Just came back from the most amazing weekend. I finished off my open water diver certification and completed three dives out by Catalina. Totaling around two hours, the ride out to the dive spots is always a little rough. We did catch a small pod of dolphins surfing the waves of our boat for a few minutes.

When we finally arrived, the skies were clear, the sun was shining, and there was just a slight current to navigate around. It was great to see some kelp growing back on the sea floor, which apparently had been dead for quite a few years around Catalina.

I met a bat ray for the first time who was even larger than me! You can barely see the silhouette of my buddy (@charcoal.bear‘s human!)  in the background for a size comparison.

The best part of the day wasn’t even finishing up our certification. On our ride back to Hermosa Beach, we spotted a pod of orcas (wut wut!) attacking two fin whales. Orcas typically aren’t seen around Southern California, but these transients came through to hunt on the baby whales that were migrating down to Mexico with their moms.

Huge props to the captain of The Magician for turning us around and following the action for a whole 40 minutes. Seeing orcas in the wild has been on my bucket list and I finally checked that one off in the most exhilarating way this weekend!

Oh, and if you’re interested in learning more about scuba diving or getting certified (do it…!) check out the awesome and knowledgeable instructors over at Eco Dive Center.

I’m already itching to get out to a new dive spot… where to next?!