I went out on the Bottom Scratcher for the first time yesterday and had a great day. The weather was perfect despite predictions of rain, and the ocean was glassy with very little swell. Perhaps erroneous forecasts were the reason there were only 11 divers on-board for Sunday’s trip compared to the 33 reported from the day before, but whatever the reason it was a real treat to have all that space to move around.

We arrived at Ship Rock to find all the best spots already taken so we motored over to Bird Rock where we did two dives. Visibility was probably about 60’ and the water was about 66 degrees over the reef and didn’t seem much colder at the bottom of the wall we were on. We found a Bat Ray with about a 3’ windspan. He was a little disturbed by us and took flight but circled back around behind us as we passed and returned to his spot. At the very end of the dive I finally saw one of those Black Jellyfish that have been in the area. I saw him a good 30 feet away just a few feet from the bottom of the Scratcher;s Hull and swam over to get a better look. His bell was about 8” in diameter. He was cool.

For the 3rd dive we moved over to Isthmus Cove Reef and dove down the wall next to the marker pole. Visibility off the end of the reef was only about 30 feet and we passed through 2 thermoclines. The low temp was 59 degrees. We saw many lobsters but only a few legal looking specimens. I also found one hole shared by tiny little shrimp, blue banded gobies and another small red and crème banded fellow about as big as the gobies.

The Bottom Scratcher kept us well fed with hot food all day. I counted four meals and one snack. We also got to hear a little bagpipe before our first dive.