Ocean
Explorers
Society
April 2006
We've been getting good conditions locally with 25 foot vis, and no waves to speak of. We have some excellent shore diving around here. Liz and I dove La Jolla Cove over President's day weekend, and even found close-in parking. The temperatures were a little chilly, but The Cove is a shallow dive so we stayed pretty warm.
There's a storm on its way in so by the time you read this, everything will change completely. Spring's like that; one day we're in shorts, the next we're in arctic gear from the "freezing" 50 degree temperatures. The water will be warming soon. In the meantime, get out there and do something wet.
Be sure to read about deepbluegirl's story below. It's a vivid reminder that no guideline is foolproof and DCS can happen to anyone.
The Birch Aquarium sponsors a lecture series on marine science. We've attended these lectures intermittently and always found them interesting. They're not very technical and you won't be assaulted with more than a few latin words and scientific names. They're also on the web at http://ucsd.tv/oceanscience/. Some of the programs are getting rebroadcast on UCSD TV, others are available online via streaming video. You need RealPlayer to view them.Happy
Bubbles,
Dave Ambrose
Green Flash Concert Series — KPRI FM and the Birch Aquarium are sponsoring an evening concert series at the aquarium. The dates are May 17th, June 21st (summer solstice), July 19th, August 16th, and September 20th. Beer, wine and food will be available from Rock Bottom Brewery. The first show will feature Left for Dead. We'll have more details as they become available.
Grunion
Run Volunteers Needed - Professor Karen
Martin from Pepperdine University has been running a research
project on Grunion. Every year, volunteers go out and observer the
grunion when they spawn on the beach. Watching the grunion is fun all
by itself. This is also the perfect activity for you night owls as the
spawning run starts at midnight. There still one volunteer
training session in San Diego county scheduled for April 6th
at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. See the Grunion site
or grunion.org for more information.
SCUBA Show — Mark your calendars. SCUBA Show 2006 will be held June 24th and 25th in Long Beach. Looks like the all the usual activities; seminars, film festival, and exhibition. We'll do the carpool again this year. More information later.
SCUBA Show 2006 is looking for top-quality amateur and semi-pro original short underwater video films to screen at its Continuous Underwater Film Festival. This is not a contest but those accepted will be paid an honorarium. Deadline is April 3, 2006. For complete guidelines visit online http://www.saintbrendan.com/filmguid.htm.
Deep Sea 3D IMAX Event - We will be planning an outing at the Edwards Irvine Spectrum IMAX theatre to view a showing of the new Howard Hall film, Deep Sea 3D sometime in April. The film is narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and has received some rave reviews from locals who have made the journey north to view the documentary.
The Diving Locker Has Moved - New location : 6167 Balboa Avenue, San Diego, CA 92111 (858) 292-0547
New California Law Requires All Batteries Be Recycled - As of Feb 8, 2006, all batteries in California must be recycled or taken to a household hazardous waste disposal facility, universal waste handler, or another authorized recycling facility. All batteries are considered hazardous waste in California when they are discarded. Please remember to dispose your dive equipment batteries properly. For more information, log onto Earth 911 Org's website, http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=electronics/bat_index.asp or http://wwwciwmb.ca.gov/WPIE/Batteries/ . (Divebums)
Update on Dispute Between DAN & Sub-Aquatic Safety Services (SSS) - Effective March 9, 2006 and until further notice, the following popular dive locations no longer accept Divers Alert Network dive insurance OR DAN America's credit card for payment at hyperbaric chambers:
As the number of chambers grows that are joining this list, you are encouraged to contact both DAN and the local chamber before traveling to a destination and ensure that you will have access to treatment if required. Otherwise, be prepared to pay for any medical services required out of pocket. Some alternative dive insurance options to DAN are Dive Assure, Vicencia & Buckley, Diver's Security Agency, and DiveSafe. (www.cdnn.info)
12 lb Lobster Caught and Released - Last month, Ray Fulks, a freediver and spearfisherman, encountered an enormous lobster in a cave in about 10' of water while free diving off La Jolla, and he managed to wrestle the creature out of its hiding place. Ray and his buddy, David Frapwell, took the behemoth home, took some photos, some measurements, and contemplated the crustacean's future. The carapace was 7 inches long, which is more than twice the length of a legal lobster's 3 1/4 required measurement, and Ralph, as the lobster was named, measured 20 inches from eyes to tail. It takes spiny lobsters five to seven years to reach a legal size of 1-1.5 lbs, and can reach an age of 50 years. The biggest lobster ever recorded was 26 lbs and 3 feet long. Fulk's lobster, is estimated to be 20 years or older, based on it's size. Fulks and Frapwell decided to release Ralph in the San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve. Lifeguard Casey Owens paddled Ralph out and was released into the relative safety of the preserve. (SD Union Tribune)
Human Powered Submarine Races — OK, no snickers from you transplanted SF Bay Areans. These are for real and they'll be held in Escondido July 20th through 23rd. They'll be looking for volunteer divers to help with the event. It's interesting, a boatload of fun, and nurtures tomorrow's engineers. Volunteer forms and information may be found here. I do hope a few people will join us in making this all happen.San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition - The 7th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition is being held October 20-21 2006 at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. If you are interested in exhibiting your work in a public arena, this may be your opportunity.
