Jim Rosenburg, Jim Lobb and I drove up to Ventura Saturday to join Scott Gietler and a great group of photographers, and headed out to Gull Island on Santa Cruz.

The conditions looked great at the beginning of the day, with sun and small swells.

On the first dive at Gull Island the beginning of the dive was great with 30-35 ft vis and a great spot(one of Scott’s favorites ) but towards the end of the dive, I noticed the kelp was angled down at a 45º.

There wasn’t much current at depth, but I decided to surface with about 1100 psi just in case. This turned out to be a good idea. I surfaces about 75 ft off the starboard side of the boat, and by time I kicked towards the swim step, the 5-6 knot current carried me about 10 ft behind the boat and I grabbed the current line. The Zodiac was trying to assist a diver by dragging her as she held on to the bow and it drove in reverse, and the driver said he would be right back, just hold onto the line. This was difficult in the strong current . The zodiac wasn’t getting closer to the boat, and I have no idea why he didn’t just pull the diver onboard, and then assist the other four or five divers on the line. I started kicking and pulling as hard as I could with little effect, because I had the camera, and all the gear. I considered ditching weight, but the zodiac was supposed to be right back, so I decided to just hold on and rest until it returned.

It never did.

The boat crew was trying to pull the current line with four or five divers on it and the captain of the boat had jumped in and was assisting divers, and he came to me and helped with a buddy tow . Between the two of us, and the crew pulling on the line we made it back .

MUCH THANKS TO HIM !!

Meanwhile, other divers were having issues of their own. Jim R had surfaced with plenty air also, but had assisted a diver by taking her camera because she was exhausted. This caused him to have to hang on without both hands on the line and he soon ran out of air, needing to switch to his BRAND New pony !

Luckily he was closer and finally made it back to the boat.

After all the divers were safely back onboard, we headed around the island to a more protected site, and then for the third dive, the boat moved about 150 ft to get a little different spot. For the fourth site they found a nice cove with some good structure and we had a decent dive.

Even with the excitement of the first dive (which was a good dive while it was a dive)
I had a great time !!

Below are some pics:

http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b288/sddiverdude/santa%20cruz%203-7-2010/

Used with Permission/All Rights Reserved 2010

Angel sharks are an unusual genus of sharks with flattened bodies and broad pectoral fins that give them a strong resemblance to skates and rays. The 16+ known species are in the genus Squatina, the only genus in its family, Squatinidae, and order Squatiniformes. They occur worldwide in temperate and tropical seas. Most species inhabit shallow temperate or tropical seas, but one species inhabits deeper water, down to 1,300 metres (4,300 ft).

While the forward part of the angel shark’s body is broad and flattened, the rear part retains a muscular appearance more typical of other sharks.

Although they are not normally aggressive, they do bite when stepped on or handled. If they are left alone they will not attack.

Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_shark

The Hawaiian Bobtail Squid, Euprymna scolopes, has a clever way of duping predators during its nightly activities.

It uses a symbiotic luminescent bacteria, Vibrio fischeri, to light up its underside, so that upwards-looking predators don’t see a dark, edible form silhouetted against a moonlit or starlit sky. Instead, hungry sharks or other fish see only sky. The squid is invisible.

See here for photos and more: http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=13748095621