Sunday, December 2, 2012

Annual Holiday Party!


It's been a fantastic year of diving and making new friends, so come celebrate the holidays at our annual Sole Searchers Dive Clubʼs holiday party! Eat some chinese food, chat with friends, and maybe you'll win the exciting door prize!

DECEMBER 22, 2012. 6:30 PM. At Finʼs house
Cost $10.
There will be buffet style Chinese food.  B.Y.O.B ;-)
Please R.S.V.P. to Sheree at (626) 644-2099 or sheree.l.lahey@gmail.com 

This year someone lucky will win a $100. gift card from Hollywood Divers.



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Holly Lohuis of Oceans Futures at our Nov 12 meeting



 

     Don't miss the return of one of our most popular speakers, Holly Lohuis of Oceans Futures, at our next meeting.

She will be sharing excerpts from "My Father the Captain", a film about Jacques Cousteau, as well as a short sequence from the Gulf Oil Spill


     Holly is a marine biologist with a degree from the University of California in Santa Barbara
and for more than a decade has explored the world with Jean-Michel Cousteau and his team.
A key member of the expedition team for the PBS series, “Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures” Holly acts as a liaison between the team and scientists, and is responsible for confirming the factual accuracy
of Ocean Futures Society documentaries and publications.
Also a marine educator, she has taught thousands of children and adults about the wonders and fragility of the marine environment and the importance of protecting our water planet for future generations.

     Holly has been a marine educator for almost 20 years. Under the guidance of Jean-Michel Cousteau, all the films and educational programs she has been involved with at Ocean Futures Society have a consistent theme:  to connect the ocean to the existence and lifestyle of every human being. This is the only way for people to understand that the quality of each and every one of our lives depends on a healthy, productive marine environment.
Jean-Michel’s late father, Jacques Cousteau used to say, “People protect what they love”.
Through her global travels and amazing encounters with many different marine species,
Holly’s passion is transmitted through her stories of adventure and exploration.
She helps children to fall in love with the ocean and shares the critical message that we are all part of the web of life.  As her boss and mentor says “Protect the ocean and you protect yourself”.

She will also bring some of Jean-Michel Cousteau books and DVD's to sell too, so get that early Christmas shopping jump started. (I like their long sleeve sweatshirts, if you're shopping for me) So come on out & let's give her our Sole Searchers welcome~




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 





Tuesday, October 2, 2012

TITANIC REVISITED AT OUR OCTOBER 8TH MEETING







Hi fellow dive club speaker fans-
Another month has blown by, so we're upon yet another action packed meeting. 
Not to fear, this one is good.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, I wanted to do something special in 2012. 
As fate would have it, I met Dr. Rosaly lopes at the annual CA Wreck Divers ball earlier this year, 
and was amazed to learn she had been engaged to Ralph White when he passed away a few years back. I became very interested in knowing more about her own explorations, and the knowledge of Titanic she has experienced through Ralph. 

I was lucky enough to know Ralph briefly in the late 1990's when he was exploring the ocean floor near the Titanic wreck site for National Geographic, and see his work first hand in the IMAX film, Titanica. What a cool guy he was.

Dr. Rosaly Lopes is a Senior Research Scientist and Deputy Manager for Planetary Science at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A native of Brazil, she obtained a B.Sc. in Astronomy and Ph.D. in Planetary Science at University College London, UK, and has been at JPL since 1989. She was part of the science team on the Galileo mission to the Jupiter system and is currently on the Cassini mission to Saturn, researching the geology of Saturn’s moon Titan. She was engaged to Ralph B. White, Titanic explorer, and attended many of his presentations and heard behind-the-scenes stories from him before his untimely death in 2008. She will share some of his images of Titanic and stories of the exploration of this most famous of shipwrecks.




Saturday, September 15, 2012

Annual Picnic Beach Dive/BBQ


Saturday September 22. 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. 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 hotdogs, 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 Laguan Beach and check out the 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 Kaz for the type of side dish you will be bringing, and I'll create a list so we can avoid everyone bringing the same side dish.

