A bunch of us are on board the Sceptre headed to Anacapa. Anyone else going?
Anyone on the Sceptre on Aug 31st?
- Thread starter Otter
- Start date
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wrinkles
Contributor
Still room for people to go or all booked up?
Ana
Ana
OP
I was told we got the last 5 slots.... 
OCdiving Deb
Contributor
Hey Otter,
I'll be on the Sceptre the day before you with my dive club (SOCDC). If you want a report after the day is done, send me your contact info... I can call you later on Saturday with the details.
Have you been on that boat before?
kelphelper
I'll be on the Sceptre the day before you with my dive club (SOCDC). If you want a report after the day is done, send me your contact info... I can call you later on Saturday with the details.
Have you been on that boat before?
kelphelper
Otter and kelphelper,
Could you post here a little about your trip? How was the boat and crew? What did you see?
I will be making this same trip on Oct 10th.
Thanks,
Bill
Could you post here a little about your trip? How was the boat and crew? What did you see?
I will be making this same trip on Oct 10th.
Thanks,
Bill
OCdiving Deb
Contributor
I'd be happy to! Stay tuned...
kelphelper
kelphelper
OP
Well any day getting wet is a good day, but yesterday's dive tested that notion. Don't get me wrong, the conditions from a safety perspective were fine.
We decided to go up the night before and the berth I had was quite comfortable. I brought a sleeping bag (they did supply a blanket and pillow), but only laid on top of the bag...not too hot, not too cold.
Diving
-------
Water temp was a warm 64F with air conditions in the high 70s. If you haven't dived on the Sceptre, its an older boat ... looks to be a converted fishing boat and while it had a full compliment of 40 or so divers, I didn't find it to be overly crowded. Food was great and the service excellent. The ride over was easy.
The boat went to four different dive sights off of Anacapa. Due to poor conditions in the past, the skipper opted NOT to head over to Santa Cruz Island as is the usual itinerary for the last 4 dives.
1. Landing Cove / "Garbage Cove" - lee side of Anacapa
2. Cat Rock - windward
3 Goldfish Bowl - leeward
4. Arch Rock - Southern end
Rather than spend more time than its worth, let me give a brief synopsis of the all dives ( I only did 1-3) and highlight the differences.
Viz on all dives was 6-8 feet at best. The flora and fauna looked much like Catalina, with the exception that the fish were generally bigger. The Sheephead were a good 2' which was a nice change from whats left at Catalina after all the fishermen have desimated that area. Didn't see anything of any significance other than a small anenome with a gold band around it. Once I get my buddy's pic I will post and see if anyone can id it. Oh I did see the body of an Moray, but couldn't find the head and decided I didn't want to stick my hand it to find out where it was :wacko:
Currents were generally light, although I was told that at Arch it was strong at the surface at the beginning of the dive, but light at the end with little current at depth.
Cat Rock has 3-4 surge, not bad if you are used to shore diving in SoCal....
Between south swells and warmer water, this summer has had poor viz in SoCal and Anacapa was not any different. When the viz improves, I might consider going back to Anacapa....maybe with the Peace (a sister ship) as they give 3500 PSI fills
Otter
We decided to go up the night before and the berth I had was quite comfortable. I brought a sleeping bag (they did supply a blanket and pillow), but only laid on top of the bag...not too hot, not too cold.
Diving
-------
Water temp was a warm 64F with air conditions in the high 70s. If you haven't dived on the Sceptre, its an older boat ... looks to be a converted fishing boat and while it had a full compliment of 40 or so divers, I didn't find it to be overly crowded. Food was great and the service excellent. The ride over was easy.
The boat went to four different dive sights off of Anacapa. Due to poor conditions in the past, the skipper opted NOT to head over to Santa Cruz Island as is the usual itinerary for the last 4 dives.
