Channel Islands trip report

Channel Islands trip report

Post by Lance Caso » Tue, 14 Nov 1995 04:00:00

The following is a short trip report for a lobster trip this past
weekend (Nov 10-11, Fri & Sat).  The trip was on the Truth out of Santa
Barbara Horbor.

All divers (29) were aboard the Truth by 1:00am Friday morning and most
people were in their bunks by 2:00am.  The crew arrived at approx.
3:30am and the boat departed around 4:00am as scheduled.

We went to Santa Cruz island first, and were anchored by 8:00am
After a short boat/diving safety lecture by the caption, we were in the
water by 8:30-8:45am.  The boat moved between every dive except dives 4
and 5.  After the 4th dive, the captain decided we didn't have enough
daylight to reach another dive sight for another daylight dive so we
stayed put for the 5th dive.  As it was, we lost alot of light during
the dive and surfaced at dusk.  After dinner, the boat moved to a 6th
site and divers were in the water around 8:30pm for the night dive.
The conditions around Santa Cruz were very good with visibility ranging
from 10 ft in shallow surge, to 40-50 ft in deeper water (40-60 ft.)

Most of the lobsters found/chased/caught on Friday were under the size
limit, but several divers managed to catch some3-5 pounders of legal
size.

We stayed anchored at the 6th dive site overnight and Saturday morning
we moved on to Anacapa.  On the way to Anacapa we made 2 seperate
sighting of blue sharks around 5-6 ft in length.  We were anchored and
the early bird divers were in the water by 7:30am.  The conditions at
Anacapa were great. virtually no current, little or no surge, and
visibility ranging from 30-60 ft depending on the dive site.  

At Cat Rock, west side, (Dive 2) we anchored in 45-50 ft of water and
could see the anchor on the bottom.  This was the most lucrative of the
lobster dives with a single diver bringing back 6 of legal size.  That
diver had found a cave large enough to swim into, and had his pick from
about 10 plus lobster that were trying to hide.  Dive 3 was just on the
other side of Cat Rock (east side) and had similar conditions although
the visiblity was only 10-30 ft do to some surge that got stronger the
closer in and shallower we went.  Both site at Cat Rock have great
structure for hiding lobster and it was at these two spots that most of
the catches on our trip were made.

At this site is also the spot were some divers were joined by a harbor
seal, including one diver that got a big surprise when the seal swam
between his legs from behind.  The east side of Cat Rock also had a
large sandy bottom area which was probaably a good place to look for
Halibut, but most of us had lobster on the brain.  The last dive
Saturday (dive 4) was on the Eastern end of Santa Cruz on the way back
to the harbor.  Not many lobster there, but there were scallops galore.

The temp was great compared to Monterey and the North Coast sites I
usaually dive.  I chased 10 or more lobster, caught 5, 3 were legal,
and all tasted great.  The most successful diver took home 11 bugs, the
biggest was a 10 pounder caught by a member of the Truth crew. Several
divers limited on scallops as well (10/day).

Great conditions, great food, great crew, awesome trip !!!

P.S. Story of the Truth leaving behind a diver is true, and the dive
master on that trip no longer works on the Truth or any of the Truth
Aquatics boats (Truth, Vision, Conception).

Happy diving...

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