Alacosta Blurb
August 2004
Maintaining
an icy distance between abalone and diver for over 40 years
General meeting: The August general meeting will be on Monday, August 2, 2004 at 8 p.m. in the Garden Room at the Orinda
Public Library. Entertainment will
consist of a video presentation of "Into the Deep". Originally presented in IMAX, this underwater video
was filmed off the southern coast of California
If you have suggestions for entertainment for upcoming meetings, please contact Membership Coordinator Chris Fryer at cfryer@hansonbridgett.com.
General meetings are held the first Monday of every month from
Garden Room
Executive board meeting: Executive board meetings are
generally held on the third Monday of the month at
The August Eboard meeting will be held Monday, August 16th at Gary Schleimer’s home in
Old Dives:
Great Diving and
not-quite-flat seas at Point Lobos in July….
The club took two zodiacs for a dive at Point Lobos on Sunday, July 11th. At least 15 Alacostans went diving, sixteen if you count Tom Whitaker’s two minute dive while proudly testing out his new dive kayak. Most braved slightly rough seas to try the diving at the Pinnacles, where conditions underwater were reported to be good, with 30 to 40 foot plus vis and some nice critter sightings, including a very large sheepshead. John Diola got a good camera shot of that Alpha-fish, which we hope to have posted on the website very soon. Mike Dixon was also enjoying his new camera housing. Susan Carter and John Purnell, on the other hand, were ocean testing John’s new drysuit, and stayed in Whaler’s Cove to avoid having any first-time-dry mishaps recorded for posterity (John doesn’t trust the Blurb even if he does have an ‘in’ with the Editor). Mishaps were kept to a minimum other than the occasional lost fin. Unfortunately, John’s fins are both black and negative, but fortunately Susan managed to do a ‘search and rescue’ and find them, even if she did try to give one of them to the wrong John...(hey: it does get confusing when half of the club has the same first name)….It was also nice to see some new faces on the Lobos dive, including Diane Richards and Randy McFarland and some faces that hadn’t been seen for a while, including Jeff Lewis and John Lynch.
Rob Vermuelen dives
in warm water…
Rob Vermuelen reports in on a recent dive to
UPCOMING DIVES:
Catalina 2004: Sign-ups
are underway for the annual trip to Catalina on September 11 -18, 2004! Please send full payment or, if you have paid a
deposit, the balance due to hold your spot on this great trip. Total trip cost is being estimated at $700,
meaning that if you paid a $150 deposit you still owe $550 as a final trip
payment. Payments can be brought to the General Meeting or sent to John
Beland, Alacosta Club Treasurer, at the address indicated above for dues payments.
It should be noted that the Alacosta Catalina trip is run on a strictly
‘break-even’ basis, meaning that if the trip costs less than the estimated
amount, trip participants will receive a refund, and that if it cost more, trip
participants will be asked to contribute an additional amount.
About the Trip: What: Fantastic Diving, great scenery, adventure, eating, sleeping, camping (sort of), drinking, hiking, snorkeling, kayaking, star-gazing, music, card games, reading, relaxing, hot showers, photography, the best company, and just plain fun!
Where:
Trip costs include accommodations, three ample catered meals
per day, all air fills, charter boat transportation R/T between Marina del Rey
and Emerald Bay, 2 or more boat dives per day from club inflatables, unlimited
shore diving, occasional night dives, and lots of fun! Kayaks are available in
camp for use at a nominal fee. Costs not included in the total are
transportation to and from Los Angeles/Marina del Rey (carpooling encouraged),
hotel room the night before the boat leaves in Marina del Rey if desired,
personal diving gear (if you don't own you need to rent, including tanks and
weights), and adult beverages. Accommodations are in wooden floor tents. There
are bathrooms with outdoor (but enclosed) hot showers next to the sleeping
areas, and electricity and a secured camera battery re-charge area in the main
lodge for photo buffs. It is highly recommended to rent any needed gear for the
week before coming to Catalina: there is only one dive shop on the
Yet Another Van Damme Ab Dive: August 20 – 22nd: Join Trip Leader Mike Daily for yet another great weekend of tank diving, ab diving, camping, and eating, at Van Damme State Park. There may be campsites available to reserve, try http://www.reserveamerica.com/jsp/commonpage.jsp?goto=/usa/ca/vand/newindex.html It appears that there will be five to ten divers going based on RSVPs to date, as well as the usual assortment of non-divers, and the trip leaders are planning to take at least one inflatable on the trip. Email Mike at michaeldaily@sbcglobal.net to rsvp.
Cozumel 2005: Simon Kisch will be leading a club dive to Coz in April 2005. Details to follow in an upcoming Blurb…
Australia Australia Australia Great Barrier Reef , offering a great chance
of encounters with megafauna, as Brydes Whales, Manta Rays and Whale Sharks are
all regular visitors to this region.
For more
information email Susan at still15230@aol.com
or Susan.carter@ucop.edu
Alacosta Calendar
August 16, 2004, Monday, EBoard, Gary Schleimer’s Home
August 20-22nd,
Ab dive and camping weekend, Van Damme State Park
April, 2005;
October 24 –
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.
Executive Board Members: Mike Elliott, Simon Kisch, Bill McDowell, John
Purnell, Gary Schleimer, Rob Vermuelen
DUES ARE NOW OVERDUE!
Alacosta dues for 2004-2005 were due in July. Dues are $30 per year, $15 per
additional family member. If you haven’t yet renewed your membership, now is
the time to do so! You can bring your check (made out to Alacosta Divers) to the
August General meeting (that's Monday, August 2) in the Garden Room of the
Or send the check, payable to Alacosta Divers, to:
John Beland, Alacosta Treasurer
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The Blurb
Alacosta Divers, Inc.
Editor: Susan Carter/still15320@aol.com/415-647-9036