Direction: I usually take I-5 South, then take the 133 South. Don’t take the 133 North, which comes up first. It’s also 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, 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

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

USC's Dr Jim Haw at this Monday's meeting: The Rebirth of the USC Science Diving Program


 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
Hay dive club speaker fans-
Been busy working here & there this summer, and one of my gigs landed me at USC.
One thing lead to another, and I found a way to at least get a guest speaker out of the place!
 
Dr. Jim Haw is the Director of the USC Dornsife Environmental Studies Program and Irani Professor of Chemistry. Environmental Studies has become one of the fastest growing majors at USC, in large measure due to a series of experiential field courses beginning with an archeological and cultural study of Southern Belize launched nearly six years ago. 
 
Working with USC ENST Assistant Professor David Ginsburg, Jim developed a second course around an expedition to Guam and Palau four years ago. Undergraduate students in the Guam and Palau Program, starting with no prior diving experience, progress as American Academy of Underwater Sciences scientific divers (as well as NAUI master divers) and investigate marine and coastal issues in Micronesia.  These include dives assessing a flawed environmental study for the Navy's plan to dredge corals reefs on Guam for berthing an aircraft carrier and long term monitoring of a marine protected area in the Rock Islands of Palau.  
 
Other related activities include in-ocean engineering testing for a robot submarine, and dive support on recovery missions.  These efforts, while supporting the teaching and research missions of USC, have also significantly increased the strength of the science diving program and added a number of young divers to the SoCal community.  
 
Jim is also an underwater photographer, and his talk will be illustrated with shots ranging from sharks at Blue Corner to a submarine recovery off of Catalina.
 

Monday, August 13, 2012

August Raffle Prize Winners!

Great meeting tonight, and again this month both Sport Chalet and Hollywood Divers generously donated prizes towards our raffle.  Our club really appreciate your support.

And the lucky winners are...

$50 Sport Chalet Gift Card: Joan Gonzalez
Travel Snorkel: Jimmy Quan
First Aid Kit: Kevin Sullivan of Shark Savers
Avalon 3D Card: Bob James
T Shirt: Wayne Lu
Beach Towel: Wayne Lu
Catalina Dive Book Wayne
Pelican Dry Box: Wayne Lu
Pelican Mini Light: Max Dennert
Hollywood Divers Nitrox Card: Bromley
Hollywood Divers Nitrox Card: Garry Tollack
Hollywood Divers Nitrox Card: Kaz Aizawa
Hollywood Divers Nitrox Card: Andrew Lim
Dive Book: Sven Dennert
Shark Saver T Shirt: Laura H. Steckler
Shark Saver T Shirt: Ryan
Long Sleeve Shark Saver T Shirt: Gary Tollack

Tuesday, August 7, 2012




Hay divers-
This month we have Kevin Sullivan returning to our club to talk about his latest work with shark rescue.
Growing up in southern Wyoming, Kevin Sullivan gained an interest in nature at an early age. This interest was continually encouraged and nourished by his mother Joette, a science teacher at the Rawlins, Wyoming middle school. After becoming SCUBA certified in 2002 he became increasingly interested in, and concerned for ocean conservation issues. Following a dive trip to the Sea of Cortez and learning of the dramatic depletions in shark populations from overfishing there, he made a personal commitment to become more actively involved in ocean conservation.
Kevin has served in various capacities for nine years on the board of his local dive club, the Pacific Explorers, where he is currently fulfilling a 4th term as its President. He is a certified Reef Check California citizen scientist, where he actively participates in local surveys of the California near-shore rocky reef ecosystem.
He has also previously volunteered for California Ships to Reefs as part of their Speakers Bureau and Public Relations committees.
The shark and ray conservation group Iemanya Oceanica rewarded Kevin’s volunteer work for their organization with their 2009 Shark Warrior award.
Kevin is now continuing his work towards shark conservation by helping organize a Los Angeles/Southern California chapter of Shark Savers.To support his SCUBA diving habit, Kevin is employed as a Test Engineer in the development laboratory at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne where he has worked for 25 years.
Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming. During his time at Rocketdyne Kevin has specialized in vibration test engineering, and has worked on projects as varied as the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and expendable (unmanned) launch propulsion systems.
My two cents... he's one of the most 'involved' guys I've ever met, and I really look up to him for that.
I'm always happy to support his efforts.
Let's give him a warm Sole Searchers welcome back!
 
