Thursday, October 5, 2000 – 7:00 PM at Ocean Enterprises. Guest Speaker is Bill Wilson of the California Wreck Divers. If Bill is anything like their web site, this will be a very interesting talk.
Last night I attended the San Diego Kickoff of the Hammerheads at a quaint pub in Pacific Beach. Joining me were my wife Elaine, Liza, Brian, Paul, Bobby and Graham. There were quite a few members of the local dive community attending, as well as members of many of the local clubs.
Food and drink coupons were provided, and quite adequate. Of course there was a raffle of about 12 prizes, of which 3 were won by OES members. We were all given T-shirts and went on our merry way. We will most likely become an affiliate club to increase our exposure both locally and nationally.
Tonight I'm off to Grand Cayman. I'll report at the meeting. Paul Lee just got back from Cozumel. He and Steve will be heading to Palua in a week or so. Warm water here we come.
Happy Diving! – Mark Clausen
Saturday Oct 7, 8:00am – Meetat La Jolla Cove to dive Boomers. Breakfast to follow the dive. Back up sites will be Hospital Point or Marine Room.
Lobster season opens Sept 30. We'll plan our first lobster dive at the meeting.
We don't have any club dives scheduled at the moment. Let Mark know if you're interested in diving the USS Hogan.
The Lois Ann offers club members a discount on many open boat trips. Due to heavy demand, they may not be able to offer the discount on all their trips. For more information, call 800/201-4381 or check the Lois Ann schedule on the next page or at http://www.loisann.com.
The Bahamas -
Particulars for this trip are just being finalized but here is what we have:
When: January 20-27, 2201
Where: Island Resort and Golf Club, Freeport, Grand Bahama Island
Why: Because we need it
Cost: Lodging: we currently have 3 2bedroom condos. Based on quad occupancy, lodging is $140.00 per person for the week. The condos are completely equipped with full kitchens, pool on site, hourly bus service to Xanadu Beach, walking distance to Princess Casino, golf, shopping and public transit. Each room has a queen bed and 2 twins, as well as a convertible couch if you really want to pack them in.
Diving: although we are still shopping, diving runs approximately 35.00 per single tank dive, shark dive is $85.00, wreck dive(2 tank) $75.00, open ocean dolphin dive $150.00. If we have a full crew we will be assigned a private boat.
Airfare: currently we have a quote for $481.00 but they are changing constantly. We are flying via Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami. Even at that price, with standard 2 tank diving on 5 days, the total cost comes to roughly $960.00.
At the meeting we will be asking for commitments so make your plans now. There is a possibility we will fly out via red eye on 1/19/01. If a family would like a complete unit that is no problem, nor is a private room.
Michael Kane will speak to the San Diego Council of Divers on the Doing It Right (DIR) approach to diving on Thursday, October 12, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. The SDCOD's meeting will be held the Marina Village Conference Center, 1936 Quivira Road, San Diego, CA 92109.
The DIR approach to diving has its roots in technical, wreck, and cave diving. The founding premise of the DIR approach is minimalism and streamlining. If a piece of gear is not needed directly needed for a dive, the DIR diver does not take it. In assessing need, however, DIR critically examines the ability of each dive buddy to contribute to the safety of the dive.
The aspect of DIR that generates the most comment is the standardized gear configuration. Prominent components include: Use of a metal backplate and wings (back-mounted air bladder) rather than a more traditional recreational BC; use of a 5 or 7 foot hose on the primary regulator, donation of the primary regulator to the buddy in an out of air situation, and attachment of the backup regulator under the diver's chin with rubber tubing (necklacing); and use dive timers and sophisticated dive tables rather than dive computers. Kane will have DIR dive gear available at the meeting to demonstrate its configuration and use.
If you've seen Kevin Douglass' dive gear, you've seen DIR. This should be an interesting talk on a controversial topic.
I've wanted to do a squid dive ever since I got certified. Somehow, I always seemed to find out about them when all the squid were going.
When I got the squid alert via the Divebums mailing list, I was excited. I sent out an invitation to a La Jolla Shore dive. Vic Machinski, one of our guests, called me Friday and said he'd be down.
I met Vic at La Jolla Shores at the appointed time. Conditions were beautiful. An honest 15-20 ft vis, with less than a foot of surf. Surge was much better than light.
We geared up and hit the water somewhere around 7:45 The dive itself started right at 8PM.
As we swam toward the canyon, we encountered a very docile, 3 foot horn shark; his bulging belly looking more like a pregnant cat. A little further out, we ran across a few skates looking for some calamari of their own.
At 35 feet, I looked up to see a small squadron of squid hovering off the bottom watching us. I'm used to seeing them in the fish market. Hovering in the water, they looked more extraterrestrial than aquatic. They seemed to avoid the direct beam of our dive lights. So we were more careful after that.
