Anacapa Island - The Landing
What a treat – a trip out to Anacapa Island -Labor Day weekend 2020 and the whole dive crew was in on the trip, my wife Barbara along with our sons Trevor and Spencer. The previous summer Spencer and I spent three days camping on Anacapa – with kayaks? We did not bring any dive gear??
On the Wednesday that we were out there camping/kayaking the National Park Service came to the island in their big boat. The purpose of their visit was to conduct their weekly live dive telecast, an educational program for elementary schools located on the mainland. On an Island with no electricity or running water the live dive telecast was of extremely high entertainment value. The Park Service crew were very engaging and happy to share their dive experiences at this location. The bottom-line consensus of the Park Services divers - the Anacapa Landing offers some of the very best diving in the Channel Islands. It has taken me a year to get back here for the diving.
Labor Day weekend 2020 set record high temperatures throughout the State of California. On the day that we were on Anacapa a 104-degree temperature was predicted for Avalon over on Catalina Island. We traveled to Anacapa from Ventura Harbor by way of the Island Packers charter service, a 1-hour boat ride over calm ocean water. After disembarking we immediately suited up and got ready for our first dive. The landing is physically located approximately 10 to 12 feet over the water, that calls for one giant step. It was a beautiful sunny Southern California morning; the air temperature was already getting warm and the water temperature was refreshing and very pleasant when we entered the water around noontime.
On the boat ride over to the Island the boat captain gives a bit of nature talk about the Island over the boat’s intercom. He explained that Anacapa Island Is a volcanic island, not like Hawaii, but rather shaped by plate tectonics. The result of the action of those plate tectonics is that this tiny little Island is nothing more than sheer rock cliffs coming out of the ocean. On our first dive, after the giant step, we left the cove and headed to the right. We spent the entire dive on a sheer rock wall that I estimate to be between 30 to 40 feet tall. On the Second dive we headed to the left to be immersed in an incredibly thick kelp forest. The diving was spectacular with viability at 40 to 50 feet. Check out the accompanying photographs.
As an added bonus, we encountered a humpback whale on the way back to the harbor.
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