Thirty-three people had signed up to spend what promised to be a glorious Labor Day weekend aboard the Conception, a 75-foot boat that offered a scuba diver’s dream: unlimited diving among giant fish and colorful underwater sea life, with gourmet meals served between dives. The destination was San Miquel, in California’s Channel Islands, where huge halibut and other fish abound, and September is the perfect time to visit, because of swells and strong winds at other times of the year, trip organizers said in their promotion of the $665 weekend. But on the last part of the trip, the ship caught fire off of Santa Cruz Island, and it was fully ablaze by 3:30 a.m. Monday, said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown. Read the rest of the story at CNN.