1. Landing Cove / "Garbage Cove" - lee side of Anacapa
2. Cat Rock - windward
3 Goldfish Bowl - leeward
4. Arch Rock - Southern end
Rather than spend more time than its worth, let me give a brief synopsis of the all dives ( I only did 1-3) and highlight the differences.
Viz on all dives was 6-8 feet at best. The flora and fauna looked much like Catalina, with the exception that the fish were generally bigger. The Sheephead were a good 2' which was a nice change from whats left at Catalina after all the fishermen have desimated that area. Didn't see anything of any significance other than a small anenome with a gold band around it. Once I get my buddy's pic I will post and see if anyone can id it. Oh I did see the body of an Moray, but couldn't find the head and decided I didn't want to stick my hand it to find out where it was :wacko:
Currents were generally light, although I was told that at Arch it was strong at the surface at the beginning of the dive, but light at the end with little current at depth.
Cat Rock has 3-4 surge, not bad if you are used to shore diving in SoCal....
Between south swells and warmer water, this summer has had poor viz in SoCal and Anacapa was not any different. When the viz improves, I might consider going back to Anacapa....maybe with the Peace (a sister ship) as they give 3500 PSI fills
Otter
OCdiving Deb
Contributor
Law5Guy,
I think you'll enjoy the Sceptre! This was my first trip out of Ventura Harbor and I have only a few LA County dive boats to compare, but between those few, I enjoyed the Sceptre the most. I'll give you a few logistical pointers.
1) If you're sleeping on the boat, bring ear plugs to block out the voices of the night owls and the buzz of the fans they use to keep the air circulating. The fans are well worth the hummm because the boat does not have that musty smell down below!
2) Use the restrooms up on the dock while in the harbor. The boat bathrooms STINK, so you'll want to avoid them by taking care of business before departing the harbor.
3) Sign-up for breakfast ASAP (maybe even the night before). Many of our divers did not get to eat until after the first dive.
4) If you have one, use a duffle type dive bag and it will fit right under your spot. One of my favorite aspects of this boat is that you can have ALL your wet gear right there at your station. If you have the wider bag, have a smaller bag for your station and stash the big bag up on top after suiting up the first time.
5) If you like longer dives, get into the water and descend ASAP. They are not very fond of those with good air time. I was often the first one in the water and always the last one back up, but even though my dives were never over 59 minutes, they were practically rude about being the last one. I appreciate that we got all 4 dives in, but hey! That's what we paid for and that is what I am going to do!
6) Renting their tanks is ideal! Instead of hauling my steels and getting short fills, I paid the $10 for an AL80 and it was there in my spot when I arrived. A fellow diver rented everything through them, and although they initially gave him the wrong size wetsuit, it was remedied before we left the dock and he was also a happy diver!
7) The crew seemed very efficient and methodical, although not very engaging. That's OK, they did their jobs and everyone was safe! Stacy in the galley was friendly. I enjoyed the food on this boat more than others also, but that is personal preference!
Some of the sites feature caves. I loved those, but upon reflection, I probably should have been more cautious since the surge was fair. Make sure you are not going to suddenly be buoyant if you get caught up in strong surge! I was fine, but if the surge had been stronger, I would have wanted to be stuck to the bottom! Obviously those caves were a new experience and I should get some training for them.
I did the 4th dive, which also happened to be at Arches at the south end of Anacapa and it was my favorite! The sea lions were so much fun to watch as they checked us out through the kelp. Their antics were charming. I have a fond memory of being in the middle of a round sandy clearing, surrounded on all sides by kelp as if they formed a colosseum, and looking up at the kelp canopy while the sun shone through. The sea lions were weaving in and out of the kelp columns. I could have stayed awhile if it were not so close to the end of that glorious dive.
The spa afterward is a treat! Hot, fun and sloshy, since the boat was dealing with some waves on the trip back to the mainland.
You'll notice I did not get into the details of the specific dive conditions. Those change so frequently that they are already useless. Just know that Captain Ted was vigilant about getting us into the best conditions available and maneuvered that huge boat in tight whenever the current was up. I appreciate that kind of care!
