Sole Searchers Newsletters

CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT:

SCUBA Show 2010 — May 15-16, 2010
Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, CA

The SCUBA Show, America’s Largest Consumer Dive Expo, will take place May 15-16 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California. This is the 23rd year of this popular event. The show will consist of 76,000 square feet of diving related exhibits including new and revolutionary dive gear, travel pros (many offering show discounts), and diving experts. Several exhibitors also offer free drawings for valuable prizes. The first 1,000 people in attendance on Saturday and Sunday will receive complementary tote bags, and door prizes will be taking place throughout the day. Over $38,000 in door prizes will be given away.

Highlighting the exhibit hall will be a personal appearance by world famous artist Wyland. On Saturday he will be interacting with attendees while painting a new piece of art and on Sunday will be painting with over 200 children who have pre-registered in advance.

Legendary underwater filmmaker Stan Waterman will be headlining a weekend of seminars that include some of the most popular dive experts around. Some of the presenters include Jack and Sue Drafahl, Bruce Watkins, Dale Sheckler, Ken Knezick, Ken Kurtis, and many more. Subjects covered include underwater photography and video, marine life, dive travel, and more.

A continuous underwater film festival will be running in the exhibit hall on a three-story high screen and will feature films from around the world by over a dozen underwater imaging experts.

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 $12 and includes admission to exhibit hall and film festival (seminars are an additional charge). Discount coupons are available at California dive stores, on California dive charter boats and through California dive clubs. Age 13 and under are admitted free. For information on SCUBA Show 2010 call (310) 792-2333 or visit the web site www.scubashow.com. Advanced registration online at ScubaShow.com is strongly encouraged to save time and money.

Don’t forget.  Our annual Picnic Beach Dive/BBQ is Saturday August 29th.  Bring your whole family!  We’ll do a dive in the morning, then fire up the grill for burgers and hot dogs.  The club will provide the burgers, hot dogs, buns and the condiments, and you can bring your own beverages and a side dish to share.  Please e-mail to Kaz what side dishes you’ll be bringing.  This way we won’t end up with five bowls of potato salads.

E-mail kaizawa@earthlink.net  for the type of side dish list.

Meet at Heisler Park (A.K.A. Picnic Beach) around 9 a.m.  We will try to set up at the top of the grassy area above the ramp that leads to the sandy beach.  If someone could volunteer to get there earlier to nab some tables at the top of the hill, that would be great!  It’s first come-first-serve for the picnic tables, so people start arriving pretty early here.  There are restroom facilities, and a fresh water shower at the bottom of the ramp to rise off the salt from your gear.  Bring folding chairs if you have them.  A beach umbrella is great to have since the tree that used to offer shade for the top area is now gone.  Heisler park does not allow those big tent type shades.  The residents have complained that it blocks their million dollar ocean views from their homes, and creates an eye sore.  It is a beautiful area, so in a way, I can understand.

Picnic Beach offers something for every diver.  Easy sandy beach entry, reefs to the East, reefs straight out, and the reefs over to the west at divers cove.

This area is perfect for a family outing.  The picnic area has many permanent picnic tables and B.B.Q. grill for us to use.  There’s plenty of lawn area to lay down and relax, and several toilet facilities are available.

Direction:  I usually take I-5 South, then take the 133 South.  Don’t take the 133 North, which comes up first.  It’s a toll road.  133 South will turn into Broadway eventually, and ends on PCH.   Take a right on PCH heading North, then take a left at Cliff Drive. (You’ll see the Laguna Art Museum on your left, and Aster St. will be to your right).  Dive few blocks, and when you get to the area where Myrtle and Cliff meet, park in this area.  If you’re coming south on PCH, take a right on Myrtle Street & take your first left which will put you on Cliff Drive.  You’ll see a sign for “Heisler Park.” Park anywhere near this area.  Oh yes, bring quarters for the meters! The rates have gone up to 25 cents/7 minutes (yikes!).  If you park on PCH, the rates are still 25 cents / 15 minutes

Dive access and Entry: There is a paved path to the protected cove with sandy beach.
Skill level: Beginner when calm; intermediate around the point with navigation skills.
Depth: average 30 ft. Visibility: Good, averaging 20-25 feet.

