Mo2vation JANUARY 27, '07 Boat Dive planning thread - Peace

[scottfiji]

well, I just woke up from a well-needed 12 hours sleep...

It was a great day at Anacapa. Christian, thanks for organizing everything.

The boat did 3 1/2 dives on the north side of anacapa. The better diving is on the south side, but the currents were too strong, probably because of the upcoming full moon. So we had to dive on the shallower north side. It rained non-stop all day. There swell going out and back was very small. Food and service on the boat were outstanding.

Visibility on all dives was very good, all divers agreed on that. water temp was around 55.

Over the day Penny and I saw a horn shark, swell shark, 2 morays, a couple treefish, thousand of brittle stars on 1 site, a group of 15 sea lions at one point, many spanish shawls, the largests lobsters I've ever seen, large sheephead, a navanax and 2 bat rays. Other divers saw a small mola mola, a cave full of sharks, a Janolus barbarensis nudibranch and a lingcod.

The last dive site was the best, landings cove. 5 of us dove as a group through the giant arch/swimthough to the other side of the island, and then back, it was very cool. We were given the option to do another short 4th dive there, but only Ken, claudette, Kalani, and Debbie decided to do one.

Some of us met for dinner at spinnakers afterwards, where joy and merriment abounded. Of course it rained even harded on the drive home.

It was great seeing old friends, and nice meeting Robert, Laurel, Josh, Jay and others...

Lots of people were taking photos, I can't wait to see them.

Scott & Penny

 

[scottfiji]

some photos:

scorpionfish

mouth of the sea hare.. he was chomping on some kelp

navanax

moray eel

blue brittle star

sea lions

sea lions, lots of bubbles

treefish

At the dinner table

 

[orangelion03]

The fact that I didnt have as good a time as I had hoped does not detract from my appreciation for Christian's effort to organize yesterday's Moto event! Thank you sir! And i finally got to dive on Peace!

Stil, I did enjoy meeting many of the participants for the first time and putting faces to Scubaboard handles. I'm looking forward to hanging on the safety stop with you all when conditions are more to my liking =) (feel free to rib me about fair-weather diving)

To add to my personal "misery" I arrived home to the realization that I left all of my camera gear on the boat. Yeah, that's exactly how I feel...:shakehead

Note to self: bring Ambien, avoid Converses, buy dry suit

PS: To ScottFiji...next time we meet I hope to be in a better mood and we can talk!

See ya'll at Wrinkles!

Robert (aka: Laurel's Beast of Burden )

 

[CompuDude]

Robert: Christian has your camera. There was quite a pile of stuff left behind, including your camera box and Empty V's fins, an Akona hood, and one bag of toiletries and such. I'm going to get Billy's fins to him, and Christian took the rest of the lost and found with him, so drop him a line! It was a pleasure meeting with you, I hope the conditions are better on your next trip.

Thank you, everyone, for a great tip! ScubaBoard events have once again exceeded expectations! (in spite of the weather)

 

[orangelion03]

Thanks for the information Kilani! Funny how things work out...just before this I hear about this message (thanks John!), my brother called to see if I wanted to meet him for a movie in Pasadena, about 2 miles from Christian! Just called Christian and set up a retrieval.

By the way, can you send me that picture I asked about? =)
orangelion03 at yahoo dot com THANKS!!

Cheers!

 

[SoCalAngel]

Oh My Gosh!!!!

That was the best trip ever!!! Christian, as usual you are awesome for all you do in getting these trips together!

Robert (orangelion) I will forever be in your debt for being the most awesome dive sherpa ever!

It was great to finally get to meet so many of you! Remember, what happened on the peace, AND at the restaurants, stays there, m'kay, pumpkins???

 

[Divmstr223]

Hey all! Here's my spin on the weekends events:

Saturday morning we all woke up to a rainy mess, but it sure didn't damper anyone's spirits. Most of the day was spent either in the water or inside closed doors. It rained pretty much all day long and that was just fine by me.

A few people mentioned that it was cold Saturday....but it was just another fine California day to me... I think I might have been an eskimo in a previous life...lol..

