I was at Anacapa Island with my underwater photo club on the Peace dive boat's 1994 Chamber Day trip. My log book entry reads:
Dive No.: 692
Date: 9/26/94
Location: Anacapa backside E end
Depth: 68 ft max
Bottom Time: 28 min.
Visibility: what visibility?
Verification Signature: Capt Bill Magee, PAL
Comments: SAW FOUR 450# (HYOOGE!) BLACK SEA BASS!! Touched 1 & then pet it. SO BITCHEN!!! Bill Magee let the boat be late back so we could go check out this fishing boat's report that there was a school of black sea bass near their boat. I dove in pretty quick but gave up after ~20 min & no fish. On swim step Bill & Jim Perry told me everyone else was w/ the B.S.B. They guided me to them & WOW!!
The fishing boat had reported two schools in the area: one of four 450-pounders and one having thre 150-pound fish. I remember the details as though it were just last week. The first one I saw in the gloomy depths was a light colored, spotted 450-pounder. I had seen giant Carribbean groupers before, but that didn't keep me from being awestricken as this gigantic, deadpan creature swam close to me and hovered near a lone stalk of string kelp. I tried to minimize my bubbles as I carefully inched my way up to it. I hung alongside it for about 30 seconds, then slowly reached my hand toward its cheek. I had almost touched it when in a sudden lurch it darted away! As I watched its swaying broom-shaped tail disappear into the gloom I marveled that its agility seemed no different than that of a startled Calico Bass 1/100'th its size!
Satisfied that I had seen an enviable sight I could tell my grandchildren about someday, I started back toward the boat in a gradual ascent. I hadn't swum much more than a minute when I saw a group of three more Black Sea Bass below me. Not polite enough to pass up this spectacle, even though everyone on board was waiting just for me, I slowly decended to hover alongside the closest fish, a blue-grey monster whose place in the formation made him appear the leader. Just then, the spotted fish I had seen earlier reappeared and took his place in the flotilla. I again carefully inched my way to the new fish, and extended my gloved hand to tentatively touched his gill plate. The beady eye in the great head glared down at me indifferently, and he seemed to have no reaction to my offense. Growing bolder, I touched him a second time, then glided my open palm over his gill plate, continuing the sweep onto his body as one would stroke a cat. As soon as my hand hit his lateral line, BOOM! he was outathere! The others bolted at his startled departure, and I tumbled back in their sudden wake. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched the four broom tails slip into the murky darkness, and no one could shut me up for the rest of the boat ride home!
Obviously, that was a good day for me, and a perfect argument against OW students who insist that "100-ft viz" is necessary to the definition of a good dive!
Actually, this is what Life is all about for me. Doing what only a couple dozen other humans in the universe have done: things like walking through a submerged shipwreck with a world-class wreck diving expert, and touching a wild creature almost four times my size in its own environment!