Upcoming dives

Talk to the dive chairs early. Please sign up in advance. All people who sign up are responsible for fees at the dive. People who don't sign up for the dive may be excluded from the dive and shunned for life. On camping trips, each diver is responsible for finding its own campsites. The chair will attempt to organize campsites, but no guarantees can be made. There is a $5 per day fee for use of the club boats.

Van Damme abalone dive on August 24-26

Susan Carter is leading a North Coast Van Damme dive in August, the weekend of August 24 through 26th, Friday through Sunday. This is during ab season of course, and we will also be doing a tank dive or two off of the boats, weather permitting. We will also do our traditional potluck and ab feast Saturday night, 8/25.

We already have two sites reserved at the Van Damme campground, but it would be nice to have at least three, or more, depending on how many of you are going. Please don't count of being included in one of the existing sites unless you check with me to make sure I have space for you. Please make additional additional reservations. Reservations can also be made by calling 1-800-444-PARK (7275). You aren't assigned a particular site number: Susan will go up on Thursday the 23rd (her reservation starts then) to grab a few (hopefully) nice sites. Also, if you have a camp site and have space for other campers, please let Susan know. At press time, no additional space was available for Friday. The reservation system has been unreliable recently.

Hope you can join us!

Catalina in September, 2001

Alacosta is planning their annual Catalina dive on September 8-15, Saturday-Saturday. Bill McDowell is chairing this trip. A $200 deposit is due at the June general meeting. If you miss the general meeting, please send a deposit to Carolyn Oltman. A full refund will be granted up to 30 days prior to the trip.

The price of the Miss Christie has significantly increased. Miss Christie is the boat we use to get between the mainland and Catalina. Total trip cost for the week, including diving off of the club inflatables, accommodations, all meals and transportation to and from Los Angeles to Catalina island is estimated to be $740 if 10 people go on the trip, and $630 if 15 people go on the trip. Non-members can sign up, but will be charged an additional fee that is the equivalent of an individual membership. Also, members have priority in event the trip fills up, so all divers interested in coming with us to Catalina are encouraged to join the club!

And if you are not sure whether to go, join us! Catalina is one of the club's best trips, offering lots of great diving at a price that can't be beat, along with plenty of opportunities for hiking, swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, and the traditional Alacostan post-dive favorites drinking, eating and sleeping! This is a peaceful quiet and fun trip and a chance at world class diving right in our own backyard!

If you are coming to Catalina, you will probably want to book a hotel reservation for the night of Friday, September 7th, as the boat leaves early on Saturday the 8th. We will be back in LA by 1 PM at the latest on the 15th, leaving plenty of time to drive home and back to reality that same day. More information on some relatively reasonable possibilities in Marina Del Rey will be available at a later meeting, along with a list of suggested items to bring along.

Galápagos trip update, May 2002
Susan Carter, Trip Leader

We are going to the Galápagos May 19-29th, 2002, on the new Peter Hughes Boat, the Sky Dancer! Ten Alacostans have signed up for the trip. The Sky Dancer is a brand new beautiful boat being built in Guayaquil, Ecuador specifically for Peter Hughes. The latest update is that, after a short delay getting the boat in the water, in order to make the hull more stable for crossings between islands (a revision I am sure we will all appreciate), the boat is scheduled to make its maiden voyage beginning soon. I'll check in with Peter Hughes after that trip and give you another update.

In the meantime, if you are signed up for this trip look for some paperwork in the mail next week. (waivers, acknowledgement of receipt of our deposit, etc). According to Nicky of InterOcean Tours, which is helping us to arrange this trip and getting us some excellent discounts, we can start thinking about making our air reservations in June of this year (or wait longer if you prefer, June is the earliest the reservations can be booked). I will send more information next month on air travel options and alternatives.

The trip is currently full with ten divers. At the request of several club members, I am going to look into whether or not slots can be added to this trip, and if so, what the cost implications would be for those already signed up. I won't make any decision to add slots to our reservation until I gather more information and until all currently signed up trip members are consulted (it is actually possible that adding more slots could increase the per person cost, since we have two complimentary slots now, unless Peter Hughes also gave us another free slot).

In the meantime, however, if you are at all interested in joining the trip and/or in having your name put on a waiting list in the event that there are cancellations, please contact Susan. The cost for this trip of a lifetime will be approximately $2750 for ten days on the live-aboard, plus airfare, chamber and park fees, and one to two nights hotel in transit in Ecuador.