Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
San Miguel Lite
by Allan Jones
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San Miguel Island |
On
July 20, Michael Bonneau and I left Santa Barbara for a three day trip on the
Vision. This was a Truth Aquatics 'limited load' trip where the number of
divers is limited to 24 as opposed to a potential max load of 34. We
lucked out with a total of 18 divers on board. This was really nice as
most of us had a double bunk to spread out in and lots of camera room.
I hate to admit it, but my experience with Truth Aquatics goes back to 1979.
At that time there was only the "Truth" then and it was the
'meat hunters express'. Only on special charters did you dare to bring a camera
on board. Then, real divers carried 8' pole spears, three rubber guns and
9" knives strapped to the inside of your calf. Times have changed!
Now cameras are welcomed, there is a nice fresh water rinse tank, an air
hose to dry off gear and all the deck hands are camera savvy in the care and
handling of your gear.
Sunday morning we started off on the back side of San Miguel at a place called
Castle Rock. This was a treat as you don't get to the back side very
often. Seas were calm to flat and there was no wind or current. The water
temp was 57* but the vis was low at about 30'. We did two dives
here at about 50-60' with some surge. You could tell this site is not
dove much as the male Sheepheads were big at ~20 lbs. and highly curious.
With my 105 macro, I managed to get a couple shots of a set of fangs and
a big black & white lip. Michael and I dove the OCUPS buddy protocol
by occasionally bumping into each other under water. After two dives here, we
moved down island to Westcott Shoals for the afternoon dives. Water warmed up
to 60*, but the vis was still down.
On limited loads the food is upgraded. Upon rising there was pastries,
bagels and fresh fruit. Breakfasts were cooked to your order until 10:00.
At mid-morning and afternoon we had warm cookies or soup. Lunch was a hot
meal with several salads and dinner was fillet steak followed by the usual 4
types of pie and ice cream. This was repeated the next day except we had
broiled salmon steaks in lieu of beef.
On board this trip was Ken, owner of California Digital Diving with about six
digital set ups for anyone interested in digital. Ken is a very helpful
guy and anyone interested in digital should stay in touch with him as he does
split charters with all his camera gear.
Catch him at http://www.californiadigitaldiving.com/
On the second evening, all the digital shooters contributed images and Ken ran
a show with his digital projector.
These days divers no longer drink beer and tell lies at night. Now it's
portable P/C's and Photoshop.
The wind picked up the second day and we dove the backside at Judith Rock and
Wycoff Ledge. I did some wide angle here and got some outstanding images of
dirt, debris and back scatter! Gotta remember to turn those strobes way
out to the sides! Then in the afternoon we dove Bee Rock. It
continued to be surgy with marginal vis. Unfortunately, I can't report on
the third day as when I went off the bow on the first dive, my dry suit wrist
seal split open and I started to take on water just too fast to continue the dive,
so it was an early clean up, a book and snacks for the rest of the day.
All in all, it was a good trip. Most divers easily got in 4 dives the
first two days and 3 or 4 on the last.
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Posted September 25, 2003