Google Maps link

The SCUBA Show, the largest dive expo in the U.S. will take place May 30-31 (the weekend after Memorial Day) at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California. This is the 22^nd year of this popular event. The show will consist of 76,000 square feet of diving related exhibits including new and revolutionary dive gear, travel pros (many offering show discounts), and diving experts. Several exhibitors also offer free drawings for valuable prizes.

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Highlighting the exhibit hall will be a personal appearance by world famous artist Wyland. He will be doing a live painting during the show and exhibiting some of his finest artwork.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>A continuous underwater film festival will be running in the exhibit hall on a three-story high screen and will feature films from around the world by over a dozen underwater imaging experts. <!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>A full schedule of 33 seminars will garnish the weekend given by top diving experts Marty Snyderman, Dr. Milton Love, Bruce Watkins, Dale Sheckler, Tabby Stone MD, Ken Knezick, Ken Kurtis, Bonnie Cardone, and many more. Subjects covered include underwater photography and video, marine life, dive travel, and more. <!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>Saturday night will feature a Casino party benefiting California Ships to Reefs, a non-profit organization sinking ships along the California coastline as artificial reefs. Highlight of the party will be the awarding of the California Scuba Service Award. Honoree for this year is Sal Zammitti, a fixture in California diving for over 40 years with his Central and Northern California “Bamboo Reef” dive stores.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>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 $12 and includes admission to exhibit hall and film festival (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 2009 call (310) 792-2333 or visit the web site www.scubashow.com.

It’s winter, it’s cold, it’s dark… and you want to what?

Yup, it’s time to go night diving to see if the squids are arriving in masses.

Dec. 27th 4:30 p.m. We’ll meet in the Veteran’s parking lot right near Redondo Peir (bring quarters for meters).  First assess the condition from top of the stairs. If it’s bad we’ll go have drinks at El Torito on the pier.  If it’s a go, we gear up at the car, walk down the stairs to the beach, and enter the water straight out from the stairs, heading straight out/slightly right.  Plan on hitting the water around 5 - 5:15 p.m.

Next we surface swim until we’re almost paralleling the end of the pier (not as far though).  If you go too far out, you’ll be above the canyon, and the drop to the bottom can be 70-80 feet.  But don’t worry, we usually drop down to about 30 ft. first, and then follow the sandy bottom down into the canyon.  The canyon is not a sheer drop off, but a rather sandy slope.  It’s hard to notice it going down, but on the way back up you’ll definitely see the incline.  I caution divers of this, since some people may feel panicked when noticing the steep incline on the way back.  Relax, don’t kick hard, instead, just adjust your buoyancy.

In the past, when the squids are there, they seem to appear in numbers around 70-80 ft range.  I’ve seen masses of squid egg casings carpeting the sea floor near 90 ft.

Some points I like divers to be aware of (these are not instructions, but suggestions.  Please check with a dive instructor for further pointers):

•Make sure you’ve dived this site during day time.
•You must have night diving experience, along with deep dive experience.
•Make sure you know how to frog kick, so as not to stir up the silt.
•Although it’s a beach dive, it can get deep (100+), so divers will have to be aware of the fact they will consume air much faster, and run out of No Deco Time much faster than your average beach dive.

Personally I really don’t recommend making a blue water ascent here at night, but if you must, keep in mind that you need to coordinate controlling the inflator hose, dive computer, lights, at the same time keeping visual contact of your dive buddy.  Arrange your instruments so you can do all these tasks while controlling buoyancy.  If you add air sharing to the mix, it makes the task much more difficult, so keep your eyes on your spg and turn back before you get low on air.  Yea, I know it sounds simple.

If you lose your dive buddy in less than 40 fsw, look around for about a minute, and then surface to meet up (give the OK sign with your dive lights).  If you lose your dive buddy in the canyon, follow the sandy bottom up towards the shore, and then make a safe ascent from about 30 ft.  Find your buddy on the surface (give the OK sign with your dive lights).  Then either continue the dive, or call it.

After a nice dive in the canyon, a leisure safety stop at about 20-15 ft can be very interesting looking at sand-dollars, and other critters in the sand.  The shore is always well lit here from the street lights, so finding the shore is no problem.

Finally, the easy looking sandy beach exit here can be a little tricky at times.  During the winter months, the sand may have troughs in the shallows due to the winter wave action.  So be cautious walking out.

After the dive we usually walk over to El Torito on the pier and have a drink to warm ourselves

Here is a great California Diving News article on this dive site.
http://www.saintbrendan.com/Aug4/RedondoCyn.html

Low tide 3:45 (-0.69 feet)
Sunset 4:52 p.m.
High tide 10:25 p.m. (3.64 feet)

Let me know if you plan to join us.

