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22nd Annual Avalon Underwater Clean-up — Feb. 23
The 22nd Annual Avalon Harbor Underwater Cleanup will be held on Saturday, February 23, 2002.
Once a year, in conjunction with the Underwater Cleanup, the Avalon Harbor Department permits diving in Avalon harbor. This event, which is steeped in over 20 years of tradition, brings together 500 divers from California and other western states as well as many foreign countries. Last year’s award for the person who traveled furthest to attend the event went to a diver from New Zealand.
The dive will start at 10:30 a.m. and divers will scour the harbor searching for trash and debris which is removed and sorted by volunteers. Prizes and awards are given at the afternoon Award Ceremony at 2 p.m. at the Wrigley Stage in downtown Avalon. Awards given last year for trash recovered included Oldest, Most Useless, Most Valuable, Most Perverted, Best Dressed and the well-known Silver Tongue Award.
The cost to register for the event is $30 if registered by January 31st and $40 if after that date. Registration can be accomplished either online from the Catalina Conservancy Divers (CCD) website (http://www.ccd.org) or by downloading the registration form from the CCD website and mailing it with a check.
Proceeds from the event go to support the work of the CCD and Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. CCD is a support group of the Catalina Conservancy, which is dedicated to restoration and protection of Catalina Island and its surrounding waters. CCD has been conducting underwater monitoring projects around Catalina since 1992. The Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber is located at the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies near Two Harbors. The Chamber is the closest life support recompression chamber to the heavily dived Catalina area and has been responsible for saving many lives over the years.
All participants in the event will receive a T-shirt and be eligible for a door prize drawing. In addition to the door prize, numerous prizes totaling over $10,000 in value will be raffled off during the Awards Ceremony.
Catalina is located 22 miles from the LA/Orange County coast and can be reached by boat from Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point and Newport Beach and by helicopter. For information regarding transportation, hotel accommodations, activities, events or other services contact the Catalina Island Visitor’s Bureau at 310-510-1520. For questions regarding the event itself, contact the Catalina Conservancy at 310-510-2595 x 114.
James Cameron at CA Wreck Divers Banquet — Feb. 23
Academy Award winner James Cameron, screenwriter, director, and producer of the blockbuster movie Titanic, will be the guest speaker at the California Wreck Divers Annual Banquet to be held in February in Marina Del Rey, CA.
Cameron first became acquainted with the underwater realm as a teenager when certified as a diver at age 16.
Cameron’s breakthrough motion pictures The Terminator in 1984 and The Abyss in 1989 demonstrated his technical creativity with a plethora of visually-stunning effects.
Although multi-talented with a wide range of accomplishments, James Cameron will always be known for Titanic, the most successful film of all time. Cameron’s dozen dives to the actual wreck site of the Titanic, 2 1/2 miles beneath the North Atlantic, has fueled his interest in shipwrecks and shipwreck exploration, giving birth to stories and adventures he will share during the banquet.
The banquet will be held at the Harbor House Restaurant in Marina Del Rey, CA at 5:30 p.m., February 23. For More information, call Steve Lawson at 949-215-2380 or visit the California Wreck Divers’ website http://www.cawreckdivers.org.
Certified Divers Free Admission to Aquarium at Divers’ Day - March 17
The Aquarium of the Pacific will celebrate its first annual Divers’ Day, Sunday, March 17, featuring free admission for certified divers, booths from various marine and dive related organizations, live equipment demonstrations and more. To enjoy free admission, divers must present valid proof of certification with photo I.D., and the public may also enjoy this event with regular admission.
For more information call 562-590-3100 or visit http://www.aquariumofpacific.org on the web.
