Will she or won't she? (See a GSB?)

[Leejnd]

Well I'm off tomorrow on the Mr. C for what has now become a quest, a spiritual journey, a veritable IMPERATIVE that I see an Giant Sea Bass, in person, for real, MYSELF...and NOT in an aquarium.

Pretty much every single diver I know in this area has seen one (at least, those who've been diving regularly this year). I've been diving these local waters for four years now, and the only GSB I've ever seen has been in the Long Beach Aquarium on Chamber Night. The last few times I went out on a dive boat (which has been pretty frequently lately), at least someone saw GSB's on every single trip. In fact, on my last dive (off Peace a couple weeks ago), my dive buddy saw one...but I was too busy futzing with my camera trying to shoot a nudie that by the time he got my attention, it was gone into the murk.

Tomorrow we'll be doing three dives somewhere out near Two Harbors. I keep hearing that people are seeing GSBs on pretty much every trip on Mr. C. So...will it finally happen for me? And...even better...will I get to photograph it???

I will report back here tomorrow!

 

[blue steal]

Good luck Leejnd. we saw three GSB when we went out on the Magician 3 weeks ago. It was my first time and it was quite an experience.
Mr. C canceled out last weekend on us. I was bummed out, not enough divers to go out.

 

[Leejnd]

Well that stinks! I know that they are struggling to drum up enough divers for their open-boats. Tomorrow is a charter, and it's actually full. Hopefully, with all the improvements they're making (and they are doing a LOT!) they'll begin to increase their fan base and be able to do more open-boat trips.

 

[FrankPro1]

In fact, on my last dive (off Peace a couple weeks ago), my dive buddy saw one...but I was too busy futzing with my camera trying to shoot a nudie that by the time he got my attention, it was gone into the murk.

I know the feeling. On a Neptune's Cove dive while cruising the edge of a kelp bed my buddy was looking out towards open sand while I scanned the kelp bed looking for critters to photograph. He tugs on my fin and as a I turn around he signals that he just saw something big. Turns out a GSB was following us for a good while and I was completely oblivious. I've actually never seen one while scuba diving yet, my only encounter with them was during a free-dive at Avalon. Good Luck this weekend.

 

[Rainer]

If you get a chance, mind asking the captain why they've canceled their overnight Labor Day charter? My wife and I were signed up, but got an e-mail two days ago refunding our money and saying the trip had been canceled. When I inquired as to why, I received no answer. Not exactly a best impression for what would have been our first charter on the Mr. C.

In any case, good luck with your quest! I saw my first GSB at LJ Cove a few weekends ago!

 

[ligersandtions]

Good luck with the GSB search!

We went out on a night dive last night and heard them croaking the whole time....didn't manage to see one, but listening to them was really very beautiful (that, and I saw two last time we dived that site, so I was satisfied with just the croaking this time around!)

 

[scubadada]

Good luck Leejnd. we saw three GSB when we went out on the Magician 3 weeks ago. It was my first time and it was quite an experience.
Mr. C canceled out last weekend on us. I was bummed out, not enough divers to go out.

Well that stinks! I know that they are struggling to drum up enough divers for their open-boats. Tomorrow is a charter, and it's actually full. Hopefully, with all the improvements they're making (and they are doing a LOT!) they'll begin to increase their fan base and be able to do more open-boat trips.

If you get a chance, mind asking the captain why they've canceled their overnight Labor Day charter? My wife and I were signed up, but got an e-mail two days ago refunding our money and saying the trip had been canceled. When I inquired as to why, I received no answer. Not exactly a best impression for what would have been our first charter on the Mr. C.

In any case, good luck with your quest! I saw my first GSB at LJ Cove a few weekends ago!

This is exactly the problem for us out of staters who like to dive in So California. As opposed to real dive destinations, diving is unreliable. This makes it very difficult to plan on visits to the beautiful state.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Rainer]

I've had excellent luck with the boats I normally use.

I'd read LeeAnne's nice review of the Mr. C and figured we'd give them a shot. Given my latest dealings with them, though, it seems like a pretty poorly run operation. With all the good operations out here, they need to be doing things better than their competitors, not worse. I won't be terribly surprised if they continue to struggle to drum up enough divers for their open-boats.

This is exactly the problem for us out of staters who like to dive in So California. As opposed to real dive destinations, diving is unreliable. This makes it very difficult to plan on visits to the beautiful state.

Good diving, Craig

 

[blue steal]

sorry scubadada. Yeah plus the shore diving this summer in Laguna has been very cold water.
(For us here anyway)
Went freediving tuesday at shaws using my 3/2 shortie + hood and the water temp was 53!.
Try Catalina the conditions are usually quite good during the summer.
Oh, Leejnd, give us a trip report, want to know (and hope you see the GSB), how it goes.

 

[merxlin]

This is exactly the problem for us out of staters who like to dive in So California. As opposed to real dive destinations, diving is unreliable. This makes it very difficult to plan on visits to the beautiful state.

Good diving, Craig

I'll forgive you the bit about "real dive destinations". This really isn't the norm Craig. This boat is just getting back into regular operation and is just having some of those issues that arise, and is exacerbated by the bad economy. I have not heard of many if any other boats canceling charters, or regularly scheduled open boats for that matter. Most pretty much run no matter what- ask here in the So Cal forum when you know what dates you are thinking about and you will get a ton of good advice about who to charter with.

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