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

Boat Dives in December

Catalina on the Great Escape:

Saturday December 3.  It's an open boat 4 dive special for only $115.  Contact the Great Escape directly at 866-348-3262.  The Great Escape is now docked at 22nd Street Landing

Oil Rigs & Wrecks on the Pacific Star

Saturday, December 17: Eureka, Elley & Ellen oil rigs
Depart from: 22nd Street Landing, San Pedro
Time: boarding at 6:00 am Saturday, December 16th (or after 8:00pm Fri night) and departing at 7:00am.
Cost: $120. ($10 extra per person for a stateroom bunk).  Includes 3 dives, meals, air and reserved bunks.

You can also pay online.  Check out complete details at www.channelislandsdiveadventures.com

Where

Pacific Star out of 22nd Street Landing, San Pedro (map)

Awesome meeting last night

If you weren't able to make it last night, you missed a great meeting. We were joined by Ross Overstreet, who is an underwater mapping kind of guy. He had some amazing GIS data at his presentation.

Ross is an avid local diver, boater, and shipwreck hunter. Ross got certified in 1991, got serious about diving in 2003, and has accumulated about 850 dives since then. He recently got his Trimix cert so he can check out of the deeper targets that’s he located. Ross admits to being odd for a wreck diver in that he’s more into the wildlife than the brass and he particularly enjoys “weird” dive spots like large concrete pipes out in the middle of nowhere and tiny little wrecks or reefs that are too small for commercial boats. Weekends when he’s not diving, Ross can typically be found somewhere around the water trying to get his 4 year old daughter as addicted to the ocean as he is. Ross has a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University and pays the bills by selling Infrared Cameras to Military Test Ranges and R&D facilities.

Here's a link to some of his stuff on Farnsworth.
http://www.rossoverstreet.org/scuba/Farnsworth/farnsworth_bank.htm

Surprise Raffle prize!!!

I like to thank our supporters Spot Chalet and Hollywood Divers for donating great raffle prizes every month.  You guys make the meetings that much more special.  The giddy look on divers faces when they win that $50 gift card from Sport Chalet, or the dive back pack from Hollywood Divers is priceless.

This months we were surprised when our guest speaker Colleen from the luxury liveaboard Solmar V, added a special prize to our raffle table.  A 50% off coupon for a Socorro Island Liveaboard trip on the Solmar V!  That is a prize worth $1500-$1600!  The most expensive raffle prize we've ever had ;-)

So, the winners are...

%50 off Socorro Island on the Solmar V Liveaboard: Cesar Palerm.
$50. Sport Chalet gift card: John
Hollywood Divers Air Card: Maggie McDermott
Hollywood Divers Air Card: Sheree Lahey
GUE Dive Book: Lenoard Kenny
Wetsuit hanger: John
Large T-shirt: Gary F.
Hollywood Divers Medium T-shirt: Lily
Avalon 3-D card: John
Tank carrier: Cesar
Mouse Pad: Lenard Kenny
Dive Snorkle: John
Line Cutter: Lars Dennert
Solmar V T-shirt: Dave Gaines
Solmar V T-shirt: Cesar Palerm
Adjusta strap: Leonard Kenny

Our Annual resort trip for 2012!!!

Ok, Sole Searchers... Here's what you've been waiting for. A trip of a life time!
May 3-14, 2012, Malaysian Borneo Scuba Adventure!!!

For our annual resort dive trip for 2012 we will be staying at the Borneo Divers Mabul Resort in Malaysian Borneo, and diving around Mabul island, and also the world famous Sipadan island!

I'm really looking forward to this, since for years I've heard great things about diving this area, especially Sipadan Island!  It's going to be an exotic location on the other side of the globe, which means a long flight, but the diving is going to be... well, just ask anyone who's been there, its spactacular!  Some rate Sipadan as one of the top five dive destination in the world.  You'll find unusual critters you just won't find in the Caribbean.  You'll find tornado of barracudas at Sipadan, lots and lots of turtles, bumphead parrot fish, sharks, healthy coral gardens, vertical walls, and on and on! Theres too much to write here, and there's plenty of information on diving Mabul and Sipadan everywhere so I won't waste your time, but meanwhile here are the basic information below.  

The package deal.

