Blog for Nayan

I had booked this trip way in advance and then i tried canceling it late because of dandiya plans on saturday night but then i ended up not going to dandiya and boarded Spectre for a day of diving on Anacapa Islands.

 

I was planning to drive out early morning so I woke up at like 4.15 am and then got ready for the day of diving ahead. I left the house at about 5.15 and was on the boat at like 6.30. Met up with Amit and then just waited for the dives ahead. 

 

 

 

The conditions were great unlike yesterday when there were 15ft swells and the whole boat was rocking, it is about hr and half to the island. Amit and I buddied up and i was going to lead the dives. 

 

Dive 1: Gold Fish Bowl, Anacapa

 

That is the dive site name, don’t ask me why they choose that name. nope there weren’t any gold fishes at this site to see. The site was on the stern side and at a depth of like 40 ft or so. I was really looking forward to playing with my camera. I decided to dive with 6 lbs of weight on me since i wanted to get an accurate estimate of the weight i need. 

 

We descended along the anchor line on the stern side and then take it from there. The visibility was really good about 25 ft or so and there were so many star fishes to see at the bottom. I have never seen so many different kinds of star fishes, it was nice. I really wanted to find some nudis to take macro shots of and see how it went. I was trying to play with the settings but my glove was preventing me to do so effectively, i tried tightening it around the thumb but it wasn’t that helpful. 

 

The screen of my camera also was being shut after 30 secs to preserve battery and it was kinda annoying, i decided to switch the power saving feature off for the next dive and my battery ran out at the end of dive two :D. Well to be fair it wasn’t a new battery so i am going to use a freshly charged one the next time. 

 

We explored a bit and i came across a few spanish shawls as well but nothing too exciting initially but a seal zoomed past by us which was cool. I was more than happy to see all the different varieties of star fish and also the anemones were colorful and plenty. 

 

We were about 45 mins into our dive and then we decided to surface, making a safety stop at 15 ft was really hard for me because of the less weight, there was hardly any air in my BCD to remove, i tried to stay at 15ft but it was tough and then after a while i decided to surface, since our max depth was only like 37 ft.

 

Surprisingly even though the water was only 62F i was cold by the end of the dive not that much but still enough cold that it was necessary for me to get rid of wetsuit and warm up on deck.

 

Dive 1 Details:

Max Depth: 37 ft.

Time: 49 mins

Air Consumption: 1653 psi

Min/Max Temp: 16.8 – 18 Celcius

 

 

 

 

Dive 2: Canyons, Anacapa

 

We moved to the south side of the islands, in my past two trips on this boat we always moved to Santa Cruz but not this time. We were going to stay near anacapa all the time. This site had some currents and minor swells as well so it was going to be an interesting dive.

 

We decided to descend along the anchor line and then swim in opposite direction of the current so that on the way back we would be along with the current. We dropped to about 30 ft and then started swimming against the current, also we were told that there were chances of some rays being there in sand so i was near the sandy area and decided not to get into the thick kelp and explore the reef.

 

It was really fun with the mild current and the swell pushing us around little and as we were moving along the edges of the reef there were couple of huge lobsters and also a huge dead one, sad. We didn’t catch sight of any rays along the sand, after about 7 mins (yes i was keeping watch on my time since i didn’t want to get lost with currents even though it was mild) into the dive i decided to head out into the reefs and the thick kelp.

 

At about 15ft we could feel the swell moving us around and i really enjoyed that and the kelp was really dense. Passing through it in those conditions was little tough and tiring as well, we explored the reefs for a while but it was getting too much for me so i decided to head out for the sandy bottom and we didn’t go into the thick kelp after that.

 

As we were heading in the opposite direction, i figured that we were going too far so i decided to head back, we also came across a few lobster pots and stuff and the usual anemones etc. Since i had turned off the power save option in my camera, the battery ran out but i wasn’t complaining since i had taken few good pictures. The sea lions came out to play in the next dive but i wasn’t that bummed about not taking their pictures.

 

Doing the safety stop was little better for me this time as i was prepared and was swimming hard to keep myself at the right depth, it was nice to be upside down and look at the school of fishes swimming and the sun shining above them. We surfaced not too far from the boat and I was really tired at the end of this dive.

 

Dive 2 Details:

Max Depth: 37 ft.

Time: 50 mins

Air Consumption: 1775 psi

Min/Max Temp: 16.4 – 17.6 Celcius

 

 

 

Lunch was served as we headed out to the next dive site and when we reached the dive site there were sea lions coming out, so it was certainly going to be a fun dive.

 

Dive 3: Underwater Arches.

 

Before the dive Amit told me that he was feeling tired and we might have to end the dive early, i was totally fine with it since i was tired myself and my legs were not happy. I was excited by the sea lions and didn’t want to sit out this dive at all and this site had an underwater arch which is always cool to explore.

 

The dive plan was same, descend along the anchor line, find the arch and then explore around it. We dropped down and as we were swimming along the arch there were sea lions. Those things are one of the most graceful creatures that you will see underwater, their movement is so smooth. They approached us once in a while and then swam past by, they were in mood of their own.

 

We came towards the arch and then swam underneath it, I saw quite a few spanish shawls out there. During the entire dive i must have seen at-least 8 of them. We swam along the edge of the reef structure and there were few big schools of fishes on the reef, amit pointed out that to me. I didn’t want to go there since it was probably at 10ft depth and i wasn’t in mood to struggle to stay buoyant at that depth.

 

We were just swimming along the archway and once in a while a sea lion would swim at us, i tried acting stupid in effort to interest him but he wasn’t amused. They were in their own world and didn’t bother to interact with us. Also tried to get fishes interested in my flashlight but the sun was out and my light wasn’t doing that much. After swimming around the archway and 40 mins into the dive i was getting tired so with about 700 psi left in my tank we decided to surface. Safety stop was relatively easy as compared to other dives and this time we surfaced right near the boat mainly because the structure was easy to navigate.

 

Dive 3 Details:

Max Depth: 33 ft.

Time: 45 mins

Air Consumption: 1413 psi

Min/Max Temp: 16 – 20 Celcius

 

I was really tired at the end of this dive, my legs were just killing me so i decided to call it a day and not do the final dive. I got into the hot tub, showered up, packed my stuff, immediately went downstairs and found myself a bunk. I slept the entire way back and woke up when we were near the dock. We reached the dock at about 5 pm which was kinda early, i didn’t expect us to be back so soon.

 

I reached my place at about 6.30pm, on my way picked up food from california vegan and finally after washing my gear etc, hogging all the food i dozed off at 11ish. It was a tiring day of diving and was fun as well.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS