Dive Trip @ Catalina 4/13/02

[LilmanHSU]

Ahh.. well the water is warmer, the sun is out, and that means, its time to jump back into the water (at least for me).

Here is my highlight trip to start off 2002.. (Alas, i get a tad bit chilly in the winter time, so decided to forgo until the weather was in the 70's again).

We headed out to Catalina Island aboard a newer boat.. Island Time.

Fast sucker! got to the island in just over an hour.. Thing hits 22-25 knots without breaking a sweat..

Splash!! first dive was off without a hitch, my buddy and I had decent viz from 20-30 feet. Max depth was around 45-50 ft.

Lots of plant life, plenty of fish to feed, some nice Sheephead (yum yum), and plenty of bugs to go around.. <sigh, no more lobster season>

Same for the second dive, went very well.. Water temp at its lowest was in the low to mid 50's.. at the highest in the low 60's.

We were back in the dock by 12:30.

Anyone who is intersted in S. California diving, now is the time.. Boats aren't even that full, and the weather is favorable..

Happy diving!

Pauly

 

[JustAddWater]

What part(s) of the island did you dive? Did you see any of the giant sea bass? I really enjoy Catalina diving.

 

[socaldiver]

I have heard good things about IslandTime. For those who don't want to spend the whole day off shore it is the way to go. You have the option of either a morning or afternoon run, 2 dives and back home again.

I am also curious what part of the island you were at. With no storms (any rain for that matter) I would think vis should have been better.

 

[LilmanHSU]

One of the locations was Goat Harbor.. I'll have to check my log book for the name of the other location.

The boat was great.. Crew and Captain were very helpful and its got a huge deck for everyone to get ready, never felt trapped...

We were told to look for Giant Sea bass, but didn't see any unfortunatly..

I think we were only on the West end.. no storm or weather, I think the vis was down because it was really overcast all day, not a whole lot of sunlight..

 

[kelpmermaid]

I think we are experiencing a bit of an algae bloom - evidently there is something out there that is making marine mammals sick. I think there was something in the Daily Breeze (a South Bay daily paper) about it.

 

[LilmanHSU]

Hmm.. never thought about the algae problem.

I'll have to see how my next trip goes next weekend.

 

[JustAddWater]

I too have heard about the algae bloom and its coincidence with a significant El Nino that is expected this year.

 

[socaldiver]

Argh!!

I forgot about seeing the marine life getting sick because of something in the water. It's hell getting old!!

El Nino will also have a big impact later in the year.