Tate and I recently returned from our annual trip to the Channel Islands for some SCUBA diving with our dive club.  This is my second time and Tate’s third time.  For those who don’t know where the Channel Islands are, they are off the coast of Santa Barbara.  This year, we went a little more south and spent 2 days at Santa Catalina Island which is off the coast of Los Angeles.  

We left Sacramento Saturday afternoon for the 6 hour drive to Santa Barbara.  We met up with some friends at the marina and got some dinner on the pier.  We loaded the boat at about 7:00 and chatted with others until it was bed time .  At around midnight, the boat engines fired up and we left the harbor and with a course set for Catalina.  We went all night and arrived early Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, the weather and currents that morning didn\’t cooperate so we didn\’t get to do our usual early morning dive (well I never do those, Tate missed it though).  Our first dive was at about 10:00 am.  We dove 2 more times that day and 3 times on Monday.

The weather was beautiful, the water was warm, and the people were great.  Normally when diving off the coast of California you would wear a 7 mm farmer john wetsuit, hood and very thick gloves as the water temp is usually in the 50’s or 60’s.  At Catalina, the water was a lovely 75 degrees so we were able to ditch the gloves, the hood and part of the wetsuit.  It was great!  The scenery was so beautiful both above and below water.  I would sit on the sundeck and just absorb the lush green mountains, the blue water, and the beautiful sunsets. 

Tate bought me an upgraded digital camera and underwater housing for my birthday so this was my first time taking digital pictures underwater.  It was a lot of fun and I got some pretty good shots.  I’m not all that great nor do I strive to take the perfect underwater pictures, I just love to be able to capture the things I see.  Here is a link to the pictures that I took during the trip both above and under water: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/litlone873/slideshow?.dir=/ac4dscd&.src=ph

Tate hasn\’t had a chance go go through his pictures yet so these are only mine.  There are more pictures floating around out there but I haven\’t gotten them from the other\’s on the boat.  When I do, I will be sure to send you an updated link.

Unfortunately during one of my dives, the housing for my camera leaked and my brand new camera stopped working .  I spent the rest of the trip trying to dry it out to see if it would work but unfortunately, it was fried .  (Not to worry, I exchanged it for a new one).

We left Catalina Monday night with a course set for Santa Cruz Island which is closer to Santa Barbara.  Due to the VERY rough trip back that night , I wasn\’t feeling so well on Tuesday so I didn\’t dive at all.  Tate did the morning dive and that was it.  After my shower I returned to the galley to a crowd of people singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  They had a little cake for me and cupcakes for everyone else.  Apparently Tate and Corinne conspired to ensure that my birthday didn’t go unnoticed.  Everyone on the boat signed a birthday card including the crew.  What a treat!  THANKS AGAIN TATE & CORINNE!  

We left Santa Cruz Island at around 3:00 to head back to Santa Barbara.  It was the end of the trip.  We arrived back at the harbor at about 5:30, packed the car, said our goodbyes and headed home.  A lot of people opted to drive part way and stay the night and come home on Wednesday, the rest of us just wanted to get home!  We arrived home shortly after midnight, unloaded the car and hit the sheets.  Man it\’s nice to sleep in your own bed… especially when it doesn\’t ROCK and without the roar of the boat engines.

At the moment are planning a trip to Hawaii for our 2^nd anniversary in Oct 2007.  In the meantime, we don’t have another dive trip planned.  Hopefully we will be able to go somewhere between now and then.  

Until next time… thanks for reading!  

Love,

Reneé & Tate.