We depart at 2 AM, our charter group: Ocean Safari Dive Shop out of Monrovia, California. The original plan was to head to San Nicolas for a Begg Rock dive, but unfortunately the weather looks a bit too rocky for that. The chartermaster informs us that the new plan is to dive the west and south side of Santa Cruz. I for one am not disappointed, I love Santa Cruz. It’s the largest of all the channel islands and there are so many beautiful and fascinating places to dive I could spend my whole life there. I have a special place in my heart for the southwest end, there’s a whole area of rock wall that goes on for at least two miles that’s just teeming with life.
The guests boarded at 10 PM. After I checked them all in, we settle in and I can catch an hour or two of sleep before we cast off. I always enjoy the slow crawl out of the harbor in the middle of the night on these multiday trips. Something about watching the lights of the harbor shrink further and further away as we enter the maw of the blackness of the sea, with hardly even any starlight to guide us. As we get further out the world opens up and on clear, moonless nights you can even see the milky way, but no such luck this trip.
My first mulitday trip I worked night watch, which meant my shift started at 9 PM and went to 6 AM each day. For hours that first night I sat up on the bow, looking up at the stars. At about 3 AM the bioluminescence really came out to play – every splash against the hull hinted of rainbows. It was on this night I got the most special sight of all – dolphins swimming under the bow, gliding through the bioluminescence, making them appear as if they were made of light. It was an awe-inspiring moment. The world we live in is such a spectacular place, from the largest mountain down to the smallest veins on each leaf. I am thrilled and breathless at the sight of it all. Humans could never hope to achieve art as beautiful as what surrounds us every day.
We arrive at Gull Isle around 7 in the morning. On our crew I am lucky enough to have someone who worked full time on the boat for over a decade before he went on to bigger and better things. He’s come out because he’s good pals with the owner of Ocean Safari, and so I know I’m very solid for the day. If I get in a scrape, I know he’ll have my back. The second captain comes down for the second dive and asks if I’d like to get in. Are you kidding? Absolutely!
I’ve never gotten to dive this spot and it’s really very striking. Gull Isle is just a tiny rock just on the southwest end of the island. Cormorants are ironically the species sitting on the top of it, sunbathing. The sun is in full force this morning, not a cloud in the incredibly vibrant turquoise sky. A color so bright you can’t help but sit up and take notice.
I start off at the bow hook in about 70 feet. There is so much wildlife here! Rubber-lipped perch, black perch, opaleye, as well as the usual suspects in California waters – sheephead, calico, blacksmith and urchins. I swim through a healthy school of blacksmith, their little spots more noticeable as the sun hits them even at this depth. The weather above is so clear today that 70 honestly looks like 20 feet. Sunbeams are hitting the taller rocks around me.
I examine where the hook is sitting – it’s in a perfect position on the back side of a large boulder, so as soon as tension is released is should be able to be picked up easily. My favorite kind of pull! I head back north towards the island itself, where there are many interesting taller boulders with small canyons that expose the sandy floor. Every now and then I spot a bunch of purple hydrocoral, the only native coral California can boast of. It’s a beautiful shade of lavender that makes it impossible to mistake it for anything else.
I swim up to the shallows just near the island where the surge is strong. Above my head I can see it frothing and swirling around as it lands in a crevasse. I never have to do deep dives to enjoy myself, all my favorite ones have been in less than fifty feet. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to breathe underwater and not be hurried out of this amazing environment. It’s the closest to having a superpower I’ll ever get and I couldn’t be happier about that.
We have a pretty great day of heading east along the south end of Cruz until nightfall. After dinner I break out the old ukulele and jam a little bit, we do a singalong of Take me Home, Country Roads. When I lie down for the night I’m filled with gratitude for the rest but also a safe day for our divers.