DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #826: COUSTEAU FAMILY CAMP 2019
This has been a fantastic month for me. I got back in the water for four dives recently, one of them at Indian Rock in Emerald Bay. I had gone up there on the Catalina Diver's Supply dive boat, the SCUBA Cat, to meet up with my old friends Jean-Michel, Nan, Holly Lohuis and Dick Murphy at Cousteau Family Camp. I go every year I can since Packy Offield and I helped get him situated at the Catalina Island Camp in Howland's Landing back in 1997.
I began working with Jean-Michel and Murph back in 1974 when JMC proposed a program sailing the Channel Islands on board the tall ship Golden Dawn. Unfortunately the vessel was sold before we could get that going, but two years later JMC and Murph held Project Ocean Search Catalina at Toyon Bay where I taught biology at the Catalina Island School.
That first year of POS I wasn't diving. The year before I drove up to Santa Barbara to see "Jaws..." and that dampened my urge to submerge. I focused on terrestrial ecology during the POS programs. Then during POS three years later, JMC saw me donning my tattered wetsuit for a dive and asked what got me back in the water. I replied that I had recently seen "Jaws II." He laughed.
Initially I worked on the POS program so I could add that to my resume. Once I got to know JMC better, I found he was a very sincere and interesting person, and continued working on the programs because they were fun. One year we celebrated JMC's 50th birthday with a reggae band at Descanso Beach. My girlfriend, Janet Takara, and I danced the night away.
My affiliation with POS ended in 1979 since I moved back to Chicago late that year to earn the big bucks working with my father. Jean-Michel sent me a letter before I left saying that I would never survive there. How right he was... Catalina was my home, physically and spiritually. I soon returned. During the 1980s JMC always knew he could find me at Original Antonio's pizza place. We worked on several film projects over the years including a two-hour episode on the Channel Islands as part of his father's TBS series "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World." Our latest project was filming mating squid near the dive park for "Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3D."
I have enjoyed my times at Cousteau Family Camp over the years. JMC, Nan, Murph and Holly are great fun to be with and I enjoy watching them interact with the participants at the Camp. It is rewarding to see them leaning down or sitting to talk to the younger children about what they were seeing in the water. The kids may not realize what a great experience they are having until later, but I'm sure they feel the sincere attention they receive. Most of my educational efforts were oriented toward high school and university level but I enjoy talking to my granddaughters about marine life.
Children do say the darndest things as Art Linkletter used to say. While I was back in Chicago in the early 1980s, I attended a talk JMC gave there. When he started fielding questions from the audience, a little girl stood up and asked "Mr. Cousteau, how can you swim in the ocean with all the fish poopies?" Good thing she wasn't aware of whales and other marine mammals! Or giant "sea bass" (giant wreckfish), which have pooped on me three times over the years.
Despite my cancers, I usually try to snorkel at least one day with the team at Indian Rock in Emerald Bay. I planned to do so the second day I was there, but decided to go on SCUBA instead. Unfortunately visibility has been horrible this summer due to large-scale phytoplankton blooms. I entered the water and my left weight pouch fell out and disappeared in the murk. I couldn't descend without that. The CDS crew (Mike and Elaina) rigged up a weight belt to counter-balance the other pouch and I descended. I couldn't find the missing weight pouch due to poor visibility. In fact, although the CDS boat was a mere 20 yards from Indian Rock, I couldn't find it until the very end of my dive. I should have done a surface swim to it.
Although much of Cousteau Family Camp is oriented toward the marine environment, there are other activities offered as well. In addition, working with JMC and Murph, Catalina Island Camps has endeavored to create a low impact, environmentally friendly operation. These are important messages for both children... and adults... to receive.
I think many of my readers would be interested in attending Cousteau Family Camp. It is a great way to learn about a fantastic location, Catalina and its surrounding waters, with some top notch folks dedicated to educating others about marine life and how to protect it. Catalina Island Camps at Howland's Landing is a partner in this program. You can learn more about Cousteau Family Camp on the following web page: Jean Michel Cousteau Family Camp - Catalina Island Camps
© 2019 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Bungalows and dining area at Catalina Island Camps; snorkelers on CDS dive boat and at Indian Rock; Holly and Murph "edumacating;" JMC helping to identify fish and with group of happy campers.
