Ocean Explorers Society
April 2003
Sponsored by Ocean Enterprises

 

Contents

Monthly Meeting
Thursday, April 3rd, 6:50PM at Ocean Enterprises. Speaker's not confirmed yet. We'll meet at Appleby's across the street for dinner at 5:30.

Club Diving
Nothing formal planned this month. I'm going to hit the water sometime between now and my departure for Curacao. My reg's back from the shop and I want to try it before I leave.

As always, if you want to go dive, send an email to the list.

Flotsam
Scripps is running some experiments to measure near-shore ocean circulation. They have a web site about their experiments at http://science.whoi.edu/PVLAB/NCEX/ncex.html It's well worth a visit.

The Fleet theater is celebrating its 30th year with a special film festival. They are showing some twenty classic iMax films. There are a handful of diving movies, and they're showing The Dream is Alive, which is one of my personal favorites. Best part -- five bucks gets you in the door. The films show at 6 and 7PM throughout the months of March and April. The Living Sea, and Dolphins are playing until March 30th. The next pair of films will be The Dream is Alive at 6PM, then Cosmos & We are Born of Stars in a double feature at 7PM.

Speaking of SQUID, a racing sail boat was blasting their way across the water at a good 24 knots when they ran over a giant squid. The squid got wedged between their rudder and the hull, and was hanging for dear life. While the crew prepared to reinact the fight scene from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the hapless critter freed itself when the boat slowed down. The crew, whose eyes may have been malfunctioning from excess adrenaline, estimated its length at 10 meters. Yowsers!

SCUBA Show 2003 -- June 21 & 22
SCUBA Show 2003 diving exhibition will take place June 21 and 22, 2003 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California. This is the 16th year of this popular event. Over 10,000 have attended every year for the last 13 years and it is the largest convention of its kind in the Western U.S. The show will consist of a 57,065 square feet of diving related exhibits including new gear, travel pros (many offering show discounts), and diving experts. In the exhibit hall will also be a demo tank with equipment demonstrations and trials (bring your swimsuit!) and free intro scuba courses. Additional activities at the show include a continuous underwater film festival featuring premier films, seminars by top diving experts, exhibitor presentations, door prizes and a Saturday night Casino party benefiting the Catalina Conservancy Divers. Exhibit hall hours are Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $9 and includes admission to exhibit hall, film festival and exhibitor presentations (seminars are an additional charge). Discount coupons are available at California dive stores, on dive California dive charter boats and through California dive clubs. Age 10 and under are admitted free with paying adult. For information on SCUBA Show 2003 call (310) 792-2333 or visit the web site www.saintbrendan.com.

San Diego Council of Divers
No SDCD meeting this month. The Council is working hard to keep its focus on the political and environmental issues affecting divers.Currently the council is working on restoring Children's Pool access.On April 1st, the San Diego City Council will vote on whether to authorize the city staff to evaluate the Children's pool situation, and recommend ways of bringing it back into compliance with state and federal laws. Representatives from the SDCD will be there to speak. If any club members are interested in this issue, they should plan on attending the council meeting. At this point, I don't know when the item is scheduled for discussion. It should be some time between 11AM and 3PM.

The Coastal Commission has already told the city to remove the rope blocking access to the water and the city has complied. Another rope has reportedly been erected by private citizens. An attempt to conduct an ocean swim out of Children's pool created problems with the seals. For the time being, divers should not dive Children's Pool until contamination, and seal protocols get worked out.

The City has also requested a 1 year delay in implementing a legal marine mammal refuge just north of Children's pool. The SDCD has asked the Coastal Commission to deny the request. The SDCD believes the city should just get on with the task.


Marine Conservation News
SCUBA Diving for Earth Day
Earth Day us now the entire week of April 15-22. Locally, there will be two clean up projects, one at Salt Creek State Park, and the other in Santa Ana. There should also be plenty of San Diego topside cleanups. If you want to participate, visit the Coral Reef Alliance web site for more information

Channel Islands Marine Protected Areas
A Ventura County judge has denied the sport fishing request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Maarine Protected Areas from going into effect. The areas, as approved by the Fish and Game Commission, will go into effect on April 9th. In denying the request, the judge made it clear that the burden of proof was going to be on the sport fishers. These are promising developments, but MPA's are not out of the kelp forrest yet. From all the rhetoric I've seen, they won't give up until their last appeal is denied.


Dive Travel

Curaçao -
You should have sent your final payment to Mark or Jon. We have 24 people signed up for this trip. Our dates in Curacao are May 4-11. This will be the same itinerary as the 2002 Curaçao trip. We'll stay at Captain Don's Habitat. They provide lodging, unlimited diving and buffet breakfast. You can use the buffet breakfast to make a take-along lunch if you want.

Approximate prices:

$461 - return divers who were there in 2002
$449 - non-divers
$750 - new divers not there in 2002

Package Includes:

1) Garden view room, upstairs units requested
2) Six 2-tank boat dives
3) Daily buffet breakfast
4) Airport transfers
5) Unlimited shore dives.

Last year people spent ~$100/person for the week's lunches and dinners. You should figure an additional $75 for communal van(s). Contact Mark Clausen if you want to sign up or get more information.

La Bufadora
Once again, the Dive Animals are organizing trips to La Bufadora. These are very cheap, and fun.Reports have been universally good, and you can't beat the price. Trips are schedules for May 10 - 11, June 21 - 22, Aug 2 - 3, Sept 13 - 14, and Oct 25 - 26 (tentative). The trip is open to everyone, not just Dive Animal members, so bring your fun, adventurous friends. (think "Summer Camp"...)

