trymixdiver
Guest
We headed out Thursday morning from Oxnard at 5:30am. The plan was to dive Santa Cruz Island. Unpon leaving the harbor the sea was rough, Winds out of the west at 20 knots seas 4-6'. Not the best conditions to go diving but we went anyway. From what the capatin said most boats turned back to port that morning. The only boat we saw the whole trip was a tanker and that was over a 12hr period.
After 90 min of getting tossed about we slipped in behind Anacapa and the conditions were much better. Thankfully the Capt picked this Sheltered approach the rest of the way to the back side of Santa Cruz.
We found a very well protected cove called Coches Prietos Anchorage and dropped anchor in about 38' of water in this glassy protected cove. We got debriefed from the Capt on the location and his expectations, and filled out the usual paperwork. We were staying at this location all day due to the weather so we didnt have any restrictions other than no dives after 2pm. it was 3.5 hours back to oxnard so this was a good time to leave.
I only did one dive ( others got two) but i was using my doubles so i figured i wouldnt have time for a 2nd dive anyway. I dropped in about 10am after having some excellent breakfast and vis was about 20 ' at the anchor. I swam outaway from the island to 66' and there was nothing but sand so i headed in to the 30-50' range with everyone else. On my way in i was accompanied by a 2' torpedo ray, they look like a perfect circle with a little shark like tail. I was happy to have seen one.
To the north side of the Anchorage were large boulders, one in particular was about 20' tall and at least 20 ' around. It lay in 60' with the top rising to 40' and it was encrusted with everything and quite colorful. There was alot of fish, Sunstars ( multi legged star fish) and about 4 or 5 of those very large crabs that look prehistoric. I was at min 45 of the dive at this point. Temp was cold, most people were getting 50-52.
After checking out all the boulders i headed south back toward the anchor line and then continued south past the anchor toward the kelp.
The south side of the anchorage was by far the best, i wish i did my full dive here.
The Vis was alot better over here, id say a consevative 30-40'. It was littered with boulders and rocks just like the other side. But as i swam further south i entered a kelp forest. The kelp was moderatly thick and started at 50' and went to the surface. These are my favoirite dives, swimming in and out of the kelp and rocks you get a chance to see some cool stuff. I was cruising in and out at about 43' with 30' of water under me to the bottom. The bottom terrian was steep and rocky which gradually sloped to sand at about 70-80'. The water was clear and i could see detail on the bottom 30 ' below. I continued to head further south enjoying the vis, kelp forest, sea bass and sheephead for about another 45 min putting me around 90 min at my turn around point.
I was starting to get cold so i made my way back through the kelp and over all the boulders, diving still but swimming a brisker pace and i hit the anchor line at min 110. I did end up doing 8 min at 10 on 50% and surfaced for a well deserved lunch. I hit the anchor line just as i incurred 1 min of deco at 10' and exited with 1000 psi. The computer they gave me to use didnt register any deco obligation, but mine did.
I stowed my gear well as instructed, the Capt had warned us the trip back was going to be much worse and to to put everything away that wasnt part of the boat. This is usually a bad sign
After my gear was stowed the chef had a fantastic plate of grub waiting for me. Lunch was Lasagna and some sort of tossed green salad with lots of vegies and fruit pieces finished off with a homemade apple cobler she had made after they let her get one dive in. So i took some surface pics and waited for the others to surface from there 2nd dives.
The dive was great, vis was exceptional considering the sea state, the crew didnt think we would have more than 15' vis. Dispite the rough seas this was the best trip i have done even though i only did one long dive. I think i still had more BT than anyone else. So i made the best of the one dive i had. All and all a thumbs up! hell i should have been at work, it was thursday afterall.
The trip back was the roughest i have been in. The capt was saying it was the worse they had seen this season. His figures were winds from the west at 30 knots 4-8' seas with a heavy chop. I spent the time back picking up what kept falling over and trying to keep on myself from falling over. Had this boat not been 85' with an 20' beam i suspect we would have not gone at all. Some of the dive boats i have been on were under 65', i couldnt imagine coming back in those conditions in a smaller vessle than what we were on. yikes at the thought!
