Catalina Chamber Day and Evening — May 3
Registration is now underway for the 18th annual Chamber Day events to be held on Wednesday, May 3. Chamber Day is a fund-raiser for our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber, and is the largest single-day scuba charity event in the United States.
The Catalina Chamber is dedicated strictly to the treatment of diving accidents on a 24/7/365 basis. Although it is hoped you’ll never need it, having the Chamber available gives divers a vital safety net in the event something should go wrong with your dive. Although there is a grant from L.A. County, and the Chamber gets income from some outside activities, Chamber Day provides a significant portion (close to 50 percent) of the Chamber’s annual budget.

The great thing about this event is that ALL the money raised goes to the Chamber. No administrative fees are deducted from the proceeds, the local Southern California boats (12 of them) donate their time and services, the manufacturers donate gear for raffle prizes (roughly $30,000 worth), the Aquarium of the Pacific donates their facility for the evening event, hundreds of volunteers donate their time, and you (hopefully) donate your money. Last year we raised over $90,000 and this year we’re hoping to do even better. The event has many facets and there are multiple ways for you to get involved.

The main event is Chamber Day, a full day of diving (two dives) at Catalina plus a walking tour of the Chamber at the Isthmus. Cost for this is $85 (plus $30 for food and air fills) which gets you the diving, the tour, a t-shirt, and five raffle tickets.

For those who can’t take a day off but would still like to participate, we have the Flying Dutchman, a mythical boat but a big part of Chamber Day as it’s the perfect place for those who can’t do the event. Those who choose to “dive” the Dutchman get a special limited-edition t-shirt (available ONLY to those who sign up for the Dutchman) as well as raffle tickets.

There’s also the Chamber Challenge, where the diving community is “challenged” to raise extra funds for our Chamber, through specific donations (usually $100, but also $500 and $1000), which then hopefully challenge your friends to match your generosity.
Chamber Evening is the cap to everything and is co-sponsored by the Aquarium of the Pacific. It features full access to the Aquarium, a sit-down dinner in the Great Hall (underneath the life-sized model of a Blue Whale), some awards, a separate raffle, and the presentation of the final check to Karl Huggins, Director of the Chamber.

Full information on this great event can be found of the web at www.chamberday.org. You can even sign up via the web and our secure server, or by calling the coordinating store at 310-652-4990.

3Rs Beach Dive Workshops — May 13, June 10 and more
Rocks, Reefs and Rips program (3Rs) is a mini-course designed to familiarize divers with popular beach dive sites and improve their beach diving skills. Spring sessions in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area will take place: May 13 at Leo Carrillo State Beach (north Los Angeles County) and June 10 at Deer Creek Road (south Ventura County). Sessions are also being planned for the San Diego area. Additional workshops are planned at various locations for both areas through summer and early fall.

Instructors will demonstrate and supervise proper surf entry and exit procedures, explain unique aspects of the dive site, and discuss dive condition assessment techniques. Participants are then led on a snorkeling tour of the dive site. (Participants are to wear full wetsuit, mask, fins, snorkel, and a weight belt with half of the normal weight they use for diving. Tanks and regulators are not allowed.)

All classes begin at 8 a.m. but participants should arrive at 7:45 for registration. There may be a fee depending on the session (visit the appropriate web site as indicated below).

The Los Angeles area workshops are organized and conducted by the L.A. County Underwater Instructors Association in cooperation with the Greater Los Angeles Council of Divers (GLACD). For more info on the L.A. County workshops, e-mail 3rs@glacd.org, call 310-344-3250 visit online www.lascuba.com/3rs.html. The San Diego sessions are hosted by the San Diego Council of Divers and various dive clubs. For more information on the San Diego 3Rs, visit www.sddivers.com.

Big Sur Expedition — June 2-5
The waters of California’s Big Sur are largely unexplored by divers. The dive charter boat Vision will once again pioneer another rare expedition to these virgin reefs, pinnacles and kelp forests on June 2-5. The Vision, normally based out of Santa Barbara, will be departing for this exploratory expedition out of Morro Bay on the Central Coast and then head north. Many of the locations to be visited have never before been seen by divers. Marine life is abundant and conditions are expected to be excellent with water clarity of up to 100 feet.

This trip has only been done a handful of times in the past with great success. It is only conducted once a year in early June.

For more information, contact the expedition’s organizer, Adventure Sports Unlimited at 831-458-3648.