Leejnd
Contributor
Yesterday I went out on Mr. C out of San Pedro to Catalina Island for three dives. Heres my trip report, and review of the boat.
First, the boat review: the dive boat Mr. C was recently sold to a new owner, who is working very diligently on upgrading the boat and improving the experience. There is still work to be done, but Pat seems very passionate about making this boat into a premium SoCal dive boat, and ensuring that all guests have a fabulous experience.
The first thing hes done right: The crew! Hes got two DMs, Walt and Jorge, as well as another helper (drawing a blank on his name sorry!) and the boat captain, Stan. All are experienced divers and most are, in fact, are actually instructors for LA County and Naui! So this boat has a LOT of expertise and rescue ability. I cant think of a boat on which Id feel safer, just based on the experience level of the crew. They are also extremely personable and friendly, and made a point of getting to know and chat with every single diver on board. And heres something a bit different they actually have an in-water DM! Not like resort dive boats in tropical areas where the divers are led by the nose by a babysitting DM just like every other SoCal dive boat, you are still expected to dive your own plan. But Walt goes on every dive, and you can see him down there flitting around among the various buddy groups, taking photos with his huge rig, many of which Im sure will end up on Mr Cs facebook page.
It was also refreshing to see Pat, the owner, hanging out and communing with the guests. Not all of our SoCal boat owners are this friendly!
The boat itself is comfortable, although smaller (and slower) than many of the other dive boats in the area. But smaller can be good! Ive been on the bigger boats with a full load, and you can feel rather lost in the crowd. Mr. C is a smaller boat, and I believe their max load would be 30, although they told me they wont take more than 20-25. 20 would be optimum on that boat. We had 17, and it felt perfect.
Theres room for improvement in the area of comfort theres not a lot of seating, and most of the boat is outside (only a small protected seating area). But Pat tells me hes planning on adding some overhead protection and bench seating. In the meantime, nobody seemed to have any problems finding a comfortable place to hang out.
One thing it does have is very comfortable bunks! And they are bright and airy, and easily accessed, as opposed to many other dive boats, whose bunk areas are dark, dingy, crowded and closed up. Several of us went below to nap on the return trip, and it was VERY comfy! The only thing that Id suggest they need is to add curtains for the bunks if they plan on doing any multi-day trips on this boat. I believe they had them and they were removed?
Anyway, they have a good compressor and did a decent job getting all the fills done during the surface intervals although we had a short surface interval in between dives #2 and 3, so they were still filling when the gate was opened. It wasnt a problem everyone who wanted to dive was able to get in, and did their full dive. This shortened surface interval happened due to a lengthened interval between dives 1 & 2 there was problem with anchoring for dive #2 due to an equipment malfunction. Fortunately they were able to get it fixed quickly, and they made a point of ensuring that we still got to do our full dive #3.
The crew was very conscientious in terms of dive briefings and roll calls and Ive seen other boats do a haphazard job of roll calls, something that irritates me to no end. Haphazard roll calls are simply foolish and dangerous. So kudos to the Mr. C crew for being so thorough in that regard.
Entries and exits from this boat are great! They have gates on both sides and its a nice short drop. The swim step is HUGE, and easy to hoist yourself up on and a crew member was always right there to remove my fins. I also appreciate the short ladder climb back up onto the boat as opposed to some larger boats that have a heckuva climb, which can be challenging on these ol thighs.
The one area I believe they need to step up in a bit is the area of food although I think youll see some improvements in that area very soon! Part of the problem is that their regular cook (Jorges girlfriend, I take it) is out of the country for three months, so they hired someone for the interim, but she wasnt able to work yesterday so poor Jorge was doing galley duty. Still, he did a great job and produced some delicious burgers with grilled onions. But its important to remember that this boat is significantly less expensive than most other dive boats in the region most 3-dive day trips are only $90! And that includes air and food! So its just not possible to do the gourmet thang that you find on, say, Peace, at those prices. Anyway, as a boat owner and experienced galley wench myself, Im giving them some assistance in that area, and you may even find me in the galley on some future trips
such as, next Saturday!
So, on to the dive reports we did three spots all near the Isthmus. The first one I cant recall the name of it was a small cove just west of the harbor, and it had some awesome rocky reefs and kelp beds! Im told that giant sea bass have been spotted in this site, but sadly we didnt see any. We did see a ton of garibaldi Id forgotten how ubiquitous they are out at Catalina! We see them in the northern islands too, of course, but not nearly as many as here. The second site was a hidden reef out by bird rock, which was a beautiful spot it had a large, tumbled-boulder shallow region, with steep walls that seemed to go waaaay deep, so it made for some beautiful underwater scenery. The third site was up against the island, near Crane Point this was another beautiful scene, with a steeply slanted wall dotted with kelp. The vis was decent at all the sites it ranged from 20 to 30, with the second site I believe having the best vis. The water temps were mostly 63, until we got to that third site, when we hit a thermocline of 57! BRRR!
Here are a few photos I took. Im a noob at underwater photography, so please dont even think about comparing my photos to those posted by some of our incredible photographers who frequent this board. I got a new camera, housing and strobe, but Im still figuring out how it all works, and how to use the manual settings. I ended up with a lot of overexposures, and way more backscatter than I was hoping for (Ive gotta figure out how to best place that strobe to eliminate all that backscatter).
Early morning departure guests and crew chatting and getting to know each other in the small sitting area.
Pat and Walt planning out the day
A couple of the huge (and very aggressive!) garibaldi that were everwhere
Saw this octo hiding in a rock it was hard to get him lit up with my external strobe, and I wasnt sure I even got him until I got home and downloaded the pics!
Hes winking at me!
We spotted this horn shark on the second dive. Hard to avoid the backscatter since, with the ledge over him, I couldnt get my strobe above him.
Walt above the surface
and below it
My dive buddy Al
A sheephead saying hello
Gotta work on those macro settings I was hoping for a sharper image on this little guy
A juvi tree fish
The last site was filled with these huge bait balls!
First, the boat review: the dive boat Mr. C was recently sold to a new owner, who is working very diligently on upgrading the boat and improving the experience. There is still work to be done, but Pat seems very passionate about making this boat into a premium SoCal dive boat, and ensuring that all guests have a fabulous experience.
The first thing hes done right: The crew! Hes got two DMs, Walt and Jorge, as well as another helper (drawing a blank on his name sorry!) and the boat captain, Stan. All are experienced divers and most are, in fact, are actually instructors for LA County and Naui! So this boat has a LOT of expertise and rescue ability. I cant think of a boat on which Id feel safer, just based on the experience level of the crew. They are also extremely personable and friendly, and made a point of getting to know and chat with every single diver on board. And heres something a bit different they actually have an in-water DM! Not like resort dive boats in tropical areas where the divers are led by the nose by a babysitting DM just like every other SoCal dive boat, you are still expected to dive your own plan. But Walt goes on every dive, and you can see him down there flitting around among the various buddy groups, taking photos with his huge rig, many of which Im sure will end up on Mr Cs facebook page.
It was also refreshing to see Pat, the owner, hanging out and communing with the guests. Not all of our SoCal boat owners are this friendly!
The boat itself is comfortable, although smaller (and slower) than many of the other dive boats in the area. But smaller can be good! Ive been on the bigger boats with a full load, and you can feel rather lost in the crowd. Mr. C is a smaller boat, and I believe their max load would be 30, although they told me they wont take more than 20-25. 20 would be optimum on that boat. We had 17, and it felt perfect.
Theres room for improvement in the area of comfort theres not a lot of seating, and most of the boat is outside (only a small protected seating area). But Pat tells me hes planning on adding some overhead protection and bench seating. In the meantime, nobody seemed to have any problems finding a comfortable place to hang out.
One thing it does have is very comfortable bunks! And they are bright and airy, and easily accessed, as opposed to many other dive boats, whose bunk areas are dark, dingy, crowded and closed up. Several of us went below to nap on the return trip, and it was VERY comfy! The only thing that Id suggest they need is to add curtains for the bunks if they plan on doing any multi-day trips on this boat. I believe they had them and they were removed?
Anyway, they have a good compressor and did a decent job getting all the fills done during the surface intervals although we had a short surface interval in between dives #2 and 3, so they were still filling when the gate was opened. It wasnt a problem everyone who wanted to dive was able to get in, and did their full dive. This shortened surface interval happened due to a lengthened interval between dives 1 & 2 there was problem with anchoring for dive #2 due to an equipment malfunction. Fortunately they were able to get it fixed quickly, and they made a point of ensuring that we still got to do our full dive #3.
The crew was very conscientious in terms of dive briefings and roll calls and Ive seen other boats do a haphazard job of roll calls, something that irritates me to no end. Haphazard roll calls are simply foolish and dangerous. So kudos to the Mr. C crew for being so thorough in that regard.
Entries and exits from this boat are great! They have gates on both sides and its a nice short drop. The swim step is HUGE, and easy to hoist yourself up on and a crew member was always right there to remove my fins. I also appreciate the short ladder climb back up onto the boat as opposed to some larger boats that have a heckuva climb, which can be challenging on these ol thighs.
The one area I believe they need to step up in a bit is the area of food although I think youll see some improvements in that area very soon!
Part of the problem is that their regular cook (Jorges girlfriend, I take it) is out of the country for three months, so they hired someone for the interim, but she wasnt able to work yesterday so poor Jorge was doing galley duty. Still, he did a great job and produced some delicious burgers with grilled onions. But its important to remember that this boat is significantly less expensive than most other dive boats in the region most 3-dive day trips are only $90! And that includes air and food! So its just not possible to do the gourmet thang that you find on, say, Peace, at those prices. Anyway, as a boat owner and experienced galley wench myself, Im giving them some assistance in that area, and you may even find me in the galley on some future trips
such as, next Saturday! So, on to the dive reports we did three spots all near the Isthmus. The first one I cant recall the name of it was a small cove just west of the harbor, and it had some awesome rocky reefs and kelp beds! Im told that giant sea bass have been spotted in this site, but sadly we didnt see any. We did see a ton of garibaldi Id forgotten how ubiquitous they are out at Catalina! We see them in the northern islands too, of course, but not nearly as many as here. The second site was a hidden reef out by bird rock, which was a beautiful spot it had a large, tumbled-boulder shallow region, with steep walls that seemed to go waaaay deep, so it made for some beautiful underwater scenery. The third site was up against the island, near Crane Point this was another beautiful scene, with a steeply slanted wall dotted with kelp. The vis was decent at all the sites it ranged from 20 to 30, with the second site I believe having the best vis. The water temps were mostly 63, until we got to that third site, when we hit a thermocline of 57! BRRR!
Here are a few photos I took. Im a noob at underwater photography, so please dont even think about comparing my photos to those posted by some of our incredible photographers who frequent this board.
I got a new camera, housing and strobe, but Im still figuring out how it all works, and how to use the manual settings. I ended up with a lot of overexposures, and way more backscatter than I was hoping for (Ive gotta figure out how to best place that strobe to eliminate all that backscatter).Early morning departure guests and crew chatting and getting to know each other in the small sitting area.
Pat and Walt planning out the day
A couple of the huge (and very aggressive!) garibaldi that were everwhere
Saw this octo hiding in a rock it was hard to get him lit up with my external strobe, and I wasnt sure I even got him until I got home and downloaded the pics!
Hes winking at me!
We spotted this horn shark on the second dive. Hard to avoid the backscatter since, with the ledge over him, I couldnt get my strobe above him.
Walt above the surface
and below it
My dive buddy Al
A sheephead saying hello
Gotta work on those macro settings I was hoping for a sharper image on this little guy
A juvi tree fish
The last site was filled with these huge bait balls!
