Dive July 14 2002

Channel Islands - Santa Cruz

Looking to expand our diving experience Hank and I looked into diving at the Channel Islands. We had originally planned to go in January but Hank's wife became bed ridden during the 4th month of pregnancy.

There are 7 Islands that lie off the coast of California near Los Angeles.

The Channel Islands compromise five most northern and are a designated National Park.

You can travel out of either Santa Barbara or Ventura, since Santa Barbara is a much nicer place to stay, Stacey and the kids and I drove down. The designated concessionaire for the park from Santa Barbara is Truth Aquatics.

We were booked on The Truth, with a hunting expedition from SLO Ocean Currents out of San Luis Obispo. We arrived on boat at around 9:30 PM at night and stowed our gear and got settled in our bunks.

Most of the good spots for the gear were taken already.

Here are the luxurious bunks.

We hung out talking to some of the other divers on board for an hour or so and then got settled down and fell asleep around 11 PM Hank and I were both nervous about sleeping on the boat, he had bought a huge big generic bottle of Dramamine, we both took two pills around 9 PM We departed out of the harbor at 4 AM for San Miguel Island. While your theoretically asleep you can't help but notice the departure, the diesel engines roar and the rhythmic thump crash of the rough seas. By 5 AM I was nauseous and I could feel it coming on. Around 5:30 AM I rush out on deck and barf over the side. Immediately I felt much better and went and laid back down. Sleep is a over generous description for the next couple of hours. By 7 AM I could feel other necessities coming on. We began to slow down and arrive at our dive destination around 7:30, due to rough water conditions we had aborted San Miguel and headed for the most western tip of Santa Cruz, Fraser Point.

This is what the morning looked like.

Hank had slept clear through the night and I woke him up at about 20 to 8. He was bouncing around getting ready, eating a bagel, he offered me a banana and a bottle of water. With the first sip of water and bite of banana I knew my bout with sea sickness was not over. I ended up throwing up in the bathroom and having diarrhea as well. We anchored at Fraser Point, the current was very strong. Divers started entering off the bow line. Our gear was stored up in the bow as well so while folks entered the water I attempted to get my gear on. As I sat on the bench each time I bent down to grab my next piece of gear a new wave of nausea swept over me. I jumped up and threw up over the side again. By now it was obvious that I wasn't going to be diving on the first dive and Hank had started getting nauseous himself. The dive ended up pretty much a wash anyway. The current was so strong many people couldn't even get into the water and reach the anchor line. The zodiac skiff had to go out and pick several people up a couple of hundred yards off the backend of the boat. A fellow diver asked if I had taken any motion sickness pills, I said yes Dramamine, which he told me wears off after 4 hours, and me some meclizine (Antivert) so I took one.

Divers getting ready to go hunting.

We pulled anchor and headed towards smoother waters, as we went I was still feeling pretty sick, very weak and very tired and I told Hank that I was out of it and not gonna be diving today and he should try to hook up with some of the other divers. As we neared Painted Cave and pulled into a nice cove the water was flat like glass and we dropped anchor right next to the cliffs. As the waves stopped my spirits picked up and while weak I suddenly felt ready to dive. Hank and I got our gear on and jumped in the water. From there we ended up continuing to dive in small coves close to the island.

The last dive was the best. Hank and I headed for the cliff wall, and found a nice swim through that lead to a narrowed sheltered inlet off the cove. The depth was around 30 feet, the water was much warmer, the sun was shining beautifully through the aquatic plant life and the large schools of fish. We back through the swimthrough around the inside of the cove to another fishing boats anchor and then made our way back to The Truth's stern anchor.

Here is the cove we dove in for our last dive.

The cave like opening in the cliff face is where the swimthrough is located.

Here is another shot of the cove and the boat that we ended up swimming under.

We pulled anchor and headed back for the harbor a 2 or more boat ride. Gratefully I didn't feel any sickness the whole way back and I even took an hour nap on the way back.

I am trepedacious about returning, but looking forward to it as well.