Rocks, Reefs and Rips (3Rs) Beach Diving Workshops - Westward Beach Aug. 7, Hospital Pt. Aug. 21

Rocks, Reefs and Rips program (3Rs) is a half-day course designed to familiarize divers with popular beach dive sites and improve their beach diving skills.

Sessions will take place Aug. 7 at Westward Beach (Point Dume) in Los Angeles County and Hospital Pt. Aug. 21 in San Diego County.

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.)

For each of the events, registration and briefing is at 8 a.m. A donation is suggested. The San Diego 3Rs are staged by the San Diego Council of Divers, San Diego Lifeguards, and various area dive clubs. For information on the San Diego workshops, contact John Gibbins at (619) 584-0278) or Steve Haynes at (619) 222-7866. For last minute changes in the San Diego schedule and/or locations, call (619) 221-8824. The Orange County workshops is 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, visit the GLACD web site at www.glacd.org or call (805) 577-9416 or (310) 379-5681.

Additional 3Rs workshops will take place at various Southern California locations throughout the summer and fall.

The Pacific Coast Underwater Photographic Championships (PCUPC) will take place in San Diego, on August 14. This photographic competition is open to all underwater photographers.

Participants will dive Sat., August 14, and have eight hours to expose one roll of film along the California coast line. Photographers compete against others with similar experience in three divisions: novice, amateur, and advanced.

Exposed film is collected at 2 p.m., processed, and returned to the entrant at a dinner party later that evening. Participants will select their entries, mount their slides, and submit them for judging. An awards ceremony will be held on Sun. morning, August 15.

All proceeds benefit the San Diego Council of Divers, a non-profit, tax- exempt service organization dedicated for 46 years to education, safety, competition, wise legislation, and the responsible enjoyment of our marine environment.

For information call The San Diego Council of Divers Hot-Line (619) 687-1492.

"ABC's of Aquarium Keeping" is a one-day workshop geared for beginners who want a saltwater aquarium at home, in the classroom, or at the office. The workshop is being offered by Cabrillo Marine Aquarium on Saturday, August 14, 1999, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants will learn about such topics as filtration methods, equipment selection, water chemistry, feeding, and troubleshooting for fish diseases.

Cost is $18 per person (Aquarium FRIENDS members $16). Reservations required.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is located at 3720 Stephen White Dr. in San Pedro. For information or reservations, call (310) 548-7562.

Hosted by the Santa Maria Dive Club and the Vandenberg Aqualliers dive club, the 4th Annual Treasure Hunt will be held Saturday, August 21 from 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. at Refugio State Beach. All certified divers are welcome to take part for a $15 entry fee. Refugio State Beach is located in Santa Barbara County, west of the city of Santa Barbara.

The "treasure" will be in the form of plastic eggs with a number inside that corresponds with a prize. Only two eggs will be allowed per diver. Prizes include dive gear, boat trips, scuba classes, and T-shirts.

For more information, call the Dive Shop of Santa Maria, (805) 922-0076.

The Channel Islands Council of Divers (CICD) has announced that its annual Channel Islands Chamber Day dives will be held on September 13, 14, and 15, 1999. Participating boats will be Peace, Truth, and Liberty on those three respective days.

Channel Islands Chamber Days are supplemental to Greater Los Angeles Council of Divers'(GLACD) "Catalina Chamber Day", held in May. CICD represents the diving community in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Proceeds from the Chamber Day dives support the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber, and CICD's Uninsured Divers' Fund.

The Catalina Chamber is devoted solely to the treatment of diving accidents, and depends on donations and volunteers to remain in operation. The CICD Uninsured Divers' Fund is maintained to provide money for medical treatment of an unfortunate sport diver who may be unable to pay for treatment for a hyperbaric injury.

Participating charter dive boats generously donate their boats and crews, so that all income from the dives may be used for this charitable purpose. Dive trips will cost $65 or $70, depending on the selected boat.