This has been a fantastic month for me. I got back in the water for four dives recently, one of them at Indian Rock in Emerald Bay. I had gone up there on the Catalina Diver's Supply dive boat, the SCUBA Cat, to meet up with my old friends Jean-Michel, Nan, Holly Lohuis and Dick Murphy at Cousteau Family Camp. I go every year I can since Packy Offield and I helped get him situated at the Catalina Island Camp in Howland's Landing back in 1997.
I began working with Jean-Michel and Murph back in 1974 when JMC proposed a program sailing the Channel Islands on board the tall ship Golden Dawn. Unfortunately the vessel was sold before we could get that going, but two years later JMC and Murph held Project Ocean Search Catalina at Toyon Bay where I taught biology at the Catalina Island School.
That first year of POS I wasn't diving. The year before I drove up to Santa Barbara to see "Jaws..." and that dampened my urge to submerge. I focused on terrestrial ecology during the POS programs. Then during POS three years later, JMC saw me donning my tattered wetsuit for a dive and asked what got me back in the water. I replied that I had recently seen "Jaws II." He laughed.
Initially I worked on the POS program so I could add that to my resume. Once I got to know JMC better, I found he was a very sincere and interesting person, and continued working on the programs because they were fun. One year we celebrated JMC's 50th birthday with a reggae band at Descanso Beach. My girlfriend, Janet Takara, and I danced the night away.
My affiliation with POS ended in 1979 since I moved back to Chicago late that year to earn the big bucks working with my father. Jean-Michel sent me a letter before I left saying that I would never survive there. How right he was... Catalina was my home, physically and spiritually. I soon returned. During the 1980s JMC always knew he could find me at Original Antonio's pizza place. We worked on several film projects over the years including a two-hour episode on the Channel Islands as part of his father's TBS series "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World." Our latest project was filming mating squid near the dive park for "Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3D."
I have enjoyed my times at Cousteau Family Camp over the years. JMC, Nan, Murph and Holly are great fun to be with and I enjoy watching them interact with the participants at the Camp. It is rewarding to see them leaning down or sitting to talk to the younger children about what they were seeing in the water. The kids may not realize what a great experience they are having until later, but I'm sure they feel the sincere attention they receive. Most of my educational efforts were oriented toward high school and university level but I enjoy talking to my granddaughters about marine life.
Children do say the darndest things as Art Linkletter used to say. While I was back in Chicago in the early 1980s, I attended a talk JMC gave there. When he started fielding questions from the audience, a little girl stood up and asked "Mr. Cousteau, how can you swim in the ocean with all the fish poopies?" Good thing she wasn't aware of whales and other marine mammals! Or giant "sea bass" (giant wreckfish), which have pooped on me three times over the years.
Despite my cancers, I usually try to snorkel at least one day with the team at Indian Rock in Emerald Bay. I planned to do so the second day I was there, but decided to go on SCUBA instead. Unfortunately visibility has been horrible this summer due to large-scale phytoplankton blooms. I entered the water and my left weight pouch fell out and disappeared in the murk. I couldn't descend without that. The CDS crew (Mike and Elaina) rigged up a weight belt to counter-balance the other pouch and I descended. I couldn't find the missing weight pouch due to poor visibility. In fact, although the CDS boat was a mere 20 yards from Indian Rock, I couldn't find it until the very end of my dive. I should have done a surface swim to it.
Although much of Cousteau Family Camp is oriented toward the marine environment, there are other activities offered as well. In addition, working with JMC and Murph, Catalina Island Camps has endeavored to create a low impact, environmentally friendly operation. These are important messages for both children... and adults... to receive.
I think many of my readers would be interested in attending Cousteau Family Camp. It is a great way to learn about a fantastic location, Catalina and its surrounding waters, with some top notch folks dedicated to educating others about marine life and how to protect it. Catalina Island Camps at Howland's Landing is a partner in this program. You can learn more about Cousteau Family Camp on the following web page: Jean Michel Cousteau Family Camp - Catalina Island Camps
© 2019 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Bungalows and dining area at Catalina Island Camps; snorkelers on CDS dive boat and at Indian Rock; Holly and Murph "edumacating;" JMC helping to identify fish and with group of happy campers.
