General meeting: The March general meeting will be on Monday, March 1, 2004 in the Garden Room at the Orinda Public Library. As we go to press, entertainment isn’t yet announced, but we are sure there will be something worthwhile….

Entertainment at the February general meeting was a very timely (given the proximity of the meeting to Valentine’s Day) and very interesting lecture and display on black pearls. Even the Blurb Editor, who thought she was a black pearl expert, learned a thing or two, and certainly admired the examples! Thanks to Rocky R for organizing a good show!

The Galapagos slide show has now been postponed until April. If you have suggestions for entertainment for upcoming meetings, please contact Membership Coordinator Chris Fryer at cfryer@hansonbridgett.com.

General meetings are generally 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.

The March Eboard meeting will be held Monday March 15^th at a still to be determined location. All Alacosta members are welcome to attend EBoard meetings.

Boat Captains: At the February Executive Board meeting there was a spirited discussion regarding boat captains for the club. A list of current boat captains has been posted on the website. Current boat captains are John Beland, Roy Benedict, Bernie Cappelli, Jack Cash, Charlie Cleland, Kevin Dalley, John Kelly, Peter Lasell, Carl Lundbom, Bill McDowell, and Rob Vermuelen. The Club may want to add additional persons to this list prior to Catalina, so if you are not a Boat Captain but are interested and think you might qualify, see a member of the EBoard for more information.

Holiday Party: Scary though it may sound, it is not too early to begin thinking about this annual event. If you are interested in chairing a holiday party and/or know of a good location to hold next year’s party that is both central and is either very low cost or free for the club, please contact President Mike Daily.

Old Dives: As we went to press, the Blurb had not yet received any official reports from those that attended the President’s Day dive on Monday February 16th. Yes, she was scheduled to go, but got dumped on by both workload and an unpleasant cold, and spent President’s day watching the rain, convinced that no one would be diving…

However, substantiated rumors are that diving did occur, and that the visibility in Monterey (Carmel was apparently out of the question) was at least twenty feet. We never heard for certain, but suspect, given the less than ideal conditions, that a decision was made to do two, rather than three, dives…….If anyone did anything worthy of reporting in the Blurb, they neglected to report it….but still, we are sure a good time was had by all. The Blurb’s unofficial source, Kevin Dalley, suffered gear problems (some type of problem with his dry suit neck seal), although the discovery was not made until it was too late to dive….On behalf of those that did get to dive, thanks go out to Chris Fryer for his work organizing and leading the dive!

Dive at Point Lobos, Saturday March 6^th: Susan Carter will be leading a dive to take the inflatables to Lobos, and if the weather gods decide to ease up, to dive at Blue Fish Cove, on Saturday March 6^th. An email was sent to the Alacosta list regarding the dive: if you didn’t receive a copy, or have questions, or are interested in attending but haven’t replied to the email, please contact Susan at still15320@aol.com or by phone at 510-530-9949 (cell) or 510-987-0720 (work). Please note that Susan will be out of the country from 2/21 through 2/29, so best to contact her before or after those dates, or else look for her sitting in a café by the Seine……Also please note that, while it appears there will be space on the dive for folks who want to attend but don’t have a reservation slot at Lobos, you need to RSVP in advance: we don’t recommend that you show up at Lobos hoping to dive without a reservation, and without having let the trip leader know that you would like a space on the boat…

Van Damme Ab dive: John Beland will be leading a spring camping trip/dive to celebrate the newly opened abalone season, at Van Damme State Park in Mendocino, April 9 – 11, 2004. As is usually the case with Alacosta dives, there will without a doubt be tank diving, free diving for abs aided by the club inflatables, and a terrific potluck on Saturday night featuring some of the ‘spoils’ of the ‘hunt’! And yes, this is Easter weekend, so maybe there will even be an egg hunt in the campground Sunday morning (or at least a good omelette or two).

If you want to go, you are responsible for making your own camping reservations (unless of course you are inclined to find a nice B and B in town). Campsites can be reserved at Van Damme at http://www.reserveamerica.com/jsp/commonpage.jsp?goto=/usa/ca/vand/newindex.html

For more information, you can email John at jwbeland@att.net, or call him at 510-482-2934.

Cozumel, April 2004: Simon Kisch is leading a trip to Coz, departing April 25, returning May 2. The trip hotel will be the Barracuda: cost with 5 days of two tank dives will be $499 p/p double, and $685 single; airfare on SunTrips from Oakland will be another $485 including tax. If you want to join this great, reasonably priced trip, call Simon at 510-663-6400 (work), 510-841-5900 (home), or on his cell at 510-459-0256.

Catalina 2004: The dates for the annual trip to Catalina will be September 11 -18, 2004. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend; details to follow soon! Catalina trip Co-Chairs will be Rocky Rockafellow and Susan Carter.

Australia: Susan Carter plans to lead a dive to Oz in November of 2005. She is starting the preliminary planning and hopes to have an initial proposal at the March or April meeting. If you are interested in going, email Susan at Susan.Carter@ucop.edu or still15320@aol.com.

Alacosta Calendar

March 1, 2004, Monday, March General Meeting

March 6^th, Saturday, Club Inflatable Dive at Point Lobos

March 15, 2004, Monday, EBoard, location TBD

April 9 – 11, 2004 Ab dive and camping trip, Van Damme State Park

April 25-May 2, 2004 Cozumel

September 11 – 18, 2004; Catalina Trip, Emerald Bay

November 2005 Australia

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

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The Blurb

Alacosta Divers, Inc.

Editor: Susan Carter/still15320@aol.com/415-647-9036

101 Appleton Ave

San Francisco, CA 94110