Santa Barbara Boat Trip

Dive and Photo has regular dive trips, both local and on the other side of our planet. Today we're talking about a regular local California boat trip to Santa Barbara Island aboard the Magician.




The way the schedule works for this dive trip is an evening boarding from San Pedro harbor, the old "Fisherman's Warf", the night before.

One way to do this is to gather up some of your dive buddies and pile into one of the seafood restaurants just behind the boat dock and eat something you don't have everyday.
You can pick any spot, load your gear onto a tank, stuff your duffle under your seat and find yourself an open bunk for the 3AM departure.

The ride out to the island is a couple hours long, and if you're up, you can watch the sunrise over your first dive site.

There's breakfast, coffee, juice, hot chocolate, cereal bars and tea offered from sunrise to sunset... after your morning cup of your choice and a snack, it's time for the first dive of the day.

We were jumping into epic California diving conditions to explore the kelp forest and interact with sea lions. The diving is mixed to accommodate both beginners and students as well as advanced divers. Depths on this trip ranged from 35 to 110 feet and one of the sites had a cave to explore.



We splashed into some of California's best visibility and were surrounded by wildlife on every dive. The boat crew did a fantastic job of getting us into clear water and on quality sites.
Don't forget your camera on these dive trips. Ludek brought back macro shots of these Nudibranches as well as other reef life and playful sea lions.


At the bottom you find California sheephead, lobsters, calico bass, garibaldi, sea bass, halibut and a host of reef fish.


Topside you get the opportunity to exchange in dive talk and get the latest input from Ludek or Robert on what gear is being tested, new items on the shelf and Dive and Photo only deals - such as free Nitrox demos, dry suit demos and exotic vacation travel packages.




The shop has a travel group and an interest list to be notified of upcoming local dive trips, call the shop to get the inside scoop on beach diving in Laguna, island boat trips or some of the best warm-water vacation diving in the world.