San Miguel is famously inaccessible; I finally made it for the first time on my 7th attempt, on the dive boat "Conception". The island is close to Pt Conception, and weather and swell are changeable and often hostile. It can be lovely when one actually does get there -- at least below the surface.
Here San Miguel shows its most friendly face, near Hare Rock on the northeast corner of the island. It is truly a desert island. Below the surface the water is rich with kelp, fish, and abalone -- diveable only under the best conditions.
On this perfect day, a sundowner wind from the northeast onshore drove wind waves at the eastern end of the channel, but flattened the water toward the west -- or so the captain of the Shearwater explained. He has sailed most of the world's oceans, and navigated to Pacific atolls without watch or chronometer, so who am I to disagree? Particularly on such a perfect day.
yikes! if that is its most friendly face, its a pretty formidable place. the jutting up directly out of the water reminds me of the gros piton we recently climbed on st lucia. kat
Posted by: kat | December 17, 2006 at 07:49 AM