 

Monday, June 18, 2012

Borneo Scuba Adventure



Eleven Sole Searchers Dive Club members made the long trek, to dive the world famous Sipadan Island in May of 2012. The diving at Sipadan is like being in a traffic jam of sea life. Turtles everywhere, sharks, barracudas, bumphead parrotfish, clownfish, pristine coral, leopard shark, and on and on...  If fish had horns, you'd hear honking noises the whole time you're diving. 


Since diving at Sipadan is done by permit only to protect its ecosystem, some resorts can only allow guests to dive Sipadan just one day during their week's stay.  Borneo Divers Mabul Resort having fewer rooms than the other resorts, the odds of having two trips to Sipadan was much greater, and sure enough everyone in our group got to go dive Sipadan two days (8 dives).  


On days not at Sipadan, diving was around Mabul or on another island in the area.  And for me, the added surprise was the beauty and diversity we found on every islands we dove, Mabul, Si Amil, and Mataking.  


In addition to dive sites we motored to, we did several dives at the house reef, and I couldn’t believe how good the reef was just right in front of the dock at the resort.  Most destinations you would have to take a long boat ride to get near such life filled reefs. There is so much to see and experience just at the end of the dock. 

After the diving was done, the second part of our Borneo adventure was to head North to the Sepilok nature reserve on the mainland. We spent two nights at the Sepilok Nature Resort located next door to the jungle and the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center.  


We even took a night time nature walk through the jungle, got leeched, rained on, and saw some bizzare looking spiders and other bugs.  Very educational indeed.  Borneo has one of the oldest rainforest in the world, and you really take notice when the jungle sounds envelops you.


The next day we visited The Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center.  There is a multi-media presentation, and then a tour to the feeding area which are basically platforms on trees.  The juvenile Orang Utans come to feed on fruits and milk, along with some aggressive Macaque monkeys.  After the feeding time, we had 4-5 Orang Utans hanging out near the walk path, and at times they were only 3-4 feet from us.  What a great experience!  




Next we headed over to Labuk Bay to see the Proboscis Monkeys.  Again, these monkeys are not shy at all, and to show their dominance, the males will come running right past you while banging the floor boards with their hands. And it can be startling! 

The silver hair monkeys also made a showing, but they are amazingly calm and friendly.  Jimmy had one walk right over his arm while he was focusing his camera. 

Our trip rapped up with a day in Kota Kinabalu. A bustling city in North West part of Borneo to do some gift shopping and people watching.  


Culture, nature, and blood sucking leeches... what more can you ask from a scuba vacation ;-)
And this trip would not have been what it was without the people who participated. Big thank you to: Rosa, Sheree, Melani, Marie, Cecilia, Bromley, Jovy, Jack, Lenoard, Jimmy, and that guy that keeps showing up the meetings ;-) To see more on the club photo gallery go to here.


Our vacation package was put together by Gene Dold of Scuba Travel Ventures.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The lucky winners for May

First off, thanks again to Sport Chalet and Hollywood Divers for their always generous support. By the way, Hollywood Divers has a Galapagos Trip scheduled for June 24-July 1, 2012 if anyone wants a last minute trip of a lifetime. Call them at 323-969-9666. So with no further delay, here are the lucky ones: $50 Sport Chalet Gift card - Paul, First Aid Kit - Lars Dennert, Headlight - Lars Dennert, Underwater slate - Scott, Weight pocket - Bob James, Divers Log - Mini, Dry bag - Bob James Mask Straps - Chris H, Aussie Hat - John Marin, Hollywood Divers Nitrox card - John Marin, Hollywood Divers Nitrox card - Paul, T shirt - Laura Steckler, Booties - Laura Steckler,

Sunday, April 15, 2012

What we divers do sometimes

This mention is kind of late... actually something like three years late, but I felt it was worthy of being told.  On our annual club resort trip in 2009, we stayed at the Sunset Waters Beach Resort in Curacao.  Towards the end of this week long stay, our member Dave Gaines motivated our group to help clean up the shore near our resort.  


