Avalon Harbor Cleanup: by Stacey Carr
Zero. Nada. Zilch. No. These are the answers to the questions: What could you see? How much trash did you collect? Which prize did you win? Did you meet the man of your dreams? Needless to say, the Harbor Cleanup dive was a bust! And I had been hot to win a prize. My intrepid dive buddy Shelley M. and I showed up with a few others in hopes of getting a good dive in, spotting some eye candy, and helping the local ecosystem. I am sorry to report that we failed on all three accounts! We did, however, get an excellent opportunity to practice taming the new drysuit.
After a brief struggle with the suit and, as is our custom, being last in the water, we swam out to a buoy and floated for a while, trying to decide what to do. Looking around, we noticed that just about everyone in the harbor area was a “floater,” as diving was an actual impossibility. At one point we decided to descend using the buoy’s chain and rope, clutching each other with a death grip as we dropped down through the muck. I touched bottom and was relieved to find smooth sand but felt a bit freaked out in the ZERO vis. So we came back up, aborted the “dive” and went for a walk that turned into a serious pizza and beer session.
Thankfully, the visibility in the Casino area had been better and other divers did find some trash, including a chunk of an engine and the remnants of a racing pigeon. A special congratulations goes out to Andrea, whose intriguing find, dubbed a “partial thong,” earned her the trophy for “most perverse trash” or something like that. Better luck next year, and Lord knows there’s enough garbage on our local beaches to keep us busy year ‘round.
Stacey Carr
Avalon Harbor without the Cleanup: by Kaz Aizawa
We did it again this year. We participated in the annual Avalon Harbor Cleanup dive, a fundraiser for the Catalina Conservancy and the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. This year we didn’t have as many participants from our club due to many conflicting schedules, colds, and even a threat of a huge storm heading toward us. Luckily the storm didn’t arrive until a day later. The next day the swells were reported to have been 20 feet or so on NW facing beaches. I’m sure Avalon would have been fine, but the ride over would not be conducive to anyone prone to seasickness.
One major difference this year was that for the first time in my life (and I’m admitting to this), I missed the boat. I was scheduled to be on the Catalina Express at 6:15 AM departure, but by the time I woke up, the clock read 6:30 AM. Somehow I had set the alarm to go off at 4:30 PM, and not AM. I called the Catalina Express reservation agent, and she was nice enough to put me on the 8:15 AM boat over to Avalon without any extra charges. Boy did I feel like a putz. Sure enough when I got to Avalon, I was walking toward the Casino and I see Ken Kurtis, and he says “so, you missed the boat eh?” Man, word travels fast… or did I just have that Missed the boat look? Well, I didn’t get to do the cleanup, but after his cleanup dive with Andrea, Jack was nice enough to do a second dive with me at the Casino.
So, this was to be my only dive this day. Jack and I dived down to the wreck of the Suejac, and watched a huge school of blacksmiths hovering in the sandy area. We waived hello to several large male sheepheads, and even rubbed elbows with some kelp bass (if they have elbows). Nothing out of the ordinary, meaning its always great at the underwater park. Oh yes, as far as shark sightings go, I did see one horn shark resting in a hole at about 70 fsw. The vis at the point was a pleasant 30+, but around the sargassum in the shallows the vis was a cloudy 10 feet or less. The sargassum seemed to have been molting, or something like it. Every time the water was disturbed near the seaweed, a powder like cloud would come off it lowering the vis, but then, it still sounded much better than the vis Stacey and Shelly had over by the green pier 
Pizza and beer with everyone was a hoot!
Thanks to everyone who participated: Andrea, Stacey, Shelly, Jack, Lisa, Brad, and me. For more photos of the day.
And now… a word from the only prize winner in our group
Avalon Harbor Cleanup dive – the prizes: by Andrea
Representing Sole Searchers, I stood around for the couple of hours that it took for the awards, raffle and thank-yous to take place at the main stage of the Avalon Underwater Cleanup. This turned out to be a wise decision as not only did I take home a raffle prize, which was a DUI weight and trim set, but I had the honor of accepting one of the trash awards.
Let me preface this next part by saying that I can’t take credit for the creativity. I merely grabbed as much trash as I could find (which was not a lot) and stuffed it into my little bag. I found several towels and pieces of fabric with lots of plant life growing on them near the boats in the harbor. I shook off as many plants as possible and brought everything else back.
This year we got back to shore in time for the actual inventory where a conservancy volunteer writes down your number and all the items you found. There was one long ragged white piece of fabric that she termed “partial thong.” So, later that afternoon, I was honored with the award for Most Perverted. Nice.
-Andrea
Divers give the world eyes with which to look under the sea. Sharing the world of seals, sea lions, dolphins, and other marine life, divers experience a dynamic relationship with the ocean that goes beyond what is known to the land-bound. It is through their adventures and explorations that those of us limited by our terrestrial boundaries have learned of the richness beneath the blanket of blue.
