 November 2007 Printer-Friendly | Back 39,686 Minutes Spent Underwater for San Diego Oceans Foundation Third Annual Dive-A-Thon  The 3rd annual Dive-A-Thon fundraiser for the San Diego Oceans Foundation raised $31,930.12 and logged 39,686 minutes underwater during the month-long event. Similar to a walk-a-thon, divers seek financial pledges from friends and family to support their diving goal during the month of August. Some of the 70 participating divers choose to set fundraising goals, while others competed to log the most minutes underwater. Dives for this year’s Dive-A-Thon touched four of the world’s continents. In addition to San Diego, Orange County and Catalina, dives were logged from exotic places like Tonga, Bonaire, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, even the Bering Sea. Janet Pinterits, second place winner, dived 2,712 minutes and said that she thought her “brain was turning into seawater,” while other divers felt like they were “practically growing gills.” Some divers had amazing experiences during their dive, such as Carl Robbins, the 12th place participant who logged 2,043 minutes. “Well you know that it is going to be a great dive when within the first five feet of the descent you see a giant sea bass that is well over 300 lbs. Shortly afterwards, I saw my first Tope shark, having already had three ‘flyovers’ by large Bat Rays. It was very cool. Above me schools of Barracuda began to show, soon they gave way to four white seabass. Then there was a large rock shelf that had a cavern underneath it that was plugged full of lobsters. Get out there! The ocean is the best! And we are so lucky to have it so close-by!” Divers of all levels participated, from seasoned instructors to “newbie” divers. Ruth Harris, who placed 16th with 2,042 minutes, said, “We’re new divers, but this competition gave us an incentive to get out there and really learn about the dive sites.” The goal of the event is to “get divers diving” all while spreading SDOF’s message of ocean stewardship. Any diver in the USA can register for the event, and registered divers can get credit for dives completed anywhere in the world during August. All divers who registered ($25 fee) received an event t-shirt, plus as a reward for their “hard work” prizes were awarded to the top 21 divers, such as a 5-day dive trip to Bonaire, a Seadoo scooter, BCDs, dive computers, wetsuits, and dive apparel. This year, as an additional perk, any diver who raised over $500 was able to choose a classroom in San Diego to receive a one-hour, hands-on marine science education presentation from SDOF, ensuring that future generations are inspired to become ocean stewards. Thanks to these divers, 18 additional classrooms will receive an interactive marine science experience. The San Diego Oceans Foundation has built a legacy of pioneering grassroots volunteer programs that increase our understanding of marine animals, protect ecosystems, and provide solutions to environmental challenges. Through their programs, they engage community members of all ages and backgrounds in meaningful hands-on volunteer work. Whether raising white seabass, hiking canyons, educating youth or surveying local fish populations, every volunteer gains a deeper understanding and appreciation for the world’s oceans and bays, and helps spread the message of ocean stewardship. To learn more about the San Diego Oceans Foundation and the Dive-a-Thon event, visit www.sdoceans.org or call 619-523-1903. Oasis Divers Acquires Mexican Dive Operations  Oasis Divers of Phoenix, Arizona has acquired certain assets of Surface Time located in San Carlos, Mexico. Assets acquired in the purchase include the dive shop and the 38-foot dive boat known as Big Surface Time.Oasis Divers and Surface Time have a long history of working together. Oasis Divers is one of the fastest growing scuba shops in Phoenix and sends regular charters to San Carlos Mexico. Surface Time is located in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico on the mainland side of the Sea of Cortez. Surface Time currently offers services to fulfill a plethora of water sports interests, including scuba diving, training, equipment rental, sales and service. Surface Time has a full instructional staff of four bilingual PADI Instructors. The scuba shop is one of the largest in San Carlos. The shop is located in the heart of San Carlos between the Marina Terra Hotel and Tequila’s Restaurant. It is a short two-minute walk to the dive boat, Big Surface Time, in the marina. Oasis Divers is centrally located in Phoenix, Arizona. Oasis Divers has a state-of-the-art training facility with fully digitized classroom and on-site heated pool, designed specifically for training scuba divers. Oasis Divers offers recreational, technical, professional and public safety dive courses on a regular basis. Oasis Divers offers frequent trips to San Carlos Mexico, California and to exotic destinations around the globe. Oasis Divers has a large retail operation representing most major brands in the dive industry. Oasis Divers also offers a full complement of dive travel, repair and rental services. “The addition of Surface Time to our family will help us better serve our fast growing customer base by offering a more catered feel to our San Carlos experience,” said Amy Lignoski, president of Oasis Divers. “We are truly proud to have such a first-class facility in one of the greatest place a landlocked Arizona-based diver can dive,” Lignoski continued. Erica Wedepohl de Attwell, PADI Course Director and General Manager of Surface Time will continue to consult with Oasis Divers. Additionally Attwell plans to continue to offer Instructor Development Courses in San Carlos as she has for several years. For more information, you may contact Oasis Divers by calling 602-992-3093 or visit www.azdivers.com online. For information on the Mexico dive operation visit www.surfacetime.com - from DiverWire.com California Beach Water Quality Shows Marked Improvement Marking significant improvement, overall water quality at California beaches this summer was excellent, according to the 2007 End of Summer Beach Report Card released today by Heal the Bay. Heal the Bay assigned an A to F letter grade to 494 beaches