11/01/08 - Dive boat to Santa Barbara Island - first dive

South of Sutil Island off of Santa Barbara Island, Calif. (Channel Islands)
Nov. 1, 2008
Logged dive: No. 18
Max depth: 80 feet
Bottomtime: 40 minutes

We had stopped at another site, but it was decided that the current was too strong there, so the boat moved to this site.

The divemaster gave some information on the site and then people were off.
MF and I got geared up and headed down the anchor line.
We went the way the divemaster suggested and found our way to the edge of a sea wall that dropped down to a little more than 100 feet. We did not dive quite that deep.
We got down to about 80 feet then headed up and did most of the dive between 50 and 60 feet.



The water was such a beautiful dark blue and visibility was amazing. From up around 60 feet I could see other divers at the bottom and the outline of a large ray. As tempting as it was to head down to see it, I stayed where I was.

There were some fish, but the real attraction was the sea wall. It was covered in all sorts of life, most of it small. The starfish below had legs thinner than my fingers. The other long, worm-like things in that picture are actually the legs of brittle stars. They are cool and creepy and just attach themselves to everything.

Here is the leg of a brittle star poking out from a hiding place. Creepy, but cool!

There were some giant stars clinging to things, then this tiny little guy. I am not sure what that is he is holding onto, but it was about the size of a grapefruit.

In addition to the stars, there was an abundance of sea urchins. Big, small, black, purple and red.

Here is another one of those brittle stars. They are just fascinating.

I took so many more pictures here, but not too many came out.

Since the underwater housing for my new camera is a leaker, I was using MF's camera, which does a pretty good job.

OK. One dive down, two to go!