Sole Searchers Newsletters

Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands with Catalina Conservancy

We dive regularly at Anacapa and Santa Cruz, and many times have looked at the island and wondered what it is like on land. When the Catalina Conservancy announced a trip to the islands for members we took the opportunity to find out. The trip left from the same harbor as the Spectre, but at the somewhat more civilized hour of 8 AM. The Island Packer boats are catamarans, faster but not necessarily more comfortable than the dive boats. The amazing part of the trip over was spotting a humpback whale. Unlike most whale encounters where one sees a couple of tail flips and a spout, this one stayed in the same place, as the boat got quite close then stopped. The whale was on the surface with us watching for at least 15 minutes, breaching repeatedly, turning on its back and raising flippers, splashing about. Finally the captain said we had to go or we wouldn’t have any time on the islands. The group broke up into guided hikes emphasizing geology, plants or animals. Andrea and I chose geology. We had both a National Park volunteer leader and a geologist from the Conservancy. We went to Santa Cruz Island first. Santa Cruz Island is the largest, and this is one of several landings. There is a remnant of the old ranch near the landing, which is next to the beach used by kayaking groups. Most of the natural flora is gone due to excessive sheep grazing for many years, just starting to recover, as the Park removes some of the non-natives. The sheep were taken off the island about 10 years ago. A fairly short, steep walk takes you to a beautiful spot overlooking one of the sea caves. After about 1 ½ hours of walking and learning about geology of the Channel Islands, we got back on the boat, and were served “gourmet box lunches” on the way over to Anacapa.

Anacapa is actually 3 separate islands, with access only to the eastern most of the chain. The landing is a tiny pier, then a climb of 153 steps up to the plateau. The island has a lighthouse, several old buildings from the original Coast Guard station, now a National Park visitor center. The whole area is only 100 acres. It is heavily covered with non-native ice plant, and very little native vegetation (there is some coreopsis). Views were incredible. The island is a nesting area for gulls, and this was the nesting season. The island was literally covered with gulls, nests, eggs and baby gulls. Most nests had 2 or 3 eggs, babies or a combination. Although adults are white, the babies are grey with black spots, quite “fuzzy”. We had instruction on the boat about how to avoid getting attacked by irate adult gulls. Some of them get quite upset when you walk near their nest. The squawk, try to do a fly-by and poop on your head, and ultimately are reported to whack heads with their feet or beaks. Surprisingly, the respond pretty well to holding up your hand, yelling “stop” or “off”. Better response than a dog…. We got squawked at but nothing more. All and all a very interesting day.

    Beach diving in Southern California is easy, fun and exciting. Clear, life-filled waters, and game (including lobster) are right in Southern California’s back yard. Southern California’s most outstanding beach dive sites—70 in all—are covered in the newly released book A Diver’s Guide to Southern California’s Best Beach Dives, 4^th Edition.

All information in this revised edition has been updated. Many new dive site chapters have been added. Inside, you will also find informative and entertaining sidebars on marine life, hunting, photography, beach diving techniques and more.

Dive sites covered were chosen for their consistently good conditions, quantity and quality of marine life, and ease of the dive. Site descriptions include native marine life, depths, skill level required, hazards, facilities, directions, important phone numbers, website addresses, and more. Detailed maps are included with many of the dive site descriptions. This 4^th edition has many stunning color photos. Also included are beach diving tips to make your excursion as fun and easy as possible.

A Diver’s Guide to Southern California’s Best Beach Dives, 4^th Edition is published by California Diving News, the foremost authorities in California underwater exploration. This guide is authored by Dale and Kim Sheckler, editors of California Diving News. It is the most extensive and detailed guide of its type available. Additional books from California Diving News include A Diver’s Guide to Monterey County and A Diver’s Guide to Northern California, both by Bruce Watkins.

A Diver’s Guide to Southern California’s Best Beach Dives, 4^th Edition is 6” X 9”, 156 pages with numerous color photos. The book is available at Western dive stores or by sending $24.95 to Saint Brendan Corporation, P.O. Box 11231, Torrance, CA 90510 or visit www.saintbrendan.com on the web. Dealer inquires call (310) 792-2333

Email mail@cadivingnews.com to request a review copy

Saturday June 14, Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach. Meet at the top of the stairs around 9 am.