Thanks

Kaz

Hey everyone, 

Our next years resort trip will be Curacao. You know… the island between Aruba and Bonaire.  So why Curacao?  Like Bonaire, there’s plenty of great shore dives, but we will have two tank boat dives daily on some of the most pristine reefs in the Caribbean.  And if that doesn’t fulfill your diving appetite, you have unlimited shore dives in this package deal.  It’ll be dive, eat, party, sleep, rinse and repeat.  Of course if you’re John Marin you forgo the sleep and keep partying.

Curacao is also great for non-divers.  There’s the main town of Willemstad (20 minutes from the resort) for visiting 17th century architecture sites, shopping, museums, galleries, sea aquarium, and even an Amstel Brewery.

http://www.curacao.com

Saturday May 16 to Saturday May 23

The week of diving fun starts on Saturday May 16 leaving LAX, and returning Saturday May 23 LAX.  We’ll be staying at the Sunset Waters Beach Resort located on the Western shores of Curacao where the diving is superior.   http://www.sunsetwaters.com/index.php  

See the package prices quoted by Scuba Venture Travel’s below.  Please let me know if you would like to join this trip, so I can get an idea how many seats we need to hold on American Airline.

(Even if you can’t make a solid commitment right now, if you’re planning to go, please let me know and I’ll put you on the list and lock in the rates.  Besides, it’s only a $10 charge if you cancel the flight.)

Superior rooms at Sunset Waters with 6 days of unlimited shore diving, 6, two tank boat dives, roundtrip airport transfers, three meals a day and all beverages, including alcohol (top shelf extra).

The rate is $1,540 per person/double occupancy. Terrace rooms for $1,595. Non-diver, deduct $400.00.

Note: we can try to find you a roommate if you don’t have someone in mind.  That’s what a club is for anyway, right

As an organized dive club, they can offer a 5% discount on the above retail rates.

RT air on American Airlines is currently $886.80 pp from LAX on the following schedule:

1 AA 231V 16MAY SA LAXMIA SS1 635A 225P/O $ J03 E

2 AA 939V 16MAY SA MIACUR SS1 420P 710P/X $ J03 E

3 AA 934N 23MAY SA CURMIA SS1 705A 1005A/O $ E

4 AA 203S 23MAY SA MIALAX SS1 1235P 305P/X $ E

This fare includes all taxes, fuel surcharges and the ticketing fee. The airline will guarantee the base fare, but will not guarantee the taxes and fuel surcharges. Currently the taxes and fuel surcharges represent $125.80 of this fare.

American requires a $100 per person deposit. If you cancel at anytime, you will be charged $10 for each seat that you held. If you drop space between 90 and 30 days before travel, you will have a $100 per seat penalty. If you drop seats less than 30 days before travel, you have a $200 per seat penalty. We must have a group of 10 or more to take advantage of a group contract.

So, let me know as soon as you can, so I can ask the travel agent the number of seats to hold.  I’m going, so I hope you can join in

See this page http://kazillustration.com/solesearchers/curacao_info/curacao_frameset-1.html

Kaz Aizawa

President, Sole Searchers Dive Club

http://solesearchersdiveclub.com

kaizawa@earthlink.net

(323) 256-2863

Mobile: (626) 375-1146

We made a change this year to work around the dive club’s trip.  We are set for Saturday and Sunday 6/6/09 and 6/7/09.

Early morning, setting up.

Saturday August 30. 9:00 AM.

Picnic Beach offers something for everyone. Easy sandy beach entry, reefs to the East, reefs straight out, and the reefs over to the west at divers cove. This area is perfect for a family outing. The picnic area has many permanent picnic tables and B.B.Q. grill for us to use. And recently just renovated in June, with new toilets and picnic benches. There’s plenty of lawn area to lay down and relax, and several toilet facilities are available. Meet at the picnic area around 9 am. We will do a dive in the morning, followed by burgers and hot dogs, and then just relax. You can do a second dive if you and your dive buddy feel up to it, or you can drive a few blocks over to downtown Laguna Beach and check out the local shopping. The club will provide the burgers, hot dogs, buns, and condiments. Please bring your own beverages and a side dish to share.