Cheryl, aka deepbluegirl, is a diver from Montréal, Canada, who spent an early February diving vacaton in San Diego. Unfortuantely, her trip home wasn't as much fun as her vacation. She suffered a DCS hit on the flight home. Cheryl was generous enough to post her experience on Divebums, and we recount it here with her permission. My comments in brackets.
Well, it is good to be home. I arrived in Montreal, from San Diego, on Wednesday but didn't make it home. Rather.....
Well.....the best laid plans, the best thoughtfulness and thoroughness of your post-dive (30 hrs surface time prior to my last dive of the visit) and pre-flight plans (36 hrs surface time prior to my flight) can still run amuck when the cabin pressure has problems on your 5 hrs flight!
My water bottle was crushed (partially colapsed) - I noticed (even though I slept through the first 2 hrs or so) ... so cabin had definate pressurization issues. Near the end of the flight they had compensated but by too mucht - apparent by the bubbled up foil top on un-opened the tin of Pringles I had with me.(last dive was max 75ft and time at depth maybe 3-4 mn.). [Airplane cabins are nominally pressurized to 8000 feet ASL. They don't normally stray too much from this, but water bottles will normally start crushing early in the descent. Bulging Pringles cans are also normal. Followup investigation didn't reveal any cabin pressurization problems.]
I had some tingling and intermitent numbness in my arms and hands during the flight and an article in a DAN mag I had with me was about divers wating too long and being in denial with mild symptoms but encouraged divers to call them just the same.
After getting into the airport, the soles of my feet started burning and less than an hour later I had some dull aches in my elbows, then my shoulder.
Finally a sharp pain in my left shoulder finilazed my decision and I called DAN. I had lost strenght in my hands and couldnt' close my fists
So, DAN told me what to do, where the chamber was here in Montreal, and called the hospital to advise them I was coming. The staff physician chose to NOT call the hyperbaric team,admited me to Emergency for the night, and refused me oxygen.
In the morning the hyperbaric team set to and got me into the chamber in mid-morning but only a Table 5....just over 2hrs - Had to do it that way because another sedated patient was receiving treatment at the same time he didn't need that much but it was a compromisse to dive us at the same time.
My symptoms persisted
So I the Team opted for a Table 6 (5hrs) on Friday with an option for two 20 min extensions. They did add the extra segments so I did almost 6 hrs in the Chamber on Friday.
I felt pretty well better but the technician isnt' satisfied with my 97-98% feeling better and want 100%. So, dove me again on Saturday morning with a Table 2 profile (just over 2hrs). I can't dive for 1 month but with the theatre play going on stage in March there is hardly time anyway!
DAN has called each day and followed up - I am very impressed!
The technician was a navy diver for 20 yrs and then worked in hyperbaric research in Toronto prior to coming to Montreal.
So, all my symptoms seem to be gone. My strength in my fists is fully restored and I can all but run on my heels. (grin)
I know I was diving aggressively in SD but never went into deco, never surfaced improperly, left large margins before flying........and yet..........so, I just wanted to share this saga with you. I believe Dan is researching the popular trend of repetitive diving (with the popularity of live-aboards etc.) and may change the no-fly time to 72 hrs on surface prior to flying. We shall see.........
So, you can never be too safe when you are diving. AND this should prevent any DCS but I wanted to share this with you so you can file it away for potential future reference.
