Posted by Ken Kurtis on December 22, 2000 at 14:08:21:
In Reply to: What's Santa Barbara Island like this time of year? posted by msblucow on December 22, 2000 at 10:46:41:
Personally, I love SBI ANY time of the year. We did a trip out there (also with Tim on the G.E.) on December 10 (and we're going back on 1/20, also with Tim). Obviously, conditions can have changed from then to now, but here's where we went and what we saw on 12/10.
Dive #1 - Black Caverns - TONS of sea lions. I think everyone has at least three or four surrounding them and at one point my student and I were froliking with a dozen (I counted). Water temp was a bit chilly. I showed 52º at 60', but others who went into the caverns at 100' swore they read as low as 47º. Vis was easily in the 60-80' range. Really nice dive as the flat area on top of the caverns is covered - every inch - with multi-colored brittle stars.
Dive #2 - The Arch - A few sea lions around and pretty good vis. Just a slight surge. If the sun had been out, this would have been spectacular. Hung under the arch with some schools of fish for a while and just bounced with the surge. Went through the arch and down the deeper back side. You can find purple coral there around 90' or so, though we didn't go that deep. Again the vis was pretty good and the water a tad warmer at 53º.
Dive #3 - Three Sisters - We had looked at the ocean side of Sutil but decided there was too much of a current. Water was up to 58º but vis dropped a bit to about 40'. Depending on where you dive this, you can have an interesting dive or a dull one. We headed off in a direction that took us through some pretty barren stuff so it wasn't our favorite site.
Dive #4 - The Rookery - This is a big place, but we dove it (as you're facing the island) near the right-hand corner cove. (Look for elephant seals on the beach in that area. bring binocs.) Rather than heading in towards shore (we figured we'd seen plenty of pinnipeds) we headed seaward, hoping to find some of the bat rays that sometimes congregate and mate in that area this time of the year. Didnd't spot any of them but had a good time going from fringe reef to fringe reef and examining each patch of life. Water temp was 57º and vis still around 40'.
Probably more info than you needed to know but hopefully helpful. SBI has some really wonderful diving but because it's such a small island, it's also more prone to being affected by wind/wave/weather conditions.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.