Buddy John Manos announced he was DM-ing one of my fav dive boats, the Spectre. I wasn't originally able to make any of the dates he was on the deck, but something opened up and I was able to get on this last Sunday.
The Spectre is a pretty big boat - I've dived on there with 33 or 35 people a number of times. On a beautiful fall day, we had about 12 or 14 divers. It was weird. Dette and I were among the last ones up after dive one, and we looked at each other and asked, "where is everybody?"
The schedule was for a very civilized 8:00 AM departure bound for Anacapa island. Several of my DMX homies were on the boat, along with a couple Claudette recently met on her amazing God's Pocket trip to BC.
We pull out and the day is gorgeous. Sunny, clear, wonderful. The channel was pretty bumpy, so it was a rough ride over. But there was no rain, the water proved to be pretty darn clear (although there was a lot of small particulate) and I had a great day. John is a fine DM, and we got on and off the boat very safely.
John dived Anacapa on Saturday and stated that the viz was at least 40 on all the sites they visited - so I resolved to splash with a Wide Angle (12-24mm) and see what we could see.
DIVE ONE - UNDERWATER ISLAND
We tucked into one of the most reliable sites on Anacapa, a site called "Underwater Island." This site is nearly always diveable, has great structure, is loaded with Octos, has walls, flats, some kelp, a large marble grave marker left in memory of someone - in short, its a fine dive site.
On the drop, we hit one of the high plateaus at about 45 feet - and we could look up and see the rungs on the swim step on the boat above us. It was very clear. I clipped off the scoot, opened up the deathstar and motioned to Claudette to chase after a garibaldi that was on top of the plateau. She put her arms at her side, kicked hard enough so I could get her and the fish in the frame and I got the shot. She looks like a torpedo!
There is a very deep channel groove on one side of the "island" - and I wedged myself deep into the large crack at the bottom of the fissure and had 'dette scoot over me so I could shoot up at her.
I found a large Ling Cod (large for a SoCal non-preserve area) and had Dette come over and get face to face with it. Or try to... she creeped up as close as she could and it bolted.
There were some garibaldi hanging around a red gorgonian so she went over and started clicking the bolt-snap on her light handle. Three came over to check her out (two from the front, one from behind her) and I got some great shots of her and the curious 'baldi's.
Robert, Cody and Leslie kicked by - so I came up and took some shots of them. Then Dette and I zoomed around the structure for awhile and went back up to the boat, hitting the swim step at about 62 minutes.
DIVE TWO - CATHEDRAL COVE
This was the dive of the day. We dropped and instantly saw the water wasn't nearly as clear as the previous dive - holding true the Anacapa rule that the best vis is usually in the AM.
We drop in an zoom around some of the smaller rocky structures. This site is loaded with long, thick kelp situated in small little free-standing rock islands over sand. Its quite lovely.
We're zooming along and I see a dead jellyfish on the sand. I motion to Claudette to go over to it and she just takes over. After 500-some dives together and thousands and thousands of pictures together, she knows what I'm looking for, and she starts delivering. I get about 5 or 6 shots off and I motion to her to clip off her scoot (heehee... she just pounced on the jelly and never clipped off!)
I got some really neat shots from all angles. We spent about 7 or 8 minutes with it when all of a sudden we get strafed by a sea lion. This was no ordinary sea lion. I've shot zillions of sea lions. This guy was mental. This was one unstable pinneped. I'm serious - this guy was a honey-crusted nutbar. 4 times I collapsed the arms of the deathstar and Claudette and I tried to move on - but he kept coming back.
We spent well over 25 minutes with this freakshow. I Claudette was on the trigger - twisting, turning, spinning and circling. At least twice she got so dizzy that she augured into the sand or simply stopped moving and slowly dropped breathless to the bottom in a pile. This guy spun her in circles. At no time did she have control of the engagement, people. It was something to see.
Robert, Cody and Leslie came by near the end of one of our 4 or 5 engagements with this 5150. I got some shots of them watching Claudette get pretzled, I got some shots of C&L near the kelp and I got a shot of Robert playing and yelling at this loon and the sea lion yelling back at Robert. Claudette and I finally shook off this menace and went back to the boat for a killer Spectre lunch.
DIVE THREE - CATHEDRAL COVE
I put on the 105 lens and went in looking for some Macro shots. This site often has some interesting crab and flat worms and other small life. We saw an eel. I think this is maybe the second or third eel we've ever seen on Anacapa over the years. Of course Fed Ex were all over the place. I saw a Sandy nudi.