Please e-mail me kaizawa@earthlink.net with the type of side dish you will be bringing, and I’ll create a list. This way we can avoid having ten potato salad dishes.

Direction: I usually take I-5 South, then take the 133 South. Don’t take the 133 North, which comes up first, it’s a toll road. 133 South is the one you want, and it will turn into Broadway eventually, and ends up on PCH. Take a right on PCH heading North, then take a left at Cliff Drive. (You’ll see the Laguna Art Museum on your left, and Aster St.
will be to your right). Dive few blocks until you get to the area where Myrtle and Cliff meet. Park in this area. If you’re coming south on PCH, take a right on Myrtle Street & take your first left which will put you on Cliff Drive. You’ll see a sign for “Heisler Park.” Park anywhere near this area. Oh yes, bring quarters for the meters! 25 cents/ 15 minutes.

Dive access and Entry: There is a paved path to the protected cove with sandy beach.
Skill level: Beginner when calm; intermediate around the point with navigation skills.
Depth: average 30 ft.
Visibility: Good, averaging 20-25 feet.
Photography: Very good wide angle with good light, interesting rock features, gorgonians, Garibaldi, and more. Fair for macro with some small fish and invertebrates. Plenty of Christmas tree worms.
Hunting: Too close to border of Vedder Ecological Reserve.
Parking & Facilities: all metered parking, .25 cents/15minutes, so bring lot’s of quarters.

This is a popular picnic site especially during the summer, so show up early to find good parking. I recommend dropping off your dive gear first at the picnic site, and then go park your car. There is a change machine nearby.

“If you are willing to get there a little earlier and stake out the picnic table on the upper grassy hill for us, we’d really appreciate it. Let me know if you can” - Kaz

A fresh water shower is located at the bottom of the paved path leading to the beach.
Benches and picnic tables with B.B.Q. pits. No portable B.B.Q. grill is permitted. No canopy type shade is allowed, but individual beach umbrella with stand is ok in the picnic area.

Contact person: Kaz Aizawa (323) 256-2863 kaizawa@earthlink.net

Below is a photo of the area before the renovation, but the general area is still the same.

Finally, after all these years of waiting, we’ll be able to check out the brand new space the dive shop will occupy in the big new Sport Chalet complex in La Canada. The small space the scuba shop used to occupy in La Canada will be left behind for a more spacious modern layout just across the street. No more “getting your shopping cart loaded with scuba tank stuck on the shirt rack while trying to make your way to the dive shop”… yes I used to do that all the time.  Also, I heard Brad Hall is back at the shop, heading the scuba department, so it’ll be good to see him again.

And… read below, AC Green is going to be there on Sunday!!!

SPORT CHALET OPENS NEW STORE IN LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA

LOS ANGELES, California - (August 13, 2008) - Sport Chalet, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPCHA, SPCHB) is proud to celebrate the grand opening of its new 45,000 sq. ft. store located at Two Sport Chalet Drive, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011. This store will replace the original Sport Chalet store locations on Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge.

On April 1,1959, a young man named Norbert Olberz heard about a little ski shop for sale. It was located in a town called La Cañada, just north of Los Angeles, California. Norbert and his new wife, Irene, plunked down all of their savings and set up shop. During the first year, Norbert and Irene slept in the back of the ski shop, taking showers at night with a garden hose through their back screen door. They’ve come a long way.

Sport Chalet’s La Canada, CA storefront in 1964.

Commenting on the opening, Craig Levra, Chairman and CEO, said, “This is the culmination of thirty-three years of work by our Company’s founder, Norbert Olberz and his family, and we are all proud and excited this day has arrived. This new store, located next to our corporate offices, will become a retail lab, in which we will try new in-store concepts, displays, products, specialty services, and computer systems, all designed to ‘enhance the customer’s shopping experience.’ We hope our loyal customers in La Cañada Flintridge and the surrounding communities, who at one time were asked to shop in four different buildings along Foothill Boulevard, will enjoy our new store.”

“Sport Chalet is preparing to celebrate its 50th year in business, and we are hosting a special ribbon cutting ceremony and open house on Thursday, August 21st at 9:00 a.m., one day earlier than our normal grand opening schedule. This will give us an opportunity to publicly thank the Olberz family for all they have given to both our community and our Company these past 50 years.” Five percent of all sales on this day will be donated to Junior Achievement of Southern California.