Cheryl posted this addendum. . .
Also please remember there are other potential factors for my situation or anyone's situation. I did dive 2 of my 4 last deep dives on nitrox (trying to be responsible in light of the aggresive diving I was doing). The other issue is one of dehydration. I was limiting my water consumption because of my new drysuit. I normally consume a lakeful of water prior to a dive and this was not the case in Feb....add on sun, the occassional watering-hole stop with friends, etc......it is possible when we don't off-gas enough that the potentially larger nitrogen load can be factored into the equation on the flight home.
I am just speculating but since we all know hydration is an issue....whether in a hot, sunny place or a cooler place like SD and a dry suit..... just some post-mortem reflections.
Also in the post incident reflections were several other "undeserved" DCS incidents. They all had one thing in common. All the women were in their mentstual weeks when the hit occurred. There's no official word from DAN yet, though they seem to be evaluating the data. In the meantime, it seems prudent that women divers pay extra attention to their hydration and diving profile during their menses.
Something is clearly going on. 24 hours is the commonly accepted desaturation time. It implies that all the excess nitrogen should have left Cheryl's body, yet 30 hours after her last dive, she's got a DCS hit. I don't know why dove boats don't have something like Gatorade(tm) available. The potassium salts in the drinks help you rehydrate rapidly and maintain good electrolyte balance. Granted, the flavor's pretty wretched, but it beats the hell out of a trip-ending DCS hit. Alternating Gatorade and water seems to be the best strategy as the standard mix is too concentrated for extended light exercise, like dving. Bananas are also a good source of potassium, but aren't as rapidly absorbed.
The Club's next trip is scheduled for June 3rd through 10th on the Caribbean Explorer II live-aboard. For those of you who are thinking of doing a live-aboard in the more challenging locations of Galapagos or Coco's, this is an excellent opportunity to experience a live-aboard and see if an extended trip to more exotic and challenging locations is for you.
The tour departs from St. Kitts, and the itinerary includes 5 1/2 days of diving including diving at St. Kitts, the Saba Marine Park, the St. Eustatius Markine Park. 5 dives daily are normally offered, inlcuding night dives; the schedule also provides for up to 3 island tours during the week, providing ample time to explore forts, rainforests, duty free shops and museums. The itinerary ends on the island of Sint Maarten, were we will depart and can either spend additional time on the island or fly home.
This will be an excellent trip at a reasonable price. The Caribbean Explorers always get top marks in Undercurrent and elsewhere. It's a large boat with private staterooms and a sun deck. Those subject to seasickness will have a much easier time with this boat and schedule. The boat spends most of its time in protected coves, and the longest passage is approximately 2 hours. Winds this time of year are generally light.
The boat will visit St. Kitts, St. Eustatius (Statia), and Saba. There will be land excursions available on all the islands. The boat leaves from St' Kitt's on June 3rd, and we disembark at St. Maartin. on June 10th. Both St Eustatius, and Saba are underwater marine preserves. You can make up to 5 dives per day. Nitrox is available for $100 and highly recommended.
They take a maximum of 18 passengers with 5 crew members. There will be plenty of elbow room, even for a boat. It also has 110 volt power available for chargers, and other electronic devices. Twin and double staterooms are still available. We can arrange twin cabins for single travelers.
Please feel free to pass this along to your friends. The more people we can book for this trip, the cheaper it will be for everyone.
If you have any questions, please contact Kevin Douglass (kddinsd@sbcglobal.com)
$1,595 for the live-aboard. If we get enough people for free spots, we'll reduce the trip price for everyone. Price includes all meals, (except last dinner at St. Maartin), beverages, air fills, etc. while on board. There will be a fuel surcharge added to the final settlement. It’s currently $65.00 and could change. Nitrox is available for either $10/dive, or $100 for the entire trip. We currently have seven people signed up - it's not too late to join us!
Currently $36.00 for eco reserves at Statia and Saba.
We suggest an amount of 10-15% of charter cost depending on service and how generous you feel
Approximately $900.00. as of 12/16/05 it was $868.85: SAN / DFW / MIA / SKB – SXM / MIA / DFW / SAN
on St’ Kitts and St.Maartin. Most people are planning to stay a few days extra.
For additional general information, go to www.explorerventures.com and go to the Saba/St.Kitts/Statia link, or contact Kevin Douglass or Mark Clausen.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.