We found more squid swimming out at the edge of the canyon. There were numerous females carrying their transparent egg pouches. They wouldn't turn to milky white until they were fertilized. Several males were attempting to mate with a female. Once a male had mated with her, they swam away in search of other candidates.
We found one squid nearing its end. The lacy pattern on its body was beautiful to see.
The water seemed full of small creatures. I couldn't quite tell what they were, they moved like krill. One tiny little pipefish found its way in front of my dive light. I held still and it thankfully stayed for a minute, then returned to hunting for its equally tiny prey.
We lost our visibility when another group of divers swam through. By then, it was time to return to shore. Difficult as it was, we pulled ourselves away from the strange creatures we'd come to appreciate.
We took a leisurely swim back, stopping again to watch the squid mating at the top of the canyon.
Back on shore, Vic and I agreed that this was an awesome dive. I drove home with this silly grin plastered to my face. I can't seem to get it off either. Vic, you win the diving initiative award for driving three hours to and from your home in the desert to get to this dive.
You can see all the Marty Snyderman film you want, but it won't begin to compare to seeing this phenomenon first hand. I'm going again.
Some of you may remember some news stories about Caulerpa taxifolia being found in Carlsbad. This stuff is very nasty. It blankets the entire bottom, and displaces virtually all the native species. It is toxic to most animals and reproduces by fragmentation. Given the wave action we get in the winter, this stuff could spread like wildfire if it ever escapes from its current lagoon.
It's already invaded the Mediteranean where it's doing huge damage to an already injured ecosystem. This is not a weed to be taken lightly.
The regional water quality control board has started a public education campaign to inform people about this pest, prevent its spread, and what to do if they find some.
The water quality people need divers to keep their eyes open and report any infestations immediately. They would also like to know where it's not being found.
I have fact sheets from the water quality control board. If you're interested, contact me and I'll forward them to you.
They are also sponsoring a workshop on October 18th in the Carlsbad Senior Center. I should have a report from that workshop in the next newsletter.
If you need more information, check the Divebums site at
http://divebums.com/General/Caulerpa/
There is also information at the Water Quality Control Board:
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb9/News/Caulerpa_taxifolia/caulerpa_taxifolia.html
Ocean Enterprises is sponsoring the underwater pumpkin carving contest at La Jolla Shores. This has been a lot of fun in the past and I'm sure we're in for another good time.
The rules are simple. You clean out your pumpkin and bring it to the shores. You have to take your pumpkin out, and carve it underwater with a dive knife. No kitchen implements allowed. The lifeguards judge the carved pumpkins, and prizes awarded. Just about everyone wins.
They also serve BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch. Last years costs were $15/person, or $5 for non-divers. It's a good fun time for all. We'll probably see you there.
This has not been a good summer for divers. Locally, we had two fatalities and a dozen trips to the chamber. Most of the bent divers were from the Yukon. Please remember, safety is paramount. Don't push the envelope in foolish ways, and keep your training current to your diving goals.
If you haven't taken the rescue course, please consider doing so. We had an OES rescue class a few years ago and it was a wonderful experience for everyone involved. If we have enough members interested, we can do the same thing again.
We've got a whole raft of winter projects in the wings. Mark and I are hoping that by spring, you will be looking at a much improved OES.
Or first big project is formally incorporating the club as a California nonprofit organization. This has several benefits.; we would be eligible for formal membership in the SD Council of Divers, we get some liability shielding in case of an mishap, and we create new opportunities for people to participate in the club.
However, doing the incorporation will require minimal help from a handful or people. We need 3 or 4 members to act as our initial board of directors. This would entail signing the incorporation papers and approving our initial by-laws. We also need a couple more people to be the officers. If you are interested in helping on any of this effort, please contact Mark, or myself.
We need to assemble an updated membership database, and perhaps distribute a directory to our members. This would make it much easier to go diving when conditions suddenly turn outstanding.
I would also like to put a proper e-mail list together so that any member can easily contact everyone in the club for diving, travel opportunities, etc.
Any help with the above projects will be greatly appreciated. It can be as simple as entering some of our printed information into the computer.
OES members can receive discounts on regular OE classes. Members receive $30 off the regular OE price for specialty classes.
Subscriptions to Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine are available through the club for only $10. See Mark Clausen for details.
Club T-shirts are still available for $13.00.
Renewal rates are $20 single; $30 for a family. Send your renewal to Mark Clausen; 1862 Willow Way; Vista, CA 92083.
For more information:
Surf and diving conditions: 619/221-8824
Club events: Mark Clausen at 760/727-6181 or e-mail at mark@oceanexplorers.org.
Newsletter Editor - Dave Ambrose at 858/679-7817 or e-mail stargazer1@cox.net.
SDCD Hotline 619/687-1492
Ocean Enterprises 858/565-6054