Before we left the dock on Friday night the weather report wasn't pretty so everyone was prepared for a rough ride to San Clemente Island. To our enjoyment it was a nice smooth ride that allowed everyone to get a decent nights sleep.

As the sun rose, San Clemente was just peaking over the clouds.  I took a quick look at Pyramid Cove and opted for the leeward side at Fishhook.

I anchored the boat so the stern was near the wall of the site and after breakfast we all met on the back deck for a quick site briefing and the pool was open!

Everyone returned with good stories about the dive but the visibility was a little off so I decided to move the boat and look for another site with better water.  Even with the visibility being a little off, the divers reported seeing a small torpedo ray.

We moved around to Pyramid Cove for the second and third dive to a site called Twin Peaks. I anchored up the boat and opened the gates up after another quick site briefing.

As the passengers returned they informed me that the visibility was much better so I made the power decision to stay here for another dive. A great feature of this dive site is that you can go one way down the wall for the first dive and another way for the second. During the dives people saw a couple soupfin sharks, more torpedo rays, abalone, and a giant black seabass. Very early for a seabass to be in the neighborhood and very exciting! They typically arrive on scene late June.

As the day was coming to an end the sun was still shinning and a slight breeze was starting to blow.  We unfastened ourselves from the site and headed back towards San Diego. On our way back we happened upon the leviathan... blue whales and a pod of common dolphin. Always fantastic to spend time with cetaceans, especially blues!

This trip was short and sweet, but we still managed to pack in a full day of diving! We'll be out next weekend so stay tuned for more adventures from the wheelhouse of Horizon!
 

Till next time,
Captain Spencer