Ocean Explorers
Society
August 2002
Sponsored by Ocean Enterprises
Contents
Monthly
Meeting
Thursday August 1, 2002
6:50PM-- at Ocean Enterprises.
. . We're still trying to arrange a speaker, If nothing else,
we'll show slides from the Channel Islands trip and have the raffle.
Meet at Appleby's for dinner at 5:30.
From
the Editor
Mark decided to extend his vacation,
so it looks like I get some headline space this month.I wish we
could have had more OES members on the Channel Islands trip. It
was awesome. There were a grand total of 14 divers on the boat
designed to hold 46. Conditions were calm and we made it all the
way to San Miguel Island. Diving at all the sights was between
good, and very good. Visibility was generally good, but got bad
for the photographers when clouds of krill moved in to the San
Miguel sites. Near-sighted diver that I am, I thought this was
pretty neat. The topside thrill of the trip was an encounter with
a pair of killer whales. We also enjoyed an attentive crew and
good food.
This is the second time I've done a Truth Aquatics trip. Both were thoroughly enjoyable, and reasonably priced. The next time we decide to do this, I'm going to just say yes.
In a more administrative vein, we're assembling our paperwork for incorporation. If you've volunteered to help, we'll be contacting you soon. If you would like to take part in running the club, please contact Mark or I. We have lots of little things to do. -- Dave Ambrose
Club
Diving
Shore dive --
Nothing formal this month, but August 17, and 18 look ideal. High
tide is at 7:30, and 8:30AM
Boat Dive -- The Lois Ann is doing a 3 tank trip on the morning of the 17th; one dive on the Yukon followed by 2 kelp dives. The boat leaves at 7AM and returns at 1PM. Looks like we have at least 2 people going on that trip so far. Call 800-201-4381, or email info@loisann.com with your name, address, phone number, and the number of reservations you want. Also, please let me know if you're going
A few market squid have been spotted at La Jolla Shores. I'll ping the list if they show up en masse. We've had a lot of Humbolt squid in the water, but so far, none have been seen alive.
If you want to go dive, let me know and I'll send out an e-mail to the rest of the club.
Flotsam
Break-ins at La Jolla Shores -- There have been reports of divers cars getting
broken into at La Jolla Shores. Apparently the thieves are after
cash, because they steal the wallet, take the cash, then ditch
the wallet. My experience with the San Diego police department
is that if it's a property crime, they take a report and hope
the problem disappears on its own. We're going to have to keep
an eye on each other's vehicles, and call the lifeguards or the
police if you see anything suspicious. Alternatively, you can
leave someone topside to watch the vehicles.
Equipment Recall -- About 1,700 computer consoles used by scuba divers are being recalled because their pressure gauges give inaccurate readings according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission . The commission and Johnson Outdoors Inc., the Racine, Wis., company that manufactures the gauges, have received four reports of malfunctioning gauges but know of no injuries.
UWATEC brand Smart PRO, Pro ULTRA and Sport PLUS consoles with U-Line gauges are included in the recall. The gray consoles have ``UWATEC'' printed on front, and the following codes are on the back of the gauges: Tested-IL, Tested-JL, Tested-KL, Tested-LL, Tested-AM, Tested-BM, Tested-CM, Tested-DM and Tested-EM.
They were sold from January through May. For more information, call (800) 382-2211.
Here is some additional information from ScubaPro: The dial face of the new mechanical pressure gauges in the Uwatec line were made with a material that, in presence of moisture and high ambient temperatures, would absorb the moisture and warp. Once warped, the needle could be obstructed in its movement and consequently could show an incorrect pressure reading. The only complaints that we have received so far are from tropical locations.
The dial face material has now been replaced from a nylon type to a polypropylene type, and the latter does not exhibit the faulty behavior. We already started replacing the defective units with new ones.
In the US, these new mechanical pressure gauges are distributed only in the console configuration mentioned in the recall notice. The latter houses a computer in addition to the pressure gauge, but it should be noted that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the computers.
New Initiative at SIO --
Life in the oceans is at risk
due to overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, disease, and
global warming. The Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation
(CMBC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography was created to develop
the scientific knowledge needed to conserve and restore marine
life and ecosystems.
Projects at CMBC include training young scientists in social sciences as well as oceanography; developing plans for marine protected areas in the Gulf of California and the tropical oceans; and intensively studying kelp forests, coral reefs, and coastal wetlands. CMBC scientists are working with the World Wildlife Fund to develop a program to train young marine scientists from tropical nations.
