May 15, 2005
Trip Report and Photos
San Clemente Island
with Scuba World on the Encore

Story and Photos © Elaine Jobin. May not be reproduced in part or in whole without advanced written permission.

On Sunday May 15, 2005 I made a trip to San Clemente Island on the Encore with Scuba World.

I haven't been on the Encore in several years. Except for new crew, the boat looked just as I had remembered it. Everything looked clean and well maintained, the woodwork was shiny, and not to escape mention - there are THREE bathrooms on this boat. Pierpoint Landing where the Encore is berthed is also notable for the local attractions and night life. The Aquarium of the Pacific is a stones throw away. Restaurants, bars, and shopping is all within easy walking distance.

Everyone boarded the night before and settled in for the after midnight departure. There was pizza in the galley, card games at the tables, and lots of room to stretch out as this trip had less than 20 divers.

After a smooth trip to San Clement Island there was an early, almost cooked to order, breakfast. Breakfast before the first dive gave everyone pleanty of to get their dive gear organized.

There was a bit of a search to find a dive site with good conditions. San Clemente Island usually has some of the best diving conditions to be had in Southern California - today however the island was experienceing current and less than optimum visibility. A short trip around to Pyramid Cove finally produced the drop of the anchor at Blockhouse Reef. It was here that our dive day began.

I took my Nikonos V with the close up kit attachment on the first dive. I found wandering terrain with canyon like cut throughs. Visibility improved with depth and there was some mild current and surge. At 80 feet I was in a vista with beautiful gorgonians decorating the reef walls. It was some terrific scenery. I couldn't capture it without the wide angle so I just took some time to let it soak in without being behind a viewfinder. With the close-up kit I found Garibaldi, Sheephead, and Lobsters. I thought I was looking at legal sized lobsters, but, since San Clemente Island is the famous "Island of the Shorts", maybe I was hallucinating. I also saw gun shells that reminded me that I was diving at an island owned by the United States Navy.

Some divers were not comfortable with the current and the surge that they encountered on this dive. Captain Pam moved the boat in an attempt to find clam water. As is usual, the group really started to perk up after the first dive.

Our next dive stop was at Hawks Reef.

Optimistic about the improved conditions at depth that I had found on the first dive, I took my wide angle equipment. I got off the boat and started heading away from the island to get some depth. The water was dead calm. There was not current, there was no surge. There was also no visiblity except in the first 20 feet. The deeper that I went, the worse it got. At about 70 feet visibility was 8 to 10 feet. I wasn't seeing many fish only plants and some kind eel grass.

Every now and then I thought I was approaching a large angel shark or swell shark, but all of them were mirages - it was only kelp in the sand. I started to feel very alone and it was a little creepy. As I headed back up the hill I ran into a group of divers at 50 feet. Woah - photo subjects! Hold it right there I signaled and they all posed for photos. .

Back in the shallow water visibility was good. This was a large sea hare climbing over a rock.

The group opted to stay at this site for the last dive. I was a little surpised at the decision, but it was a prudent one. After all, isn't the last dive supposed to be the shallow one? I decided to hunt in the shallows for macro subjects. I also took a long shallow swim the point and encountered some huge schools of jack mackrel and a large bat ray there. I didn't have much luck finding macro subjects. The thing that I found most interesting about this site was the plant life. Some plants I could identify, and some plants I couldn't.

So, that was it. Our dive day was ending. With everyone back on board we started the trip home. Just as it had all day, the food kept pouring out of the galley.

The sights at Long Beach harbor ended our trip.

Thanks to the crew of the Encore for a great job. I know that it can be a bit unnerving to have some nit wit on board who never puts down a camera but you guys were great.

Our first stop was at Blockhouse Reef near Pyramid Cove. The visibility from the boat didn't look that good by normal San Clemente standards.