Alexandra
Contributor
Another great day of diving!!
The Sand Dollar leaves from San Pedro at 7am and we were a total of 20 divers on board.
Although the weather was overcast first thing in the morning, by the time we came up from our first dive the sun was out and stayed out the rest of the day. The crossing to Catalina was pretty smooth with very small swells.
Dive 1: Italian Gardens
Vis: 20-25' -- large particles in the water and a little murky but not too bad
Saw a number of giant sea bass, namely one that was quite scuffed up. (note: this was not the work of a spear fisher but looked more like the blades from a boat).
Dive 2 & 3: Red Bluff
The captan did move the boat between the 2 dives, about 100 yards, for those divers that didn't swim over to the caves on the first dive. Basically, we dove the same spot twice.
Vis: 30-40'
Great sea life, kelp forest, horn sharks, and caves. We found the swim through cave on the first dive but it was a tight fit and it is hard to see that it is a swim through as you need to turn right once 2/3 of your body is through the entrance.
Dive 4: never happened
This boat usually does 4 dives but we were told that people took too long getting in first thing in the morning so we didn't "have time" to do another dive. Not sure what this mean as no one was telling us to get in by x time or out by y time.
The return crossing was smooth and since the sun was out, we pleasantly hung out on the deck.
Photos: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alexandraintl/album?.dir=/2871&.src=ph&.tok=phugdpDBzDey9Pzj
- Alexandra
The Sand Dollar leaves from San Pedro at 7am and we were a total of 20 divers on board.
Although the weather was overcast first thing in the morning, by the time we came up from our first dive the sun was out and stayed out the rest of the day. The crossing to Catalina was pretty smooth with very small swells.
Dive 1: Italian Gardens
Vis: 20-25' -- large particles in the water and a little murky but not too bad
Saw a number of giant sea bass, namely one that was quite scuffed up. (note: this was not the work of a spear fisher but looked more like the blades from a boat).
Dive 2 & 3: Red Bluff
The captan did move the boat between the 2 dives, about 100 yards, for those divers that didn't swim over to the caves on the first dive. Basically, we dove the same spot twice.
Vis: 30-40'
Great sea life, kelp forest, horn sharks, and caves. We found the swim through cave on the first dive but it was a tight fit and it is hard to see that it is a swim through as you need to turn right once 2/3 of your body is through the entrance.
Dive 4: never happened
This boat usually does 4 dives but we were told that people took too long getting in first thing in the morning so we didn't "have time" to do another dive. Not sure what this mean as no one was telling us to get in by x time or out by y time.
The return crossing was smooth and since the sun was out, we pleasantly hung out on the deck.
Photos: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alexandraintl/album?.dir=/2871&.src=ph&.tok=phugdpDBzDey9Pzj
- Alexandra
