Ocean Explorers Society
July 2006 

Next Meeting - New Location! Our next club meeting will be Thursday, July 6th @ 6:30 at Rock Bottom Restaurant, located at the corner of Villa La Jolla Drive, and La Jolla Village Drive. Please RSVP to Dave Ambrose so we can have enough seats. If you can't RSVP, come anyways, and we'll make room.  

Club members have returned from their week aboard the Caribbean Explorer II, which had an itinerary covering the tropical isles of St. Kitts, St. Eustatius, Saba, and St. Maarten. Be sure to attend the July meeting to see photos taken during this extremely memorable trip!

From the President

We have a new meeting place. We'll meet at Rock Bottom Restaurant until we tire of their cuisine. For those who've never been there, Rock Bottom is a brewery and restaurant serving American Bistro fare. Last I checked, we still had many members who were rather fond of beer and I like their brew master's fondness for Hallertau and Eroica hops. 

Wow. What a trip. And I'm not talking about hallucinogens, either. Our St. Kitts to Sint Maarten trip was nothing short of excellent. Good boat, great crew, good friends, and some fine diving make for a trip of many happy memories. Many, many thanks go to Kevin and Mark for doing the legwork and everyone else for being such agreeable traveling companions. 

I'm still on Island Time. I guess that's the best sign of a great vacation. When it comes to our modern day business world "sense of urgency", my mind goes back to business only after much kicking, screaming, and obscene, blasphemous verbiage. 

Now I'm thinking about my next trip. The SCUBA show certainly proffered much food for thought.  So here is my wish list, in no particular order:

Not listed in here are local trips to the Yukon, kelp beds, and Channel Islands. None of my warm water trips have dampened my enthusiasm for local diving. I was out enjoying the sun, surf, and the lifeguard's company. The water has really warmed up. Unfortunately, it's also tourist season. Parking is going to be a chore unless you get there early, or go after work. 

We have more trips in the works, so save your frequent flyer miles. We're going places.

Before I sign off, I want to thank Eileen Parkhurst for doing such an awesome job writing the newsletter. We've been getting all the news that's fit to print without wading through dozens of email messages and websites.

Happy Bubbles,
Dave Ambrose

Flotsam

Hogan Incident - The following is a condensed version of a posting by Sue Schimka, the victim's best friend and and a posting by John Moore of divebums. The incident occurred June 3rd, 2006 at the USS Hogan on a Lois Ann charter. It was a two day charter, Saturday to the Hogan, then Sunday to the Yukon to place a plaque in memory of Steve Donathan, with almost everyone on the charter being a friend/buddy/student of Steve Donathan. The anniversary of Steve's death is this Sunday.

On Saturday, June 3rd, Kimberly Thurman was diving on the wreck of the Hogan off the Lois Ann. After her second dive, she informed the crew she was not feeling well and the crew began immediate first aid treatment and was taken to the hospital for evaluation and treatment. It has been determined that Kimber suffered a serious case of Arterial Gas Embolism, and her condition was very grave and extremely serious the first ten days. However, she has responded well to treatment and is progressing. She has many months of physical therapy ahead of her as she will need to relearn to do many things. At this time the cause of the embolism is not known and hopefully future tests will find the cause. A Kimberly Thurman Recovery Assistance Fund has been established by her friends to help with the many day to day bills that are not covered by insurance. Any help is greatly appreciated, especially since it will be several months before she can work again. Information on how to make contributions to her recovery fund can be found at  www.tekdivegirl.org .  

Two Separate Dive Incidents at La Jolla - The San Diego Union Tribune reports that two separate divers were rescued Saturday June 24 in La Jolla.  

"The two divers were pulled from the ocean Saturday in separate incidents within minutes of each other in La Jolla, a lifeguard lieutenant said. About 11:30 a.m., lifeguards were called to the area of La Jolla Shores, where a diver was spotted floating face-down in the water by her dive master, Lerma said. She was diving with a group when she experienced some sort of distress and surfaced, but while the dive master turned to help some other divers, she stopped breathing, Lerma said. Kayakers got her to shore, where someone performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, according to news reports. Lifeguards arrived and had her taken to a hospital, Lerma said. Her condition was not immediately available.

