Ocean Explorers Society
November 2007 

Our next meeting will be held Thursday November 1st @ 6:30 at Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant, located in the Mission Valley West Mall, 1202 Camino Del Rio North, SD. Please RSVP to Dave Ambrose so we can have enough seats. If you can't RSVP, come anyway, and we'll have room.  

From the President

The fires have made for a tumultuous week. So far as I know, none of the OES community have lost homes, but I haven't heard from everyone yet. You get a real sense of what's important when you have to fit your entire life into a car and flee. The fires are still burning in east county, and this whole disaster won't be over for many months. Judging by our response to the Cedar fire, I'm confident the people of San Diego county will give generously and help our neighbors get back on their feet. Nothing can erase the pain of losing ones home, but compassion can certainly ease the suffering. We'll keep you posted regarding places to donate money and effort. 

Fall is definitely here. Our balmy surface temperatures faded to a pleasant memory a few weeks ago. Visibility is way down from the winter storm swell. Ironically, good waves were hard to find the other day, but any day in the ocean is a good one. 

We've had an outstanding summer for diving. Lots of good dives, which I especially enjoyed. My former life as a travelling consultant left a pitifully small window for diving, and my totals certainly suffered. Thanks to all who joined in. I'm keeping my ear to the ground for good conditions, but they're less common this time of year. I always recommend packing either a surfboard or a boogie board. That way, if the waves are too high, the trip isn't wasted. and one isn't tempted to go out in bad conditions.

Speaking of bad conditions; earlier this month, a group of divers elected to dive despite the waves. On their way back in, they found themselves in a rip current that they couldn't fight in their SCUBA gear. After a long and fruitless struggle, they were forced to abandon their tanks and BCs so they could make it back to shore. One rig was recovered, but the others were lost. It may seem like an expensive lesson, but coming back alive and uninjured makes it a very good decision. 

Preparedness and prudence are always your best allies. Look for rip currents before you go out. Know where the bad conditions bailout points are. If you're anywhere between Boomer and Hospital Point, it will be Children's Pool, Forget about the seals. They'll move. The activists might be giving you a bunch of abuse, but you'll be fine. The seals can return to their lounging with little effort. Out by La Jolla Cove, there's a little spot north of the Shell Shop called Sanctuary. It's a taxing climb out of there, but it's a safe place to land in almost any conditions. 

If you're in serious doubt or real trouble, stay off shore and signal for help. It may be emasculating to get hauled out by the lifeguards, but it beats the hell out of getting busted up on the rocks.

Nothing new on Children's Pool this month. The city is required to file a notice of appeal soon. They may be preoccupied with all the Mount Soledad slippage and fire aftermath, so who knows? Maybe the seals' sorrid trip through the judicial system will finally come to an end. I don't normally read legal documents for fun, but I find it interesting that the appeals court specifically ratified everything done by the trial court. If I were inclined to bet, I'd put my money on any further appeal going nowhere. 

The costs of this whole controversy are unsettling. $500K for the plaintiff's legal costs, some similar amount for the city, and another estimated $500K to perform the remediation work orderded by the court. That totals out to $1.3M. Costs will only go higher if the city appeals. The City attorney is prohibited from retaining outside counsel for appeals unless the City Council authorizes it first. Unless he's just hired some better staff attorneys, they're doomed in the appeals court. 

There's long been speculation that this whole issue is more about money than seals. The seal activists pull down roughly $60K/year in donations. I suspect that animal activists give generously to candidates that support their viewpoint. If this costly mess of ineptly argued lawsuits and incompetently drafted legislation does turn out to be about campaign donations, it would be unbelievably cynical, even for a politician.

Though the diving community is mostly in favor of ensuring human access, the Children's Pool controversy carved deep divisions most of the local oceanic tribes. It's easy to take sides, but when all is said and done, ocean users have a lot of concerns in common — something we shouldn't forget going forward.

We're back in travel planning mode for 2008, and possibly 2009. If you have any suggestions, drop me a line. We have some outstanding travel sleuths in our midst. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful celebration of family, turkey, weapons grade trimmings, and tryptophan overload.

Tune in next month for a how-to on environmentally responsible methods for recycling fruitcake.

 — Dave Ambrose

Local Dives

Nothing scheduled this month. If we get some unusually good conditions, I'll put out a notice. 

As usual, please RSVP to my cell phone at 858-248-6203.  — Dave Ambrose

Flotsam

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE OCEANS -
Sponsored by Ocean Enterprises

This is a 7 part marine biology seminar series presented by Dr. Bert Kobayashi, former Marine Biology professor at UCSD. Drl. Kobayashi delivers incredibly
informative and entertaining seminars that will give you an amazing knowledge about the ocean environemtn we know so little about. You can take the entire
series or any part of it that you choose, all seminars are independent of eac hother. There is also potential for students to gain extra credit for school.
Field trips will also be added to the curriculum.

Seminars are held one Thursday per month from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at Ocean Enterprises during the following dates:
Session 1 - Nov 15, 2007 : Intro to Marine Plants
Session 2 - Dec 6, 2007 :  Systematics/Taxonomy, Plant Adaptations/Productivity
Session 3 - Jan 17, 2008 :  Introduction/Survey of Marine Animals
Session 4 - Feb 21, 2008 :  Continuing Survey of Marine Animals
Session 5 - Mar 20, 2008 :  Relationship of Animals to their Environment
Session 6 - Apr 17, 2008 :  The Deep Oceans
Session 7 - May 15, 2008 :  Coral Reefs

Costs:
To sign up call Ocean Enterprises at 858-565-6054 or come into OE to pay and register. Go to www.oceanenterprises.com for more info.

