This is a late report from my trip aboard the Vision to the Southern Channel Islands. I was greatly looking forward to using a couple new additions to my housing, a glass dome port and enhanced 45 degree viewfinder. I also had a new lens, the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, and a renewed...toys for grown-up underwater photographers. The trip started out nice in that we headed all the way to San Clemente Island for the first day.

All was well, until the evening when I had the ultimate lapse in, hmm, "awareness". I dunked my camera in the rinse bucket with the latches not quite secured on my housing. My first thought was "why are there bubbles coming out of my housing". My second thought was "PULL IT OUT". Despite minimizing the water hitting my camera and lens, they ultimately wound up non-functional. Kendra, my loving and understanding girlfriend, allowed me to use her camera rig for more than the lion's share of the rest of the dives. Let's just say it gave me a taster of what was to come. Due to the inoperabel state of my gear, I was allowed to upgrade both camera and lens through my insurance. I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D300. Not the way I wanted to upgrade, but an upgrade nonetheless.

In the end, the dive trip was quite enjoyable. The waters off San Clemente, in my mind, are the epitome of what makes Southern California diving so nice. The blue waters, the golden kelp forests, and the branching gorgonian sea fans, so typical more tropical waters, all combine to make the diving here so unique.