Van Damme Dive Trip Report
by Susan Carter

Alacosta Divers descended on Van Damme State Park for three great days of diving, ab cleaning, kayaking, camping, eating and drinking April 12-14. The weather was a highlight: with very flat seas and sunshine on Saturday, and only a little mist on Sunday and still flat seas, conditions were just about as good as they get on the North Coast in the spring.

Conditions were so good that the club actually had a full Zodiac for a tank dive off of the Pinnacles south of the Van Damme beach on Saturday morning. Brave divers who headed out in search of the legendary giant octopus known to reside in the area, including Bill McDowell and Mike Daily, didn't find the octopus, but were rewarded with vis of about 30 to 40 feet, and lots of sea life. However, the best part of the dive was the antics of the divers, as we are happy to report below.

One of our sister dive clubs, the Vaqueros Del Mar of Livermore, has a cherished tradition they call the ``Putrid Pelican Award'', in which a club member who has done something worthy of note in the newsletter (translation: something stupid and/or otherwise amusing to the his/her fellow/sister divers) gets to wear a rubber chicken around their neck at the next club meeting. Well, we don't have any such tradition but, assuming our Blurb Editor Kevin Dalley is as committed to freedom of speech as he always claims, we do have the opportunity to note his actions here in the newsletter for your amusement.

Kevin was testing a lot of new camera equipment for our upcoming trip to Galapagos, and thus had secured a lot of stuff in a large plastic bucket inside the zodiac. Unfortunately, said bucket didn't leave a lot of space in the boat for gearing up. A logical solution to this problem might have been for several divers to gear up in the water, but Alacostans are nothing if not illogical. Thus, Kevin and cohorts decided to tie the bucket (which floated) to the back of the zodiac for the duration of the dive. Unfortunately, someone's Eagle Scout knot tying abilities must have been rusty, because that bucket is now floating somewhere down current from Mendocino. Fortunately, the most expensive camera gear was with Kevin on the dive, so losses were limited to some lens caps and Kevin's brand-new Tilley hat. (too new, alas, to have his name in the famous Velcro pocket).

Also fortunately for Kevin, if not the length of this article, the fun didn't stop there. There were reports that Tom Whitaker almost managed to loose a weight belt (an event that, for reasons that escape the author, some club members always find to be a source of overstated amusement) and did manage to take the anchor for a ride. Moreover, veteran sea dog/Boat Captain John Beland learned that the engine doesn't run very well if the gas line is not fully connected...

Following the tank dive, Alacostans regrouped on shore, and then took the boat back out sans tanks and gear to do some abalone free-diving, although Tom stayed on shore and relinquished his spot to Chris Dutra. The great conditions made it a snap for everyone to get their limits, even rookies Jeff Lewis and friend Mitch. (Indeed, a boat would not have been necessary, as Susan Carter, Janet Myers and Marcel LeBlanc went snorkeling in the Van Damme Cove and were amazed with both the vis and the number of legal size abs in fifteen feet or less of water).

Even the non-divers (a category which seemed to include a lot of divers who seemed to think that 45 degree water was just too cold, even if it was flat) had a great time sitting on the beach watching happy ab divers and soaking up some rays. Sunburned Alacostans included Carolyn Oltman, John Purnell, Debbie Kane, Joanne McDowell, Peter Lasell (well, actually Peter seemed to be more into kayaking and napping in his very cool tent) and Susan and Josh Lasell.

With so many ab limits met, the success of the evening potluck was guaranteed, especially once Janet gave the rookies a little lesson in how to clean an abalone. Indeed, all of the wonderful food, along with birthday cake to help Diane Daily celebrate, and a LOT of wine donated to the cause by Rob Vermeulen (a particularly gracious gesture since he didn't get to come along and enjoy the trip with us, which is of course one way to get mentioned in The Blurb without the risk of eliciting chuckles...) meant that Alacostans had one of the best, or certainly one of the rowdiest, post ab dive potluck that many of us could remember.

Undoubtedly, a few no-shows on the trip, who let a few inaccurate weather reports scare them away (haven't we all learned by now that weather for diving can never be accurately predicted?), or even worse, were confused about the dates of the big shin-dig, regretted their absence when they heard about all of the missed fun and food. Don't be one of those no-shows next time! Our next Van Damme trip is already planned for August 16-18th, and it is NOT too early to make your camping reservations to join us! Look for more information elsewhere in this newsletter, and mark your calendars (accurately) now!