In all seriousness it was a pretty nippy day and we all made the most of it... Dive #1 was without too much excitement. Dive #2 we saw a fairly decent sized octopus and were spoiled with the quantity of sea lions that came to play...:14: And Dive #3 was absolutely the best! Lobster galore!! And like Scott mentioned, the biggest I've ever seen! Throw that in with a few horn sharks, and it made for a great dive. The vis, by my standards, could not have been better..

I'd like to thank Christian for organizing the event. During the little time I've known Christian, it didn't take me long to realize that he goes all out to accomodate everyone and make sure that they have a good time. My hats off to ya once again bud! :14: This is my first Mo2vation dive event, and certainly will be the first of many. I couldn't imagine diving with a greater bunch of people. Everyone I met on the boat Saturday were completely fantastic. Even as miserable as it was outside, it was like a party going on inside...:14:

Thanks to my dive buddies, you didn't let me drown and that's always a good thing... And major kudos to the Peace Boat crew...They are the best dive boat in CA.

Couple of side notes: Spring straps are great!! (my first time using them Saturday) If you don't have them, buy/make them! I'm a terrible photographer, but with everyone so eager to help me (thank you for that) I have no doubt that I will progress quickly. And if you don't have a Boat Coat, definitely something you might want in the future for days like Saturday..:14:

Looking forward to the next event...I hope to see all of you again at future outings..


Steve

 

[ChickOfTheSea]

Had a wonderful time out in Anacapa yesterday. Thanks to everyone on the boat who made it so much fun! The rain didn't stop any of us from getting ummmm more wet... Vis was very good, just a little surge to deal with but that makes it more challenging Wasn't able to react quick enough to get a picture of the mola mola on the safety stop on the last dive but man was that cool! Thank you Claudette and Ken for pointing him out

A HUGE thank you to Christian for organizing the event. YOU ROCK Nice meeting a few new people and of course seeing everyone I'd met on past trips again. This is an amazing group of people!

A few pics from the trip:
Album: http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g76/demersaldoll/anacapa_2007_01_27/


My hot dive buddies Steve and Kim:

kelp fish were everywhere

Enchiridium punctatum

coffee bean

Rainy day from below

kelp fish and porters

lobster cave

Say cheese

Pretty worm Kim found

Octo Steve found

Jen

 

[OCdiving Deb]

Thanks to all for a very fun dive event! I sure love our trips together! They sustain me.

Thanks also for allowing me to rush off the boat ASAP. I had to get to Laguna Hills pronto and it took over 3 hours. If you guys hadn't let me scoop up the first dock cart I never woulda made it. I was soooo late as it was!

Billy: I had to figure out what you meant by the triple lux but I think I know. My fins sure are kelp attractants! I used to have duct tape on the straps to keep the kelp out of them. I either need to fix that situation or take skating lessons! (Did you find a picture of a Tylodina fungina? If not, I have some on the OCdiving.com gallery you can search and see.)

Mark: Thanks for the PDA program. Gosh, and I thought Tide Tool was my favorite program.

Kalani: A pleasure to see you as always.... When can we dive together again??? I will keep thinking of more cool things we saw. Thanks for lending me your torch for the cave. What a difference! And the more I think about that black stuff with the bird bones the more I wonder if it was hair instead of feathers.... Whatever it was, it was weird!

Laurel: I am so glad to see you in the water again!

All: I truly enjoyed seeing my long-time friends and meeting news one, too. You are all awesome! I look forward to seeing all your pix!

Jen: That island kelpfish and Porter's pic is very cool! I bet there will be tons of cool pix from everyone!

Whoops. I can't forget to thank Scott for his navigation back to the arch. Merci!

 

[Empty V]

Wow, what great pics Scott and Jen. I posted the few that came out here. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=2625543#post2625543
Please take it easy on me, I'm a complete noob at underwater photography.

Debbie, unfortunately the pic of the Tylodina Fungina did not come out, I'll check out the website for sure do you now what sub-album it's in? Thanks! There's always next time for a once in a lifetime sighting.

Billy