2022. 5. 27 – 30 | San Clemente Island
The past weekend, I was lucky to join Gayle and a group of divers to visit the San Clemente Island on the Horizon charter boat. San Clemente Island is famous for its clear water, thriving kelp forest, and abundant life living inside.
We left San Diego on Friday (5/27) night and had a smooth overnight passage to the island. The diving started the following day after breakfast. I could see salps floating in the blue water on the boat, brought by the strong upswelling in the recent weeks. However, the visibility in deeper water was decent. As the diving went on, the condition progressively improved. On the first day, we made four dives during the day at sites including Inside Boiler, Petter’s Rock, China Hat, and Fish Hook. Intrigued by the salp in the water, I also did a night dive. Except for a few active long-chain salps, I didn’t see many others I saw during the day. I also ventured into the kelp forestry, turned off my light, and enjoyed a short moment of a different world.
On the second day, the wind picked up. We stayed in the same region. I jumped into the water immediately after breakfast. The four dives in the day included Patter’s Rock, Bear Claw, Dannie’s Dive It, and Little Flower Bank. The military closed the area in the after for bombing practices. Somehow, we stayed in the area without being asked to leave. Despite the wind, the sun came out. The underwater conditions improved a lot. After the dinner, the boat anchored in an area with a sandy bottom. We were all tired. No night dive was arranged.
On the third day, we dove the Twin Peaks. Like the peaks above the water, the underwater reefs had two sections. I went to one in my first dive. Before finding deeper water, I saw a large fried egg jellyfish somehow brought into the kelp forest by the ocean current. I followed the jellyfish and slowly drifted to deeper but much quieter water. I stayed with it for the whole dive. In the second dive, I decided to explore the other section of the reef. I must have remained in the shallow close to the rock. The surge was strong, stirring up a lot of sediment. Halfway into my dive, I found some deeper and calm water. There I enjoyed swimming with dense schools of blacksmiths. Giant sea bass also showed up. It sneaked in behind me and slowly swam away. In the last few minutes of my dive, I came across an area where the opal eye and blacksmith were dense that filled every space between the kelp. At that time, I had to go and wished to find this area sooner.
Back to the boat, it was time to return home. The ride back home was surprisingly smooth. We got to the dock when the sun was still high. After making eleven dives in two and half days, I was exhausted but happy to enjoy the San Clemente.