Innovative programs at Scripps, like CMBC, depend on entirely private support. Visit the CMBC web site for more information.
Submarine Races (yes really) --
Here's a cool video clip Rich Arrieta made of the sub "Omer"
making a run. If you turn the volume on for your computer, you'll
be able to hear the course director say "sub under way, sub
under way" on the underwater speaker system, which is how
all the team members and safety divers heard it. Check it out
at http://divebums.com/General/hps2002/Sub1.mpg
Chocolate Lobster Dive --
The Cabrillo Aquarium is holding its annual Chocolate Lobster
Dive on September 21st. Entrants search for hundreds of milk chocolate
lobsters off Cabrillo beach. Each lobster is worth a prize, and
some prizes are really good. This year, there will be over $35,000
in prizes given away. So, go dust off that old search and recovery
chapter in your PADI advanced book. Visit http://www.cabrilloaq.org for more information.
Coastal Cleanup Day 2002 has been set for September 21st. The statewide cleanup will be held from 9am-noon. In an effort to make this year's event even bigger and better for San Diego County, I Love a Clean San Diego has joined forces with San Diego BayKeeper. They will be coordinating cleanup sites at both inland and coastal locations throughout the county. Inland sites have been added all over the state for this important cleanup to emphasize the fact that even a piece of trash dumped into our inland waterways can make its way to the ocean. Please contact Sarah Adams at volunteers@ilacsd.org for more information.
Local Diving Study --
Stewart Wong is a first year med student at UCSD planning to do
aresearch project on SCUBA
divers starting in mid-June. Stewart is still looking for volunteers.
He is trying to see whether venous gas microemboli form in
the absence of symptoms associated with decompression sickness.
He will not require subjects to do anything special except wear
a dive computer. I would also need subjects to perform simple
pulmonary function tests at the lab at UCSD three times: 1-2days
before the dive, 1-2hrs and 24hrs after the dive. Total time would
be about one hour over three days to do the test. One fellow on
Divebums took the tests and found it was neither painful or inconvenient.
If you can help, please contact Stuart at s15wong@uscd.edu or (858) 558-6467.
Call for Entries - The Monterey Shootout - August 10th,
2002
The Monterey Shootout is now accepting underwater video entries
for review and consideration. The selected videos will be shown
at The Monterey Shootout 2002 Evening Film Festival. The Film
Festival, held at The Monterey Bay Aquarium, has become a showcase
for new and emerging videographers in California. Selected videographers
will be on stage to introduce their work.
If you would like to submit and entry for consideration please follow the guidelines listed below.
Please mail your entries by July 15th to Richard Todd - 17675
Riverbend Road - Salinas CA 93908; 831.455.2000. or drop them
off, in person, at Backscatter - 32 Cannery Row - Monterey, CA
93940 - 831.645.1082.
All entrants will be notified by July 25th if their work will be showcased.
The San Diego 3 R's - 3R's is an in-the-water snorkeling tour, jointly sponsored by the San Diego City Lifeguard Service and the San Diego Council of Divers. I've gone to a couple of these. they were a boat load of fun and very informative.
|
July 27 |
Goldfish Point (La Jolla Caves) 1325 Coast Blvd. (old Shell Shop) |
|
Aug. 10 |
Marine Street 300 Marine Street |
|
Sept. 7 |
Hospital Point 400 Coast Blvd (south of Cuvier) |
If you would like to be added to the 3R's e-mail list, send a blank e-mail to: rocks-rips-reefs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
They use the e-mail list to send out reminders and site information 2 or 3 days before each session and to let people know of weather-related cancellations.
Los Angeles 3R's -- The Greater Los Angeles Council of Divers (GLACD) and the Los Angeles County Underwater Instructor's Association (LACUIA) have joined forces to produce an entire series of courses designed to safely introduce divers to popular, local dive sites.
Participants are required to wear a full wetsuit, mask, snorkel, and fins. A weight belt with no more than half of the normal diving weight is optional. Tanks and regulators are not allowed during the program, but may be brought along if you plan to make a dive after the class is over. After completing the in-water practice, we finish the session with a noon time Bar-B-Que, so bring along a picnic lunch and plan on socializing afterwards.
SCUBA certification is not required in order to participate in the 3R's courses!
They teach the 3R's at six different challenging dives sites each year:
|
August 10th |
Point Dume |
|
September 14th |
Marineland |
|
October 12th |
White Point |
Saturday classes begin at 8:00 a.m.
Arrive and check in at 7:45 a.m.
Courses are free!
When registering for class, we request a donation of $5.
