(For title relation, see images below)
Prospects for diving this weekend seemed slim when I heard on Wednesday the news about the Conception boat - the boat I was booked on for Saturday. A quick additional scheduling had me moved to the Truth, diving an oil rig. Truth Aquatics came through however, moving everyone from those two boats onto the Vision - an incredibly spacious and accomodating boat that I hadn't been on before (it really is a *very* nice boat). 25 divers and it did not seem croweded at all. Remarkable. We were going to depart at 4AM for the Outer Channel Islands, but once again that attempt was thwarted by 30-35knot winds that came up off San Miguel and Santa Rosa...we settled for Santa Cruz 
Other than myself, there were a few point-and-shoot photog's w/ manufactuer housings, a f*%m Rebel in an Aquatica housing, and another 20D w/ Ike housing being shot by William Chen (a Wetpixel member). Obviously there was plenty to talk about. The day was absolutely beautiful...in case you haven't been in SoCal recently, the last few days we've had clear, blue skies, with temperatures as high as 80-85deg. A light breeze did nothing to disturb the water, and a gentle lapping was all that reminded you that you were in the ocean. Almost mirror flat by the island.
Critter-wise - nothing extraordinary. I did manage to see a purple Crevice Kelpfish (correct species ID this time, the previous images I posted were Island Kelpfish), but was shooting with the 18-55mm, so nothing *too* detailed. Oddly, they thought at one point that we would get 5 dives in...and then only gave us 3...
. A few teasers for now, I'm still culling the last few galleries, but more to come in a while:
I'm hiding! (Kelp Scenic with Garibaldi)
Island Kelpfish (in an empty scallop shell)
Enjoy.
~Matt Segal
