The Discovery Lab is open with a different theme each session. Drop by the lab for activities including using microscopes, examining specimens, creating an art project, delving into books, playing games, exploring coastal habitats and much more. Shark teeth, baleen, birds, bones, shells, and live marine invertebrates are among the specimens available for examination. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Discovery Lab will be open Saturday, January 3rd from noon-2 p.m. and Sunday, January 18th from noon-2 p.m. A hands-on discovery lab is also available at the historic Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse on select Saturdays and Sundays. Please call the aquarium for dates and times.

This program is free to all participants due to generous financial support from the Norris Foundation, the Julius Sumner Miller Foundation, and the Kinder Morgan Foundation through the FRIENDS of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Groups are asked to make reservations.

The aquarium is open to the public on weekends from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Tues. - Fri. from noon-5 p.m. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is located at 3720 Stephen White Drive in San Pedro and is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

For further information, or to receive a calendar of events, please call 310-548-7562 or visit www.cabrilloaq.org on the web.

SEA Club at CMA for Elementary Students — Jan. 5 thru Feb. 2
Third to sixth grade students with an interest in marine life have an opportunity to explore the local marine environment by enrolling in Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s after-school SEA Club on four Mondays from 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. beginning January 5th and running through February 2nd. Students will be guided by education staff as they study the surrounding coastal habitats of Cabrillo Beach, observe animal behavior, examine various marine specimens under microscopes, and have fun while learning.

The aquarium’s live animals, preserved specimen collections (shells, fish, fossils, bones, etc.), lab and field equipment, and library will be available for use. The aquarium will be the base station for ocean exploration.

The cost for four weekly sessions is $30 ($27-Aquarium FRIENDS members) and includes a SEA Club T-shirt. Financial assistance is available.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is located at 3720 Stephen White Drive, San Pedro and is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

For further information, reservations, or to receive a calendar of events, please call 310-548-7562 or visit www.cabrilloaq.org on the web.

Drowning Homicide Investigator Course — Jan. 14 & 15 or 20 & 21
A two-day course on drowning homicide investigation for Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, Medical Examiners, Marine Patrol, Coroners, and Fire/PD dive teams will be held at the Alameda County Sheriff’s office of Emergency Services in Dublin, CA on Jan. 14 & 15 or Jan. 20 & 21.

Studies show that drowning homicides are the eighth most common method of homicide. This course was designed to teach patrol officers and investigating detective’s special tactics to recognize and investigate water-related deaths.

To register, please contact Lifeguard Systems, phone 845-331-3383, email lgs@teamlgs.com or on the web at www.teamlgs.com.

Rapid Deployment Search & Rescue/Recovery Program — Jan. 16, 17, 18, 19
A course for dive teams in Law Enforcement, Fire and EMS on Rapid Deployment Search & Rescue/Recovery will be held at the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services in Dublin, CA on Jan. 16, 17, 18 and 19.

Each program is designed to meet the specific needs of the students in the course. If students are Law Enforcement personnel, then search items are knives, shells and firearms, and scenarios are based on homicides by drowning. Body bag procedures will be taught and practiced. If Firefighters make up the majority of the students, then dressing in under three minutes, rapid deployment, and patient handling become more important.

To register of for additional information, contact Gene Battaglia at the Institute of Diving Technology, phone 925-551-8478, e-mail divewithidt@aol.com or on the web at www.divewithidt.com.

Avalon Harbor Underwater Cleanup — February 21
The 24th Annual Avalon Harbor Underwater Cleanup will be held on Saturday, February 21, 2004.

Once a year, in conjunction with the Underwater Cleanup, the Avalon Harbor Department permits diving in Avalon Harbor. This event, which is steeped in nearly a quarter century of tradition, brings together 500 divers from California and other western states, as well as many foreign countries.

In the morning, 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 the Wrigley Stage in downtown Avalon.

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. Just click on the Avalon Underwater Cleanup logo.

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, call 310-645-7900 or email turney@newcap.com.

Shipwreck Hunter Webber to Speak at CA Wreck Divers Banquet — Feb. 28
Legendary shipwreck hunter Burt Webber, Jr., discoverer of the famed Spanish Galleon Nuestra Señora de la Concepcion, will be the guest speaker at the upcoming California Wreck Divers Annual Banquet to be held in February in Marina del Rey, California.

Webber began diving as a teenager in 1959 and entered his underwater career as a first class commercial deep sea diver and scuba instructor in the 1960’s. The lure of adventure and exploration soon tempted Webber into searching for lost ships and sunken treasures, resulting in the discovery, plotting and dating of over 26 shipwrecks in the waters off the Dominican Republic. The Concepcion, which sank in 1641, was one such wreck which yielded over 60,000 silver coins, bullion, gold chains and priceless artifacts, most of which are on permanent display in the national museums in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

In addition to searching for galleons in Florida, the Bahamas and Caribbean waters for over 41 years, Webber is credited with revolutionizing historic shipwreck exploration and salvage techniques. He is currently involved in a variety of underwater survey projects, as well as the innovation of cutting-edge underwater search equipment, including a new diver-operated celsium magnetometer.

The banquet will be held at the Harbor House Restaurant in Marina del Rey, California, at 5:30 p.m., February 28, 2004. The evening’s entertainment will also include dinner and the California Wreck Divers’ famous “Giant Raffle.” For more information, call Steve Lawson at 949-462-0462, or visit the California Wreck Divers’ web site at www.cawreckdivers.org.