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The elephant seal walk. is finally scheduled for Sunday, March 25 at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Kevin Dalley chairing this dive.
There are 2 walks, one leaving at 9:00 and the next at 9:30 AM. We have 20 spaces at each time. You should show up 20 minutes prior to the walk. The walks are almost never canceled due to weather. The cost is $4/person.
Public Seal Walks are conducted rain or shine. Winter weather can be very cold and windy, even on sunny days. Rain is frequent and the trail may be muddy. Visitors should bring hooded rain gear, layered clothing, and sturdy walking shoes. For safety reasons, use of umbrellas is not permitted on the walks.
At this time of year, most of the adults seals will be gone and the pups will be rather large, with the double mother sucklers being even fatter than the rest. More elephant seal information is available on the web site.
There should be enough spaces for a while. If you want to hold or release a spot, please email or call me. I will collect money and additional signups at the February meeting.
Año Nuevo State
Reserve
is about 
hours south of San Francisco. .
The Monterey Express will be going out for a two tank dive with a very civilized departure of either 9:30 or 10:00 AM (will let you know exactly as the date approaches)...The cost is $70 per person. Nitrox by special arrangement at an extra cost. We don't get a club discount, but we don't incur any club obligation either, and Capt. Tim will take the boat out as long as at least seven people sign up.
Capt. Tim is going to give us first shot at the spots before opening up to other divers, so if you want to go, please let me know via return email ASAP. I will give Tim your name, but then you will need to call him with a credit card number to hold your spot.
So, let Susan know if you are interested...
Marilyn Johnson, a scuba travel agent we have often used, has a quote below. Note that her quote does not reflect any discounts. If we can get 11 rooms the rate could be as low as $607 + tax and air.
Please send your deposits directly to Inter Ocean Tours 510-638-3448 via credit card or check.
Call either Bernie or Marilyn with any questions.
Marilyn Johnson has reserved 11 rooms at Scuba Club for May 5-12, 2001. We receive one free room with 10 paid rooms. Marilyn hopes that we could get 2 free spots and reduce the cost. $1100 is due by April 22, 2000 to hold these rooms and get this years rates. Diver double is $750, diver single is $978, Diver triple is $696. Non diver double is $658. These rates do not include 12% tax or 10% club discount. You would also get a further discount by dividing 1 free with 10 paid.
Package includes:
Collect $100 deposit per person or have everyone send direct to us. I have requested airfare from Continental; but may not get a fare quote until 11 months out. The airline will want $40 per seat deposit later.
Marilyn Johnson
Inter-Ocean Tours
Box 27116
Oakland, CA 94602
Phone 510-638-3448
FAX 510-638-1741
email: Interocean@aol.com
http://www.interocean.com
Ten divers have signed up, as follows: Susan Carter, John Purnell, Jennifer and Robert Kuropkat, Kevin Dalley, Peter Lasell, John Kelly, Carolyn Oltman, Janet Myers, and Bette Bodie.
Later this week I will be putting together for each of you a copy of the contract and some additional information about trip insurance, travel arrangement options, and cancellation information, along with a grid showing your stateroom category, deposit paid, balance due, date balance due, contact information for other trip members, and other such important information. I will bring the packets to the February Alacosta meeting next Monday 2/5 to be distributed. If you don't show up at the meeting, no worries, I will mail the packet to you on next Tuesday 2/6, after the meeting.
In the meantime, there is one question for each of you: The total group deposit was $4000. I had asked everyone to contribute $500, in case we didn't get a full load of ten divers right off the bat. However, we are a full load of ten (which fills all of the spaces reserved to date), so each of you has an option: I can send you back a check for $100 per spot reserved, or you can have an extra $100 credit towards the final balance (in other words you will owe $100 less when the time comes to pay the balance 90 days before the trip). Some of you have already told me your preference, if you have, no need to respond again. Otherwise, please let me know by return email whether you prefer $100 back, (per spot) or to have the surplus put as an extra credit towards the balance due. The grid in your packet will reflect your preference and resultant balance due 90 days before departure (and the packet will include a check if that is what you prefer). Note that your choice won't impact any refund in event of cancellation: refund and cancellation policies will be explained in the packet, but basically if you cancel before the balance is due you get all of your deposit back (however much you actually paid) if we fill your spot, and all but $150 if we can't fill your spot. (and if we cancel as a group for any reason we all get our deposit money paid back minus $150 each).
Two more bits of good news from Nicky, our agent at InterOcean: Nicky spoke with Peter Hughes at the DEMA dive show this weekend, and even though the contract quotes us some (rather high) amounts for hotels for coming and going stopovers, we do NOT need to use the Peter Hughes designated hotels (which will reduce the cost, their quotes are for the Guayaquil Hilton, probably the most expensive in town.) Moreover, connections are possible through either Quito or Guayaquil, and on the way home you don't need to stop over unless you want to: it is possible to fly straight home the same day we leave the boat without a stopover: (the boat comes into port the night before and we spend the night on the boat, then you can fly straight home from San Cristobol to SFO): a stopover in either Quito or Guayaquil of one night (or more if you want) IS needed on the outbound trip). Nicky will look into hotel alternatives for us, and each of you can choose individually whether to stay at the Peter Hughes designate or another hotel, along with your other pre and post travel options. Again, details will follow...
Finally, I know some of you have been following the recent oil spill in the Galapagos, at San Cristobol, as have I. It appears that the damage is not as great as had been feared, and is not in the areas we will be diving. In any event, it sounds as though the cloud of the oil spill has a silver lining in terms of a future new dive destination.
anyways, that is it for now, let me know how you want me to handle your share of the surplus deposit...
blurb@alacosta.org