Scorpion Anchorage: Santa Cruz Island July 2010 Report

[FrankPro1]

Scorpion Anchorage has again blessed Charlie “SpKelpDiver” and me with an awesome adventure. We did 3 dives all at the closest Scorpion Rock pinnacle to the anchorage. It sits in 50ft of water and is home to a myriad of life. Since last years excursion a massive population of clown dorids has taken residence and the pinnacle itself seems to have been adopted as a Tree Fish nursery. Everywhere we looked there was another grouping of clown dorids and juvenile Tree fish of various sizes. The pinnacle is not just one structure but actually a series of smaller outlying reefs culminating on the center mass. These outlying reefs have lots of overhangs, crevices and a few mini arches. Visibility ranged from 20-25ft with some suspended particles for all 3 dives. On our first dive we were almost immediately greeted by a shy, yet curious harbor seal. While he did give us a wide berth he must have been unbothered by our presence because we observed him chasing fish and what appeared to be foraging the reefs for crunchy critters. There were a few male Garibaldi on the pinnacle defending their nests, which made nice photo subjects. Other notable sightings were a large Bat Ray taking a nap in some sea grass, a glancing view of a large Sea lion, our first Island Kelpfish and a healthy variety of nudibranchs. When we weren’t 50ft below the ocean surface, we spent our time kayaking through sea caves, free-diving distant coves and hiking various trails around the anchorage. Temperatures topside was fairly mild and actually sunny, which was a first for us. Water temps were 60 on the surface and 56 @ depth (Sunnto).


Here are some highlights:

Charlie “Spkelpdiver” video: YouTube - Santa Cruz Island, Scorpion Anchorage 2010 Scuba Diving/Kayaking “Watch in HD”

My video: YouTube - Santa Cruz Island, Scorpion Anchorage 2010 “Watch in HD”


Pictures:

 

[fnfalman]

Love the pic of the fish & hermit crab.

 

[Leejnd]

Wow...we were at Scorpion just a little over three weeks ago...but we'd already used up both our tanks at Fry's Harbor! Now I wish we'd saved a tank for Scorpion. I didn't see a SINGLE nudie over at Fry's - although that could have been due to the distraction of our being accosted by a friendly harbor seal who took a shining to my husband, and wouldn't leave us alone for the whole dive. Anyway, we LOVED Scorpion - and did lots of kayaking around the sea caves there.

Guess we're going to have to plan another trip there soon - and this time, save our tanks for Scorpion.

Here's a couple of shots to show how awesome Scorpion is above the water too!