About the same time, a woman who was diving in the La Jolla kelp beds was about 80 feet down when she had some sort of emergency and came up to the surface too quickly, San Diego lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma said. Someone in a personal watercraft brought her to shore and she was taken to UCSD Medical Center for placement in a hyperbaric chamber, Lerma said. Her condition also was not immediately available, although she was able to walk to the ambulance, Lerma said".  (SD Union Tribune)

Update on Last Month's Incident at the Shores - Unfortunately, the Brazilian diver injured last month during a guided dive off Vallecitos Point did not survive his injuries. To date, it has not been publicly released as to the cause of the incident.

Scuba Show Overview - A small contingent met at the Starbucks at the Carlsbad Outlet stores to carpool up to the 2006 Long Beach Scuba Show. The usual suspects were present at the show and we talked with various travel companies, with destinations such as Galapagos in mind; at the DUI exhibit we examined the new 30/30 DUI drysuit which is less expensive, lighter weight than other DUI models and the fabric 'breathes". There were various jewelery, photography, and dive equipment exhibits. Of particular interest was an exhibit for the Hydro Optix mask, which is ideal for nearsighted individuals and the manufacturers claim it improves underwater vision by 350%. I was initially interested in the mask until I learned that since my vision has since been corrected to 20/20 via the magic of lasik, I would have to wear contact lenses during diving! Now, if that isn't ironic, as one of my motivators for getting my vision corrected was for diving. Afterwards, we drove South and met at Fidel's in Carlsbad for a scrumptious late lunch.  

As the Aquarium of the Pacific is located only a block away from the Long Beach Convention Center where the Scuba Show is held, next year we will visit the aquarium the same day. Many restaurants are also located within walking distance from the Long Beach Convention Center, such as Islands, California Pizza Kitchen, and Rock Bottom, among others.

New Dive Shop - San Diego Underwater Adventures - A new dive shop recently opened and is located at:

8245 Ronson Road, Suite I
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone (858) 576-7382
www.sduadivers.com

M-F: 10 am - 7 pm
Sat/Sun : 9 am - 5 pm

Got Passport?  A travel reminder that if you have plans to travel outside of the United States, it is a good idea to have your passport in hand. Beginning later this year, a passport will be required for all travel to or from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America. In December 2007, passports will be required for all air, sea and land border crossings. If your passport expires within the next six months, get it renewed now, as some countries will not let you in if you can't prove there's sufficient time left on your passport. For more information, visit www.travel.state.gov . (scuba diving.com)

The California Fish & Game Department needs your help - Local DFG Game Wardens are requesting support from the local dive community to send letters to the governor regarding legislation on game warden pay and staffing. Their plight is a common one - unable to offer a competitive wage, the Department is unable to fill the void left by retiring game wardens. The current staffing level for California is only 250 game wardens, the same level as in the 1950's! California has the lowest staffing levels for game wardens for the nation, and it is believed that our natural resources and fisheries are suffering due to the lack of enforcement. 

If you would like further information, visit http://divebums.com/General/Wardens/  for a more detailed write up and a sample letter to send to Governor Schwarzenegger. (divebums.com)

Green Flash Concert Series — KPRI FM and the Birch Aquarium are sponsoring an evening concert series at the aquarium. The remaining dates are  July 19th, August 16th, and September 20th. Beer, wine and food will be available from Rock Bottom Brewery.  We'll have more details as they become available.

SCUBAPRO Second Stage Recall - Johnson Outdoors Inc has announced a recall of Scubapro X650 second stage regulators due to a manufacturing error which could cause the unit to suddenly stop functioning, which would put the user at risk of drowning. The recall affects Scubapro X650 second stage regulators sold between June 2005 and May 2006. Owners of these recalled units are urged stop using the defective regulators immediately and contact Scubapro for instructions on returning the defective equipment (800) 808-3948 or visit their web site at www.scubapro.com.   (www.CDNN.info)

Suunto Dive Computer Safety Notice - On June 9, 2006 Suunto Oy announced a safety notice on it's D9 and D6 dive computers. It has been found that some units have software bugs which incorrectly register bottom time using a time that is 25% less than the actual time, thereby putting the diver at a great risk of getting bent, particularly if the diver dives to the computer's limits. 

