California Classic Equipment Divers Rally - September 4
With the cooperation of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and its director, Dr. William Lee, the California Classic Equipment Divers will present a demonstration of hardhat diving at the Maritime Museum's tugboat Angels Gate in San Pedro from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm on Saturday, September 4. Hardhat diving - as opposed to scuba or recreational diving - is the method commercial divers use when doing underwater construction or commercial fishery diving. The equipment used by the CCED is, for the most part, antique, and holds a great deal of interest for those interested in maritime construction and diving history.
Author and commercial dive historian Torrance Parker will be there, along with other heavy gear enthusiasts - professional and amateur. Torrance Parker is the author of 20,000 Jobs Under the Sea, the definitive history of West Coast commercial diving; this book is loaded with fascinating photographs and information, and is available at the Museum gift shop.
The California Classic Equipment Divers is a non-profit group of collectors of antique diving equipment. The LA Maritime Museum is located at Berth 84, at the foot of Sixth Street, in San Pedro, CA. Admission is free, donations are welcome.
For more information, call Leslie Jacobs, California Classic Equipment Divers (310) 212-4106 - daytime, or (310) 325-2505 - evenings.
"3Rs" Beach Diving Workshops - September 11 & 25
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. 11 at Old Marineland (Long Point) in Los Angeles County on Palos Verdes Peninsula and Sept. 25 at North Bird Rock, 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.
Channel Islands Council of Divers (CICD) will hold its annual Channel Islands Chamber Day dives on Sept. 13, 14, and 15. 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. Proceeds support the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber, and CICD's Uninsured Divers' Fund.
Participating boats generously donate their time so that all income from the dives may be used for this purpose. Dive trips will cost $65 or $70, depending on the selected boat.
Current plans are for Peace and Liberty to make at least one dive on oil rig Grace, then one or two dives at Anacapa. Truth plans to try for at least two dives on local coastal wrecks. Rig dives are usually considered "Advanced Dives."
For further information or to reserve spots for these dives, email: cicd@usa.net or call Dick Shrewsbury, Chamber Day Coordinator, at (805)485-8483.
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 18,
1999. 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.
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.
October 9, 10: San Diego Underwater Film Festival, San Diego. Tickets available through Tickettron, at the UCSD Box Office or at the event. (619) 487-7424
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: Catalina Photo and Diving Safari, Avalon. (310) 510-2350.
