{"id":5076,"date":"2019-09-23T12:54:19","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T19:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=5076"},"modified":"2019-09-24T05:28:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:28:34","slug":"diving-santa-barbara-island-two-day-two-night-live-aboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=5076","title":{"rendered":"Diving Santa Barbara Island! Two Day, Two Night Live Aboard!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 20, 2019*<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s time for a vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been slaving away at my new job, pretty much done liquidating my Father’s estate and am done with a bad business decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What fit my budget was the super two-night, two-day dive package to Santa Barbara Island, Sutil Island and Catalina Island offered by ECO Dive Center.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though their website stated that there were 11 spots left, I had to call to reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called and was told that I just got the last spot; I guess these trips go fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was asked if I was an Advanced Diver and if I had night diving experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started to brag about how macho I am – lobster hunting, almost two decades of diving… I guess I passed his interview, as he shut me up pretty quickly to get my credit card number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazingly enough, my card was not declined!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One part of their website stated that we would meet at the Pacific Star<\/a> at 8 PM, another page said 9 PM and that we would have a “social hour” at the bar until 11 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was anxious after getting all my dive gear together; I could not rest, so I ended up arriving at 22nd Landing around 6 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After figuring out the difference between The Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club <\/a> and the 22nd St. Landing Seafood Grill and Bar<\/a>, I arrived at the cheaper place to slam a few back and wait for the boat to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The bar was quite crowded, but I was able to get a spot at the “cool” table; but I was the only person there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For maximum annoyance and to torture their accountant, their Budweiser beers were priced at $6.02.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sipped on two King Of Beers until 7 PM and went to the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showing up early had no consequence on what bunk I was to get as they were already assigned, but the guy from ECO was not there yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was told that I could load my gear in the boat, if I hauled it down, but I did not have a bunk as of yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s exactly what I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 8:30 PM, Jake from ECO arrived, and I checked in, was given a lower bunk at the bow, signed my life away and decided to kill the rest of the evening hanging out at the bar to get properly plowed so I could get some sleep on the way to Santa Barbara Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ordered some Calamari and Cape Cods – the Calamari arrived faster than the drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cape Cods and Some Calamari.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
I still look pretty macho.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I came to find out, that the bar closes at 9:30 PM; that was a good thing, otherwise I would be broke if I sat there until 11 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 9:45 PM, they threw me out and I made my way back to the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a briefing given by … I think it his name is Elwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hot topic was, NO CHARGING BATTERIES IN THE BUNK ROOM!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO CHARGING BATTERIES AFTER 10 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they find a device plugged in, unattended after 10 PM, they will unplug it and give it to the Captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want your device back, you have to go and talk to the Captain and explain why it was plugged in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I partied with my fellow divers, who brought some sissy craft beer; nobody wanted Budweiser – the King Of Beers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Nick, Sergei, Jake and Tony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around 11 PM, I was well ready to pass out and wake up at our destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made it to my bunk, and passed out next to my Spare Air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More to come, a lot of dives, and too much to post all at once, so stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a preview of the first Dive on Santa Barbara Island: Training Tiny The Sea Lion To Attack <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Due to lack of internet access, and too much to do to write while it is happening, there has been a delay in these posts. Pretend you are in 1990.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 20, 2019* It’s time for a vacation. I have been slaving away at my new job, pretty much done liquidating my Father’s estate and am done with a bad business decision. What fit my budget was the super two-night, two-day dive package to Santa Barbara Island, Sutil Island and Catalina Island offered by ECO […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,23,9,27,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5076"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5086,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076\/revisions\/5086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}