The products affected are:  

Contact your local authorized Suunto dealer, visit www.suunto.com, or call Suunto at (800) 543-9124 US/Canada and +358-284-1160  from all other countries for information on getting the software updated on the affected unit.  As a complimentary service, Suunto will, at the same time as the software upgrade, replace your battery and perform a pressure test free of charge. (Divebums.com)

Oceanic Dive Computer Recall - Oceanic has recalled all Oceanic Versa Pro Revision 2A Digital Dive Computers sold between March 2003 and April 2006. The Versa Pro 2A modules have been recalled because the displayed Elapsed Dive Time can be in excess of actual elapsed time. Owners of the recalled modules are urged to return the units to their local authorized Oceanic dealers or directly to Oceanic (888) 854-4960. (www.CDNN.info)

Dacor Regulator Trade-In Program - When Mares purchased Dacor in 1999, part of the plan was to consolidate production into their Italy factory in 2000. Once that move was completed, the former parts supplier to Dacor, knowing they would no longer be supplying parts, made the decision to destroy their molds.  The result was that once Mares/Dacor's supply of parts ran out, regulators requiring these parts would no longer be able to be serviced.

Through September 30, 2006, Mares/Dacor is now offering an upgrade program to assist owners of any Dacor Regulators produced in the U.S. prior to 2000. Owners of qualifying regulators will have the opportunity to purchase one of the following four regulators at an "Upgrade Price":

At this time, pre-2000 Dacor Octopus are exempt from the upgrade program. See an authorized dealer for additional information. (SportCove.com)

Dispute Satisfactorily Resolved Between DAN & Sub-Aquatic Safety Services (SSS) - DAN and clinic members of the SSS Network have announced that they have reached a settlement in the recent legal action. Representatives of SSS announced that DAN America insurance is once again accepted as a result of the resolution. The terms of the settlement remain confidential. (www.diversalertnetwork.org)

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. 

Entry guidelines:
If you have any questions, please contact either Bob Gladden (858) 695-0264 ovisions@san.rr.com  or  Steve Douglas (619) 464-4505 steve-sharksdelight@cox.net .    (Divebums)

Travel  - Caribbean Explorer II : St. Kitts, Statia, Saba, St. Maarten

The Arrival - Our adventure began with us all trickling onto the island of St. Kitts, a British territory, located ESE of Miami among a group of archipelagos known as the Leeward Islands, located in the Northeast Caribbean bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Our group consisted of Mark & Elaine Clausen, Kevin Douglass, Dave Ambrose, Jon & Eileen Parkhurst, and Paul Lee. On Friday afternoon, after all the group had arrived at the Bird Rock Beach Hotel, we congregated at the ocean front bar for happy hour and watched the choppy surf, those of of us prone to seasickness wondered if we should begin taking our meds, or if the wind would die down by the following day.  Keep in mind, what is considered choppy in the Caribbean is calm for California waters, and I had been anticipating Cayman calm waters. I would consider the Bird Rock Beach Hotel a 2 star resort. It offers clean, no frills lodging, however some of the amenities are in need of repair or upgrading. The internet access computers in the lobby were extremely slow. At $0.40 a minute, it could cost a small fortune just to access your email account, let alone send or receive emails. However if your laptop has a strong wireless card, you could possibly get wireless signal down by the pool, as Paul did.

St. Kitts On Land - Dinner Friday evening was in town at Sprach's, a highly recommended restaurant, which offered excellent dining. However, as the night went on and the place got busier, the prices got more expensive. In the morning, after a delicious breakfast at the Bird Rock Resort, we packed up our bags and headed into town to look around until 3:00, at which time we could board the Caribbean Explorer II.  The town was small and most of the shops were closed. I spotted many nice things through store windows, however was unable to purchase any of them. Basseterre is an active cruise ship destination, however between mid April and mid October, the cruise ships do not stop at St. Kitts, and apparently many of the shops keep limited hours during the slow season. U.S. dollars are accepted in most stores however U.S. coins are not accepted and change given is most often in Eastern Caribbean dollars. We wandered around town and had lunch at the only air conditioned restaurant we could find, a Chinese restaurant which offered excellent food.At the appointed hour, we made our way towards the dock and boarded the Caribbean Explorer II.  