Frances San Clemente writes:
We stay at the rustic half-star accommodations provided by Dale's Dive Shack and dive from his trusty pangas (fishing boats). This is much more fun than it sounds! Some folks sleep in the much sought-after bunkroom. Others camp in the front yard, which is on a cliff overlooking the bay. Both have the same incredible ocean-view.

We have room for 15 in the bunkhouse (that's where you'll find me!). Any number can camp. We have room for 26 divers. These always sell out, so sign up early. Maximum number on the trip? We've had as many as 40 campers....! The more the merrier! This is a great way to meet people.

Each morning you'll awake to a buffet feast prepared by yours truly, John and Jean, and whoever else we can recruit when they get up early when they small the bacon cooking and the coffee brewing.

We leave the non-divers behind to clean the kitchen, and take off for a morning of diving the gorgeous walls, pinnacles, coves, arch, caves, and sea lion rookeries.

Afterward, we head for a hot shower before we relax, unwind, nap, visit the famous blow-hole, shop and have lunch at the nearby mercado, whatever. Dinner arrangements are made for a group dinner at one of the restaurants nearby. Some folks like to bring their dinner grills or otherwise do their own thing. There are several inexpensive, yummy and reliable restaurants in La Bufe.

We end the day swapping tales over a big campfire. And prepare for a repeat performance the following day. Folks pack up shortly after diving on Sunday and head back to San Diego, most vowing to return on the next trip.

The diving in La Bufadora is none short of spectacular. Bring your camera (or a friend's) for some amazing macro photography. The nudibranches here are like nothing you've ever seen. Also, lots of sea lions, occasional dolphins, and a regular assortment of the same type of fish we see locally, as well as others (corvina, species of rockfish, etc.) we don't see much of around here.

The cost for the expedition is such that just about everyone can come.

$30pp covers a weekend of lodging, parking (whether you stay in the bunkhouse or camp), buffet breakfast, snacks, water, sodas, other necessities (such as toilet paper, paper towels, etc. We bring it all for you!). This is paid at the time you sign up to reserve your spot.

The cost for a 2-tank dive has been $25 for many years. There may be a slight increase this year due to the high cost of gasoline. Don't know yet. Last year Dale charged $30 for the trip to the far southern pinnacles. So 2 days of diving (2 tanks a day) has been $55. Darn good deal...!!

Tanks/fills - You can bring your own (Dale charges $4 for a fill) or rent one of his ($5 per tank). Is it worth the dollar to haul your own tank? Only you can decide. Dale has both AL80s and steel 72s. No HP steels. No problem with Dale's air fills. He's been taking care of US divers for years (he is one!)

Meals - Breakfast, snacks, non-alcoholic beverages are included. Other meals: For lunch, you may want fish tacos from a local place (2 for $1.50 or you may want a Mexican combo plate $5.00) Either way, it won't break the bank. Dinner is about $10 per person. On the way down, I've stopped at La Fonda for a $20 scallops platter, but also stop at roadside stands for tamales (75 cents each) or carne asada torta ($1.50). That gives you some idea.... $40 should fee you well for the weekend.

Shopping - That will depend on you. The mercado is right there, a few steps away, and has some great deals on Mexican arts and crafts. Some places take credit cards, most want cash.

Getting there - Carpooling is best so you can split the cost of insurance, tolls, gas. In my 4Runner, I can fill up here and not need gas till I get back. So that's about $30 right now. Insurance at the border costs me about $20 for the weekend. And tolls are about $8 each way. So that's about $60
per car.

Alcoholic beverages - BYO. The Mexican beer is wonderful, as most of you know. (try Negra Modelo, if you never have). Stop at a Gigante market for your best prices, rather than a liquor store.

Underwater Archaeology Trip
CAM is currently preparing dispatch (April - May 2003.) of the vessel Naomi Corlett on a two-year marine archaeological expedition in the islands of São Tomé and Principé located on the Equator in the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. They will be carrying out searches for wrecks, filming and documenting the finds.

CAM is looking for divemasters and other staff, as well as offering paying guests the chance to participate in exploration of an area that to date has been little explored.

For more info please see http://www.corlettmaritima.com

For the more adventurous
This offer came in. If you haven't heard about Humbolt squid, they are probably the worst nightmare for anything below them in the food chain. Fast and aggressive, they'll eat just about anything they can catch.

Accompany a team of explorers to the mysterious Sea Of Cortez to film one of the most dangerous animals in the sea, the giant Humboldt squid. Expedition leader, Scott Cassell is studying the behavior of one of the least understood man-eaters of our time.

The fishermen of the Sea Of Cortez would rather fall into the water during a feeding frenzy of sharks than with Humboldt squid. With a legendary ferocity, the Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) is armed with huge sucker disks lined with over 20,000 teeth, a knife-edged beak capable of gouging out orange sized chunks of flesh every 3 seconds and high intelligence. These magnificent animals feed on nearly every animal they encounter including sharks, pelagic fish, other squid (they are fierce cannibals) and even man. To do this, we are using the Sea Probe submersible, diver protection cages and other state-of-the art systems to peer into the lair of one of earths greatest mysteries.

Expedition Goals

Opportunities offered

Expeditions are being scheduled for April, June, August and late September 2003.

Cost $5,000.00 for 7 days
$8,000.00 for 14 days

Includes all meals offshore, accommodations on support vessel, commemorative expedition patch, special-edition version of the documentary, expedition member certificate, and sea service letter.

Membership

Renewal rates are $20 single; $30 for a family. If you can't make it to a meeting, 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: