KRL1973
Contributor
This was my first experience in the channel islands and it was great!
Did 2 dives per day at the dive park.
Day 1 dive 1 was told by the guy renting the equipment there that GSB can been seen sometimes out to the right of the stairs. I went out that way and a 3rd of the way into my dive I made out that big sillouette hanging motionless among the kelp and slowly made my way over there. Soon discovered there were 2 of them there and filmed away delighted with this treat on my first dive. Spent 10 minutes with the pair floating just 5ft away from them before they eased over to within just 2 ft of my face, looked me over, then swam off. AMAZING! Seeing that huge eyeball moving as it looked me over was freaky.
Remaining dives were all fantastic as well as saw a laundry list of flora and fauna that is the hallmark of the islands that I had never previously seen: Bat Rays, Bait balls, a barracuda, lobster, school of yellowtail, repeat GSB sightings etc. Visited the Sue jac, the platform, the Cousteau memorial. I came across a small memorial plaque to "Nejat B Ezal" mounted to a rock in the vicinity of the Sue jac but shallower. Can anyone share the history of this? I didn't see anything about it elsewhere.
As for the conditions, First day was great with vis to about 40ft The second day it got colder and visability reduced to about 20ft. with a lot of particulate matter suspended , especially outside the kelp beds were current was evident. I have never expereinced such a dramatic thermocline before either. Temp must have dropped a good 5-10 degrees F moving from about 45' to 60'
Here is a clip of The pair of GSB:
YouTube - Giant Sea Bass 07_28_2010 clip.mov
-ken
Did 2 dives per day at the dive park.
Day 1 dive 1 was told by the guy renting the equipment there that GSB can been seen sometimes out to the right of the stairs. I went out that way and a 3rd of the way into my dive I made out that big sillouette hanging motionless among the kelp and slowly made my way over there. Soon discovered there were 2 of them there and filmed away delighted with this treat on my first dive. Spent 10 minutes with the pair floating just 5ft away from them before they eased over to within just 2 ft of my face, looked me over, then swam off. AMAZING! Seeing that huge eyeball moving as it looked me over was freaky.
Remaining dives were all fantastic as well as saw a laundry list of flora and fauna that is the hallmark of the islands that I had never previously seen: Bat Rays, Bait balls, a barracuda, lobster, school of yellowtail, repeat GSB sightings etc. Visited the Sue jac, the platform, the Cousteau memorial. I came across a small memorial plaque to "Nejat B Ezal" mounted to a rock in the vicinity of the Sue jac but shallower. Can anyone share the history of this? I didn't see anything about it elsewhere.
As for the conditions, First day was great with vis to about 40ft The second day it got colder and visability reduced to about 20ft. with a lot of particulate matter suspended , especially outside the kelp beds were current was evident. I have never expereinced such a dramatic thermocline before either. Temp must have dropped a good 5-10 degrees F moving from about 45' to 60'
Here is a clip of The pair of GSB:
YouTube - Giant Sea Bass 07_28_2010 clip.mov
-ken
