heading to santa barbara

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SmashTime

Pre-takeoff checklist
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SmashTime
Well I landed a contract for work in santa barbara. Job looks to be in the neighborhood of 3-7 months. Blessed for the opportunity, what can i expect of the food, aviation, culture and nightlife?

Im excited about maybe fishing.
 
I'm from SB. Expect it to be very expensive. My parents still have a rental in Goleta.

State St is where it's at. Isla Vista used to be a huge party town, but SB Sheriffs put the clamp down on that mess. Surfing actually sucks most of the time, long boarding is the best route. If you are a diver, welcome to awesome diving. The Vis can suck many times, but a good Vis day is awesome in the kelp beds.

If you ride a sport bike, either side of Camino Cielo is fun, but expect rodie bikes too.

On Saturdays, you can head to the docks and buy fresh seafood right off the boats.

My favorite beach is Goleta beach out towards the point. Its actually UCSB property, but very pretty. I proposed to my wife out there. We used to repel off the bluffs for fun too.
 
It's a very nice area. At the airport there is zero transiate parking, you have to use the FBO.
 
Luvrv8 said:
It's a very nice area. At the airport there is zero transiate parking, you have to use the FBO.
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Is it still Millionaire? My best friend used to drive a fuel truck out there. Get this...


He'd take the sumped fuel from jet A and LL, mix them and run it in his gas VW Golf. He ended up as an engineer from Cal State LB. I though he was nuts, but he did the same thing driving a truck at LB airport while in college. Free gas for like 6 years!!!
 
If anyone wants a safety pilot in the area let me know ;)
 
Not sure what the FBO is there but it's the one next to the old Elephant Bar.
 
OMG.... I loved that place. Sad when I heard it closed down. It was always busy too. I was sad when Alex's Cantina on Holister closed too.. Heard they made it some kinda whack club or something.
 
While in the Army Nation Guard we flew many times from Los Alametos to the Elephant Bar for lunch on "training missions".
 
Loved that airport way back when. Trained for my CFI there in 1970. In the early '80s Apollo Airways was on the south side, by the approach end of 33R. My wife, our two small boys and I would fly our Cherokee 140 out there from VNY, and walk from Apollo down to the beach. Those were the days.

:sigh:
 
Google these. Cold Spring Tavern, Palace Restaurant, Cajun Kitchen, Sambos. Check the County Bowl for music. Get a copy the Santa Barbara Independent as soon as you get in town to see what's happenin. They are all over the place. It's a tourist town, there's stuff happening all the time. It's a college town. If ya don't like fog get a place to stay about a mile inland. In summer the on shore flow "June Gloom" can wear on you in the summer. Cool Gen Av airports, Oceano L52, walk to the beach. Santa Paula SZP. Fly to SAN, walk to downtown and the waterfront. Do the USS Midway. Santa Barbara is in a severe drought. Start getting your head wrapped around not wasting it and expect high rates and Landlords being on your case if you do. It's a beautiful place with a ton of S*** to do and priced accordingly.
 
you can fish off the piers. there's 2 of them. there are charter fishing boats to
 
SmashTime said:
Well I landed a contract for work in santa barbara. Job looks to be in the neighborhood of 3-7 months. Blessed for the opportunity, what can i expect of the food, aviation, culture and nightlife?

Im excited about maybe fishing.
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Food Ok, Aviation Ok, culture zero, nightlife, fine if you're a drunk, outside of that, pretty much nada.
 
Unit74 said:
He'd take the sumped fuel from jet A and LL, mix them and run it in his gas VW Golf. He ended up as an engineer from Cal State LB. I though he was nuts, but he did the same thing driving a truck at LB airport while in college. Free gas for like 6 years!!!
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I dunno if I'd want to run sump fuel in my car :eek: Given it's not completely ridden with water or particulates but more than my standard gas. I did the thread on 100LL and Jet-A contamination and I thought it melted pistons compared to the number of accidents that have misfueling listed as probable cause. :dunno:
 
SmashTime said:
What can you expect to catch? I see a lot of (not sure the name) 20-40lb redfish?
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Sheepshead sometimes are caught around there, they're pretty tasty. You can also catch lobster, but I think it may be illegal with a pole.
 
Henning said:
Food Ok, Aviation Ok, culture zero, nightlife, fine if you're a drunk, outside of that, pretty much nada.
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I take it you have spent but a very short time in the area? That's not an accurate stroke of paint with such a broad brush.
 
Unit74 said:
I take it you have spent but a very short time in the area? That's not an accurate stroke of paint with such a broad brush.
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I lived there a semester. Unless it's changed drastically it's reasonably accurate. All the nightlife revolved around drinking, now I suppose pot smoking is also included.
 
