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I just read the article and the post on the Avalon UW clean up...
I agree Ken Kurtis deserves a huge THANK YOU!
Ken has stepped up to fill the huge gap left in California diving with the gradual phasing out of the early generations of involved divers. The current crop of bubble blowers certainly owe Ken a big debt of gratitude for all he has done in the immediate past for the SoCal diving community
A few thoughts about the history of the "UW Clean Up"
It is appropriate that credit is given to long forgotten Lilian "Lil" Lancaster, the then wife of dive boat Captain Arnie Lancaster (Arnie's Reef?) who developed the concept of an Avalon Underwater Clean Up. Lil single handed organized and created the event so many years ago. I can't place an exact date on the first Avalon UW clean up and can not find anything in my files noting the date. My cloudy memory supports either very late 1960s of possibly the early 1970s- I just can't place a reference point to the date. I do recall the weather was warm and I wore a blue LA Co Underwater Instructor program warm up suit, which were available in the late 1960s to about 1980s.
The current Avalon UW clean up bears little resemblance to the original Avalon Clean up. I was a participant of the original clean up- What an event! So many years ago..
The mid week boat trip was free gratis supplied by the diving fleet .
The bottom trash had not been touched for generations...it was akin to digging through an archaeological till--one generation under neath the previous generation. After a short time the familiar soft drink bottles began disappearing and strange bottles with equally strange shapes and names began appearing. At that time in history the strange looking bottles were considered trash, today they would be considered antique collectable bottles and possibly worth considerable money.
I would seem appropriate that a representative from a Catalina Island organization be present examine the unique bottles recovered on the forth coming Avalon UW clean for possible antique bottles that may have escaped being uncovered on all the previous events.
All to soon the burlap bags were filled and stored on the decks of the boats and we all headed to the mainland. In mid channel we momentary stopped to toss the full bags of trash over board. Modern and antique bottles were unceremoniously tossed over board, committed to the briny deep forever
--all that history of the early visitors to Avalon and their disposable trash gone forever.
As we docked at San Pedro we were met by Mavis Hill,a popular dive author of that era snapped my picture as I was walking up the gang plank which later appeared as the lead article about the clean up in either one of the two popular magazines of that era, "Skin Diver" Magazine or "Dive" .
Yes, History, the very short history of So Cal and California recreational diving is being lost at a rapid rate....Now diving history is preceded by "I think, I suppose, I heard, I was told..."
Yes Ken Kurtis is doing a fantastic job keeping alive the ever expanding an event started so many years ago by Lil Lancaster
BRAVO KEN!
I agree Ken Kurtis deserves a huge THANK YOU!
Ken has stepped up to fill the huge gap left in California diving with the gradual phasing out of the early generations of involved divers. The current crop of bubble blowers certainly owe Ken a big debt of gratitude for all he has done in the immediate past for the SoCal diving community
A few thoughts about the history of the "UW Clean Up"
It is appropriate that credit is given to long forgotten Lilian "Lil" Lancaster, the then wife of dive boat Captain Arnie Lancaster (Arnie's Reef?) who developed the concept of an Avalon Underwater Clean Up. Lil single handed organized and created the event so many years ago. I can't place an exact date on the first Avalon UW clean up and can not find anything in my files noting the date. My cloudy memory supports either very late 1960s of possibly the early 1970s- I just can't place a reference point to the date. I do recall the weather was warm and I wore a blue LA Co Underwater Instructor program warm up suit, which were available in the late 1960s to about 1980s.
The current Avalon UW clean up bears little resemblance to the original Avalon Clean up. I was a participant of the original clean up- What an event! So many years ago..
The mid week boat trip was free gratis supplied by the diving fleet .
The bottom trash had not been touched for generations...it was akin to digging through an archaeological till--one generation under neath the previous generation. After a short time the familiar soft drink bottles began disappearing and strange bottles with equally strange shapes and names began appearing. At that time in history the strange looking bottles were considered trash, today they would be considered antique collectable bottles and possibly worth considerable money.
I would seem appropriate that a representative from a Catalina Island organization be present examine the unique bottles recovered on the forth coming Avalon UW clean for possible antique bottles that may have escaped being uncovered on all the previous events.
All to soon the burlap bags were filled and stored on the decks of the boats and we all headed to the mainland. In mid channel we momentary stopped to toss the full bags of trash over board. Modern and antique bottles were unceremoniously tossed over board, committed to the briny deep forever
--all that history of the early visitors to Avalon and their disposable trash gone forever.
As we docked at San Pedro we were met by Mavis Hill,a popular dive author of that era snapped my picture as I was walking up the gang plank which later appeared as the lead article about the clean up in either one of the two popular magazines of that era, "Skin Diver" Magazine or "Dive" .
Yes, History, the very short history of So Cal and California recreational diving is being lost at a rapid rate....Now diving history is preceded by "I think, I suppose, I heard, I was told..."
Yes Ken Kurtis is doing a fantastic job keeping alive the ever expanding an event started so many years ago by Lil Lancaster
BRAVO KEN!