The Boat - The Caribbean Explorer II is a 20+ year old boat, and while it is in good condition and relatively clean, it is not as comfortable as other boats I have been on. The primary complaint I heard was the air conditioning in the cabins. They are not individually controlled and therefore we had no control over the settings. There appeared to be only two settings: "Freeze" and "Off". We dealt with this by stuffing a spare pillow in front of the vent, thereby stifling the frigid airflow. However, this just reroutes the frigid air into someone else's cabin. The end result is that the divemasters cabins become iceboxes. Another complaint I heard, primarily from the men, was that the doors leading into the bathrooms and the top bunks were not high enough and therefore responsible for many lumps on heads. The rooms were extremely small and offered virtually no storage space. The middeck of the boat held the sleeping quarters and the dive deck. Upstairs was the galley, dining area with TV and stereo system,  and a sundeck. It was nice  being able to dine looking out over the water and enjoying the breeze. The main deck contained the dive deck, four cabins, the "boatique" and the pilot house. There was a lower deck which contained additional cabins, however I never ventured that far below. Every evening, someone would queue up music to listen to, and the dining table closest to the electrical outlet would be crowded with laptops and digital cameras, as the photographers downloaded their day's efforts onto their computers for close scrutiny.  The dive deck was roomy and I never felt it to be crowded. The entry into the water was a six foot drop, and after my first tentative entry, I decided it was fun. Some of the divers used the momunent from the entry and continued on down into their dive.

 The Crew - The five person crew was friendly and very accomodating. Captain Grant had come from South Africa only a few months before and was very friendly and determined that his passengers have a wonderful vacation. The cook, Tony, had previously worked at the Turks & Caicos Club Med, and it appears that he was there when the club vacationed there in April 1998!  He was asked to make white chocolate bread and on Friday morning before we departed, he served up some white chocolate bread rolls! The dive masters were Michael, Barry, and Nicol. The Explorer had recently cleaned house and boat's crew had recently been replaced with a new crew and were therefore relatively  fresh and eager to  please. Unfortunatley, they were running short handed and had also still not settled enough with the daily itineraries to film and photograph our vacation.

Diving St. Kitts -  Although the diving was nice and enjoyable on St. Kitts, and made for a comfortable check out dive,  the marine life on the reefs was meager in comparision to the diving on Statia and Saba. I'm assuming the reason being that the sites we dove on St. Kitts were not marine parks or protected, as they were in Statia and Saba. The extra fees we paid to dive in Statia and Saba's marine parks were worth the price, as compared to the relative quiet of St. Kitt's unprotected dive sites.  Due to the choppy conditions, it was decided to head over to Statia, located six miles from St. Kitts, a day early and see if conditions were any better there. 

Diving St. Eustatius (Statia) - The diving at the St. Eustatius Marine Park offered reefs and wrecks fulll of life and even though our diving on Statia was cut short due to the conditions, it was very apparent that the reefs were healthy and teaming with marine life. Again, due to the choppy conditions which made life aboard the boat quite interesting, we left Statia early and crossed the 12 mile channel to Saba. On a few occassions, untended plates of food went flying across the table into the laps of unsuspecting diners, as unusually large swells would occassionally come through.  Diving was a consistent 84 degrees throughout the week, with an occassional variance of one or two degrees, however for the most part the water was bath water warm and I dove in a skin very comfortably the entire week.