Although not even being close to the trash you might see here on the freeways of L.A., due to the constant breeze near the inlet, plastic bags, cups, and other man made trash had collected on the shore of the waterway opposite the resort.  Some of the shrubs were decorated with shredded white plastic bags, which is sad to see on such a remote location.  It was enough to blemish this otherwise beautiful landscape, and enough to motivate Dave to suggest getting a group together to collect the trash.

Also, it felt good to volunteer one afternoon out of our week stay to do a little good deed for our host island.  



As you can see in the photos, the effort of the group yielded a good amount of trash.   And the resort people seemed happy too to see that American tourist can care enough to help clean and improve the environment, and not just dive, eat, drink, and throw our money around (not that I have any money to throw around).  One member, Rosa even took an urchin spine to her foot while collecting trash in shallow waters.  What a trooper!  But don't worry, she is fine and is still a great diver ;-)

So, a very late, but deserved Kudos goes to "Captain Cleanup" Dave Gaines for motivating everyone to help cleanup, and leave this earth a little better place.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Karl Huggins at our next meeting





We have Karl Huggins at our next meeting, Monday, April 9.
He'll be presenting "The Price of Panic" - Panic issues and diving accidents

Karl Huggins has been the Director of the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber Facility at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center
since 1992 and has been involved with treating hundreds of divers over the last 20 years. He started diving in 1977 and has been a NAUI Instructor since 1980.

He is noted for his work in decompression theory and models, which resulted in the Michigan Sea Grant (HUGI) tables and his participation in the development of the EDGE dive computer. Karl enjoys educating divers in the area of decompression (making divers more aware of the limitations of dive tables and computers) and diving safety. To that end he has given hundreds of lectures, seminars, and workshops as a featured speaker at conferences around the world. He has authored many articles and publications on decompression theory including "The Dynamics of Decompression Workbook," and contributing to "Dive Computers - A Consumer's Guide to History, Theory, and Performance" and "Women and Pressure - Diving and Altitude." Karl is the 1990 recipient of the Leonard Greenstone Diving Safety Award, the DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year for 1993, the 2004 Conrad Limbaugh Memorial Award for Scientific Diving Leadership and the 2008 California Scuba Service Award.



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

March Raffle Prize Winners!

Sole Searchers Dive Club would like to thank Sport Chalet, Hollywood Divers, and Project Aware for their generous donations to this month's club raffle prizes!  The winners are.

$50 Sport Chalet gift card: Rosa
Pelican dry case: Leonard K.
Hollywood Divers 10 airfil card: Kaz
Hollywood Divers 10 airfill card: Michael
Hollywood Divers 10 airfill card: Leonard K.
Hollywood Divers 10 airfoil card: Kaz
Hollywood Divers 10 Nitrox fill card: Cesar
Yukon 3D card: Bob James
Mask strap: Leonard K.
Knife strap: Jovy
Hollywood Divers T-shirt: Paul Yochim
Trident BCD, Glove Hanger: Kaz
Cowboy style dive hat: Michael
Project Aware Polo Shirt: Sheree Lahey
Project Aware Polo Shirt: Laura H. Steckler
Project Aware Polo Shirt: Shawn Broes
Project Aware Polo Shirt: Paul Yochim
Project Aware Ball Cap: Lars Dennert
Project Aware Ball Cap: Paul Yochim

Sunday, March 4, 2012

41st Annual California Wreck Divers banquet



Last night was the 41st annual California Wreck Divers banquet. Great turn out, and Zale did not disappoint. She had an amazing collection of old commercials, features, and of course Sea Hunt to share. She's out of my league for our club speakers, but it was great to finally meet her, and I sure met some other interesting folks, too. This group of women are some of the locals in the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
Their next monthly gathering is a joint meeting with the Adventurer's Club of L.A. hosted by David Finnern. He presented for us last year. Normally one must be a member to attend, but this time all are invited! It's Thursday, March 22 (yes, coming right up) at their downtown club. Details at our next meeting.

