Channel Islands (non-kayak) Lobster Trip

This is a synopsis of my recent trip (Oct. 6,7,8) on the dive boat Peace out of Ventura:
Day One: Front side of Santa Rosa Island, Talcott Shoals and nearby; shallow diving (6-20'), crappy viz (1-2'), bugs everywhere!
Day Two: Same location; swell and wind picked up, so we had to dive a little deeper, little to no bugs. Took my first underwater photos with my little Olympus in murky, surgy conditions:
 Anenome

Rock fish
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/albums/album23/PA070018.sized.jpg
Scallop
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/albums/album22/PA070020.sized.jpg
Since we were getting no lobster, we motored for three hours mid-day over to the back side of Santa Rosa Island, where there were less than ideal conditions due to a south-swell. Ended up at back of Santa Cruz Island for the night anchorage and dive.
I got in too close to shore on the night dive, my weight belt came off and I popped up in 8' of water without being able to hold on to it (managed to hold on to my light and lobster bag). I got "Maytagged" a bit in the surf zone and had to climb over some rocks to get out. A bit scary. After getting back out to deeper water, I didn't want to abort the dive because I'd seen lots of bugs in the first ten minutes (grabbed three shorts). So I found a pinnacle near the surface, kicked like mad to it, and pulled myself down on the seaweed. Once I was at the bottom, I picked up a bowling-
ball sized rock and carried it in one hand and my light in the other and managed to grab and bag 2 legal bugs, though I missed a couple of nice ones too. Kicked back to the boat face up gazing at the Milky Way. Life is good...
Day Three: Back side Santa Cruz. We did two 80-100' dives, pretty good bug count. Then 2 dives at "Yellow Banks" where I freedove for fish with the big-boy speargun. Lousy conditions, wind and current, but I managed to glimpse one small (10-12#) white sea bass. Saw me first.
Final count: 21 bugs, bunch of scallops, 2 calico bass, and LOTS of fun!
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/albums/album45/PA090024.sized.jpg

Granite:

You forgot your image tags...fixed it for ya!  Great pics!

nice pics Rich....boy, you're lucky I don't know where you live...cause I'd be on your front door with a plate full of rice begging for leftover bugs  

Way to go Rich.  Sounds like a lot of fun.  You must have some great recipes for those bugs.

Jason

Thanks for posting the nice pics.

Joel - There are no leftover bugs   (I don't think)
Jason - Our favorite recipes are shrimp recipes (done with lobster) from the Paul Prudhome cook book - Creole and Etoufee  The secret is the rich lobster broth - yum yum yum, delicioso!
Sean - Thanks for fixing (and complimenting) the pics

Very cool.  Your camera worked out well.  I'd really like to be able to document stuff down on the bottom, but that's a pretty expensive upgrade at the moment.

You should get in on the ft ross trip this weekend.  Going to be awesome.

Promethe -
Olympus Stylus 410 Digital - $200 @ Costco
Housing ~ $118 at Inoax (online)
Compared to pre-digital days, that's way cheap. Most Oly underwater photographers use a 5050 or something like that. I didn't want to spend much 'cause most of my time in the water is spent shooting with a bit more lethal implement  
I'm planning on diving the north coast this weekend, but I can't make it up 'till Sunday. Hope y'all aren't too hungover by then...  

Granite,
Nice looking kids you got there.  The lobster don't look nearly as cute, but they sure as hell look yummy!!!

Stuart

Hay Rich,

That's some good & gutsy night diving after losing your weight belt, and it's a good thing some poor guy conveniently lost his bowling ball in the vicinity.  But I already know that you are a wild & crazy diver.

Thanks Stuart, that's the best compliment yet.
Mike, wish you were there, you turkey (killer).