Claudette found one of my favorite macro subjects - we call them a Gilly Crab. These guys are very, very shy - nearly always in very deep holes and cracks. She spotted it deep in a hole between two large urchins. I wedged myself deep into the crack to get as close as I could, and Claudette came over my shoulder with her HID to act as a focus assist (I forgot to put on my focus light when I changed over to macro....) I was trying to focus on the crab, but he was so far behind the spines of the urchins I couldn't get a good shot. All of a sudden he turned and her HID caught his eye - giving the camera something to lock onto, and I was able to get a usable shot. Having grabbed the shot, I backed out of the hole - only to find Claudette had climbed onto my tank and scootched to my shoulders. She was shining her HID over my shoulder into the hole... this shot is a true team effort.
We had a very mellow dive 3. Quite relaxing after dive two's crazy energy. It was wonderful.
Great day with great friends. Dette - you continue to surprise me. You are a great subject and you make my job as the photographer much easier. Good to dive with Robert and Cody and Leslie and see several other friends. John - thanks for being our DM and for the invite to this trip.
Some shots below. Full gallery here: Linky
Click on the top bar to make the image larger.
Enjoy.
---
Ken
=======================================
Moray from Anacapa. Its not often we see these on Anacapa.
Gilly Crab - I love these little guys. We worked for this shot.
Gari Beauty Shot - this guy was posing all the way.
Dette and the Ling - these guys have great camouflage
Torpedo Girl - dette trying to run down a gari on dive one at Underwater Island.
More Gari's? - You ask, we deliver! Here is 'Chica with her Gari buddies. These are the ones that came over when she was clicking the bolt-snap on her light.
Robert ATP - this is the shot of Robert on dive one when he and C&L came over. Robert pinned it, but I blew it with the lighting and ended up putting my man into a snow storm... Sorry buddy.
Cody and Leslie - this is from Dive two (the manic sea lion dive.)
Dette flying over me - this is the shot from Underwater Island when I wedged my aple butt into a deep fissure and had her zoom over my head.
School O Fish - this is the school of fish that hung out with us for most of dive two at Cathedral Cove.
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.
.
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Click here for the sea lion shots and the Jelly shots from dive 2
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.
.
.
The Spectre is a pretty big boat - I've dived on there with 33 or 35 people a number of times. On a beautiful fall day, we had about 12 or 14 divers. It was weird. Dette and I were among the last ones up after dive one, and we looked at each other and asked, "where is everybody?"
The schedule was for a very civilized 8:00 AM departure bound for Anacapa island. Several of my DMX homies were on the boat, along with a couple Claudette recently met on her amazing God's Pocket trip to BC.
We pull out and the day is gorgeous. Sunny, clear, wonderful. The channel was pretty bumpy, so it was a rough ride over. But there was no rain, the water proved to be pretty darn clear (although there was a lot of small particulate) and I had a great day. John is a fine DM, and we got on and off the boat very safely.
John dived Anacapa on Saturday and stated that the viz was at least 40 on all the sites they visited - so I resolved to splash with a Wide Angle (12-24mm) and see what we could see.
DIVE ONE - UNDERWATER ISLAND
We tucked into one of the most reliable sites on Anacapa, a site called "Underwater Island." This site is nearly always diveable, has great structure, is loaded with Octos, has walls, flats, some kelp, a large marble grave marker left in memory of someone - in short, its a fine dive site.
On the drop, we hit one of the high plateaus at about 45 feet - and we could look up and see the rungs on the swim step on the boat above us. It was very clear. I clipped off the scoot, opened up the deathstar and motioned to Claudette to chase after a garibaldi that was on top of the plateau. She put her arms at her side, kicked hard enough so I could get her and the fish in the frame and I got the shot. She looks like a torpedo!
There is a very deep channel groove on one side of the "island" - and I wedged myself deep into the large crack at the bottom of the fissure and had 'dette scoot over me so I could shoot up at her.
I found a large Ling Cod (large for a SoCal non-preserve area) and had Dette come over and get face to face with it. Or try to... she creeped up as close as she could and it bolted.
There were some garibaldi hanging around a red gorgonian so she went over and started clicking the bolt-snap on her light handle. Three came over to check her out (two from the front, one from behind her) and I got some great shots of her and the curious 'baldi's.
