UTD Adventures, Catalina/Ship Rock in Los Angeles, CA

After scheduling this trip over a month ago I was looking in horror at the forecasts which indicated that a whole week of sunshine will get interrupted with a stormy weather on that very day we have out trip. Luckily it wasn't that bad - we had a very bumpy ride to the island, but once we anchored at Ship Rock everything calmed down. We had a mix of rec and tec divers on board, some scooters.

I sat out dive #1, due to certain fins being forgotten at home, and as people emerged back from their dive and I began hearing stories about stellar conditions I grew reasonably envious. But I can always count on Nick, who came from dive #1 completely flooded and we again had as many pairs of fins as divers on board.

Dive #2 (or #1) for me was a slow kick around a rock with 20min spent at 150-160 range. Visibility under 100 feet was at least 50 feet. It always puts me in awe to see cliffs of the ship rock towering above. Fish were plentiful, during our deco we immersed into a thick cloud of blacksmith and watched sealions snatching some of them away. We completed the circle swimming though the calm kelp forest.

Dive #3 Blue Caverns. This is protected site, with no anchoring allowed. Captn. Richard dropped us in and we followed the wall to numerous caverns of various sizes. Vis was in a 20-30 foot range, but rock structure made up for it. Gorgonians growing on a ceiling, thick and healthy kelp forest with big fish, Very relaxing an pleasant dive to wrap up a day.

Our way back to harbor was surprisingly smooth and sunny, given the rough ride in a morning.

Very good trip.