Lobster Diving

I just returned from a 3-day liveaboard trip on the Peace out of Ventura. For the geographically unaware, Ventura is in southern California and, at this time of year, southern California diving focuses on pursuing the California Spiny Lobster. Not a true lobster in the New England sense, the California Spiny Lobster is a crayfish that still qualifies as some pretty good eating. There are even those who'd be audacious enough to claim it's better. Better than New England lobster and definitely better than their Carribean cousin.

I, however, wouldn't be so audacious; there are already too many good reasons to question my intelligence when it comes to lobsters and diving for them. Consider, for example, that it costs about $100 per day to go bug chasing in southern California. That price includes a 6 1/2 hour drive to the boat and a 6 1/2 hour drive home. In between the driving, I get to spend three cramped days on a pitching boat with up to 30 usually male divers. You're either wet or damp most of those three days so you get to sleep on rubber mattresses. Assumming, of course, that you can sleep in spite of the noise of compressors, generators, and engines.

If you're willing to put up with the "living" conditions and you're lucky, you can get into some bugs. If you do, California restricts divers to using just their hands. This leaves few options when it comes to bug grabbing. My favorite is to lunge for the bug before it gets a chance to detect my presence and scoot to the back of it's hole. For this to be effective, you can't hesitate before the lunge. You simply jam your hand into that dark hole trying to snatch the lobster by it's horns or carapace. The fact that most of the holes are filled with urchins is simply part of the game. So is the chance that the lobster might be sharing it's home with a moray. Kinda piques the excitement level a bit.

If you're really lucky, the lobsters will be in shallow and near the shore. One of the tricks of lobster diving is to cover as much ground as fast as possible. In shallow water, the air in your tanks seems to last forever so you cover lots of ground. In shallow is also an area where there's low to no visibility, carpets of urchins, eel grass in constant motion, and sudden opportunities to body surf in full SCUBA gear. On top of all that, the best places to bug hunt tend to be some of the ugliest to dive in southern California.

Still, it's a real kick in the butt. Especially when things come together in a way that yields lots of success. This year's trip was very successful. We made it to the south side of Santa Rosa Island and, over 2 1/2 days of diving, did a total of 16 dives and brought back more than 120 lobster between 17 divers. Lots of current, lots of surge, lots of bugs, and, believe it or not, lots of fun.

{norcadiver@sonic.net}