D/V OCEAN ODYSSEY September 30, 2006 San Clemente Island
Day 1 of 4 with Dolphin Scuba Center

LOBSTER OPENER

With high hopes we departed San Diego last night primed to dive the fabled Cortes Bank on the opening day of lobster season. The weather report was not favorable and held true as high winds forced us to turn toward San Clemente Island just 30 miles short of our target.

All was not lost though as our hungry gang of lobster hunters scratched out a fairly decent day at the island that is widely known amongst the lobster hunters of SoCal as being "The land of the shorts." Our late afternoon and night dives were the most productive and found several of our divers returning to the boat with their one day limit (7) of those rascally red rabbits.

Considering the amount of wind we encountered just 20 miles to the southwest of San Clemente, we had a fantastic weather day with mild breeze and a very comfortable mix of sun and overcast. The seas were fairly calm, so much so that we spent the entire day on the windward side of the island diving areas that I had not been able to take a group of divers in many years. How it can be so calm here and so surly just 20 miles away is sometimes a mystery.

The water temperature on the windward side of the island is typically cooler than the leeward side, but was still a comfortable 64 degrees. I'm sure the water clarity was good today in the deeper sections of the kelp forest, but where we were looking for lobster the visibility was on average 15 - 25 feet.

In just a couple hours we will be on the move and will attempt to make it to Cortes Bank once again. The crossing tonight is only 45 miles from our anchorage and even though the weather report from bouys adjacent to the bank is not as friendly as we might like, we're going to make it to the bank and will try to put together a few dives in lobsterville!!

Stay tuned...

Adios,

Captain Greg

September 27, 2006 Guadalupe Island Shark Adventure,
Days 4 of 5 with San Diego Shark Diving onboard Ocean Odyssey

Howdy Shark Watchers,

Today was a textbook day at Guadalupe Island. Sharks jumping, turtles cruising, suntans burning...

Wait...did you say sharks jumping? Yup, twice today the Great White Shark impersonated Shamu. This occurrence is neither common nor uncommon, we will see a shark breach usually 1-2 times a season. One year we had sharks breach on almost every trip. Anyhow, we had good activity again today and now our divers are an old hat at this cage diving.

We have just weighed anchor and are heading back to our homeport of San Diego. It looks like it should be a smooth ride.

Captains Greg and Rick will be taking Ocean Odyssey out on Friday night for 4 days of fun filled lobster wrangling!! Stay tuned...

Signing off,

Captain Dina

September 25, 2006 Guadalupe Island Shark Adventure,
Days 2 of 5 with San Diego Shark Diving onboard Ocean Odyssey

Hi there Shark Divers,

We left San Diego on Sunday at 10:00am and had a perfect 215 mile ride to our destination of Guadalupe Island. Fair winds and a mild swell proved for a most enjoyable ride south.

We arrived at our dive site at 7:00am and had our first white shark just a couple hours later. We had a total of 2 different sharks today, but don't fear they did not disappoint us.

The first shark on site was a small to moderately sized female named Curly. Our second shark was the ever faithful Scar. Scar has been a resident of Guadalupe for many years and he is always a sight to see! These 2 sharks made the rounds until our cages were pulled at 6:00pm.

Our weather today was a balmy 82 degrees on deck and 71 degrees in the water. The sunscreen was lathered on thick today! Not a good day to wear that tan-through Speedo! Ouch...

Until tomorrow,

Captain Dina