A grand opening celebration and sale is scheduled for Friday, August 22nd through Sunday, August 24th. Activities will include celebrity appearances, sports demonstrations, daily prize drawings and giveaways. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, the first 200 customers, who are in line before the store opens and who sign up for Action Pass™ (our free customer rewards program) will receive a Sport Chalet gift card valued anywhere from $10 to $200.

On Friday at 6:00 p.m., celebrated author, radio and television host Ronnie Kovach will conduct a fishing seminar. On Saturday at 10 a.m., meet YouTube sensation Zach “Speed Bag Skunk” Ruffo and watch him demonstrate his amazing and unique speed bag skills courtesy of Everlast. On Sunday at 2 p.m. meet former Lakers’ player “Ironman” AC Green.

Free introductory SCUBA lessons will be held at our on-site SCUBA training pool on Saturday and Sunday. Also, on Saturday and Sunday, Sport Chalet will have several free parking lot activities, including the Gale Webb Extreme Sports & Air Show, a Rock Climbing Wall and Bungee Trampoline, and vendor booths showcasing new products. Customers may also enter to win $20,000 worth of prizes and gift cards from Diamondback, Coleman, Garmin, Electra, New Balance, Wilson, Nike, and more, all weekend long.

About Sport Chalet, Inc.
Sport Chalet, founded in 1959 by Norbert Olberz, is a leading operator of full service specialty sporting goods stores in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. The Company offers over 50 services for the serious sports enthusiast, including backpacking, canyoneering, and kayaking instruction, custom golf club fitting and repair, snowboard and ski rental and repair, SCUBA training and certification, SCUBA boat charters, team sales, racquet stringing, and bicycle tune-up and repair throughout its 52 locations. The addresses for Sport Chalet’s web sites are www.actionpass.com and www.sportchalet.com.

On the weekend of August 1-3 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), Sport Chalet will hold its annual Tent Sale Event. This year, the Tent Sale Event will be bigger than ever with great savings on top brand equipment as well as diver education classes.

Sport Chalet Tent Sale location in Southern California: Huntington Beach, Point Loma, Rancho Cucamonga, and Thousand Oaks. Oh yes, since we have some Arizona Sole Searchers, try the Sport Chalet in Tempe.

Save up to $300 off select regulators
Save up to $400 off select dive computers
Save up to $300 off select BCDs
Save up to $75 off select fins

What a deal!

PDF flyer

Saturday August 2. Meet at the far end of North Beach parking lot at Leo Carrillo at 9 am.

The entry is from a sandy beach. The surf here breaks short sometimes, so depending on the size of the surf I’d put your fins on before entering the water (anything above 2ft for me). There is a nice kelp bed straight out about 50 yards. Most of the good diving will be done in and on the outer side of the kelp bed. The depth is pretty shallow here, around 30-40, so you’ll need to get farther out to see better vis (outer side of the kelp bed). Last time Lars and I dived here, we found an abalone. Now that was a surprise.

Bring a picnic to eat for after the dive. Lars will bring the club pop up shade, but if you have a beach umbrella, bring’em. Near the Secos Rock area you’ll find rocky cliffs with some tide pools to explore if you’d like. You can always just take a nap under your umbrella too.

Here is a jpeg map of Leo Carrillo. The yellow line on the map below indicates the road leading to the North Beach parking lot. The road goes under the Pacific Coast Highway, and then curves right towards the North Beach area. Try parking as far to the end as you can since we’ll be setting up there.

Leo Carrillo’s North Beach area is mostly all wide sandy beach with no shade.

There is a $10 fee to enter the park.

Oh yea, and get this:

Wi-Fi Servicewifi
Leo Carrillo State Park now offers AT&T Wi-Fi Service!
This service enables park visitors with wireless enabled laptop computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs) to access the Internet. Park visitors will be able to gain Wi-Fi access when they use a wireless device within about 150 to 200 feet of the Camp Store located in the park.

The park was named after Leo Carrillo (1880-1961), actor, preservationist and conservationist, served on the California Beach and Parks commission for eighteen years, and was instrumental in the state’s acquisition of the Hearst property at San Simeon. He was related by blood and marriage to a long line of distinguished original Californians. Leo’s greatest fame came from his portrayal of Pancho, the sidekick to Duncan Renaldo’s Cisco Kid, an early 1950’s TV series.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/lat_long_map/default.asp?lvl_id=255

Official Leo Carrillo State Beach information site: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=616