Sole Searchers Newsletters

On Sunday July 19. Glenn, Cecile, Greg, and I took the 8:30 a.m. Catalina Express to Avalon to dive at Casino Point.  I must admit, 8:30 a.m. departure is much more civilized than the 6:15 a.m. boat we usually take.  When we arrived at Avalon, the day was sunny, and the water temp at the surface felt like bath water.  In the shallows it was 68-69 degrees, but 59 degrees at 95 ft.  Before we went in, a  diver told me the vis was pretty bad, but it cleared up spectacularly below 60 ft.  So on our first dive we headed straight out from the stairs and West towards deeper water, but the vis actually got worse as we descended.  I would say it was 5-10ft at best.  Probably the worst vis I’ve seen here at Casino Point.  I saw a bat ray swim right past me at 90ft, but I’m sure none of the others saw it.  Giving up, we headed for shallower reefs and towards West, and wouldn’t you know it, it started to clear up nicely (and much warmer to boot).  We casually swam through the yellowish green kelp.  As usual,  Calico bass and sheephead followed, looking for stirred up particles to eat.  Garibaldi, blacksmith, and rockwarsse, darted about while schools of smelt swam above us.  I even found a 7” abalone clinging to a rock, which was really nice to see.

On our second dive we headed west from the stairs and stayed relatively shallow.  We found vis of about 35ft. and some beautiful and lush kelp beds.  Several octopus were sighted, and Glenn and Cecile  even saw one swimming out in the open. Several lobsters were hiding between the rocks, and Greg and I found a lone flat fish camouflaged in the sand.  We ended the dive when Greg signaled to me our time was running out…not because of our air supply, or nitrogen intake, but because it was getting close to our boat departure time.  We quickly got out, packed up our gear, and made it on the 3:45 p.m. boat back to Long Beach.  It turned out to be a very nice Sunday diving with some good people on a beautiful island.

Kaz

At our July meeting, we had a fantastic presentation from Kurt Lieber founder & president of Ocean Defenders Alliance.  We all learned a lot on the topic of what we as recreational divers can do to help get rid of lost lobster traps and fishing nets along our coastline.  These abandoned traps and nets (hundreds, perhaps thousands of them?) continue to kill animals years after they’ve become lost to the fisherman.  Please go check out their website for more information. They’re doing a great service to our marine environment.

Also, since many of the members were very interested in this cause, we’re in the process of possibly arranging a dive out on their boat to help out with one of their cleanup missions. Stay tuned, and we’ll announce more information.

Oh yes, and don’t forget to check out the video on their website. It’s a segment originally aired on KCET on 6/4/09.

Meanwhile, check out the club calendar for upcoming dives. Members expressed they want more beach dives, so we’ll schedule some more soon.

Congrats to the raffle winners. We also would like to thank Hollywood Divers for their generous donations to our monthly club raffle. Go check out Hollywood Divers if you haven’t. They have have lots of dive gears to choose from, and tech gears not easy to find.

Scuba Pro women’s rash guard: Melani
Nitrox fill card: Melani
Signal mirror: Kaz Aizawa
Trident instrument retractor: Kaz Aizawa
Mesh backpack pack bag: Barbara
Nitrox Manual: Barbara
Atomic mouth piece: Shawn Broes
Beach bag: Shawn Broes
Signal rattle stick: Greg
Max wax: John
Wet notes underwater writing tablet: John
Silicone grease: Bromley
Nitrox fill card: Bromley
Hollywood Divers t-shirt: Jimmy Quan
Ocean Defenders Alliance t-shirt: Richardo Kalfayan
Ocean Defenders Alliance t-shirt: Andrea Casanova
Underwater notebook: Jon House

I’m very excited to announce our July speaker will be Kurt Lieber, founder & president of Ocean Defenders Alliance.

Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) is a 501c3 nonprofit grassroots marine conservation group founded and based since 2002 in Orange County, California. ODA is committed to protecting Southern California’s near shore rocky reef and seabed ecosystems from dangerous man-made objects, especially derelict commercial fishing gear left at sea. After preparing their first boat for the unique mission, ODA’s earnest on-water SCUBA activities began in the summer of 2004, complementing their consistent land-based outreach and education programs.

A significant amount of “Ghost Gear” - lost and abandoned lobster/crab pots, nets, and lines - is generated annually by commercial fishing operations off the coast of California. The ghost gear pollutes and degrades water quality and poses life-threatening risks to marine wildlife (mammals, birds, fish, and invertebrates) which can become needlessly entrapped and die. Ghost gear can seriously damage vital reef structure during storms and threatens fragile kelp beds by unbalancing the food chain. Drifting lines and nets near the surface pose a navigational hazard to boaters and can possibly entangle and drown ocean surfers, swimmers, and scuba divers.

With the endorsement from the California Department of Fish & Game and local authorities, ODA’s dedicated team of technical divers is striving to make Orange County’s coastal waters safer and cleaner for marine wildlife as well as humans by permanently removing ghost gear and checking for illegal fishing activities.

Kurt has been diving consistently in Southern California since the day he moved here in 1979. Over the years while diving, he sadly noticed a steady decline in the bio-diversity and overall health of S. California’s underwater habitats. Therefore he has dedicated his life to restoring these natural treasures so they can properly sustain diverse ocean life.

“I hope you share my enthusiasm for exploring and rejuvenating the underwater world that not only gives us food, but revitalizes our inner drive to enjoy this lovely planet and all the organisms that make this planet whole”. Please join us next Monday, July 13.

http://oceandefenders.org/