No donation requested if you have GLACD membership.
Pre-Registration will help us determine proper staffing for the event.
You can Pre-register by calling:
Greater LA Council of Divers
(310) 379-5681 (please call in the evening, calls will not be returned during the day)
Or by writing to (please pay at the event, prepayment is not necessary):
Greater LA Council of Divers
P.O. Box 6255
Torrance, CA 90504
Underwater Film Festival -- The Diving Locker is very pleased to announce the 3rd Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition scheduled for Friday and Saturday evening, October 18 & 19, 2002 at the new state-of-the-art, large-format theater at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park! Last year's Film Exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum, was an overwhelming success and we hope this year's will be even better!
Each evening's program will consist of fourteen to fifteen short films of the undersea world, submitted by both accomplished professional and aspiring amateur underwater filmmakers and videographers.
Tickets are now available, but roughly half of them have already been sold. You can get them at the Diving Locker, and they're almost certainly available as SDCD meetings.
MPLA Working
Group
Local diver and master of the Divebums.com web site, John Moore,
is one of our local representatives on the MPLA working group.
John is looking for input from us regarding the MPLA. We need
to decide how the MPLA areas will be chosen, and what sorts of
protections will be placed on them.
I cannot adequately stress how important this is for both us, as divers, and our children. We're in danger of losing our coastal fishery if we do not act decisively, right now. Sport and commercial fishing interests want to water this down until it will have little impact on our marine environment.
John has started a mailing list for MPLA Working group announcements. Please, please, please visit http://divebums.com/mlpa.html and sign up.
San Diego
Council of Divers
The next SDCD meeting is Tuesday,
August 13, at 6:30 pm at Rock Bottom Brewery. I don't have their
speaker yet, but you can check their events
calendar, or subscribe to the SDCD mailing
list.
La Bufadora - The Dive Animals Scuba Club organizes several Camp & Dive trips south of the border. They have the reserved the dormitory-style bunkhouse at Dale's Dive Center on the cliffs overlooking the boat launch. Adjacent camping is available for those that prefer a bit more privacy or just like to camp!
This trip is open to all divers (and non-divers) that want to go. For those of you with non-diving spouses/friends/kids/whatever, this is a weekend trip that they'll equally enjoy. There's plenty to do here (hiking, horseback riding, snorkeling, shopping at the nearby village, partying in Ensenada, napping), or nothing at all. (some compadres just bring a beach chair and a book!) Last year we had 30-40 people on each trip. It was a blast!
Cost of admission is $30 (covers 2 nights of lodging, parking, breakfast, necessities like toilet paper, firewood, etc.). Diving is $30 per day for 2-tank dives. Add on tank rentals, air fills, gas, meals, sodas, cervesa and margaritas, and you'll have a dive adventure to another country for about $120 for the entire weekend (depending on how much cervesa you buy!)
And the diving is incredible...! Check out the website http://www.diveanimals.com "Where we dive" - La Bufadora and also "Club Photos 2001" for detailed info and photos of our last few trips.
Sign up now with diveanimal@pacific-ocean.com. The 15 bunkhouse spots go early. $30pp deposit required to hold your spot.
Dates of future trips:
Aug 2-4
Sept 13-15
Channel Islands - I'll have a more complete report assembled next month. Mark, Joe Dohn, and I made the trip to Santa Barbara. Great trip! 14 divers on the boat. Good food, and a good group. I like these limited load trips. September and October are good months to dive this area, so if you need a cheap and easy vacation, book youself onto one of these trips. Call Truth Aquatics at (805)962-1127 to reserve a spot.
Fiji -- Steve Goldstrom just hooked up with a dive club from the Midwest. they are going to Cousteau's resort in Fiji October 17-26. Approx cost $2500. Anyone interested may contact Steve at austrom@adelphia.net
Other trips - We're also in the planning stage for Curacao and Palau for 2003.
Dacor Extreme Plus regulator with octopus and SPG console (w/o computer); excellent condition, but needs its annual rebuild. This is a top quality regulator. Built-in hose swivels and breathing adjustments make it very comfortable in the water. $200 or best offer. Call Dave Ambrose at 858-679-7817 or email me at stargazer1@cox.net
I also have some 6.5mm wetsuits suitable for kids, or small adults. I'll sell them very cheaply.
Membership
Check back next month.
Renewal rates are $20 single;
$30 for a family. Send your renewal to Mark Clausen; 1862 Willow
Way; Vista, CA 92083.
OES
Info
OES members can 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.
For more information: