Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Diving
the Peace
Jan 31st 2004
By Dan King
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Santa
Cruz Island |
I arrived at the boat a little
early on the evening prior to the departure and found out that due to heavy
swells and high winds that we were not going to be able to make the destination
that was planned for. I also noticed that the departure time was set ahead to 3
am instead of the planned 12am departure.
The ride out of the marine was the
smoothest. Once outside of the harbor that’s when I believe most everyone woke
up about 4 am as we crossed the channel. The conditions were a bit rough.
A large amount of the divers
aboard made comments about the crossing; most memorable was the time that Eric
very quickly backed off the throttle to an almost dead stop. That’s when most
expected the drop and bang of the next wave. I know in talking with Jeff and
Lloyd that they mentioned that they were jolted off the bunk a couple of times.
We arrive at the first dive site
around 6:30 or 7:00 to the surprise of fairly clam conditions and one cold
wind. The wind seemed to stay with us all day sometimes strong and colder than
others.
Enough about he weather let’s talk
diving.
The first spot was the only spot that I was able to catch the name a
place they called Flame Reef.
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The Dive Spot At-A-Glance |
What a great spot, the visibility
was about 40 plus. The area was covered with rocky outcrops and kelp, the water
was cold about 50-54 degrees on most everyone computers. There was only one
lobster brought aboard and one fish on that dive.
The second dive bought us to an
area covered in kelp. This was a wonderful location and I was expecting some of
the same conditions as the last dive. Boy was I wrong- It was much nicer. The
visibility increased the water temperature was slightly warmer. As always the
dive that I decided not to take my gun on is the dive that yielded the most
fish. And several more lobster. I was able to grab three bug’s all to short but
I kept up on my grabbing techniques.
The third dive was again an area
covered with kelp. Much like the
previous dive better conditions and warmer, yes the fish were out on this dive as
well. I did see more lobsters on this dive than any of the previous dive only
one problem they were so far back in holes you’d have to more the rock to get
them. This dive consisted of an area that was larger boulders and heavy kelp.
The fourth dive I decide to sit
out since I have not been in the water in while and did not want to get to
fatigued. The forth dive since I did not make it, was described as having more
life than any other dive we made that day. Several more lobsters were brought
aboard for a total count of 10, as was countless fish.
As we stated back I retired to my
bunk for a long nap and a rough ride, both of which I got.
In conclusion of the day I would
like to
Thank the crew of the peace for a great day out upon the water and the company of the other club that spilt the charter with us Sea D Sea. What a wonder group of people. I hope to dive with everyone again soon.
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Posted March 21, 2004