2007-03-24 Coronados Islands

On Saturday, 3/24, the Sea Divers chartered the Horizon out of San Diego to the Coronados Islands in Mexico. For many of us, it would be our first trip to the area. For me, it would count double (first trip and last trip): the reefs were all quite barren. If we hit the islands at a bad season or if there are better sites, please, let me know, I'd love to know if we just saw a bad sample.

Diving the area did cause me to wonder what the reefs ought to look like. I think it's too far south, too warm, for a kelp forest. It's a bit too far north, too cold, or maybe poor currents, to sustain the rich rocky-reef biosphere of, say, Cocos Island. Or maybe not, maybe left to itself, it would look like Cocos. I'm not sure.

We were scheduled to take the Horizon, but due to vessel registration paperwork in process, we were switched to the Ocean Odyssey, a sister boat. No big deal. It seemed to be an equally comfortable boat, with a comfortable galley and some small staterooms. Camera table was below decks in the bunk area, better for charging at night than working wet during the day. I didn't get a stateroom but I did get a double bunk, the smallest double bunk I've ever gotten. It was a bit larger in the shoulders than a single bunk, more of a coffin shape than the single' bunk's casket shaped but I gotta tell you, coffin, casket, single, double, if you bury me in a box that small I am going to haunt your ass.

The Horizon does have nitrox, the Ocean Odyssey does not. This was the only real disappointment in the boat switch, but it turned out to be no big deal, the sites were all shallow. Water was warm, high 50's, vis was good, 50 feet or so.