Posted by Maciek on September 17, 2001 at 14:42:35:
Boat: Liberty
When: Sunday, stinkin' 7 am
Place: Anacapa
Dive one took place at the West End. That spot is rarely divable, because of current that blows west there. That was my first dive there and brothers and sisters it was a gorgeous one. Island submerges there into a water with long ridge which goes good 100 feet west under the surface until it dissolves in a sand. Both sides of the ridge are a rapid dropoff that vanishes in about 70 feet in a sandy bottom. Dropoffs are full of interesting crevices, boulders, canyons, stairways and are teaming with life. Sparse, but healthy kelp grows there and is home to many fishes and most importantly decent size scallops and fearless, legal lobsters. Three of them were so engaged in a fight over particulary cozy crevice, that I had a chance to have a really close look at them. Visibility was bitchin' - around 50-60 and whole site looked very much like a decent reef in Caribbean. That was definitely the best dive of the day.
For dive two Captn' Al parked the boat in Cathedral Cove. Sealions crowd there on the beach raising their newly born youngsters. The only problem was nasty 4 knot current that broke the anchor loose when half of the boat was in a water and it took quite a time to pick all the apples back on deck and reanchor. Dive was pretty shallow - we had sandy bottom at 27. I wasn't really thrilled with sealions there (I guess after experiencing swarm at Santa Barbara I'm spoiled), but waht was thrilling was absolutely thick and perfect kelp forest. Add to this sun ray twinkiling through the canopy and there you go - kelp diving at it's best. All that in less than 20 feet of water. Nothing beats swimming through and sudden eye to eye encounters with surprised locals. Of course I was hoping for a glimpse of giant black seabasses who live nearby, but that wasn't my time yet.
Due to current that picked up being quite strong, dive three was conducted in Goldfish Bowl, which is the last resort for all Anacapa boats, since it's almost always divable. Island's rocky walls slope there gently and vanish into a sand at 20-40 feet. Nothing grows there, but bottom is all littered with big boulders, cracks and lobster hideouts. Again, I had no problem locating more than five antennae pairs. We also met a 3 feet long horned shark pretending to be a rock and two big rockfishes of some sort. Guys on the other side of dive site spotted one moray eel. All was smooth and nice except for the anchor (bad anchor!) that got stuck for good 30 minutes.
Dive four was a throw of the stone east from Goldfish Bowl. Selton's (I'm pretty sure it's not the right spelling) Cave. Main attraction is of course big, underwater cave. It's entrance is actually visible from above and as it goes deeper into the island, ceiling lowers and finally vanishes under the surface. Bottom of the cave is flat in about 25 feet. I peeked inside and after waging my options decided to get back some time in couple oif years with light and training for a better exploration. Entrance itself is quite spectacular - it's behind the large rock with vertical walls, so it forms a big room with walls covered by corals, sun shining slighty through the top - nice. Outside there is a usual Anacapian stuff in plenty - pesky garibaldis and stinging urchins along with sea cucumbers and nudibranches.
That was a really nice day.
Maciek