along the California coast, based on levels of bacterial pollution reported from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. This summer, 92 percent of beaches received A or B grades during the reporting period. These good grades represent a nearly 10 percent rise from last year, when only 83 percent of monitoring locations earned A or B grades. California’s record low rainfall this year, which limited polluted urban runoff in storm drain systems, played a major role in better water quality. Enhanced infrastructure at several sites also led to rising grades. The Beach Report Card is based on the routine monitoring of beaches from Humboldt County to the Mexican border by local health agencies and dischargers. Water samples are analyzed for bacteria that indicate pollution from numerous sources. The better the grade a beach receives, the lower the risk of illness to ocean users. “The combination of record drought and completed Clean Beach Initiative projects led to the cleanest summer water quality in years,” said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay. “With more beach cleanup projects on the horizon, the prospects for this positive summer becoming a trend are great.” The completion of numerous dry weather runoff diversions, treatment plants and source abatement efforts has led to improved water quality at numerous California beaches, according to Gold. Los Angeles County once again has the poorest ocean quality grades in the state, with 17 percent of its beaches earning F’s during the summer. On a positive note, Santa Monica Bay monitoring locations received high marks this summer. Bay beaches received 93 percent A’s and B’s, actually surpassing the statewide average. Only four of the 67 Santa Monica Bay beaches earned poor marks this summer, compared to 16 last year. Orange County once again enjoyed excellent water quality this summer, with 96 out of 104 beaches monitored registering an A grade. Doheny Beach, usually one of the most polluted in the state, continues to show improvement. It reported excellent water quality at multiple locations for its second summer in a row. In fact, this was the cleanest summer on record for Doheny Beach. San Diego County also notched top marks, with 99 percent of its beaches winning an A or B grade. The only dark spot this summer was Pacific Beach Point, which received a D. Santa Barbara County also enjoyed an uptick in water quality this summer, with 85 percent of its beaches getting A or B grades. Last year, only 70 percent of its monitoring locations reported good grades. Meanwhile, 100 percent of the 54 beaches in Ventura County earned high marks, with Rincon’s B the only non-A grade in the entire county. Beaches along Central and Northern California almost uniformly earned A grades, including those in San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Santa Cruz’s Capitola Beach and Monterey’s Stillwater Cove showed dramatic turnarounds from last year’s near-failing grades. Water quality in Humboldt County varied widely because of late seasonal rain this spring, with some of its five reporting locations earning F’s. However, most sites improved dramatically as summer wore on. Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card is made possible by the generous support of Ford Motor Company, the Goldhirsh Foundation and simplehuman. For a PDF version of this year’s detailed report card visit www.healthebay.org/brc/summer online. Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean. Heal the Bay uses research, education, community action and advocacy to pursue their mission. Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card program is in its 17th successful year. Construction Blocks Access to Laguna Dive Sites Last year the Laguna Beach City Council concluded a two-year design process and approved a master plan to preserve and renovate Heisler Park for the next 50 years. The master plan includes the replacement of public restrooms at Rockpile and Picnic beaches; removal of the existing stairs at Rockpile Beach and construction of new stairs on bedrock at the south end of the beach; reinforcing the Picnic Beach ramp; extension of retaining walls or grading to stop sloughing of bluffs; improved irrigation and drainage to protect the park and the Heisler Park Marine Reserve; improvements to pathways, including making them more accessible to handicapped persons; renovation of landscape and plantings; and many other improvements. Construction on the first two phases of the master plan have begun and conclude in June before the next summer season. Significant portions of Rockpile and Picnic beach access areas will be closed to ensure safe conditions during construction and to expedite construction so that the improvements are completed before next summer. Construction Expected to Limit Access at Shaw’s Cove Reconstruction of a sewer lift station has started at popular dive site Shaw’s Cove, Laguna Beach and expected to continue through the winter and into spring. Weekday construction traffic will be a problem with possible interruptions of access to the cove. Temporary lane closures will occur southbound along Cliff Drive to Fisherman’s Cove. Notices of street and pedestrian closures will be provided as far in advance as possible. A telephone hotline has been established for the public to voice questions or concerns about the project. The hotline number is 888-493-4488. © Copyright 2007, all rights reserve, by Saint Brendan Corporation, P.O. Box 11231, Torrance CA 90510, mail@cadivingnews.com. No part of this may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system/website, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission of the publisher. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this publication/website are opinions of the individual writers. The publishers of California Diving News and its contributors assume no responsibility for any mishap claimed to be a result of use of this material. Diving is an adventure sport and with it comes inherent risks. Improper use of diving equipment or improper diving techniques may result in serious injury or, in extreme circumstances, death. Readers are admonished to use their own best judgement in each individual situation. |
