So, I looked around and couldn't seem to find an actual trip report thread on this recent (Oct 18th - 21st, 2007) trip outside of the MOF thread. For those of you who don't know... the MOF thread is part of the Surface Interval forum, which you have to opt into to see. Anyway, the MOF'rs are long time ScubaBoard addicts and mostly kooks. We are pretty active both on and off the board, and this trip, put together by Howard E was the second big MOF event (the first being a trip to Catalina). I am posting a report on the trip out here in the public forums so that normal people can have access to it as well.
The trip was on a liveaboard charter called "Ultimate Getaway" and included 20 passengers, most from the MOF thread. The itinerary was as follows:
Depart Thursday evening, arrive on site early Friday morning, dive pretty much non-stop Friday (6 dives), sleep, dive pretty much non-stop Saturday (6 more) and then transit Saturday night halfway home and dive the wreck of the Baja California (did it) and the air force comm tower ( canceled due to roughness) in the morning on Sunday, then transit the rest of the way back, returning at around 5pm Sunday night.
I don't remember all of the specifics of each dive, but I will offer a general narrative of the trip. I will say that the two most surprising things about the whole trip to me were the turbidity of the water and the intensity of the diving.
The water was not at all as I had imagined it would be. It was greenish, especially on the first day, and visibility was between 20-40 feet, mostly 25. The reefs weren't very colorful and everything looked dusty. There were, however, a fair number of game-fish, which were what many of us were interested in on this particular trip.
The pace of the diving was pretty intense too. The dives were moderately deep, usually in the 70-80' range, though some were as shallow as 45, and some as deep as 120. Dive times were limited by how long long you could make your gas last. Decompression diving was permitted, but violating computers was not. I incurred obligations on my last three dives of Friday and Saturday. Most of my dives had about 1 hour run times, but I had a couple of pretty long ones too.
The crew did their job well enough, and were pretty like-able and fun to dive with. Also the boat was pretty good for what we were doing. It wasn't brand new, or super luxurious, but I don't remember finding anything that didn't work on-board, and it was comfortable. I really liked the tank fill system, you only had to set up your gear once, they filled it right on your seat. Pretty sweet.
I found some mixed reviews of the operation prior to going on the trip, most of them were complaints about the fishing. I think that the fishing was fine and that the area was fantastic, however, I could understand how someone who was singularly concerned with shooting fish may be frustrated by trying to do this with 19 other divers in the area. I usually forewent the reef intended on the drops and explored less interesting structure in order to find some quieter real estate. Inevitably, sections of the reef that had already been visited by the bulk of the group were pretty barren. I ended up with some nice fish this way, but members of the group also plucked some nice catches off of the intended sites as well.
All in all it was a very fun trip, and if I have the opportunity to go again and have the money, I will go.
Me and a Black Grouper
Nice little Hog
I didn't take the camera underwater at all on the trip, but I think that some of the others did, and hopefully they will post pics in here.
The trip was on a liveaboard charter called "Ultimate Getaway" and included 20 passengers, most from the MOF thread. The itinerary was as follows:
Depart Thursday evening, arrive on site early Friday morning, dive pretty much non-stop Friday (6 dives), sleep, dive pretty much non-stop Saturday (6 more) and then transit Saturday night halfway home and dive the wreck of the Baja California (did it) and the air force comm tower ( canceled due to roughness) in the morning on Sunday, then transit the rest of the way back, returning at around 5pm Sunday night.
I don't remember all of the specifics of each dive, but I will offer a general narrative of the trip. I will say that the two most surprising things about the whole trip to me were the turbidity of the water and the intensity of the diving.
The water was not at all as I had imagined it would be. It was greenish, especially on the first day, and visibility was between 20-40 feet, mostly 25. The reefs weren't very colorful and everything looked dusty. There were, however, a fair number of game-fish, which were what many of us were interested in on this particular trip.
The pace of the diving was pretty intense too. The dives were moderately deep, usually in the 70-80' range, though some were as shallow as 45, and some as deep as 120. Dive times were limited by how long long you could make your gas last. Decompression diving was permitted, but violating computers was not. I incurred obligations on my last three dives of Friday and Saturday. Most of my dives had about 1 hour run times, but I had a couple of pretty long ones too.
The crew did their job well enough, and were pretty like-able and fun to dive with. Also the boat was pretty good for what we were doing. It wasn't brand new, or super luxurious, but I don't remember finding anything that didn't work on-board, and it was comfortable. I really liked the tank fill system, you only had to set up your gear once, they filled it right on your seat. Pretty sweet.
I found some mixed reviews of the operation prior to going on the trip, most of them were complaints about the fishing. I think that the fishing was fine and that the area was fantastic, however, I could understand how someone who was singularly concerned with shooting fish may be frustrated by trying to do this with 19 other divers in the area. I usually forewent the reef intended on the drops and explored less interesting structure in order to find some quieter real estate. Inevitably, sections of the reef that had already been visited by the bulk of the group were pretty barren. I ended up with some nice fish this way, but members of the group also plucked some nice catches off of the intended sites as well.
All in all it was a very fun trip, and if I have the opportunity to go again and have the money, I will go.
Me and a Black Grouper
Nice little Hog
I didn't take the camera underwater at all on the trip, but I think that some of the others did, and hopefully they will post pics in here.
