The Rookery
Santa Barbara Island, CA off of the Sundiver Boat

Dove with Nick

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 25 feet
Waves: Insignificant and not much current here
Visibility: 30 feet
Water Temperature: Cold
Total Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Notable Event: Annoyed by hundreds of Sea Lions

From what I understand, this is usually reserved for the last dive since it’s so shallow.

There’s a lot more kelp than the last dive and literally tons of sea lions.

Basically, all we did was screw around with the sea lions – I believe sea lions have ears and seals don’t.

This was a relatively shallow dive – 25 feet at the most.

We were constantly bombarded with sea lions.

They swam right toward us and then turned away at the last second.

Nick almost gets hit by a sea lion.

Sea Lions swap spit.

Reconnaissance scouts the attack target.

Nick is dive bombed by vicious sea lions.

A nearby diver is almost dealt a fatal blow by a dive bombing sea lion.

We surfaced to try and swim back to the boat and escape…

…but the sea lions blocked our surface exit.

The Sea Lions continued to attack…

Nick found that by giving a few blasts of air on his BCD jacket, the noise would scare them away.

We barely escaped death!

The sea lions are pretty much fearless.

I swear they were actually posing for some of the pictures.

Nick had trouble equalizing toward the end.

Going back to the boat, I noticed that most of the divers were very close to the boat still – basically entertaining themselves with the sea lions.

This apparently is a marine preserve.

According to the captain, “you can’t even take sand here.”

Three Sisters, Santa Barbara Island, CA
Diving off of the Sundiver Boat

In With: 2700 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Insignificant, but a strong current
Visibility: 40 feet
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes

Dove with Nick and 15 other guys and hot chicks.

We showed up four hours before the boat was to leave to scout out a good sleeping spot and then went to party at Buster’s.

The waitress comes over and offers to take our picture.

She was really hot, so how could I refuse.

And to prove she was hot, I decided to fulfill every bartender’s fantasy…

…and have Nick snap a picture of her and one of her customers in an increasingly intoxicated state.

After being thrown out of the crew bunk (the only single) and apparently making a drunken stink about it (I don’t really remember, but Nick does), I was thrown in to the common man’s sleeping quarters and the boat left at midnight.

The boat arrived off of “Arch Point” at about 5:30 AM.

They waited for sunrise and made breakfast.

The boat then moved to “Three Sisters.”

Gearing up, I had to borrow a second stage from my rig and attach it to Ed’s rig.

None the less, I was still the first in the water.

Nick is so tall, he just has to step off the boat.

Swimming to the anchor line was a chore.

Nick and I both had our cameras.

An octopus.

A green anemone.

A sea snail on kelp.

A sea star!

The environment reminds me of White Point; lots of sea urchins, star fish, an octopus and some kelp.

Going towards shore, we were stalked by some sea lions.

Coming back to the boat, we saw a Pacific Electric Ray – I didn’t know it at the time, but Nick waved me off of my pursuit.

He later told me that they can become aggressive and shock you.

Thanks Nick!

Finally buddy diving has paid off for me.

Everyone was out of the water by 9:15 AM.