7 nights at Borneo Mabul Resort in air-conditioned chalets.  These chalets have ensuite bathrooms with modern hot water shower. Safety deposit box, etc. 

6 days of 3 tank boat dives a day between Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan, Si Amil or Mantabuan Island with Professional Divemaster. Unlimited shore dives. (Borneo Divers is a PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Center). 

3 meals a day plus light snacks and beverages while at the Dive Resort (Except alcoholic and/or carbonated soft drinks) 

Free Broadband WIFI internet access. 

(Borneo Divers has an on site recompression chamber, and treat dive emergencies from throughout the region. Trained Hyperbaric Technicians are present and on call at all times.)

See the resort website for more information
Borneo Divers

And since we're all the way on the other side of the world in Borneo, we're going to get a sample of the jungle wilderness. 

2 nights at Sepilok Nature Resort 

 ~ 2 nights accommodation on twin sharing basis with en-suite bathroom 

~ Full board meals 

~ A guided tour to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation centre 

~ 1 Day entrance fee into Sepilok Rehabilitation centre 

~ A guided night jungle walk at SNR resort jungle trail 

~ Half day Labuk Bay excursion for Proboscis Monkey (inclusive entrance fee) 

~ English speaking guide 

Then to relax and cleanup for the trip back... 

1 night at the Hyatt Regency Kota Kinabalu before our flight back home.   

Base Price: $2,350 pp/do for the resorts/transfers/dive/nature stuff.  (price may fluctuate slightly due to exchange rates, but the U.S. dollar and the Malaysian Ringgit is pretty stable). 

We will get one free spot for every 10 paid person, and as usual, we'll spread out the savings with everyone. If we get 12 people The average price per person will be $2044.23 for the resort portion.

Please Note:

1. Excluded Sipadan Entry Permit RM 40.00 per person per day (right now about $13 U.S. dollars).  We will dive Sipadan at least one day, but if extra permits are available I'm doing Sipadan as much as possible.  

Airfare: Round trip $1766.40 for airfare on Malaysian Ailrline

We have seats held on Malaysian Airlines. I hear Malaysian Airline has excellent service, so it'll help on this long treck to our destination ;-)

MALAYSIA AIRLINES Thurs 03 May Depart Los Angeles (LAX) 12:45 AM

Fri 04 May Arrive Tawau (TWU) 2:00 PM

1 MH 95V 03MAY TH LAXTPE SS1 1245A 615A#1/O $ E

2 MH 69V 04MAY FR TPEBKI SS1 800A 1130A/X $ E

3 MH2137Y 04MAY FR BKITWU SS1 115P 200P/O $ E

4 MH2043Y 13MAY SU SDKBKI SS1 830A 915A/O $ E

5 MH2605Y 14MAY MO BKIKUL SS1 1045A 110P/O $ E

6 MH 94V 14MAY MO KULLAX SS1 315P 655P/X $ E      

Deposit of $200 will hold your spot, (deposit for the resort $100./person + airfare deposit $100/person)

Important Deadline Dates: 

Jan 1, 2011: 1/2 of your resort + 1/2 airfare.

February 7, 2012: Total balance due 

Like I said, this is going to be a trip of a lifetime!

Dive Package put together by Gene Dold at Scuba Travel Ventures 

This Monday September 12

Our guest speaker chair Shawn Broes says...

Hay gang-

We have a cool speaker coming on Monday...

Colleen with Solmar V will come show off sights from their incredible liveaboard, the Solmar V.

Colleen Darling Planté has been scuba diving since 1985 and has attained the Master Diver rating.  Along with scuba diving 6 of the 8 Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California, she has also had the opportunity to scuba dive The Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Gulf of Mexico, Fiji, Roatan and Hawaii as well as, of course, the Socorro Islands and Guadalupe Island.  She has been with the Solmar V since 2007 and looks forward to sharing with you information about the magical 

underwater world that congregates at the Socorro Islands and Guadalupe Island!

A couple of cool raffle goodies are promised, too... so please come join us!

http://www.solmarv.com/
http://www.facebook.com/SolmarV.liveaboard
http://www.youtube.com/user/SolmarV
Proud Partner of DivEncounters Alliance   "Where Wilderness is the Ultimate Luxury!"

http://www.solmarv.com/

September 17th. Annual Family Picnic Beach Dive/BBQ

Saturday September 17. 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