RDT "Mission #1" Dive Trip to San Miguel Island (6/6/09)

[Roddenberry]

EVENT DESCRIPTION: RDT Dive Mission #1 - "San Miguel Island"
Saturday June 6th, 2009 - Boat Departs @ 12:00am "Midnight" (VENTURA, CA.)
Come join us for the first official dive trip of the newly launched RODDENBERRY DIVE TEAM [http://www.roddenberrydiveteam.com]. Our 3/4-day dive mission will begin aboard the “Peace” dive boat out of Ventura Harbor, California. Boarding will begin at 8pm on the previous evening (6/5/09) with a departure time of 12 midnight (6/6/09) for beautiful “San Miguel Island”. The “Peace” comfortably sleeps 23 with 16 single bunks and 7 doubles (It uncomfortable sleeps a whole lot more!) Bunks will be available on a first come, first serve basis and we ask that individuals leave the double-bunks for those of us who might want to snuggle up with another passenger (preferably one we came on board with). A delicious breakfast and lunch are included with snacks available throughout the day! If you have any special dietary requests, please contact the “Peace Dive Center” and let them know. This dive trip includes 3-4 dives (time-depending) and air-fills. Nitrox IS available but you must show a valid Nitrox certification card. The "Peace" dive boat will return to dock at approximately 5:30pm (6/6/09), just in time to hit traffic on the way home.

SAN MIGUEL ISLAND:
San Miguel is influenced by the cooler, nutrient rich California current which results in cool water temperatures (55-60 F.) and marine life typical to what you would expect to find in the central California coastline.  Here you may see Wolfeels, BIG halibut, HUGE Bugs, and very lush invertebrates and nudibranchs. (Description Taken from http://www.diveboat.com/)
CURRENT DIVE CONDITIONS: Peace Dive Boat Local Reports

SPECIAL GUEST DIVER:
The Roddenberry Dive Team is please to announce that Bill Bushing (a.k.a. “Doctor Bill”) will be joining us as our guest of honor onboard our trip to San Miguel Island. Bill, or as I like to call him the “King of Catalina”, is not only a stand-up guy with plenty of ocean-smarts, he’s also a pseudo-philosopher who’s thoughts on life are something that I, most certainly, subscribe to. (To Learn more about “Doctor Bill” CLICK HERE!)

IMPORTANT NOTES:
• In order to dive you will need to bring ALL you own scuba gear including Tanks and Weights. However, gear can be rented through the “Peace Dive Center” but you must call in advance to reserve your equipment (Contact Info Below).
• Water Temperatures for the San Miguel can range from 55 to 60 degrees. Please pack appropriate scuba gear.
 
TRIP REQUIREMENTS:
• All diving participants must be certified through a recognize Scuba Diving Agenecy.
• All those attending must Download, Fill-Out and Send in a RDT Liability Release Wavier prior to arriving at boat. Please click here [http://?] to download the Roddenberry Dive Team Liability Release. Once complete, please either fax or email to to the address below.
Ticket Price: $165.00 
Spaces are limited so reserve your space today! Non-Divers and Snorkelers are Welcome (Full Price Applies)!
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!
**If purchasing multiple tickets, include the names of each diver in the "NOTES" section of your order. 
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If you have any questions regarding this trip, please feel free to contact us by phone or email.  We will be happy to provide you with the information you require. 
For additional Boat info as well as directions please contact the “Peace Scuba Center”

 

[Roddenberry]

WRAP UP:
Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow ocean lovers, I’m extremely happy to announce that the first official Roddenberry Dive Team scuba trip was a huge success. Approximately 22 of us boarded the intrepid “Peace” dive boat in Ventura, California. Leaving the docks at Midnight on June 6th, 2009 we motored for 7 hours to the rarely visited and even more rarely dove, San Miguel Island. (Due to it’s position in the island chains, San Miguel is known to have high winds and strong currents. As a result the diving is considered to be for advanced divers only. I’ve also been told that 3 out of 4 boat trips out to San Miguel have to divert to one of the other islands due to rough sea conditions.)
Around 6am, those of us still sleeping were awoken by Captain Kevin Dewaay’s voice over the ship-wide intercom. He welcomed us to the island and let us know that we would be arriving at the first dive site within the hour. He went on to explain that the low winds and virtually flat sea conditions we were experiencing were extremely rare and that we were in for an amazing day of diving!
On the way from my bunk to the coffee pot (muffins and toast were also available) I ran into Carl Mayhugh, captain of the Marissa Dive Boat in San Diego. He mentioned that he had been up for quite some time watching pod after pod of humpback whales in the distance breach the surface of the water as they migrated north. Although we did not get to jump in the water with them it was a visual treat we all got to enjoy throughout the day.
The first dive site was called “Wilson’s Pinnacle” and according to Captain Kevin, it was a new dive site only discovered the previous summer. The starting depth was at about 30 feet, however it went plenty past 100’ for those interested in visiting the deeper limits. My dive buddy, Bill Power’s (of the infamous “Power Scuba&#8221 and I dove down to about 90’ and slowly climbed up the geologic features from there. Visibility and conditions underwater were very nice for California diving. (I’m very conservative when it comes to judging the visibility when at depth... I tend to judge by how far you can see clearly rather than simply how far you can see. Based on this, I would say that “visibility” for the first dive was 30’ which for most California dive spots is considered “Good”. Anything higher is considered great to amazing.) The water was about 54 degrees but thanks to our “White’s” Drysuits we were plenty warm. (I, of course, wore the prototype TOS Captain’s drysuit and would love to show you all a photo but since I was holding the camera for my dives I never got a photo of myself... Arg!) There was a bit of current but not enough to make the dive unpleasant. The rocks were filled with life, plenty of beautiful kelp, Spanish Shawls, 5” White-Spotted Rose Anemones, Fish-Eating Urticina, Giant Spined and Bat Star Fish were in abundance. You could instantly tell that San Miguel, thanks to it’s remoteness, was what all the other islands used to be like. We explored the underwater world for about 40+ minutes and then made our way up to a 3-minute safety stop at 15’. Unfortunately our navigation skills were not as accurate as we had hoped for because when we surfaced we found ourselves at least 100 yards from the boat. Camera in tow we inflated our BC’s and kicked back to the “Peace”. All in all it was a remarkable dive. After we boarded the boat and stowed our gear we were rewarded with a hot french toast, scrambled eggs and oatmeal breakfast.
The Second Dive site was called “Canyons” and for good reason. While the site in it’s entirety was too big for us to cover, we could definitely see how it got it’s name as we descended to a canyon edge 40’ below the surface. We also immediately notice that visibility had gone up to 50’ which was breathtaking. (This was definitely my favorite dive.) We dropped off the canyon wall and sunk to a 70-foot depth. (I love underwater geology and found myself gliding though the canyon navigating through forks and turn-offs in the rocks.) Like the first dive, the walls were covered in life. We stayed at 60 feet for a number of minutes and then gradually made our way up to 30’ on the return trip to the boat. We found the anchor line, did our safety stop and then headed top-side where the sun had confirmed it’s intensions to stay bright and unclouded. It was just after noon and lunch was presented in the form of mango-roasted chicken & a fresh salad.
The 3rd site was to be the location of our 3rd and 4th dive. It was called “Castle Rock: Foul Area”. (Bill and I decided to switch to nitrox as our nitrogen levels were becoming taxed by the first 2 dives. The nitrox would allow us to reduce nitrogen build-up and dive with a bit more safety on the last 2 dives.) This was another fantastic location teeming with life. On the 3rd dive we took a bearing on our compass and headed out, exploring the bottom which was at about 50’. Along the way we ran into another diver who was intently pointing his video camera at the passing undersea life. This diver was none other than the Roddenberry Dive Team’s “guest diver”, Bill Bushing aka “Dr. Bill” of Catalina Island. Dr. Bill is as passionate about the ocean as they come. Like a hardcore Star Wars or Star Trek fan, he is a huge “Ocean Geek” and I mean that in the most wonderful and respectful way. He has been diving since 1961 and when you talk to him about diving, he becomes as giddy as a newly certified diver. I gotta say, meeting Bill Bushing was not only a pleasure but he also inspires me to continue pushing towards that future where our species finally figures out that it’s the uniqueness and diversity of our planet and it’s creatures that is what we should be focusing on instead of self-serving interests (Ok, stepping down off the soap-box).
As we zig-zagged through the kelp and searched the bottom for critters, we were fortunate enough to run into a sea lion. He (or she) seemed happy to see us and zipped back and forth spinning enthusiastically past many of the divers. (I snapped a few photos but most of them came out blurry. Those guys are fast!)
My dive buddy, Bill, and I decided to keep the 4th dive simple and just hang out underneath the boat in about 40+ feet of water. I had brought my camera on all the previous dives taking pictures along the way but this time I wanted to focus on a single area and photograph anything that was willing to pose. There was no need to swim anywhere as there was plenty to see just below our fins. It turned out to be a very nice and tranquil dive (Although I don’t meditate, diving is the closest thing to me finding “inner peace&#8221.
35-minutes later, we boarded the “Peace” and broke down our dive gear... It was now time for the 7-hour trip home. Everyone was in good spirits as we knew we had just had a unique and wonderful experience at San Miguel Island... the hot brownies, cake and ice cream seemed to help as well. Oh... and the Jacuzzi was amazing too!
Overall, this was a fantastic trip and one I think I’d like to make a yearly event. Greg Martin (Exec Director of RDT and VERY jealous he could not be there, Ha, Ha!) and I will put our collective heads together and see what we can come up with for next year. Until then, we wish you all safety and adventure!

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Along with the photos at the bottom of this page, I have also uploaded high-resolution versions of my photos to a MobileMe gallery which allows visitors to both Download as well as Upload photos and videos. I would appreciate it greatly if anyone who took photos/video could upload the highest resolution (dpi) possible to this MobileMe gallery. Please review the directions below:

To View Gallery and Download photos, Click here: MobileMe Gallery

To Upload Photos:
1) Download your photos off your camera onto your computer (Place in a Folder).
2) Go to the above URL and then click "Upload" at the top of the browser Window.
3) Enter your name, email and the upload-code displayed on your screen
4) Click on "Choose Files..." at the bottom of the screen.
5) The next screen will allow you to navigate to the folder that has the photos. On a Macintosh, hold down the Apple/Command key and select multiple photos and then click on "Select". On a PC... I'm not really sure how you select multiple items at once. Try your control key. That's it!

You can also email your photos directly into the above Photo Gallery by sending them attached to an email to the following email address. The only drawback to this is that typically you will only be able to send between 5 and 10mb worth of photos per email.

roddive-bgn3@post.me.com

To those of you who were unable to attend, I hope you will join us for the next RDT Event!

 

[drbill]

Definitely a great day of diving, Rod! Thanks.

 

[Roddenberry]

Hey Dr. Bill! Thank for being our first poster on the new RDT ScubaBoard forum!!
-ROD