Join us on Saturday, June 26 when we visit Santa Barbara island on the Great Escape. This is an overnight trip and the nice thing about those is that you get some really good mingling time in with your fellow divers before we head off at 1:30AM. So when you get up in the morning, even the people you just met seems like old friends. This is a great time of the year to go to SBI as the water's not only warming up, but the sea lion pups are starting to get very active and curious. On a trip there a few years ago, about this time of the year, 100 pups gathered around the back of the boat waiting for us to enter the water. Loads of fun. We aim for four dives on these trips, plus you get your food and airfills, and a great time to be had as well, all for the cost of a boat ticket ($145). I think sometimes we don't appreciate what we have because I was talking to a guy in Bonaire a few weeks ago about a typical day of SoCal diving and what it cost for what you got and his first response was, "That's cheap." I think we sometimes lose sight of the value of our local dive trips. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to secure your spot.

We’re also getting very excited about our upcoming 5-day trip, also on the Great Escape, August 2-6. Basically, it’s going to present us with a unique opportunity to explore the Southern Channel Islands like never before. A lot of times we forget that we've got world-class diving right at our doorstep. We intend to take advantage of the luxury of a 5-day schedule to explore the best these islands have to offer. The general plan is:

SUNDAY NIGHT - Board, paperwork, briefing
MONDAY - Catalina (Italian Gardens, Ship Rock, etc.)
TUESDAY - Santa Barbara Island (Sea Lions & more)
WEDNESDAY - San Nicolas & Begg Rock (incredible diving)
THURSDAY - San Clemente Island (much to choose from)
FRIDAY - Farnsworth & Catalina backside (great way to end)

We’ll be back in San Pedro around 5PM on Friday. And we’ll structure each day to offer five (or maybe even six) dives with planned surface intervals that will allow us time to fill tanks, feed you, conduct fish IDs and look at photos, brief on the next dive site, and stuff like that. This is the same type of sked we run on foreign trips and when you think about it, this trip is really a week-long vacation without the need to get on an airplane to enjoy it. Total cost of the trip is $1249, which includes a $100/diver tip for the crew already built in. Also remember that this is a limited load, with no more than 20 paid divers onboard. There will also be four DMs, and six Great Escape crew. The trip is starting to fill but we’ve still got spaces available and would love to add your name. It’s shaping up to be a really great week diving the best SoCal sites in a leisurely and unhurried manner. Join in on the fun by calling us at 310/652-4990 and get signed up.