Calm Seas at Farnsworth Bank

By on May 14th, 2008 in Archive

After two dives on Farnsworth we went closer to the island and dove Indian Head Point where we had a balmy 59°F at the surface dropping to 56°F at 70 feet. The visibility was low, approximately 10 feet but there was so much to see that it was not a problem. Swimming through the trunks of kelp was like walking through a forest at twilight in the mist. The kelp “trees” would appear out of nowhere and there were sea fans of multiple colours all over. Probably the most exciting part of the dive was the sea hares. Large, black and everywhere.

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Day 2 at San Clemente Island

By on May 13th, 2008 in Archive

Another great day of diving in the southern Channel Islands. Here is what I recorded in my personal dive log: Aquarium Reef – temp 56, vis 30 feet, breezy, 3 foot swell – lots of purple corralline algae and small amounts of purple hard coral. (Dive with Ian) Aquarium Reef – temp 56, vis 20 feet, breezy, 3 foot swell, Garibaldi NW Harbor – temp 55, vis 20 feet, light breeze, 1-2 foot swell – kelp forest, sea lions, nudibranchs. NW Harbor (twilight) – temp 55 vis 20 feet, calm, calm – blue shark, much more skittish than those we are used to in the Revillagigedo.

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California Channel Islands Scuba Diving Adventure – Day 1

By on May 12th, 2008 in Archive

Divemaster Tricia here. Captain Mike has pneumonia and had to go back to Vancouver. The “other” Captain Mike (Innes) is onboard. We left Ensenada yesterday afternoon after our guests were transferred down by luxury highway coach, steamed overnight and set the anchor at San Clemente Island this morning. This is my first time diving the California Channel Islands but the very able Captain Eric Kett (formerly of Truth Aquatics) is working dive operations and knows this area like the back of his hand. We dove Window Pane with its fabulous kelp forest. And then Pyramid Cove which was especially great with large schools of blue rockfish and lots of sea lions hanging around.

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Last Diving Day of Our 2007/2008 Socorro Revillagigedos Season

By on April 13th, 2008 in Archive

Over the two days all of our divers were able to have closer and more intimate interactions with a couple of giant manta rays than anyone imagined. Some divers saw a small school of 10 hammerheads and one lucky group of divers had terrific interaction with a dolphin who played for 5 minutes before taking off rapidly and leaping out of the water. The silvertip and Galapagos sharks were off the northeast end of the rock circling in and out of view. One of the Galapagos sharks looked like it is recovering from a nasty spear wound to the head. He has a large lump with a hole on the top right side of his head and a hole/scar on the bottom left side by his gills. The good news is that we saw him last trip as well and he seems to be recovering nicely.

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Kissed by a California Sea Lion in the Sea of Cortez

By on November 26th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Sea of Cortez

Sten reported that they started the trip off with a visit to Los Islotes and the resident population of California sea lion pups. The scuba divers let the sea lions chew on their fins, their wetsuits and one diver was even “kissed” on the mouth. The last dive of the day was on the wreck of the Fang Min – a Chinese fishing boat that was caught fishing illegally in Mexican waters, confiscated and then sunk as an artificial reef on November 17, 1999.

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Water Temperature Significantly Lower at 68˚F, Visibility 75ft

By on October 5th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Guadalupe

Interesting note from Mauricio Hoyos, our very, very excited Mexican shark scientist friend on station on Guadalupe: for only the second time in four years, a predatory white shark event was witnessed. It happened just before we arrived. Chicka, a huge and beautiful female great white shark, captured an elephant seal and literally bit it’s head off. This apparently started quite a sequence of events including some very aggressive fighting over the carcass between the sharks (maybe that’s why we are not seeing many sharks today?). Mauricio was quite close to the event in his panga (skiff) and was able to capture everything on video. In fact on two different occasions during the feeding, sharks literally attacked Mauricio’s panga. He later commented that never before has a 22ft fiberglass panga felt so flimsy!! This is indeed a very interesting development.

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