Andy
Going to work today is really gonna suck after spending thrusday diving!
After 90 min of getting tossed about we slipped in behind Anacapa and the conditions were much better. Thankfully the Capt picked this Sheltered approach the rest of the way to the back side of Santa Cruz.
We found a very well protected cove called Coches Prietos Anchorage and dropped anchor in about 38' of water in this glassy protected cove. We got debriefed from the Capt on the location and his expectations, and filled out the usual paperwork. We were staying at this location all day due to the weather so we didnt have any restrictions other than no dives after 2pm. it was 3.5 hours back to oxnard so this was a good time to leave.
I only did one dive ( others got two) but i was using my doubles so i figured i wouldnt have time for a 2nd dive anyway. I dropped in about 10am after having some excellent breakfast and vis was about 20 ' at the anchor. I swam outaway from the island to 66' and there was nothing but sand so i headed in to the 30-50' range with everyone else. On my way in i was accompanied by a 2' torpedo ray, they look like a perfect circle with a little shark like tail. I was happy to have seen one.
To the north side of the Anchorage were large boulders, one in particular was about 20' tall and at least 20 ' around. It lay in 60' with the top rising to 40' and it was encrusted with everything and quite colorful. There was alot of fish, Sunstars ( multi legged star fish) and about 4 or 5 of those very large crabs that look prehistoric. I was at min 45 of the dive at this point. Temp was cold, most people were getting 50-52.
After checking out all the boulders i headed south back toward the anchor line and then continued south past the anchor toward the kelp.
The south side of the anchorage was by far the best, i wish i did my full dive here.
The Vis was alot better over here, id say a consevative 30-40'. It was littered with boulders and rocks just like the other side. But as i swam further south i entered a kelp forest. The kelp was moderatly thick and started at 50' and went to the surface. These are my favoirite dives, swimming in and out of the kelp and rocks you get a chance to see some cool stuff. I was cruising in and out at about 43' with 30' of water under me to the bottom. The bottom terrian was steep and rocky which gradually sloped to sand at about 70-80'. The water was clear and i could see detail on the bottom 30 ' below. I continued to head further south enjoying the vis, kelp forest, sea bass and sheephead for about another 45 min putting me around 90 min at my turn around point.
I was starting to get cold so i made my way back through the kelp and over all the boulders, diving still but swimming a brisker pace and i hit the anchor line at min 110. I did end up doing 8 min at 10 on 50% and surfaced for a well deserved lunch. I hit the anchor line just as i incurred 1 min of deco at 10' and exited with 1000 psi. The computer they gave me to use didnt register any deco obligation, but mine did.
I stowed my gear well as instructed, the Capt had warned us the trip back was going to be much worse and to to put everything away that wasnt part of the boat. This is usually a bad sign
After my gear was stowed the chef had a fantastic plate of grub waiting for me. Lunch was Lasagna and some sort of tossed green salad with lots of vegies and fruit pieces finished off with a homemade apple cobler she had made after they let her get one dive in. So i took some surface pics and waited for the others to surface from there 2nd dives.The dive was great, vis was exceptional considering the sea state, the crew didnt think we would have more than 15' vis. Dispite the rough seas this was the best trip i have done even though i only did one long dive. I think i still had more BT than anyone else. So i made the best of the one dive i had. All and all a thumbs up! hell i should have been at work, it was thursday afterall.
The trip back was the roughest i have been in. The capt was saying it was the worse they had seen this season. His figures were winds from the west at 30 knots 4-8' seas with a heavy chop. I spent the time back picking up what kept falling over and trying to keep on myself from falling over. Had this boat not been 85' with an 20' beam i suspect we would have not gone at all. Some of the dive boats i have been on were under 65', i couldnt imagine coming back in those conditions in a smaller vessle than what we were on. yikes at the thought!
Andy
Going to work today is really gonna suck after spending thrusday diving!
