Congrats to the raffle winners, and thank you Sport Chalet for donating these prizes.
Dry sack– Jack Leeflang
Wind storm whistle– Jovy
Save a dive kit– Bromley
Multi tool–Melani
Dry case–Jovy
Ankle weights– Liliana Ortiz
$25 gift card–Andrea Horwatt
$25 gift card–Bromley
A week liveaboard in Palau (just kidding, checking to see if you’re paying attention)
On Saturday night, when I told my youngest son that we were going to ‘look for a wreck’ tomorrow, I meant it as an adventurous sounding image, rather than the reality of our day. So I found it quite humourous the next morning when we really were looking for the wreck.
So began our diving day on the Magician this past Sunday. When we got to (what seemed like) the middle of nowhere, Ken & JT did a quick dive to look for the wreck of the Olympic. We were actually at the intersection of the L.A. harbour entrance and the channel, so it’s no wonder the Olympic was hit in fog and sank there, in the first place. When they didn’t find it, my heart started sinking, too. There’s nothing worse than a deck full of suited-up divers with nowhere to go. But another try yielded better results, and we were treated to a great sight. Seems that since it’s rarely visited, the wreck has maintained plenty of good detail to see. And, if I had a better camera, you could see what I’m speaking of! At 100′, we had vis of about 20-25′ Not bad for the area, I imagine. The ship appears to be lying on her starboard side, and supports an abundant amout of life.
Next, we headed out to Catalina… dive site TBD. Saw whales, sea lions, and dolphins along the way. We ended up at Isthmus Reef, just off Bird (poop) Rock. The Peace was spending the afternoon at Ship Rock, so we actually had a visit from some of the crew. Vis here was 40′+, and, since we arrived late, the sun was already breaking through. Some great terrain, lobster, kelp, all the usual stuff made for a great dive. Bromley had to skip the third dive, as he was off to Tokyo on Monday, so I called it a day, as well. (my other excuses… we didn’t change location, two deep dives already, plus the beer & sun were looking good) We had Glen, Cécile, and Cecilia also from the club. I think they did the third dive. We had a nice relaxing time here… Jerry cranked up the tunes, we had NFL on the TV, and great food & crew. On the way home we saw more whales (blue whales even), Risso’s dolphins, sea lions, you name it! What a great day!
Video from the wreck is better than some of the pics-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9175704@N02/sets/72157607424765441/detail/?page=4
Shawn
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
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.sunsetwa
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://solesearcher
(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.
We will be rafting again with Kings River Expeditions. The river is above Fresno,CA and is the river that feeds Pine Flat Lake This is a safe river. Fast enough to have fun but not too rough to get you hurt. We are also rafting with a company that has been doing this for years. I have been rafting with them every year for over ten years.
We will be rafting both days. We will need to be in camp by 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. We will be staying in camp overnight. You can bring your own tent or rent one for $10. We will be done rafting at around 3-4 p.m. on Sunday.
Price includes rafting, food and drinks. We will have lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. Water,soda,beer and wine are also included.
They have restrooms and changing areas. There are showers, they use river water.
If you have small kids that are not able to raft, you and your partner can split the days. Saturday one rafts and the other watches the kids. Then Sunday reverse it.
Side note: There are 6 people per raft. So if you have 6 people let me know so you can be in the same raft together. Don’t worry we will be putting rafts together, so if you are by your self or are only a couple we will find you some friends.
Cost: Normal cost this year is $315 per person. Volume discount will make it $300. Also for every 11 paid people we will get one free. So we will divide this up once we find out what it is. It maybe up to $27 back per person.
We need to make a deposit of $40 per person. Balance due 60 days before the trip date. If you make your deposit before 2/1/09 please due so with a check. Make it out to Kings River Expeditions. If you wish to make your deposit by credit card they take VISA and Master Card. But again due so on 2/1/09. Please make your deposit as soon as possible. Hopefully no later than 2/15/09.
If you make a check out please indicate that you are with John Marin’s group. This is important to get our discount. If you due so by credit card let Anna Marie know you are in John Marin’s group.
I would ask one other thing. I need to know who is going. The best way is for the person who is paying for themselves’ or for family or friends to e-mail me and let me know who they are and how many they are paying for. Example: John Marin: 2 people. Gary Faland: 3 people etc This way I can match up with the records of Kings River Expeditions. This helps in putting boats together and to help in replacing people as the need comes up.
Some of us go up to Fresno the night before then head to the river in the morning. If you would like to do this let me know. We try and have dinner together on the way in Bakersfield.
Here is the information on Kings River Expeditions. Please take a look at their web site.
Kings River Expeditions
211 N. Van Ness
Fresno, CA 93701
800-846-3674
559-233-9463 fax
Anna Marie
Now for RIVER BOARDING: We do this Sunday after rafting
We wanted to do this again this year but it was way too cold. River Boarding is going down the same river that we are rafting. However, we go down on boogie boards. We take a boogie board and but handles on them. We wear a full dive wetsuit. Recommend a 5-7 mil. We wear catcher’s shin guards, helmets, life jackets, diving fins and if you want gloves. Some of us carry throw ropes and we have a truck follow us down the river. It is a lot of fun but it is not for the faint of heart. You can not panic when you do this. We will help each other if we can. Help may take awhile. You have to take care of yourself until help comes if you need it. Don’t want to scare anyone. But you have to be able to problem solve. It is not like diving with a buddy. it is more like diving alone. This is something we are doing on our own Kings River Expeditions has nothing to do with this. For the new people who want to try it we will put you in the water on Saturday after rafting near our camp where the water is calmer and see if you like it. If you would like to try this let Gary Faland or me know so we can help you with your board.
If you have any questions on rafting or river boarding you can give me a call at 323-855-2344 or send me an e-mail at marinscuba@aol.
Hope you will join us. It is a lot of fun.
John Marin
The new Sport Chalet building in La Canada had its Grand Opening on the weekend of 8-22-08. Loading the car with my wife, son, and Jimmy, we went to check it out on Sunday. The new store is pretty huge compared to the cozy Sport Land building they used to occupy across the street.
Apparently they had such a successful sale weekend, that they had to open the warehouse on Sunday to send truckloads of merchandise to fill the emptying shelves. “It’s like Christmas shopping season,” said one of the floor manager. Of course, I was more interested in checking out the new dive shop then all the other sporting goods, but it’s good to hear they were doing well.
The dive shop is located right near the front by the cashiers to the left of the entrance. For the air fill station, head to the wall with all the masks and snorkels, and then take a right. For the pool, head straight toward the sign that says “Scuba training area.”
And here’s what the pool looks like. It’s a nice size pool for scuba classes. I hear the Arcadia store as well as the Burbank store will be using this pool for scuba classes. You can see divers already training, ready to start their underwater adventure.
