This Monday we have Debra Haas, Debra R. Haas, District Administrative Assistant, Flotilla 114-06-02 and James Haas, District Directive Chief – Prevention, Flotilla 114-06-02 out for a special presentation on Dive & Casualty Investigation. Dive & Casualty Investigation Team Overview The United States Coast Guard is a multi-faceted branch of the Armed Forces involved in military response, law enforcement and safety on the seas. Among its responsibilities is the determination of facts in diving injuries and deaths aboard licensed commercial vessels in federal waters. At a disadvantage, active-duty investigation personnel are not always dive-qualified. In 2007, Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach initiated the Dive & Casualty Investigations Team with the goal to utilize existing dive experience and training of Coast Guard Auxiliarists in rendering technical expertise to Coast Guard Investigating Officers in those investigations. The DCI team is made up of divers who have served in the military and diving communities for many years. We are made up of Navy divers, professional instructors and dive masters with many years of experience. We are up to date with the most recent recreational diving equipment so as to provide that expertise to the investigations. DCI team members assist Coast Guard Investigative personnel in collecting evidence, interviewing parties and witnesses and analyzing data and equipment to provide a full understanding of the dive incident. The members then serve as the primary outreach conduit through which lessons learned from diving accidents are communicated to public stakeholders. DCI's overall goal is to enhance safe dive practices and promote increased awareness within the boating and diving communities. Thanks Kaz for the contact! Let's give them our usual loud, but polite and interested Sole Searchers welcome!

Trident at 6/8/15 meeting

Hay dive club meeting fans! Hope your summer is off to a great start, June gloom aside... Please join us this Monday for an unusual, but interesting chat with the Trident folks. Yep, that Trident... the ones that make almost every doo-dad we ever attach to ourselves when taking the plunge. We will have Missie from Trident Manufacturing and Matt from Dive 1st , so you can ask, suggest, quiz & harass them as much as you like! (she sounds fun, and I assured her we were) Annual trip review will be next month, so take a break from perfecting the photos and come on out! See you there-

We're back from Bonaire

Hey everyone, had a great week of diving on Bonaire. My first time diving on Bonaire, and all I did was dive, eat, sleep, dive. The reefs were in very good to excellent condition. Lots of marine life! The water was at times a cold 79 (at least on my computer) to 80. I’m glad I took my 5mil and a hood. If you’re the type that get’s cold and have a 3mil, I’d take extra layers like a hooded vest just to make sure. Vis 100+. To name just a few, some of my favorite dives on Bonaire side were Karpata, Tolo, Helma Hooker, Salt Pier, Little Wall, and of course the Buddy Reef night dives with tarpons swimming all around you. When you shine the lights on the small fishes, they would make a “Womp!” sound and swallow them. 4-7 tarpons would follow us right back to the steps at Buddies on almost every night dive. Oh, and Dive sites on Klein Bonaire are also very nice. At Buddy’s the facilities were totally geared toward divers. Buddy Dive threw in 9 one tank boat dives in our package, so we were diving from our own boat in the morning, then after lunch we would take off in our trucks and van for shore diving in the afternoon. The usual allotment was 2 Nitrox tanks per trip, but we were allowed to take up to 3 tanks per diver if needed, needless to say we had plenty of tanks to take along. The Nitrox filling stations were easy and accessible both on the dock, and at the drive-through fill station. Tanks were available 24 hours at the dock which made night diving on Buddy’s house reef a cinch. Just grab a filled tank, and drop in the water. We didn’t get to utilize the kitchen much in our units since breakfast was free, and 50% off deal at the Blennies restaurant (on premise) kept us going back for the convenience. The food at their restaurant was very very good, however we did make it out to a few restaurants in town recommended by Michelle, and they were excellent I must say. Can’t remember their names except one “Capriccio.” Some peeps went sight seeing, and took some great photos which I’m looking forward to seeing posted soon. I personally did 26 dives, but got left in the dust by Jorge and Christine who did a whopping 32 dives. 32 dives! Sheesh. Jorge, Christine, and Sheri stayed next door at Captain Don’s, so we couldn’t coordinate our dives together as well, but we did manage two shore dive with them. Oh yes, if you’re used to shore diving in Southern California, shore diving in Bonaire is a cake walk. ;-) Kaz Aizawa

Monday April 13, 2015 Meeting Speaker info

I'm happy to announce our speaker for this Monday is the one and only Captain Patrick Smith! He's going to be showing us Long Wharf - a mile long wharf built in the 1890s that most divers and people don't know about. An amazing local dive! Pat is a California native with a BA in History from UCLA & MA in Public History / Historic Preservation from Cal State, Dominguez Hills. He has been diving since 1961(!) and a NAUI scuba instructor since 1979. He is a US Coast Guard Licensed Captain - 100 ton vessels, worked sport and commercial fishing/diving vessels 10 years, worked NOAA & National Park Service projects & vessels 20 years. He's a commercial diver, scientific diver, Co-author of Shipwrecks of Southern California, published papers with the Society for Historical Archaeology and the Society for California Archaeology. He's written articles in such publications as California Diver, California Diving News, Skin Diver Magazine, Pacific Diver, Underwater USA, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Sub Aqua Journal. He's consultant to NOAA, US Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, and the State of California, he's one of very few non-military, non-government divers permitted to carry out UW research on the USS Arizona, he's done numerous presentations to students from elementary to university level, as well as historical societies, dive and other groups. He's the recipient of SSI 5000 Platinum Pro award for service to the diving community and over 7,000 dives, recipient of 2012 Lighthouse Award from Department of the Interior for 20 years of Submerged Cultural Research work with the National Park Service. Board of directors, Los Angeles Maritime Museum Research Society Board of directors, Coastal Maritime Archaeology Resources-CMAR Board of directors California Ships to Reefs Education Director, California Ships to Reefs Yikes, right? Plus... he's the guy that was married underwater last week at the Aquarium of the Pacific. May need some champagne, I'm thinking. Be there Monday April 13, 2015

Dive opportunities at the California Science Center

Please join us this Monday 3/9/15 for a presentation by Valerie Thompson and Sole Searchers alumni Darrell Montegue. They will be discussing volunteer dive opportunities at the California Science Center. The science center has a 188,000 gallon kelp tank and volunteers assist staff with the daily maintenance, feeding aquatic animals and participating in dive shows for guests. Darrell has been working in the dive industry for over 15 years. Prior to his current position as Dive Safety Officer for the California Science Center, he trained divers for the California Institute of Technology, and was Dive Safety Officer and expedition medic on remote dive operations for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, National Geographic, and several film and television productions. He currently supervises a team of 75 divers comprised of paid staff and volunteers who work in the exhibits and on collection trips and conservation projects. Darrell will be talking about the California Science Center’s dive program and volunteer diving opportunities, answering any questions you may have. Valerie has been working at the Science Center as Volunteer Manager for several years. She currently manages 320 volunteers at the Science Center. What she loves best about her job is meeting new people and that she learns something new every day. Let's eat, drink, learn, & dive!

New for 2015

To ring in the new year we have revamped our website. A fresh new look with organized content and easier maintenance. We'd rather go diving. Hey we have priorities! Happy New Year and check back often for new content. Lars Dennert