Slow down, cool off, and dive in with Ventura Dive and Sport

By Marlowe Haas
Photos courtesy Ventura Dive and Sport

When temperatures rise, Central Coasters know where to go: we head to the ocean. And there are few better ways to experience it than on a scuba diving trip to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary with Ventura Dive and Sport.

For divers who have been only in warm tropical waters, the ever-fluid conditions of our famous kelp forests offer a whole new experience — and some of the best scuba diving in the world.

Zach Cantrell, owner of Ventura Dive and Sport, instructs and takes divers out to these ocean forests, which just happen to be some of the most biologically diverse habitats on the planet. The Raptor, Cantrell’s 46-foot-long dive boat, makes the trip to Anacapa Island — the closest to the mainland — in about an hour.

One popular dive location is the wreck site of the Winfield Scott, a steam-powered paddle boat that sank off Anacapa in 1853. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places. Another popular spot is Landing Cove, a “phenomenal” dive site, said Cantrell, off the east end of Anacapa. Santa Cruz Island is the second-closest island to the mainland, and offers its own diverse dive spots, including protected coves, rocky reefs, and craggy walls.

Dive sites are selected to ensure the best experience, based on current conditions. “We primarily focus on the best day possible. Conditions can vary drastically,” said Cantrell.  In one spot, he pointed out, there can be rough water with bad visibility, but 60 feet away, the water can be so clear, you can see shells at the bottom.

Most of the dives occur in the shores off the north (mainland-facing) side of Anacapa, in 30 to 60 feet of water, within roughly 70 feet of the shoreline. This area is within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, which covers about 1,470 square miles of ocean around the Channel Islands National Park. Although the Channel Islands are comprised of eight islands, the park itself includes just Anacapa, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel — all of which lie off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

The topography of this entire area is spectacular, unusual, and a large reason for its biodiversity. For the first eight miles, the sea floor off the coast of Ventura is essentially a sandbar. At 80 feet deep, it is the result of thousands of years of sediment run-off from the creeks, canyons, barrancas, and rivers. At mile 9 from the coast, the sea floor drops dramatically, to about 800 feet. Then, nearing the islands, the bottom rises again, and kelp clings to the rocky ocean floor. Here, an explosion of life uses this algae (yep, kelp is algae, not a plant!) as habitat.

Cantrell describes diving in a kelp forest like hiking in a forest on land, only in the ocean, “You get to choose the height of the trail.” You can stay along the sea floor, explore the canopy at the surface, or anywhere in between. This allows divers an opportunity to see a multitude of ever-changing ocean life.

“The more you look, the more you see. The slower you go, the more you see,” he said.

Divers gliding along the ocean floor can see orange garibaldi, giant black sea bass, spiny lobsters, moray eels, rockfish camouflaged on the rocks, and even Spanish shawls — a bright purple-blue nudibranch with orange feather-looking gills that sway in the water. Divers in the canopy of the kelp forest will see juvenile fish finding safe refuge among the floating clusters of kelp (adult fish generally feed near the floor). Bat rays, leopard sharks, sea lions, and harbor seals glide and dart at varying depths. The dive totally changes depending on where you are in the water column.

The difference between diving in a tropical coral reef location and a cold-water kelp forest is that a kelp forest dive offers a myriad of species in ever-changing conditions. A diver can see different species, one after another, during a dive here. But when diving above a tropical coral reef, the same species of fish will be present over wide areas of the habitat, making dives very much the same. Same conditions. Same habitat. Same species.

“The kelp forest is dynamic,” said Cantrell, and that means it’s “more resilient,” and more diverse. The open ocean can be calm or rough. Moving slow or fast. Variations in visibility bring changes in species. Even in similar conditions, things change here. After all, Cantrell pointed out, kelp can grow 12 inches or more in a day.

“I’ve done professional diving all over the world,” said Cantrell, but the Channel Islands National Park sits near the very top of his list.

Learn to Dive

Not a diver yet? Ventura Dive and Sport has you covered with its three phase PADI Open Water Diver course.

Phase one is e-learning, which is about 10 hours of online classroom and book learning. Individual learning time may take longer, based on how long it takes to get through the online classes and material. Once that is completed, student divers move to phase two for in-person, onsite classes at the dive center over a weekend. Here, students learn basic diving skills — learning to use the equipment, breathing techniques, hand signals, safety and emergency protocols, etc. — and how to feel confident using the concepts they’ve been learning on their own, in the water. Phase three takes place out in the ocean, at the islands. Four open water dives over at least two days are required for certification. Ventura Dive and Sport provides all equipment except your personal gear such as swimsuit, mask, snorkel, and fins.

Cantrell said that learning to dive in a warm, tropical environment can make open water diving in cold water seem “hard and scary.” It’s a common misconception. Students here go through these highly detailed classes taught by certified professionals, which give them the freedom and flexibility to dive safely in the Channel Islands National Park, and areas all over the world.

Once you’re certified, check out Ventura Dive and Sport’s many options for dives — day and night trips, spear fishing, multi-day trips, and more. There are also advanced classes in many areas, where you can get certified as a master diver, rescue diver, even a divemaster!

For more information, including dive dates and class options, visit venturadive.com, call (805) 650-6500, or pop in to the dive center at 1559 Spinnaker Dr, Suite 108, in the Ventura Harbor.