I hope this helps! Maybe it is more than you really wanted to know, but I wish I had known some of these things beforehand... Enjoy your trip Law5Guy!
kelphelper
I think you'll enjoy the Sceptre! This was my first trip out of Ventura Harbor and I have only a few LA County dive boats to compare, but between those few, I enjoyed the Sceptre the most. I'll give you a few logistical pointers.
1) If you're sleeping on the boat, bring ear plugs to block out the voices of the night owls and the buzz of the fans they use to keep the air circulating. The fans are well worth the hummm because the boat does not have that musty smell down below!
2) Use the restrooms up on the dock while in the harbor. The boat bathrooms STINK, so you'll want to avoid them by taking care of business before departing the harbor.
3) Sign-up for breakfast ASAP (maybe even the night before). Many of our divers did not get to eat until after the first dive.
4) If you have one, use a duffle type dive bag and it will fit right under your spot. One of my favorite aspects of this boat is that you can have ALL your wet gear right there at your station. If you have the wider bag, have a smaller bag for your station and stash the big bag up on top after suiting up the first time.
5) If you like longer dives, get into the water and descend ASAP. They are not very fond of those with good air time. I was often the first one in the water and always the last one back up, but even though my dives were never over 59 minutes, they were practically rude about being the last one. I appreciate that we got all 4 dives in, but hey! That's what we paid for and that is what I am going to do!
6) Renting their tanks is ideal! Instead of hauling my steels and getting short fills, I paid the $10 for an AL80 and it was there in my spot when I arrived. A fellow diver rented everything through them, and although they initially gave him the wrong size wetsuit, it was remedied before we left the dock and he was also a happy diver!
7) The crew seemed very efficient and methodical, although not very engaging. That's OK, they did their jobs and everyone was safe! Stacy in the galley was friendly. I enjoyed the food on this boat more than others also, but that is personal preference!
Some of the sites feature caves. I loved those, but upon reflection, I probably should have been more cautious since the surge was fair. Make sure you are not going to suddenly be buoyant if you get caught up in strong surge! I was fine, but if the surge had been stronger, I would have wanted to be stuck to the bottom! Obviously those caves were a new experience and I should get some training for them.
I did the 4th dive, which also happened to be at Arches at the south end of Anacapa and it was my favorite! The sea lions were so much fun to watch as they checked us out through the kelp. Their antics were charming. I have a fond memory of being in the middle of a round sandy clearing, surrounded on all sides by kelp as if they formed a colosseum, and looking up at the kelp canopy while the sun shone through. The sea lions were weaving in and out of the kelp columns. I could have stayed awhile if it were not so close to the end of that glorious dive.
The spa afterward is a treat! Hot, fun and sloshy, since the boat was dealing with some waves on the trip back to the mainland.
You'll notice I did not get into the details of the specific dive conditions. Those change so frequently that they are already useless. Just know that Captain Ted was vigilant about getting us into the best conditions available and maneuvered that huge boat in tight whenever the current was up. I appreciate that kind of care!
I hope this helps! Maybe it is more than you really wanted to know, but I wish I had known some of these things beforehand... Enjoy your trip Law5Guy!
kelphelper
Otter and kelphelper,
Thanks so much for the reports!! I am really looking forward to the dive.
Cheers....
Thanks so much for the reports!! I am really looking forward to the dive.
Cheers....
OP
RE #5, Interesting, we were the first in and the last back with over 68 minutes of time and didn't hear anything suggesting there was a problem...
Re #6, They are willing totell you that you will get a hot 3000 psi fill that will cool to 2700. The reality was more like 2700 cooling to 2500. Glad I brought my steel 100
Re #7: I think this is a very accurate summary of the crew. Stacy was certainly the most outgoing while the rest were efficient but quiet. The tri-tip was awseome.
Otter
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