Recently while on a submerged cultural resource survey with the National Park Service just prior to DEMA, we were doing some work at Santa Cruz Island when the AIS (automatic Identification system) warning went off indicating a vessel coming into our area. AIS is a program by the International Maritime Organization’s SOLAS rules that mandates the fitting of such identification equipment on ships over 300 tons and all passenger ships and is required on most government vessels as well. A quick look at the data screen showed that we were being graced with a paparazzi-quality visitor not just another NYK line container ship.
Octopus was in the channel!

Octopus, Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen’s 416-foot long yacht was cruising at a leisurely 17 kts through the Anacapa Passage. Octopus, currently the 12th largest yacht in the world is equipped with two helicopters, two submarines, a swimming pool, a music studio and a basketball court. Coming around the west end of Santa Cruz it looked like a cruise ship.
Since we were down two crew on this trip and had excess supplies, we gave some though to inviting him over for dinner, but then someone pointed out the IPod playing music, the IPads we were using for notes and documentation and a couple of IPhones amongst our crew. We were not sure how he might respond to the use of a competitor’s product and whether he was the type who would be upset and carry a grudge. We decided to pass on the invite. No one was positive whether his subs carried torpedoes.

Incidentally, conditions on the northeast end of Santa Cruz were excellent. Visibility in the 30 to 60-foot range and bottom temps at 61°
Stay wet.
Patrick