Upcoming foreign trips:

        • October 11-18 - Sea of Cortez (Baja - La Paz) aboard the Don Jose
                  (booking now - only THREE spaces left)
        • February 8-14, 2010 - Florida (Manatees & caverns)

        • Bonaire (dates TBA)
        • Yap (dates TBA)

————————————————————————————————

There's nothing like getting away for a nice day of diving and that's what we did on Saturday, taking the Great Escape to Santa Barbara Island.

 

It was a bit rougher ride over than we'd anticipated and when we got there, the swell had pretty much wrapped the island so we were limited in the dive spots we could choose. But, we were very pleased and surprised to find that the water's warmed up almost TEN degrees. We were reading 63-64º on all of the dives and it was downright toasty. Very pleasant and made up for the lack of vis (15-25') that we had. But it's amazing how much more tolerable low vis is when you're not freezing your butt off.

 

We started off at Arch Point (the dry arch) and many people commented on the number of White Sea Pens that carpeted the sandy bottom. They're filter-feeders and they were having a field day in the mild surge. After that, we circled the island to see if there were backside options but everything was pretty well chopped up. We were thinking about Sutil Cove but it looked like a washing machine in there so we came back around to the frontside and pulled in at Ken's Cave, where most people found the cave (a long tunnel really) and were greeted by the half dozen or so sea lions who were hanging around.

 

We finished up the day going to over to the right side of the Rookery where we encountered Angel Sharks, Halibut, and curious Sheephead. But most amazing was looking through binoculars up on the shore line to see about 15 Elephant Seals (all females, it seemed) hauled out just about the waterline. These animals are HUUGE, probably weighing close to 2000 pounds each. In fact, we've got a picture of the group and you'll note there's a bull male sea lion to the right (they generally weigh in at 600-800 pounds). They make him look like rather small, as you can see:

 

 

The ride home was lovely and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time on the Great Escape. If you'd like to see more of the pictures of the day, just click this link: This Week (in pictures) at Reef Seekers .
 

Our next two trips are also both on the Great Escape. On Sunday, July 12, we'll be going to Farnsworth Banks (two dives at Farnsworth - hopefully- and then lunch and a third dive some along the backside or the West End). We're about half-full on that one right now and we'll keep the Early Purchase price on until July 1 (which is Wednesday). We've also got some staterooms left. Even though the trip leaves at 6AM, if you plan to sleeping on the boat (it'll open at 9PM the night before), it might be nice to have a stateroom. It's an extra $10/person to guarantee one. (Any ones that go unclaimed are always available free of charge on a first-come-first-serve basis.)

 

The second of the trips is on Saturday, July 25 and the intended destination is San Clemente Island's backside. That always offers interesting diving and - as long as the US Navy doesn't kick us out - we get a chance to go to some spots that we don't get to frequent with any regularity. This trip's wide open at the moment.

 

For either of these trips, just give us a call at 310/652-4990. if we've already got you on file, we'll just go ahead and bill your credit card and mail you a receipt. It's as easy as that. If you need to switch to a new card or if you're never been diving with us before, getting signed up only takes a few minutes. And if we're not available, there's a machine so just leave a message (speak slowly and clearly) and we'll call you back as soon as we can.

 

We're still working on the Easter Island for next July (detailed last week) and the total solar eclipse that will pass over there BUT we're having problems finding hotel rooms. Seems other eclipse chasers and eclipse tour groups may have snapped them all up. So it's not looking good at the moment but you never know. However . . .

 

I talked with a friend of mine who was there last November and he said the trip was magical. He took his non-diving wife with him and she had a great time as well. He was able to dive and still had plenty of time to go with her to see the giant carved heads (the moai - there are hundreds of them around the island). He also said the diving was better than he'd read about in some of the published reports. Visibility was sometimes approaching 200 feet and although there weren't shoals upon shoals of fish, he though the fish life was pretty good and was impressed by the fact that roughly 25% of it is endemic, meaning it's only found at Easter Island. He was also surprised and pleased by the number of colorful hard corals they found while diving.

 

So now I've got the Easter Island bug. And I'm thinking that if the eclipse plan doesn't work out, maybe what we'll do is look to schedule this during the better weather and diving season (November - March) so that, even though we won't get the eclipse, we'll get the best of everything else. So maybe something like January of 2011 if July, 2010, doesn't work out. Needless to say, I'll keep you posted. (And if you're interested in either incarnation of this, let me know if you haven't already because I make up an e-mail list of those interested so it's easy to keep in touch with you about it.)

 

And that's about it for now. Have a great (and safe) Fourth of July weekend coming up. Keep an eye out for the Reef Seeker's newsletter on Wednesday. And . . . let's go diving soon!!!

 

- Ken (for all the gang at Reef Seekers Dive Co.)