Ocean Explorers Society
February 2005 Sponsored by Ocean Enterprises

Contents

March Meeting Thursday, March 3rd, 6:30PM in the upstairs classroom at OE. Please note the new time. Our speaker will be Dick Long from DUI and the San Diego Oceans Foundation talking about the new Ships to Reefs program. Ships 2 Reefs is a new program to take surplus ships from the "mothball fleet" and sink them as artificial reefs. It's actually cheaper than scrapping them, and as anyone who's dived the Yukon will tell you, creates new habitat for marine life.

From the President

Last month, the board of directors spent some time pondering the club's health, happiness, and future. We have a lot of people on our mailing list, but few active participants. We have some theories about the cause, and are working hard to make the club more valuable and member friendly. If you're one of the silent majority, please take a few minutes to drop me an email, and tell us what we need to do better. I promise to read it carefully and consider everything you say.

Please be sure to check out our travel section. We're gauging interest for these various trips, and will persue the ones with enough travelers. If you have any questions, please contact me and I'll make sure it gets to the proper person.

.I finally made it down to the Children's Pool to check the situation first hand. It looked relatively calm. Someone had raked a line in the sand, and there was a lady sitting in a chair and holding a sign that read "This is a seal rookerey. Please do not cross the line." Conditions weren't suitable for either diving or swimming, and I didn't see anyone cross the line. The latest report on Divebums indicates that the seal activists are not interfering  with divers; only keeping tourists away from the seals. 

There's lots of room at the east end of the beach for swimmers and divers to enter the water without disturbing the seals. I think as long as people stay away from the seals and their activists, then there should be no problem. If you enter and exit at the east end of the cove and swim north, everything should be fine. This is an excellent dive site, and really deserves more attention than it gets.

I haven't been able to discover whether the seal activist who fired the Taser has been formally charged. But, the seal activists more recent public statements indicate a shift in tactics away from confrontation. Reliable reports indicate that there is probably a problem with tourists bothering the seals. The signs seem to be an effective way to deal with that problem.

The national Humane Society is calling on the city to erect the rope and filed suit to force the issue. I don't know what an additional suit will accomplish, since the issue is already in litigation. This is starting to feel every bit as goofy and contorted as the SCO lawsuits against IBM, Novell, and Linux users.

There's still a lot of misinformation  surrounding this issue. The allegation of someone stabbing a young seal was proven false by Hubbs Sea World, but that allegation is still front and center on the San Diego Animal Advocates web site. It's more difficult to win against a Stalin-style propaganda campaign, but that's exactly what the diving community is faced with. We'll have to keep hammering away at the misinformation with facts, and not give up until the real information is widely known.

Happy Bubbles,
Dave Ambrose

Local Diving

Weather is unpredictable at this time of year. If conditions look good and you want to go diving, post an email to the our mailing list. In any case, I'd bring a surfboard along as a backup plan.

Flotsam

DUI DEMO DAYS -- DUI is sponsoring another drysuit tryout with all proceeds going to the San Diego Oceans Foundation. The Demo Days will be held on March 12th and 13th at the National Polytechnic College of Engineering and Oceaneering off Aero Drive in San Diego. If you've never tried a drysuit, this is the perfect opportunity. They'll be using the training tank at the college which will be much better than the Shores for first-time drysuit divers. They also have seminars and other equipment demos. This year, you can try out the commercial diving helmets. The historical diving society will also be there with an exhibit, and a raffle to dive a Mark V hard hat rig. Lunch is included, or available for $5 separately. Tickets are available at your favorite dive shop, or at the door.

Read this before you go! You'll find complete information at: http://www.dui-online.com/dog_sandiego_2005_diver.html 

DUI is also looking for volunteers to help with running the event. They're especially looking for divemasters and experienced drysuit divers, but anyone can contribute. If you want to help out, please contact Faith Ortins at faith@dui-online.com.

For those of you scratching your heads wondering if they didn't just do this, you're right. The last one was in September at La Jolla Shores. This year, the City of San Diego decided not to give them a permit, so they're using the college.

La Jolla Shores Construction -- There are plans to rebuild the restrooms at the foot of Vallecitos St. They're still looking to secure financing. If they do, construction will start this summer. The lifeguard tower is also slated for reconstruction. The Council of Divers is part of this effort. They are advocating a loading zone at the foot of Vallecito Street for divers, warm water showers, and some interpretive displays. These haven't been accepted yet, but they're high on the agenda.

Conservation

Over the next two months, the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Master Plan Science Advisory Team and stakeholders will be reviewing draft text for the master plan framework. The task force is scheduled to adopt a draft master plan framework at its April 11-12, 2005 meeting, after which the document  will be forwarded to the Department of Fish and Game (DFG). DFG will then  submit its recommended draft master plan framework for consideration by the Fish and Game Commission over succeeding months.

Target dates for discussion and review of the draft master plan framework are as follows:


All draft documents will be posted to the MLPA Initiative website http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/index.html as soon as possible after their release. If you have questions or comments on these draft documents, please contact Mike Weber at Mike.Weber@resources.ca.gov.

It's good to see the process start up again. I'm sure the fishing interests will do everything they can to torpedo this effort. We'll be staying on top of their progress and will keep you informed. This is one area where divers will probably need to make a concerted effort to be heard. Be ready to sharpen your word processors and speak up.

San Diego Council of Divers

The council elected new officers, and a new board of directors. Derek Tarr is now president. We want to congratulate Derek and the new board. They deserve the best for their new term. I'm personally looking forward to a good year for the Council and San Diego divers.

The Council celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Plans are afoot for a celebration. .We'll keep you posted.

Dive Travel

We've got travel plans for 2005.

Hawai'i the third week of September or first week of October. This will be a land-based trip to the Big Island with plenty of activities for both divers, and non-divers. I'm hoping to find either condos, or a house to rent for the week. Things seem to be booking now, so, I'll need a head count soon. If you're interested in this trip, please let me know no later than March 1st. A handful of members are going on the the Kona Aggressor the week after(or before). That's a separate trip with Laura.

We're also looking into a Caribbean destination.

November 20-22 aboard Truth Aquatics. We're looking at a 3 day, limited load trip to the northern Channel Islands. The Channel Islands are clearly the best diving in California. The limited load trips carry 22 divers instead of the usual 42. One an 80 foot boat, this leaves plenty of elbow room on deck, short lines at mealtime, and never a wait for the bathroom. Cost will be $519. .

Alaska Airlines now flies to Lorretto in Baja. Diving Diving in the Sea of Cortez is excellent. We're looking at a long weekend trip there sometime in early fall, depending on interest. Contact Liza if you're interested.

  Jackie Selby brings us info on Cocoview and Anthony's Key.  Proposed trip dates are either the last week of  April or the first week of  May

I stayed at Cocoview a few years ago - pretty much devoted to divers who want to dive-dive-dive .... I had a look at Anthony's when I did their dolphin dive and my impression was of a much larger scale operation, more family-oriented (Cocoview only takes kids over 10) .... although it was pretty neato to get to swim with the dolphins right off their beach.  So it's possible Anthony's might have a cattle-call aspect to it and might be more controlling with the diving.  You couldn't really call Cocoview fancy - I thought the food was fine although not gourmet, but I was very happy with the diving - you could dive your head off and they were pretty hands-off and laid-back without feeling unsafe.

Cocoview: 

Anthony's:

Contact me is you're interested in this trip.

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