California Classic Equipment Divers Rally - Sept. 2
On Labor Day weekend, the Los Angeles Maritime Museum will host the 2nd Annual California Classic Equipment Divers' rally . . . and anyone who is curious to learn how divers negotiated the deep before the advent of SCUBA will be treated to a heavy gear demonstration. Antique gear collectors and divers will gather at the Maritime Museum's Angel's Gate tugboat on Saturday, September 2nd, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and spectators will have a clear view of the action from the museum's observation deck.
Last year's event featured commercial diver and historian Torrance R. Parker, author of 20,000 Jobs Under the Sea. This year's rally will pay tribute to the commercial divers who helped build the Port of Los Angeles - the largest port in the United States, and the third largest port the world. Torrance Parker will join the CCED and other historical diving buffs this Labor Day to honor the late Al Hanson and his wife and diving partner, Norma Hanson, the late E.R. Cross, and other commercial divers whose contributions to the industry and to the harbor itself have been legendary.
The California Classic Equipment Divers is an all-volunteer group of divers and collectors of antique diving equipment. The Navy Mark V helmets and other antique equipment used by the CCED are fully functional pieces of our diving history and maritime construction.
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is located at Berth 84, at the foot of Sixth Street in San Pedro, CA. This historic building is the largest maritime museum on the West Coast.
For additional information, please contact Leslie Jacobs at (310) 325-2505, or Charlie Orr at (310) 834-7051.
Dive Mission 2000 is a fun-filled extended weekend of diving, socializing and partying. The event is based in San Diego and hosted in part by the Bahia Resort on Mission Bay. The diving co-host is Dive Connections, Inc. and will include diving excursions to Wreck Alley, the local kelp forests, and the Mexican Coronados Islands. For socializing there will be a Welcome Bash and Beach Party. A variety of packages, including diving and hotel packages, are available for the Thursday through Sunday weekend. Optional activities include additional dives, night dives, and land excursions. For more information or reservations, contact Dive Connections, Inc. at 888-420-3047.
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 Sept. 9 at Old Marineland (Los Angeles County); Sept. 16 at Hospital Point (San Diego County); Oct. 14 at White Point (Los Angeles 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 or on the web at www.egroups.com/group/rocks-rips-reefs. For last minute changes in the San Diego schedule and/or locations, call (619) 221-8824.
The Los Angeles and Orange County 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, visit the GLACD web site at www.glacd.org or call (310) 379-5681.
The Channel Islands Council of Divers (CICD) has confirmed its plans for Channel Islands Chamber Day dives for 2000.
On Monday September, 11 dive boat Peace, out of Ventura, will offer dives at oil rig Grace and at Anacapa Island. Cost is $70.
On Tuesday September 12 dive boat Truth will offer diving at Santa Cruz Island. Departure will be at 6 a.m. from Santa Barbara's Sea Landing. Cost is $70.
On Wednesday September 20 dive boat Liberty will depart at 7 a.m. for diving at oil rig Grace and at Anacapa Island. Cost is $65.
Dive destinations are subject to sea and weather conditions. Also, oil rig diving is considered "advanced diving" and requires significant diving experience.
Each trip includes air fills and a commemorative T-shirt. All payments are to be made to CICD, as cash, check or money order. Reservations are required. Reservations may be made by calling Dick Shrewsbury at (805) 485-8483. Reservations will be confirmed upon receipt of payment.
As with the Los Angeles Council's Chamber Day activities held in May, the proceeds of these Northern Channel Islands dives provide support to the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. Additionally, some support will benefit CICD's Uninsured Diver's Fund.
Additional information is available from Dick Shrewsbury at (805) 485-8483, e-mail DickShrewsbury@Compuserve.com, or at CICD's web page, www.venturaweb.com/cicd.
The International Coastal Cleanup is an annual, global project coordinated by the Center for Marine Conservation (CMC) and supported by an international network of environmental and civic organizations, government agencies, industries, and individuals. Each year, volunteers gather at coastal locations around the world and pick up trash. This year's cleanup will be held on Saturday, September 16, 2000. Underwater cleanups will be held at various locations along the California coastline. For information on underwater cleanup sites in Los Angeles County call Heal the Bay at 1-800-Heal-Bay or visit their website at www.healthebay.org. For other areas, visit the website for the Center for Marine Conservation (www.cmc-oceans.org).
The 3rd Annual Cabrillo Chocolate Lobster Dive will occur on Saturday, September 23, 2000. 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 8-inch chocolate variety) known to appear only once a year - this year on September 23.
The event is limited to 500 participants who will be eligible to win dozens of valuable and exciting prizes provided by dive equipment manufacturers, travel providers, and other sponsors, while keeping their bag limit (2) of recovered lobster. A total of over $30,000 in prizes will be awarded. Proceeds from the event benefit Cabrillo Marine Aquarium's Spring Outdoor Classroom, teaching 36,000 children annually about the marine environment.
Entry forms can be obtained by calling (310) 548-7562 ext. 9039, or fax (310) 548-2649, or through Southern California dive shops and dive clubs. Pre-registration by September 8 is $25 and includes free parking. Entrants who register after September 8 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.
The second annual Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival is set for the weekend of September 29, 30 and October 1, 2000 at Ports O' Call Village in San Pedro. The Lobster Festival is now the largest seafood event in Southern California. The most popular food item at the lobster festival is a whole steamed Maine lobster meal (including salad, roll and butter) for cost of around ten dollars.
The Lobster Festival is expected to attract over 40,000 people at the year's event. The festival features a children's Lobster Calling Contest on Friday, A LobsterDog Pet Parade at Noon on Saturday and a Cioppino cookoff on Sunday. Tons of fresh cooked Maine lobsters will be served in addition to chowder, ribs, chicken, Thai and Mexican food and desserts along with beer, wine and flavored drinks. There will be craft booths, kids games, rides, arts and crafts and the chance to take a boat tour of Los Angeles harbor. Continuous live entertainment including Latin jazz, country rock, Zydeco and swing dancing will round out the event. Admission is $6.00 for adults, kids 12 and under get in free. Discount coupons are widely available. Parking is free.
For more information, visit our website at www.lobsterfest.com.
Lobster season opens September 30, which means it's time for the Dive N' Surf Lobster Mobster Contest. The 24th Annual contest will take place at both the Redondo Beach and Dana Point Dive N' Surf stores. Each location is a separate contest.
Festivities begin Friday evening, September 29. At one minute after midnight, when the calendar changes over to Saturday, September 30, and until 9 a.m., hordes of lobster hunters will gather lobsters alive and bring them in to be photographed, measured, and weighed at either of these Dive N' Surf locations. Lobster Mobster T-shirts and entry in free raffle will be given to all pre-registered contestants who bring in a live lobster. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for bringing in the largest single lobster.
Sign up in person at Dive N' Surf in Redondo Beach and/or Dana Point before the contest begins - there's no charge! For more information, call either (310) 372-8423 (Redondo location) or (949) 443-2303 (Dana Point location).
The Historical Diving Society USA is hosting a rally in Santa Barbara on September 30, 2000 at Santa Barbara City College. The rally will include a full weekend of events and activities especially for divers.
The program starts on Saturday morning at 9:00 with three outstanding lectures. Phil Nuytten from Canada will speak about the history and future of personal deep diving systems, such as his revolutionary Exosuit that allows no-decompression dives to tremendous depths. Nuytten participated in the development of the JIM one-atmosphere suit and many deep diving expeditions. Other featured speakers will include oceanographer Willard Bascom, and John Broadwater from the Monitor Marine Sanctuary.
Following the morning presentations there will be a barbecue luncheon on the beautiful Santa Barbara City College campus. In the afternoon, there will be demonstration dives of the SBCC deep saturation diving system and a swap meet where divers can buy and sell dive gear and other items of historical interest.
On Saturday evening, there will be an informal banquet at the newly restored Moby Dick's Restaurant on Stearn's Wharf. The guest speaker for the banquet will be diving funnyman, inventor, and filmmaker, Dick Anderson.
On Sunday, October 1, the Central Coast Working Equipment Group and the California Classic Equipment Divers will provide demonstrations of antique diving gear at the Santa Barbara harbor. These demonstrations will include numerous designs of old-time hard hat equipment.
For more information and to purchase tickets, contact The Historical Diving Society at (805) 692-0072.
The Catalina Conservancy Divers is offering a marine species identification class for divers wanting to improve their marine life identification skills. Dr. Bob Given noted marine biologist and former director of the Catalina Marine Science Center will be giving a slide show lecture. This will be the first phase of three phases of a scientific research certification class offered in the spring and fall to members of the Catalina Conservancy Divers. Phase II is a slide show quiz on what Dr. Given covers in the lecture, and a talk and discussion on data collecting techniques. Phase III is two identification skills check out dives at the Casino Point Underwater Park at Catalina. Divers completing the three phases will be eligible to participate in the key species I.D. project where data is being collected and monitored at seven dive sites around Catalina Island by the Conservancy Divers.
Phase I (Dr. Bob Givens lecture) is open to the general public for those interested in improving their identification skills and increasing their marine species I.D. vocabulary. There will be a question and answer period following the lecture and a tour of the aquarium, where the marine organisms that have been discussed can be viewed. Phase I attendance is free and reservations are not necessary, but a $5 donation to the Cabrillo aquarium at the door is suggested. The lecture will be on Sunday (10-1-00) at 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Participation in Phase II and III require membership in the Catalina Conservancy Divers. For those interested in membership information in the CCD, call Erica at (310) 510-2595 Ext. 114 or for class sign up call Ted at (714) 960-2304 or visit the CCD web site at www.ccd.org. for more details.
The 38th Annual International Underwater Photographic Competition, sponsored by the Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society, is underway. Entries are being accepted in 14 print, slide and video categories. The deadline for entry is October 21.
The oldest and one of the largest contests of its kind, last year's competition received entries from contestants representing 16 countries and 25 states.
First place awards include live-aboard and land-based trips to Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Turks and Caicos, Fiji, Thailand, British Columbia and Belize. Additional prizes will be awarded to 4th place in each category and include a valuable array of scuba, video and photo equipment donated from generous sponsors including Kodak and Weldon Color Labs.
Entry forms, rules and a full sponsor list are available at www.LAUPS.org. Additional information is available by e-mail at INTLCOMP@LAUPS.org or mail at LAUPS, P.O. Box 2401, Culver City, CA 90231.
September 30: Opening of lobster season. Make your boat reservations now!
November 10, 11, 12: Catalina Photo Shoot-out. Call 310-510-2350.