In IV yes, drinking is a lifestyle. It can be a party town, but there is a lot of culture. Night owls are more inclined to be drinkers. Day owls have much more to do.
 
cessna182b said:
No licence required to fish off any pier in CA. Still have to mind the regs, though.

Dave
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I have dove Goleta pier many times. Tires, shopping carts, junk.....yep, I'm serious. We would do the pier when we wanted scallops. Very little fish activity. Sand sharks most what we would see. Small non-game fish as well.
 
Well i have been here since Tuesday and it's absolutely beautiful. If you own a plane here you dont even need air conditioning lol.....

So heres my plan:

1. Fly to catalina island and hang out.
2. Fish on a charter boat.


If anyone has any information on the best way to accomplish those, please let me know!!!
 
You forgot

3. Duck and hide from the hordes of zombie tourists on a holiday weekend in the summer.

You live in a resort town now, though a bigger one than I do.

At least it isn't hot as hell inland right now. That makes it worse.
 
SmashTime said:
Well i have been here since Tuesday and it's absolutely beautiful. If you own a plane here you dont even need air conditioning lol.....

So heres my plan:

1. Fly to catalina island and hang out.
2. Fish on a charter boat.


If anyone has any information on the best way to accomplish those, please let me know!!!
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To fly to Catalina in a rental, most everyone requires you do a Catalina checkout with an instructor. The shorter overwater route will take you over San Nicolaus Island where interesting things are sometimes spotted on the ramp. In the 90s something that would leave 6 sonic booms used to come in and out of there.

Fishing on a charter boat is hit and miss, but most of the locals will know which boats are best. The half day boats are kind of limited in where they go, and most of the good fishing is beyond where they go.
 
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Henning said:
To fly to Catalina in a rental, most everyone requires you do a Catalina checkout with an instructor. The shorter overwater route will take you over San Nicolaus Island where interesting things are sometimes spotted on the ramp. In the 90s something that would leave 6 sonic booms used to come in and out of there.

Fishing on a charter boat is hit and miss, but most of the locals will know which boats are best. The half day boats are kind of limited in where they go, and most of the good fishing is beyond where they go.
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If you go direct to Catalina from SBA, get a real good weather briefing and insist on flight following. There are a ton of warning and restricted zones on that route, that include rather nasty things like missiles and long range artillery fire. The channel between Catalina and Long Beach is much more benign.
 
MAKG1 said:
If you go direct to Catalina from SBA, get a real good weather briefing and insist on flight following. There are a ton of warning and restricted zones on that route, that include rather nasty things like missiles and long range artillery fire. The channel between Catalina and Long Beach is much more benign.
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There are NO restricted areas offshore (not legal which is why the warning area exists), and the Warning area has no restrictions, it's just that, a warning. The firing range is down by San Clemente Island best I recall.

Most people though do follow the shore to Redondo (shortest overwater) ot Long Beach to cross the water.
 
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Henning said:
There are NO restricted areas offshore (not legal which is why the warning area exists), and the Warning area has no restrictions, it's just that, a warning. The firing range is down by San Clemente Island best I recall.

Most people though do follow the shore to Redondo (shortest overwater) ot Long Beach to cross the water.
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Depending on your definition of "offshore", it seems there are several offshore restricted areas. They don't extend very far offshore, but they do exist. See attached images.

Edit: I can attach only one image, I have more, on the east coast.
 

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Cap'n Jack said:
Depending on your definition of "offshore", it seems there are several offshore restricted areas. They don't extend very far offshore, but they do exist. See attached images.
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3 miles is legal limit except the GOM where it's 12. I don't see an image, but IIRC Santa Barbara has a clean transition heading south.

I see image now, interesting they got rid of the Warning area around San Nic.
 
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Henning said:
3 miles is legal limit except the GOM where it's 12. I don't see an image, but IIRC Santa Barbara has a clean transition heading south.

I see image now, interesting they got rid of the Warning area around San Nic.
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3 miles is state limit, 12 is federal, then 200 is the economic interest
 
Henning said:
There are NO restricted areas offshore (not legal which is why the warning area exists), and the Warning area has no restrictions, it's just that, a warning. The firing range is down by San Clemente Island best I recall.

Most people though do follow the shore to Redondo (shortest overwater) ot Long Beach to cross the water.
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You may not be legally barred from entering a warning area, but blundering into a live fire zone is a Stupid Pilot Trick.

And the three mile limit applies to any island, and there are a bunch out there, San Nicholas being an example of one.

The three islands near Santa Barbara are used for naval bombardment. You're not prohibited from entering those warning zones, but would you really claim that's a good idea without some precautions?
 
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