One Day Photo Seminar with Marty Snyderman
Saturday December 1st,  10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Topics covered:
For more information go to: www.oceanenterprises.com/underwater-photoseminar.html  or contact Ocean Enterprises 858-565-6054.

San Diego Coastkeeper's Ocean Gala
SD Coastkeeper's 12th annual Ocean Gala benefit will take place on November 3rd from 7:00-11:00 pm at the Hotel Del Coronado. The Gala includes a gourmet dinner, live music and an exciting auction. Individual tickets are $175 and proceeds benefit Coastkeeper's mission to protect the coastal environment.
Contact Deanna Askin at deanna@sdcoastkeeper.org for more information.
White Seabass Volunteer Orientations:
The next volunteer orientation fo rthe White Seabass Restocking Project takes place Wednesday, October 31st 6:00-7:00pm.
Please email volunteer@sdoceans.org  if you are interested. For more info, go to: www.sdoceans.org.

San Diego Oceans Foundation Tip of the Month: Sweep Don't Spray - Particularly Relevant Because of the Wildfires

Sweep up debris instead of hosing down your driveway to keep your gutters in front of your house clean of leaves and grass clippings.
when people think about storm drain pollution, they often think of the obvious - noxious contaminants such as oil, grease, trash, and hazardous waste. Other culprits are less toxic but just as threatening - yard waste such as leaves and grass clippings. This type of debris can clog storm drains and prevent proper drainage. They can also introduce too many nutrients to the aquatic environment in the form of decaying organic matter, which depletes oxygen level in the ocean. When the cement areas of your yard such as the driveways and patios are hosed down, leaves and other debris are washed into the storm drain causing potential hazards.  There are 50 million acres of turf grass in the United States and approximately half of this area is residential. Pieced together, this area becomes one big neighborhood lawn about the size of Pennsylvania - creating an immense source for yard waste!

From home to ocean, take action! This month, stop hosing and start sweeping up leaves, grass, and other debris in your yard! Don't forget to place the debris in a container for trash collection.
Hosing down your driveway and patio can be a quick and easy way to clean and clear your yard. Taking pride in the appearance of your property is a fine idea, however you don't have to compromise the health of your storm drain system or the marine environment. Rather than wasting water by hosing your debris down the driveway and into the street, sweep it up and collect it for proper disposal or recycling. It is just as effective for maintaining the beauty and cleanliness of your yard. Also, as an added bonus you could make a natural fertilizer with the yard clippings and leaves by starting a compost pile. To learn about composting you can sign up for a workshop at Solana Recyclers (760) 436-7986. Or visit www.oldgrowth.org/compost/ Also, check out www.wormsway.com/ for other safer gardening tips. (SD Oceans Foundations, sdoceans.org)

Oceanic Regulator Voluntary Recall - Oceanic is recalling their FDX-10 and CDX-5 first stages:

In cooperation with the U. S. CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), Oceanic Worldwide is initiating a voluntary recall of all affected CDX5 and FDX10 (diaphragm) type First Stages.

The affected First Stages include those that were shipped to Oceanic Retailers from the factory between May 1, 2006 and November 15, 2006. Other model DX type First Stages, such as the CDX, DXi, DX3, DX4, and TDX5, that received annual service between May 1, 2006, and October 22, 2007, may also be affected.  For more information or additional recalls, go to:  http://www.oceanicworldwide.com/safety_notices_dxseat.html

Aqualung Safety Sausage Recall -  Aqualung is recalling their Surface Observation Signal on some
BC's manufactured since 2002.  For those of you not familiar with the product, this is the "safety sausage" that is attaches to the back of your BC and is
inflated by the BC.  For more information go to the aqualung website at http://www.aqualung.com or  to pull up a PDF of the recall, go to: http://www.aqualung.com/pdfs/SOS_safety_notice_consumer.pdf

What To Do With Your Thousands of Digital Photos?  
With the ease of photography and the practically non-existent cost of taking photos, thanks to the ever increasing changes in the world of photography, its quite easy to accumulate hundreds and even thousands of digital images.  For the most part, these images reside on our hard drives, never to be seen again.

Having recently returned from a wonderful trip to Belize aboard the Belize Aggressor, I decided to do something about the digital photo black hole that resides on my computer. While browsing the Costco website (www.costco.com) I came across a link in their photo department to a website called  mypublisher.com. They advertised a relatively inexpensive option to showing off your photos in a unique and beautiful format by taking your photos and printing them out in a book. The cost averages out to about the cost of printing your photos, and if you register and set up an account with them, they offer discounts on their products..

So, I thought, well I'll give a try, what have I got to lose?  I downloaded the software which gives a variety of different page formats, i.e., wedding, baby girl, baby boy, travel, etc.You can also choose the type of book, either a paperback, a linen hardback or a fancy leatherbound hardback. They also offer a variety of book covers. I chose the travel format in a linen covered hardback book.   The book type can be changed throughout the whole process, but once you select the format type, you're stuck with it unless you want to start all over.  Then all you need to do is drag and drop your photos into place. Many of the pages give you options to add text.  I just received by Belize book and I absolutely love it!   So, I'm now on a mission to do create books for all my trips to Saba, Kona, Grand Cayman, Bahamas ...

OES Membership - Renewal rates are $20 single; $30 for a family. 

OES Info