Alacosta Blurb
Maintaining an icy distance between abalone and diver for over 40 years
December, 2003
Entertainment needed
Alacosta is looking for entertainment for future meetings. Contact Vice President Kevin Dalley if you have entertainment ideas. Kevin's email address is kevin@kelphead.org. His phone number is 510-531-3303.
Upcoming meetings:
General meeting: The December general meeting will be on Monday, December 1, 2003 in the Garden Room at the Orinda Public Library.
General meetings are held the first Monday of every month from 8-10 PM at:
Garden Room
Orinda Library
24 Orinda Way
Orinda, CA 94563
Executive board meeting:
Executive board meetings are usually held on the third Monday of the month at 8
p.m. and are usually preceded by a potluck at 6:30 PM. All Alacosta members are
invited. However, due to everyone's holiday spirit, there will be no December EBoard Meeting. We think that Mike Daily had offered to host the January EBoard on Monday, January 19th (which happens to be Martin Luther King Day), but look for an update in the January Blurb.
Hi to all
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 his/her 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. Personal flotation devices should be brought for all
dives using club boats.
NEW YEAR'S DAY DIVE AT POINT LOBOS:
Susan Carter is chairing this traditional Alacosta event. There are several available slots for this dive, to which we will be taking the club inflatables, so if you want to go and don't have a Lobos reservation, please contact Susan at 415-647-9036 or email her at Susan.Carter@ucop.edu or at still15320@aol.com. Susan will be sending out more information about the dive in a separate email later in December, and we will also discuss at the December general meeting.
We will meet at the Lobos gates at nine a.m. on January 1, 2004, but PLEASE don't show up without RSVP'ing to Susan, so that we can be sure we can accommodate you! If you are planning to come, bring food for a picnic lunch between dives.
President's Day Dive
Chris Fryer is chairing a President's Day dive on one of Monterey's fine dive boats, the Cypress Sea, on Monday, February 16, 2004. Details will be following, probably in the January Blurb. In the meantime, mark your calendars for this great traditional Alacosta event!
Cozumel, May 2004
Simon Kisch is leading a trip to Coz in Spring 2004. Details to follow, or call Simon at 510-841-5900.
Holiday Party
The Holiday Party will be held on the evening of Saturday December 13th at 7 p.m., at Jim and Rennie Kirby's home in Oakland at 2060 Braemar Road, Oakland, 94602. Braemar Road is located in the Oakland hills, in the area between Park and Lincoln Avenues, and west of Highway 13. You can get a map or directions by typing in the address at http://www.mapquest.com/maps/ or, for the technologically challenged (or if you have any questions) you can call Jim and Rennie at 510-530-5619. (It is not necessary to RSVP for the party).
Dress for the holiday party is casual. Bring your beverage of choice, and also please bring your favorite specialty to share at a dinner potluck. Jim and Rennie will provide plates and eating utensils, along with holiday music. (Rumor also has it that Jim might even barbeque a turkey. Yumm!), Jim and Rennie will also have table space for a great spread, and wanted to specifically encourage those great Alacosta cooks to bring whatever holiday dish they most enjoy sharing, and not to feel obligated to limit offerings to `finger food'.
In addition to shared drinks, food, music and fun, a highlight of the party will of course be the annual Alacosta gift-exchange-free-for-all-steal-from-your-dive-buddy-who-will-end-up-with-the-wall-plaque event. If you want to participate in this great tradition, you must bring a wrapped gift with a maximum value of $15; one gift per participant, not per family.
The Alacosta holiday party is a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends and dive buddies old and new, and all Alacosta members, friends, and significant others are welcome to join us, so plan to join us for a lot of holiday cheer and general good times on Saturday, December 13th at 7 p.m.!
Papua New Guinea
Alacosta divers may dive in Papua New Guinea in 2004.
Australia
Susan Carter plans to lead a dive to Oz in November of 2005.
Madagascar
Alacosta divers may dive in Madagascar in 2006.
Old dives
Susan Carter and John Purnell did a five day trip on the Vision out of Santa Barbara over Veteran's Day weekend, with the Northern California Rainbow Divers. Conditions were beyond good; in fact it was so calm that John didn't even use his seasickness medication! The Vision crew took advantage of the wonderful weather to motor all the way to the Cortez Banks, for once-in-a-lifetime type conditions with 65 degree water and 100 foot visibility, not to mention schooling barracuda, giant sea bass, free swimming eels, lobster, yellowtail, nudibranchs, sea lions, and more fish than Susan thought existed in California. Nearly all of the divers on board rated the diving as the best diving they had ever done in California, which is quite extensive praise given that most participants had at least one prior Vision trip under their weight belts, and several were on their twelfth Vision Trip!
Treasurer's Report
General Fund: $5,433.49
Boat Fund: $2,520.74
Catalina Fund: 0.0
Total: $7,954.23
Alacosta Calendar
December 1 2003, Monday, December General meeting
NO DECEMBER EBOARD
December 13, 2003 Saturday, 7 p.m., Holiday Party, Jim and Rennie Kirby's
January 1, 2004 Point Lobos Dive
January 5, 2004, Monday, January General Meeting
February 16, 2004 President Day's Dive
April/ May 2004 Cozumel
November 2005 Australia
2006 Madagascar
Alacosta Divers Officers and Executive Board Members
Officers: Mike Daily, President
Kevin Dalley, Vice President
John Beland, Treasurer
James `Rocky' Rockafellow, Secretary and Immediate Past President
Chris Fryer, Membership Coordinator
Susan Carter, Blurb Editor
Eboard Members: Mike Elliott, Simon Kisch, Bill McDowell, John Purnell, Gary Schleimer, Rob Vermuelen
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The Blurb
Alacosta Divers, Inc.
Editor: Susan Carter/still15320@aol.com/415-647-9036
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