Current plans (dependent on weather and sea conditions) are for Peace and Liberty to make at least one dive on oil rig Grace, then one or two dives at Anacapa. The rig dives have been quite popular in past years. Truth plans to try for at least two dives on local coastal wrecks. Please consider that rig dives are usually considered "Advanced Dives", due to open sea currents, "no bottom" conditions, and the need to dive from and return to a boat that is "under power", rather than at anchor.

For further information or to reserve spots for these dives, CICD can be accessed in a number of ways. Their web site address is www.venturaweb.com/cicd/, email: cicd@usa.net. Dick Shrewsbury, Chamber Day Coordinator can be phoned at (805)485-8483.

The 2nd Annual Cabrillo Chocolate Lobster Dive will occur on Saturday, September 25, 1999. Both certified scuba divers and skin divers will be able to descend into the waters off Cabrillo Beach located at San Pedro in search of a rare species of lobster (the seven-inch chocolate variety) known to appear only once a year - this year on September 25.

The event is limited to 500 participants who will be eligible to win dozens of valuable and exciting prizes provided by dive equipment manufacturers and other sponsors, while keeping their bag limit of recovered lobster. The grand prize is a week-long dive trip aboard the luxury live-aboard dive vessel Peter Hughes Star Dancer in Papua New Guinea. Proceeds from the event benefit Cabrillo Marine Aquarium's Spring Outdoor Classroom, teaching 36,000 children about the marine environment.

Entry forms can be obtained by calling (310) 548-7562 ext. 9039, or fax (310) 548-2649, or through dive shops and dive clubs. Pre-registration by September 11 is $25 and includes free parking. Entrants who register after September 11 pay $28 plus $6.50 for parking. For further information, explore the web site www.cabrilloaq.org.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation Parks but is dependent upon donations. The aquarium is located at 3720 Stephen White Drive, San Pedro, CA 90731.

Three hundred miles off the Costa Rican coast sits the remote Cocos Island, a tropical rainforest, never inhabited except for pirates and treasure hunters. For divers, a natural treasure lies beneath the waters. An environment rich in plankton, vital to the food chain, provides the basis for a feeding ground that attracts an abundance of sea life, including vibrant tropical reef fish, moray eels, stingrays, shark and tuna. Sharks are the undisputed top predators-hammerhead sharks, white-tip reef sharks, silky sharks and black-tip sharks.

Director Howard Hall and producer Michele Hall (The Living Sea and Into The Deep) are well known for giving an intimate look at the secluded lives of marine creatures, which enlighten and often surprise viewers.

Island of the Sharks features behavior never before recorded on film, including a dramatic sequence of silky sharks feeding on a swirling pool of jacks. Sensing the presence of danger, thousands of jacks swim together in an iridescent school. Silky sharks encircle the school until it tightens into a frenzied mass, or bait ball, and then strike. The sharks feed until they're satisfied then move on as suddenly as they appeared.

The IMAX® format immerses viewers in this underwater natural history experience with a screen 7 stories high and 90 feet wide.

Island of the Sharks is a production of NOVA/WGBH Boston and Howard Hall Productions, with the New England Aquarium. Major funding was provided by the National Science Foundation.

Island of the Sharks is now playing at the California Science Center IMAX Theater. The California Science Center is located at 700 State Dr. in Los For more information call (323) SCIENCE (323-724-3623).

September 11: 3Rs Course (see previous description). Old Marineland, Los Angeles County.

September 25: 3Rs Course (see previous description). North Bird Rock, San Diego. (619) 584-0278.

October 9: 3Rs Course (see previous description). Malaga Cove, Los Angeles County.

November 10-14: Conference on Creating Underwater Habitats Out of Metal Structures, San Diego (619) 523-1903

November 13: Sinking of Yukon, San Diego (619) 523-1903

November 20, 21 (note date change): Catalina Photo and Diving Safari, Avalon. (310) 510-2350.