Monday, February 20, 2012

California Wreck Divers 41st Annual Banquet


Guest Speaker

Zale Parry

at the California Wreck Divers

Annual Banquet March 3th, 2012

We are honored to have Zale Parry, pioneering lady diver, depth record holder, actress, stunt-woman, safety diver, scuba instructor, movie maker and accomplished underwater photographer, scuba equipment developer and world famous Author. Zale will be our Guest Speaker at our Annual Awards Banquet Saturday, March 3th, 2012. Mark your calendars and don't miss this exciting presentation!


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Welcome Éloan Colin de Vine


Éloan Colin de Vine, 10.37am, February 13
3.52 kg for the rest of the world (7lb12oz for the USofA), 53.3 cm (21 inches),

Congratulations go out to Glenn & Cécile de Vine!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

TITAN rebreathers at this Monday's meeting- 2/13


Please join us this Monday evening for a visit with Elaine Ferritto from Titan rebreathers.

If we only had a pool, we'd be trying them out, too.

Elaine graduated from The University of Texas with a Film and Business degree then in 2008 moved to California to pursue a career in film production.
Due to her competitive swimming background, she was recommended to Titan Dive Gear to get trained as a rebreather model for a promotional photo shoot.
Two and a half years later, it turned into a full time job and now Elaine handles all media, events, training, and operations for Titan Dive Gear.
She has only been a diver for a couple of years, but being the company's national representative, she's gotten to travel all over the world.
That travel accelerated her learning curve and Elaine is now Titan Dive Gear's in-house CCR Instructor.

And look... we're even on their calendar!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Happy New Year!

Wow, great turnout tonight at our monthly meeting!


It's our first club meeting of 2012, and we had several birthday announcements to make.  Although some couldn't make it to the meeting, we still had three of us with January birthdays. So, Sheree, Bob, and I blew out the candles on a big birthday cake, while everyone sang that song that we all sing at birthdays... now how does that go?  Thanks to Kari and Landen for getting the cake.


Beach Dive this Saturday! We're doing a Shaw's Cove beach dive this coming Saturday, so meet at the top of the stairs at about 9 a.m.  We'll survey the condition, and hopefully we'll find that frog fish that's been reported to be residing there (frog fish in the photo above was from Curacao).  Still hard to believe that there's a frog fish here in Southern California. Could it be global climate change?  We already have about six of us going, so come join us!

Ken Kollwitz from Channel Island Dive Adventure was present to announce that on top of their already low priced dive charters, they will give more discounts to club members if a charter is promoted by our club. Shawn and Bromley will be going over the club calendar to come up with trips to take advantage of this fantastic deal.  CIDA is now utilizing the dive boats Peace, Explorer, and the Pacific Star.  All great dive boats.

Our guest speaker Kevin Lee treated us with his trip presentation to the Arctic Ocean.  He had some very interesting story about almost being crushed by an iceberg, and lots of beautiful above and below photography.  Great thanks goes out to Kevin. 

And great thanks to Shawn for always scheduling such interesting guest speakers.

Being one of the contributing photographer to the book "Certainly More Than You Want to Know About Fishes of the Pacific Coast." Kevin donated an autographed copy to our club raffle.  I have to admit I was lucky enough to be the recipient of this generous gift.

January Raffle Prize Winners! Below you'll find the list of prizes and who won them. If you notice that Sheree, who claimed that she never wins anything, has won two prizes.  Perhaps 2012 will be a lucky year for you Sheree.

$50 Sport Chalet gift card: Wayne Lu
Easy cut tool: Barbara Potter
Slap Strap: Jovy
Hollywood Divers 10 Nitrox fill card: Cesar Palerm
Hollywood Divers 10 Nitrox fill card: Sheree Lahey
Beach Sandles: Ken Kollwitz
Slap Strap: Bob james
Wrist slate: Mark H.
Aqua Seal: Kaz Aizawa
Hollywood Divers T-Shirt: Shawn Broes
Dive Shears: Sheree Lahey
Dive Rite wet note: Laura H. Steckler
Tank Bangers and Mash: Bob James

Great thanks goes out to our club supporters!  Sport Chalet, and Hollywood Divers