Robert, Cody and Leslie kicked by - so I came up and took some shots of them. Then Dette and I zoomed around the structure for awhile and went back up to the boat, hitting the swim step at about 62 minutes.
DIVE TWO - CATHEDRAL COVE
This was the dive of the day. We dropped and instantly saw the water wasn't nearly as clear as the previous dive - holding true the Anacapa rule that the best vis is usually in the AM.
We drop in an zoom around some of the smaller rocky structures. This site is loaded with long, thick kelp situated in small little free-standing rock islands over sand. Its quite lovely.
We're zooming along and I see a dead jellyfish on the sand. I motion to Claudette to go over to it and she just takes over. After 500-some dives together and thousands and thousands of pictures together, she knows what I'm looking for, and she starts delivering. I get about 5 or 6 shots off and I motion to her to clip off her scoot (heehee... she just pounced on the jelly and never clipped off!)
I got some really neat shots from all angles. We spent about 7 or 8 minutes with it when all of a sudden we get strafed by a sea lion. This was no ordinary sea lion. I've shot zillions of sea lions. This guy was mental. This was one unstable pinneped. I'm serious - this guy was a honey-crusted nutbar. 4 times I collapsed the arms of the deathstar and Claudette and I tried to move on - but he kept coming back.
We spent well over 25 minutes with this freakshow. I Claudette was on the trigger - twisting, turning, spinning and circling. At least twice she got so dizzy that she augured into the sand or simply stopped moving and slowly dropped breathless to the bottom in a pile. This guy spun her in circles. At no time did she have control of the engagement, people. It was something to see.
Robert, Cody and Leslie came by near the end of one of our 4 or 5 engagements with this 5150. I got some shots of them watching Claudette get pretzled, I got some shots of C&L near the kelp and I got a shot of Robert playing and yelling at this loon and the sea lion yelling back at Robert. Claudette and I finally shook off this menace and went back to the boat for a killer Spectre lunch.
DIVE THREE - CATHEDRAL COVE
I put on the 105 lens and went in looking for some Macro shots. This site often has some interesting crab and flat worms and other small life. We saw an eel. I think this is maybe the second or third eel we've ever seen on Anacapa over the years. Of course Fed Ex were all over the place. I saw a Sandy nudi.
Claudette found one of my favorite macro subjects - we call them a Gilly Crab. These guys are very, very shy - nearly always in very deep holes and cracks. She spotted it deep in a hole between two large urchins. I wedged myself deep into the crack to get as close as I could, and Claudette came over my shoulder with her HID to act as a focus assist (I forgot to put on my focus light when I changed over to macro....) I was trying to focus on the crab, but he was so far behind the spines of the urchins I couldn't get a good shot. All of a sudden he turned and her HID caught his eye - giving the camera something to lock onto, and I was able to get a usable shot. Having grabbed the shot, I backed out of the hole - only to find Claudette had climbed onto my tank and scootched to my shoulders. She was shining her HID over my shoulder into the hole... this shot is a true team effort.
We had a very mellow dive 3. Quite relaxing after dive two's crazy energy. It was wonderful.
Great day with great friends. Dette - you continue to surprise me. You are a great subject and you make my job as the photographer much easier. Good to dive with Robert and Cody and Leslie and see several other friends. John - thanks for being our DM and for the invite to this trip.
Some shots below. Full gallery here: Linky
Click on the top bar to make the image larger.
Enjoy.
---
Ken
=======================================
Moray from Anacapa. Its not often we see these on Anacapa.
Gilly Crab - I love these little guys. We worked for this shot.
Gari Beauty Shot - this guy was posing all the way.
Dette and the Ling - these guys have great camouflage
Torpedo Girl - dette trying to run down a gari on dive one at Underwater Island.
More Gari's? - You ask, we deliver! Here is 'Chica with her Gari buddies. These are the ones that came over when she was clicking the bolt-snap on her light.
Robert ATP - this is the shot of Robert on dive one when he and C&L came over. Robert pinned it, but I blew it with the lighting and ended up putting my man into a snow storm... Sorry buddy.
Cody and Leslie - this is from Dive two (the manic sea lion dive.)
Dette flying over me - this is the shot from Underwater Island when I wedged my aple butt into a deep fissure and had her zoom over my head.
School O Fish - this is the school of fish that hung out with us for most of dive two at Cathedral Cove.
.
.
.
.
.
Click here for the sea lion shots and the Jelly shots from dive 2
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