffee and tea at 5!) 2. First dive about 7:30 am 3. Second Breakfast! Omelettes, eggs your way, bacon, ham, breakfast burritos, waffles, eggs benedict, pancakes, a wonderful range. 4. Second dive 5. Lunch - a wonderful varied set of choices of things like sandwiches, ribs, cheeseburgers, salads, soups... 6. Third dive 7. Fourth dive, sometimes this was effectively a twilight dive by its end due to the short days and low sun this time of year 8. Dinner and Dessert! Again, a great range of menu 9. Several days, night dive I haven't weighed myself post trip yet, perhaps I'll summon the courage tomorrow! We left port late at night on the 6th and crossed the Santa Barbara Channel to Anacapa Island where we dived three sites during the day, Landing Cove, Cathedral Cove, and Scorpion Rock. Below are some photos from these dives:

Above, I was surprised when I jumped in off Vision's side port, to see a Sea Lion visiting our stern's diving platform. Sea lion visits were a highlight of this first dive, below:

Our second dive site, Cathedral Cove, featured several of the usual favorite Channel Island favorites:

Above: Guy hunting for a photo target and a Sea Hare reaching for its next rock Below: Beautiful sunset on our first evening at sea. Rain and wind were on the way for the next day.

a The Captain and crew moved the vision from Santa Cruz Island to a protected cove for the direction the winds and seas would be coming from with the approaching cold front, on Santa Rosa Island, for the night. The next morning conditions were too windy and rough for diving so we went for a hike on Santa Rosa Island. The State Park has a large pier which made transfers from the Vision to shore using the RIB skiff pretty easy. It took several trips with the skiff going and coming to transfer most of our group whom had all elected to do the hike. The dirt road led us to Cherry Creek Trail for a 3 mile hike, which, soon after we got going, became a hike in increasingly heavy rain and wind. Below are some photos from the hike:

Below: a skiff load of hikers headed for the pier

Below: Here's a view from the pier of the skiff getting more hikers off the Vision

The hike was up over a high ridge which gave a great view of the Vision in the protected bay, once you got up there....below:

When we got back from the hike we transferred back to the Vision for lunch and then shifted the boat to do a dive once the front finished passing. The site was SE Anchorage at Beecher's Bay, Santa Rosa Island, below are a few photos from this dive:

Above: Photo bombing Blacksmith in foreground, in the back, my intended subject, a Treefish.

Below: a wide angle photo of a 2 inch Spanish Shawl nudibranch

The next day, November 9, we dived three sites off Santa Cruz Island. Here's a few photos from our first site, Gull Island:

Above: Spiny Lobster! The season was open but I hadn't bothered to get a license, I would have been the only one in our group taking them, also, many of our sites were protected marine reserves. But oh, I'd sure have gotten my limit of 8 along the way.

Our second site was Gull Island East, here's a couple more lobster photos:

Our third dive site of the day was Coches Prietos, here's some photos:

Above: Abalone, don't know which kind. They're protected, of course. Below: Juvenile California Sheepshead

Below: a couple sea fan seascapes

The night of the nineth the Vision cruised south down to Santa Barbara Island where we dived a site called "Green Acres" the next morning. Here's some pictures:

Above: A school of Opaleye

Above: a couple visiting sea lions

Above: the Vision above the kelp forest (it better be!). It's great to dive in a kelp forest with great visibility and sunlight, magic! Makes for a more enjoyable 3 minute safety stop at 20 ft on the way up. Once back on board the Vision suffered a major electrical system failure so we raised the anchor by hand which wasn't too difficult with about 15 of us pulling on the rope and chain to lift it. Then we headed for the port of Avalon on relatively nearby Santa Catalina in the hope of getting an electrician to make repairs....The boat treated us to dinner in Avalon. No electrician and parts available, we set off back to Santa Barbara that night in order to get the boat repaired the next day. While the boat was worked on we were able to go out on the dive boat "Truth" for two dives at Ruby Rock dive site off Santa Cruz Island, here's a few pictures:

Friday night, the Vision repaired with a new electrical subpanel, we cruised back down south to Santa Barbara Island where we started our diving day back at Green Acres:

Above: Guy with buzzing sea lion and a large curious California Sheepshead at Green Acres off Santa Barbara Island

Above: Island Kelpfish Our next dive was at Sutil Island off Santa Barbara Island:

Our next dive site was "Sea Lion Playground" and it really lived up to its name. I spent most of the dive laughing at the Sea Lion's acrobatics. Here's some photos from the dive: