It seems that the posting have been a little slow lately. Instead of complaining about it. I’ll make a dive report posting.

On a moment of inspiration, and a phone call from Mike Bartik, Linda and I jumped aboard the Spectre for a 3 tank trip to Anacapa yesterday. We were a little concerned of the conditions due to the Santa Ana winds. But, it was a flat uneventful crossing. You could see the smoke being blown to sea from the Malibu fire. Our first dive was at Landing Cove. I came across a small cave. I’ve seen caves with lots of small lobster in them, I’ve seen caves with lots of legal lobster in them. Never have I seen a cave with lots of 6+ lb’ers in them. When I got back to the boat, I had to asked the crew if they were positive that this was a reserve!! If not I could jump back in and get a 6 lb lobster for everyone on the boat. And this comes from a guy who hung up his killing gear for a video camera. This cave did provide a great photo-op. Two LARGE alpha male sheephead came into the cave and started sparing, right in front of my camera. If I get one good video clip per trip, it’s a great trip. That was it!

On the second dive with went to the backside and dove the ‘Slots’ when, I got some nice clips of a Triopha catalinae feeding. A lot of different nudibranchs were spotted here. Other highlights: a harbor seal swimming through the kelp, I missed the sleeping bat rays right under the boat.

Third dive was just out to sea at ‘submerged reef’. Here the current and wind were picking up.

What was really special about this trip was that I was finally able to try my new Eric Sedletzky ‘Freedom Plate’. I configured it as per Eric’s instructions with a Oxycheq Signature wing. This was set up on my LP95. I was almost to the point of getting rid of these unweilding baby water heaters. With Eric’s plate, I could stand up straight, it didn’t pull me over backwards or want to roll me underwater, I was swimming around like I had a 72 on. The tank seemed like it was bolted to my back and almost an extension of myself. The strangest think is, on a prior test dive at Shaw’s, I removed 6 lbs. and I was still heavy in 5 feet of water. For this trip I removed an additional 2 lbs and was still heavy. I like being a little heavy while doing video, but I may have to remove a couple more pounds. I guess my old BCD must have floated with no air inside. I also met the other Walt from this board. He was also trying out his new Freedom plate. He seemed likewise impressed. Thanks Eric for alleviating a great pain in my back.

Walter Marti

• Re: Quicky Dive Report + Freedom Rave Eric S 19:08:43 11/25/07 (1)
  • I'll second that! Walt 21:18:07 11/25/07 (0)