We’ll take it nice and easy for our June beach dive. Shaw’s Cove is one of our favorite dive site that offers something for every skill level, a nice reef system and a crevice which runs through to Crescent bay. On a calm day, making your way through the crevice can be really beautiful with light rays shining down from the surface. It’s pretty shallow through the crevice, around 15 fsw., and there are sections with swim through. In the crevice you’ll find fish, lobsters, anemones, sponges, and sometimes a moray. Even if the conditions prevent us from diving through the crevice, the outer reefs at Shaw’s offers lots to see. With maximum depth reaching around 50 fsw. (you’ll have to really go to the farthest edge of Shaw’s for this). The entry at Shaw’s is from a sandy beach, and the cove is protected from most of the swells. There are no facilities here, but three blocks down at Crescent bay you’ll find a public restroom at the bottom of the path. There is only street parking, so please be courteous and mind not to block any driveways.

We’ll do a one tank, and then go have a burger somewhere.

Let me know if you’re planning on attending. Thanks

Here are links to more details of Shaw’s Cove

http://www.lagunapages.com/beach/default.asp
http://www.lagunaseasports.com/conditions/conditions.asp

Kaz

Harvey Schmiedeke is the Founder and Past President of the Sunken Treasures Society of Los Angeles (www.sunkentreasures.org) He is also a Senior Vice President and founding member of the newly reorganized California Ships to Reefs organization (www.CS2R.org).  He is a member and public speaker on the sustainable ecological and economic benefits of reefing retired war vessels for these organizations as well as for the Earth Organization http://www.earthorganization.org/.  By profession he is the founder and owner of Survival Strategies, Inc. www.survivalstrategies.com, an international consulting company specializing in management and marketing issues of privately owned professional practices and as such as consulted to more than 4,000 clients worldwide over the last 30 years. His interest in diving has spanned the last 15 years during which time he became certified by PADI, NAUI, TDI and is an active divemaster.  He also has technical dive experience in deep decompression diving, cave and wreck penetration and is a writer and underwater photographer and videographer. His diving has taken him to dozens of islands and countries of the world as far south as the equator and as far north as Northern British Columbia.  He owns and operates a boat from Long Beach, CA for frequent trips in Southern California and scouting potential “sink sites” for his organizations.  He can be reached at 818-276-1000, seachanger@ca.rr.com

Club meeting June 9
Scuba show June 21-22
Farnsworth Bank July 13
Picnic Beach August 30

http://www.localendar.com/public/solesearchers

On Saturday morning, we arrived at Woods Cove about quarter to nine, the sky was overcast, but the surf looked calm and inviting, so it definitely looked like a good day to dive Woods. Being the first one there, I took a walk down to the local Subway restaurant, and got a coffee to go. A quick mention, Subway also has a very clean restroom they’ll let you use. This is important since Woods Cove, or any of the near by coves do not have public restroom facilities.

On this day Lars and I buddied up, and knowing Lars having great air consumption (or lack of consuming any air), I knew we’d have a long and relaxing dive. We entered the water from the right hand side of the two huge rocks in the center of the cove. If you go to Woods Cove, you can’t miss them. We casually swam out to the farthest exposed rock, and dropped down to about 20 feet in murky water. When we reached the bottom, the vis must have been around 5-8 feet. We took a compass heading about 230 (S, SW) and started to head off to deeper water. Soon we found clearer water about 15-20 ft. vis and lots of animal life.

We found ourselves in the middle of a fish traffic jam with schools of blacksmith, Calico bass, sand bass, and some good size female sheep heads darting about. Of course, along with all the above mentioned fish, your ever present garibaldi zipped around protecting their territory. Being nesting time for the garibaldi, we found several guarded nests with their yellow eggs upon the patches of red alge. As I investigated the nests, I can hear that peculiar thud like sound made by the garibaldi to ward me off. I was truly amazed at the density of fish life here.

The outer reefs at Woods offer dynamic shapes. Some rocks jutting out and leaning at a 45 degree angle like some stage prop, with a bounty of life growing. On it, you’ll find lots of gorgonian fighting for space next to sponges, tunicates, and even some strawberry anemone.

Near the bottom edge of the reefs, where the rocks meet the sand, several lobsters hid in the cracks and holes. There you’ll also find brittle stars sharing the cracks with black-eyed gobies. Due to the reefs here being rather shallow, the colors comes alive when the sun starts to come out. Near the end of our dive, we still had 1500 psi, in our tanks, but felt satisfied enough to start our way back to shore.

Afterwards we all headed to Ruby’s and fed our face with milk shakes and burgers. Ah, what a great Southern California beach diving day. Thanks to Lars, Ceci, Ingrid, Max, and Seven. You were great company

Max depth: 43fsw
Bottom Time: 00:57
Water Temp: 60