Diving Saba - Diving in Saba was awesome, and is everything you have read. The bright side of choppy waters in St. Kitts and Statia is that it allowed us to dive Saba longer than our original itinerary allowed.  The reefs were healthy and teeming with life. Turtles, tuna, lobsters, sharks, groupers, barracuda, fish of all sorts, and jellyfish were abundant.  We arrived at the island in darkness and upon approaching the island, it conjured up images of prehistoric times. The island juts straight out of the ocean and is cloaked in darkness. Those divers who chose to dive that first evening were welcomed into the waters by a school tarpon and a GIANT barracuda, all of whom congregated near the surface within the lights from the boat. The next morning, we dove the Eye of the Needle, or the Pinnacle as it is often called, for which Saba is famous. It is an underwater pinnacle which rises out of open water and peaks at around 90', it is an awesome sight and worth the travel to Saba just to glimpse it for a few minutes. There were other wonderful dive sites, such as Third Encounter, Diamond Rock, and Ladder Labyrinth, which we dove numerous times.

Saba - On Land - On Thursday afternoon, we opted for the land tour of Saba, which was well worth the price and the "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" dinghy crossing from the boat to the island. We were unable to dock, and therefore had to be shuttled from the boat to the dock in the little dinghy. It was quite exciting getting everyone from the boat into the dinghy, as the seas were very choppy and wouldn't stay still. Saba boasts the shortest international runway in the world. It's a scary sight when looking at it from the heights of the island! Speaking of scary, Saba's single road consists of narrow, winding, hairpin turns. It was originally determined that due to the island's unique topography, it was impossible to build any roads.  However Josephus Hassell, a native of the island took correspondence classes and set about building a road on Saba in the first part of the 1900's, which has since been called "The Road That Could Not Be Built".  This Dutch island is a dormant volcano which rises 3,000 feet above sea level. 

Sint Maarten - At the end of our trip, we crossed the 28 mile channel from Saba to Sint Maarten, a three hour crossing. A warning to those who suffer from seasickness - be sure to take your seasick meds prior to the crossing! I overhead the crew talking one day that most people incorrectly assume that the waters are normally flat in this area of the Caribbean, however due to the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the waters are usually a bit choppy. Upon arriving at Sint Maarten, we were free to wander around Philipsburg, a popular cruise ship destination.  The shops in Philipsburg are every girl's dream - shopping galore, with every shop in three a jewelry store! Although I have to admit I was a bit exhausted from the heat and the channel crossing to properly enjoy the shopping. That evening we met the crew at the 12 Metre restaurant located on the dock. Although the food was good, it was not worth the three hour wait it took to be served. If you find yourself in Philipsburg, do yourself a favor and take a taxi to Lee's Road Side Grill for excellent dining.

After we said our good byes to the crew of the Caribbean Explorer II, we headed over to Simpson Bay on the other side of the island to Sunterra Flamingo Resort, our lodgings for the remainder of our stay. The resort was very nice, and I would recommend staying there if one has the chance. It is located on the Dutch side of the island, and the U.S. dollar is eagerly accepted. The other side of the island, where we did not venture is French, and we were warned that while the French would accept U.S. dollars, do not expect it back in change. While it is away from the shopping district, it offers its own entertainment. There is an ocean front bar, which offers drink and food for a modest price. The accomdations are roomy, comfortable, and most important, air conditioned! There was free wi-fi connection at the "La Veranda Cafe" located within the resort.  For delicious seafood and BBQ with extremely generous portions, head to Lee's Road Side Grill, located just a short walk from the Resort. The restaurant offers daily fishing expeditions, fish and lobster served are caught fresh daily, and if you order lobster,  you can pick your own from the lobster pen held at the edge of the dock.

Now that our eagerly anticipated adventure is over, it's time to start thinking ahead for the next one...  (Eileen M Parkhurst)

Additional Notes -- The boat lacked an engineer for our trip. He met us at Sint Maarten and immediately adjusted the air conditioning so future travelers need not share their cabin with the local penguins. St. Kitts was severely overfished. There were plenty of fry and inedible invertibrates, but very few adult fish. I'm 6'1" and the bunks were a little short. It would have been nice if the bunks had been parallel to the centerline of the boat instead of crosswise. I didn't think the seas were that bad, but my last major boat trip was in the Channel Islands with a 4 foot swell. - Dave Ambrose

   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.

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