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Author |
: Dale & Kim Sheckler |
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Date |
: October 05, 2009 |
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Twenty-five years of publishing California Diving News! Wow! It has been a great ride. First and foremost, I want to thank all the readers and advertisers that have supported us throughout the years. My appreciation is deep and heartfelt. Without you this publication would not have been possible. Thanks also to my wonderful staff and writers, not just current staff members and writers but those that have devoted bountiful time and talent throughout our quarter century of publishing.
California diving has so much to offer, and this has made it so easy we never seem to have a shortage of material about which to publish. There are countless dive sites both along the 3,427 miles of coastline and around each of the eight Channel Islands. Convergences of currents swirl nutrient waters to make this the most spectacular temperate water diving in the world.
There can be no more spectacular canvas on which to paint than that of the blue-green waters of the California kelp forest. Splashes of bright color stand out against this background. But there is more. We have submarine canyons we can explore and massive pinnacles -- mountains in the sea adorned with anemones and purple hydrocoral and surrounded by huge schools of fish. I have been actively diving these waters for 37 years, 25 publishing this magazine, and feel I still have another 50 years of diving before I can even begin to realize the scope of California diving.
And I love the people that dive California. California divers are the best in the world. As beautiful as California diving is, it can, at times, be challenging. The water can be cold and rough, and yet we take classes to learn to deal with it. Why? Because the diving is GREAT!
Through those 25 years we have seen many changes. Sophisticated dive computers are now standard equipment with all divers. Nitrox is commonplace. Photography has gone from film to digital. And some of finest dive boats in the world reside in California.
Not all the changes have been positive, but even this has a good flip side. At the start of this magazine the Giant Black Sea Bass were all but gone, victims of sport and spearfishers. Protected since 1982, they have made a dramatic comeback and now fun underwater sightings of these delightful behemoths are common around several of the Channel Islands and along spots of the coastline. An emerging victory is that of the abalone. For all practical purposes they were wiped from Southern California. All take of abalone was prohibited in 1997 with hopes that just maybe they could recover over the period of several decades. That recovery has begun. It has not been at a blinding speed but abalone have begun to once again dot the ocean floor around the Channel Islands and along the coast. And the program of the Marine Protected Areas, although currently caught up in fierce debate, is finally taking off.
Awareness of the human impact on the marine environment is at an all-time high. While this is good, action is what counts. We as divers, particularly on the local level, have the responsibility to be ambassadors conveying the message to the general public on what is needed to keep our California ocean healthy.
We are looking forward to the next 25 years. We will continue to stimulate and educate you to seek the full California underwater experience. Diving in California is the best, not only because it is outstanding, but also it is in our own backyard! Dive on and keep on reading California Diving News!
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