Well…….another year has gone by and I am still here. At the dismay of some, and the delight of others.
Where to start; I guess at the beginning. This year has already had some great diving. With this last two-day trip just awesome. The LaCilento twins charted the boat to go to Cortez Banks. They ran a great trip, being very gracious host, by not catching any bugs, only to let the entire rest of the boat catch them and a few limits taken. It reminds me of the movie "Elvis meets Nixon" (a true story) and Nixon tells Elvis he sings, he's not very good, but he sings loud. Elvis just stares at him. We the twins can't catch bugs very well, but they should are loud. The twins come out on the boat about every other week. If you get a chance come on out to meet them, they are a lot of fun and had a special something extra to every trip they come out on.
Back to Cortez. Cortez is about 100 from Long Beach, and at least 41/2 hours from San Clemente, the nearest land mass. We had been traveling all night, and when I was about 10 miles from Cortez the weather started to change and I new it was not going to be real good. But by this time you are committed. We made the first dive on the East side of the banks is about 70' of water. The swells were picking up, and the divers went in with 8 to 10' swells. Many divers brought up bugs from this dive, and all commented on the surge. I moved closer to the kelp bed and behind the high spot to try and get out of the swell, that had now picked up to around 15', with gale force winds.
As I got ready to drop the anchor I told Terry this goes against me better judgment. And as on queue, something goes wrong. The crew and divers were yelling at me. The whaler (chase boat) had been pulled under the boat by the swells and the line got caught up in the props. We finally got the whaler out, but the line was hopelessly caught up in the prop and shaft. Now the swells and wind were really getting bad. I told everyone to get back in the boat, and I'll limp into calmer water if needed. Well the god of the sea Neptune was on my side this day. The line did not put the shaft out of balance. So off to San Clemente we go. We tried for Catalina, but we just did not want to go 8 hours into such a nasty swell.
Made two dives at San Clemente, with hundreds of bugs seen, but the Clemente Curse was at full throttle, all were a 1/16 of an inch short. We then opted for Catalina. The trip over was nasty, but by 10:30 we were once again diving. Several bugs were caught, and I decided to trip up the island. We pounded our way up to Yellow Tail Point, where several limits were taken. The best of the night was when a diver found a brand new game bag, with 7 large bugs in it. Now I ask you, does it get any easier?
The next day we hit hidden reef, then Isthmus reef, then Jerry's reef, where several large bugs were taken to end the day. About 60 bugs were taken in all, and all had a great time.
Art and Mike LaCilento will be chartering the boat a couple more times this year. If you want to be entertained, and have a good time, consider one of their charters.