Bugs
Just got back from a three day lobster hunting expedition off the coast of Santa Barbara. I am exhausted, to say the least.
We had such a wonderful time though. We took the train to Santa Barbara on Thursday night. Got hosed by a taxi driver who turned a 1/4 of a mile ride into a $20 tab. Jerk. Loaded onto the boat and HammieLove headed off to the bunk right away, since he had been up since four in the AM for work. I stayed up and hung out with the guys and drank until about 1 in the morning.
Friday AM - we were off the coast of Santa Barbara Island, which is part of the Channel Islands. We suited up right away and hit the water. What beautiful scenery! The reef was covered with bright purple sea urchings. There were HUGE sea stars and really cuty sea slugs. HL and I were looking for lobsters and we actually saw a couple but they were too far back under rocks to grab.
We did three dives on Friday. We found one scallop but no lobsters, although I did hit my face on a sea urchin (OW!) trying to dig a bug(that's what lobsters are called -- bugs) out of its hole.
I slept real well on Friday night so Saturday, I was rarin' to go! HL had a really bad headache, so he only got two dives in. I ALMOST caught a lobster and it totally got me excited to dive, so every chance I had, I was in the water. I ended up doing SIX dives in one day (that's a lot). It paid off though because on my last dive, which was a night dive, I descended to 35 feet and the first thing I saw were two bugs sitting out on the sand! I chased one around a little bit and SLAM! grabbed him. My dive buddy and I got so excited while we were trying to put him in the bag that we actually shot up to the surface!
When we were swimming back to the boat, someone called out "Did you get any?" "Yes! I got one!" I screamed and the WHOLE. BOAT. CHEERED. It was so cool! I felt like I had just scored a touchdown. Everyone patted me on the back and congratulated me. It was awesome.
We got in two more dives on Sunday before we had to go back to port. On our way back, the captain steered us through this HUGE pod of porpoises. He drove around in circles while all the dolphins surfed the wake of the boat. It was a beautiful sight.
We got pictures and I will post some when I get them developed.
Just got back from a three day lobster hunting expedition off the coast of Santa Barbara. I am exhausted, to say the least.
We had such a wonderful time though. We took the train to Santa Barbara on Thursday night. Got hosed by a taxi driver who turned a 1/4 of a mile ride into a $20 tab. Jerk. Loaded onto the boat and HammieLove headed off to the bunk right away, since he had been up since four in the AM for work. I stayed up and hung out with the guys and drank until about 1 in the morning.
Friday AM - we were off the coast of Santa Barbara Island, which is part of the Channel Islands. We suited up right away and hit the water. What beautiful scenery! The reef was covered with bright purple sea urchings. There were HUGE sea stars and really cuty sea slugs. HL and I were looking for lobsters and we actually saw a couple but they were too far back under rocks to grab.
We did three dives on Friday. We found one scallop but no lobsters, although I did hit my face on a sea urchin (OW!) trying to dig a bug(that's what lobsters are called -- bugs) out of its hole.
I slept real well on Friday night so Saturday, I was rarin' to go! HL had a really bad headache, so he only got two dives in. I ALMOST caught a lobster and it totally got me excited to dive, so every chance I had, I was in the water. I ended up doing SIX dives in one day (that's a lot). It paid off though because on my last dive, which was a night dive, I descended to 35 feet and the first thing I saw were two bugs sitting out on the sand! I chased one around a little bit and SLAM! grabbed him. My dive buddy and I got so excited while we were trying to put him in the bag that we actually shot up to the surface!
When we were swimming back to the boat, someone called out "Did you get any?" "Yes! I got one!" I screamed and the WHOLE. BOAT. CHEERED. It was so cool! I felt like I had just scored a touchdown. Everyone patted me on the back and congratulated me. It was awesome.
We got in two more dives on Sunday before we had to go back to port. On our way back, the captain steered us through this HUGE pod of porpoises. He drove around in circles while all the dolphins surfed the wake of the boat. It was a beautiful sight.
We got pictures and I will post some when I get them developed.
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