fobturbo
Contributor
Apologies for the long post, consider yourself warned.
This was my first dive vacation, period. This was also my second time ever diving outside of Monterey/Carmel area. The only other time I was outside my "home" was doing a PADI wreck class in San Diego.
The sleeping quarters reminded me of a army barracks. I got lucky that there was a last minute cancellation that was not filled so there were some free spaces for people to get shuffled around and got a single bunk to myself. Being the packrat that I am, I again brought too much crap but managed to stuff it all into the area underneath my bunk and inside my bunk as well. I was a bit concerned about how tight things were, but figured I'd be too tired to really care (which turned out to be true).
Being my first dive vacation and liveaboard, this was pretty much the first time I'd be using my new camera setup and I was very excited about this. Prior to each dive came the eternal question--should I go with the fisheye wide angle port or use the regular port + flip down macro adapters? I'm happy to say that whichever I took with me, I always had ample opportunity to take pictures.
I must say that the SoCal people are spoiled with the number of fish that is seen out there. I did do some REEF fish counts, and a few times, I was just dumbfounded at the sheer numbers of the fish and started marking off what I could identify as "Abundant".
Foodwise, I was not disappointed. With the combination of being hungry, and Joe being a great cook all of us were well fed. When I weighed myself when I got home, I was surprised that I gained <1LBS on the trip, and that may have been water weight.
Joe the chef, along with Paul, Cameron, Steve and the Captain, all the folks were always extremely helpful and attentive with pretty much everything. They really earned their tip.
During the trip, a total of 15 dives were available, 6 on Sunday, 6 on Monday and 3 on Tuesday. I only did 11 as my drysuit developed a annoying leak early Tuesday and I hate the feeling of being wet when I'm supposed to be dry. This was the only thing that I had an issue with during the whole trip, and the crew were more than willing to let me stick my wet undies & socks in the dryer or engine room to dry off. While this was happening, I'd take advantage of the time and hung out in the hot tub. I have to say, it's definitely a wetsuit diver's best friend during SI and before jumping in for the next dive.
Some of the more notable things for me on this trip:
On the night dive Sunday night at Eel Cove diving amongst squid (not Humboldts). We did one dive at the same site before dinner to scout things out. Right after that dive, I was thinking that the night dive was going to be a bit of a bust. And pretty much the whole time during the actual night dive it was turning out that way. The lobsters that my buddy was able to catch and show me were neat at first, but since we couldn't eat them, they lost their appeal. That was, until we came across the squid. It was definitely a really awesome sight for me to see and experience. The squid seemed to be fascinated with whatever our lights were pointing at and would almost seem to gang up on whatever non-squid animal we shined our lights on. In this case, it turned out to be a sheep head crab. It was almost like having your own underwater army
I took some pictures, but was too fascinated to switch to video. After what seemed to be too short of time with our squid minions, my buddy and I had to bid our adieu and leave. As I started to ascend, one squid swam up with me, and stayed right over my right hand for a bid, literally waved it's tentacles and then descended back to it's breatheren.
On Monday morning, we ran into a pool dolphins that kept up with the front of the boat for a while. It was defintely a treat to watch them bob in and out of the water to breathe.
As mentioned earlier, I was constantly dumbfounded by the sheer number of fish that Kristina and I would encounter at the dive sights. On this trip, I'd also see a bat ray, guitar fish, Girabaldi's, horned shark and many other animals for the first time. I know Kristina was getting fustrated with me as each time she'd spot a bat ray in the distance, I'd have my nose in my camera or on my REEF slate and finally look up to just miss the bat ray fade from view.
Another thing that I am greatful for was Kristina convincing me to take UTD Essentials. I'm already started to feel more confident with my trim and movement skills. My situational awareness stills needs working, but I'm definitely starting to see improvement in things.
I do have a bunch of pictures to show from the trip, but I'm having issues trying to upload them to SB.
This was my first dive vacation, period. This was also my second time ever diving outside of Monterey/Carmel area. The only other time I was outside my "home" was doing a PADI wreck class in San Diego.
The sleeping quarters reminded me of a army barracks. I got lucky that there was a last minute cancellation that was not filled so there were some free spaces for people to get shuffled around and got a single bunk to myself. Being the packrat that I am, I again brought too much crap but managed to stuff it all into the area underneath my bunk and inside my bunk as well. I was a bit concerned about how tight things were, but figured I'd be too tired to really care (which turned out to be true).
Being my first dive vacation and liveaboard, this was pretty much the first time I'd be using my new camera setup and I was very excited about this. Prior to each dive came the eternal question--should I go with the fisheye wide angle port or use the regular port + flip down macro adapters? I'm happy to say that whichever I took with me, I always had ample opportunity to take pictures.
I must say that the SoCal people are spoiled with the number of fish that is seen out there. I did do some REEF fish counts, and a few times, I was just dumbfounded at the sheer numbers of the fish and started marking off what I could identify as "Abundant".
Foodwise, I was not disappointed. With the combination of being hungry, and Joe being a great cook all of us were well fed. When I weighed myself when I got home, I was surprised that I gained <1LBS on the trip, and that may have been water weight.
Joe the chef, along with Paul, Cameron, Steve and the Captain, all the folks were always extremely helpful and attentive with pretty much everything. They really earned their tip.
During the trip, a total of 15 dives were available, 6 on Sunday, 6 on Monday and 3 on Tuesday. I only did 11 as my drysuit developed a annoying leak early Tuesday and I hate the feeling of being wet when I'm supposed to be dry. This was the only thing that I had an issue with during the whole trip, and the crew were more than willing to let me stick my wet undies & socks in the dryer or engine room to dry off. While this was happening, I'd take advantage of the time and hung out in the hot tub. I have to say, it's definitely a wetsuit diver's best friend during SI and before jumping in for the next dive.
Some of the more notable things for me on this trip:
On the night dive Sunday night at Eel Cove diving amongst squid (not Humboldts). We did one dive at the same site before dinner to scout things out. Right after that dive, I was thinking that the night dive was going to be a bit of a bust. And pretty much the whole time during the actual night dive it was turning out that way. The lobsters that my buddy was able to catch and show me were neat at first, but since we couldn't eat them, they lost their appeal. That was, until we came across the squid. It was definitely a really awesome sight for me to see and experience. The squid seemed to be fascinated with whatever our lights were pointing at and would almost seem to gang up on whatever non-squid animal we shined our lights on. In this case, it turned out to be a sheep head crab. It was almost like having your own underwater army
I took some pictures, but was too fascinated to switch to video. After what seemed to be too short of time with our squid minions, my buddy and I had to bid our adieu and leave. As I started to ascend, one squid swam up with me, and stayed right over my right hand for a bid, literally waved it's tentacles and then descended back to it's breatheren. On Monday morning, we ran into a pool dolphins that kept up with the front of the boat for a while. It was defintely a treat to watch them bob in and out of the water to breathe.
As mentioned earlier, I was constantly dumbfounded by the sheer number of fish that Kristina and I would encounter at the dive sights. On this trip, I'd also see a bat ray, guitar fish, Girabaldi's, horned shark and many other animals for the first time. I know Kristina was getting fustrated with me as each time she'd spot a bat ray in the distance, I'd have my nose in my camera or on my REEF slate and finally look up to just miss the bat ray fade from view.
Another thing that I am greatful for was Kristina convincing me to take UTD Essentials. I'm already started to feel more confident with my trim and movement skills. My situational awareness stills needs working, but I'm definitely starting to see improvement in things.
I do have a bunch of pictures to show from the trip, but I'm having issues trying to upload them to SB.
