santa cruz island, channel islands 5/18-5/19

well we made our trip to SCI and it was beautiful there. water was calm but the wind is strong. we paddled south of scorpion bay and found scallops and calico bass. we speared the first day and second day we kayak fished.

first day we got a 22" cabezon, plate size scallops and fat calico bass , octopii,  looked for halibut in the sand channels and snorkeled through sea caves which was nice. gimongous bat rays and lots of garbaldis to see too. the water reminded me of croatia, real clear and full of urchins.

we had ceviche on the mind so we headed to the cliffs south of little scorpion where we anchored and dove into cold deeper waters for some large sheephead. got a nice large one for the ceviche that night before heading upwind back to camp. it was brutel paddling for me. i am pretty out of shape.

saw some large lobster walking about and small lobster under ledges.

overall the place is wonderful with pinnacles all over and a lot of life. lots of invertebrates to see and the water was so clear. i found my scallops by cruising the surface. these scallops were just sitting between the rocks on the bottom, i just dove down and picked them up.

second day we kayak fished south of little scorpion and i got ocean whitefish. i let it go because it was pretty small. the wind came up and we paddled in and went to camp. next morning we came home!

i would love to go again: )

I'm glad you had a good trip! I agree the ocean conditions out there can be, um, challenging.
All this talk of scallops is making me hungry!

some photos for your viewing pleasure, practiced lobster diving with my wife too!

Cool report of an awesome trip!  And the wife lobster dives!   

....if we had lobsters here in our coast, I'd be diving for 'em right now....wearing nothing but my grape smugglers (speedos) 

....if we had lobsters here in our coast, I'd be diving for 'em right now....wearing nothing but my grape smugglers (speedos) 

hey mooch, here are a few places people have seen / taken lobster:

linda mar beach south

they have seen them at:

carmel / out of stillwater cove
north monastery
breakwater monterey

2 years ago some friends and i went to palos verdes and dove for fish. around every rock and in every hole i saw decent sized lobsters. the bigger ones seemed more bold than the little ones too. it was off season unfortuntely.

i also did a night dive at the mission bay jetty and scored good lobster there at night. the lobster just walk around and you just swim by and pick em up. i wish we had a place like that here.

john

i wish we had a place like that here.

yeah - no kidding 

John, Did you camp at Cruz? Go out there via island packers? Where did you stay? That bug is hefty!

linda mar beach south

Mooch is always hammering on me how he wants to dive Linda Mar.

John, Did you camp at Cruz? Go out there via island packers? Where did you stay? That bug is hefty!

linda mar beach south

Mooch is always hammering on me how he wants to dive Linda Mar.

hey there granite! yes we went via island packers and it was a nice ride out. it was amazing to be on the island and just to be away from the mainland. the camp is a little ways in for hauling gear but we were in the closest camp sites so it was a little easier for us. we brought kayaks which stayed om the beach and i used my kayak cart to transport my junk. the walk feels long after a few runs though. i recommend traveling with as little as possible.

we paddled out of the main cove and wouth a bit to where we could hunt and it was good but i think the other side of the island is better for hunting. this area was an urchin barren.

ron paddled to yellowbanks, 3.5 hours each way and dove for an hour. hes hardcore, i stayed close to scorpion because i was feeling lazy.

we had octopus, scallops, calico and sheephead ceviche for dinner and i only took what i could eat there. the lobsters we practiced grabbing on and it was fun. lots of life there in some areas but no pelagics where we were.

i would love to do it again but want to be able to camp on the beach somewhere.

are you gonna go? : )

john

Nice recap and pics John!  That sounds like a great trip.

And your friend Ron, paddling 3.5hrs each way, is a level WAY beyond hardcore!

Stuart

....if we had lobsters here in our coast, I'd be diving for 'em right now....wearing nothing but my grape smugglers (speedos) 

me too (except for the speedo part)...

NICE!! I've been wanting to do such a trip for a while. Maybe next year!
The scallops are nice. My favorite raw seafood. They have a very nutty and sweet taste. I found some free diving north of Salt Point. Not many and certainly not as big. But there are some to be had locally.

I was diving off of anacapa w/ a professor from Cal Poly.  He popped a scallop underwater- cleaned it, took out his regulator and ate it, after I turned down his offer. 

Now thats fresh fish!!

NICE!! I've been wanting to do such a trip for a while. Maybe next year!
The scallops are nice. My favorite raw seafood. They have a very nutty and sweet taste. I found some free diving north of Salt Point. Not many and certainly not as big. But there are some to be had locally.

i popped a couple and ate them when i got hungry. what a treat!

the rest went back to camp for dinner: )

i wish i had more trips like this. work always gets in the way!!