DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #851: AVALON HARBOR CLEANUP 2020
It was a slightly dreary overcast and sporadically rainy day when hundreds of divers gathered on the shores of Avalon to dive in the 39th annual Avalon Harbor CleanUp this past weekend. Of course neither rain nor wind will keep a true diver away. After all, they all got their wetsuits and drysuits washed following the dive... for once! And the rain stopped in time for the awards ceremony... and the MONKEYS (and I don't mean the musical group although some of us wanted to sing "I'm a Believer" at karaoke that night).
This year more than 600 divers registered for the event, although just over 400 actually made the dive. That is great support from the SoCal dive community. Signature SCUBA had 76 divers participate, which was the largest single group. Several other dive shops and clubs had good representation as well. I want to personally thank all who helped pull trash from Avalon Bay, as well as the organizers and volunteers that were critical to its success.
WDHOF member Lorraine Sadler announced the trash awards in each of the many categories. Ken Kurtis oversaw the Silver Tongued Devil Award for the most creative story based on trash items picked up this year. And emcee extraordinaire T. J. Jones was once again present to lend his wonderful skills in giving out the many raffle prizes donated by the various sponsors. I always appreciate it when he mentions one of my donations of 10 "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill" DVDs. And the crowd always roars when T.J. merntions that a raffle bag contains... a monkey (or any one of a number of different plush primates).
It has been a while since I've dived the event. I used to film it underwater for the event organizers. Since the Bay is the terminus of the "Avalon River" (which runs only during hard rains), the bottom is quite silty. With hundreds of divers in the water, there are years when visibility drops to near zero. However, this year the vis was reported at an excellent 40+ feet... until all the divers had entered the water!
A while back I asked lead organizer Jill Boivin what the highest number of divers was over the past decades. I had hoped we might have had over 600 in the water, but alas that was not the case. My curiosity had been perked (slightly after my coffee) when I saw a Facebook posting back then. A cleanup event in Florida had set a Guinness record of 633 divers in their event.
Since next year will be the 40th annual cleanup, I suggested to Jill and Bob Kennedy that we try to break that record. Heck, we SoCall divers dive year-round. Many of those Florida divers are warm water wussies and wouldn't think of diving during the winter when water temperatures there drop to about SoCal's peak annual temps. I'd be amazed if we hardy year-round SoCal divers can't get at least 650 participants for next year and bring that Guinness record here where it belongs! Dive shops and clubs, please start preparing for next February's dive!
© 2020 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 850 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
View attachment 569914
Signature SCUBA's large group and empty tarp waiting for trash; Ron Moore and harbormaster JJ giving dive briefing and divers entering water at Middle Beach.
View attachment 569916
Large section of boat hull removed at step beach and Ken Kurtis addressing divers; TJ and... a monkey and the Silver Tongued Devil competition.
It was a slightly dreary overcast and sporadically rainy day when hundreds of divers gathered on the shores of Avalon to dive in the 39th annual Avalon Harbor CleanUp this past weekend. Of course neither rain nor wind will keep a true diver away. After all, they all got their wetsuits and drysuits washed following the dive... for once! And the rain stopped in time for the awards ceremony... and the MONKEYS (and I don't mean the musical group although some of us wanted to sing "I'm a Believer" at karaoke that night).
This year more than 600 divers registered for the event, although just over 400 actually made the dive. That is great support from the SoCal dive community. Signature SCUBA had 76 divers participate, which was the largest single group. Several other dive shops and clubs had good representation as well. I want to personally thank all who helped pull trash from Avalon Bay, as well as the organizers and volunteers that were critical to its success.
WDHOF member Lorraine Sadler announced the trash awards in each of the many categories. Ken Kurtis oversaw the Silver Tongued Devil Award for the most creative story based on trash items picked up this year. And emcee extraordinaire T. J. Jones was once again present to lend his wonderful skills in giving out the many raffle prizes donated by the various sponsors. I always appreciate it when he mentions one of my donations of 10 "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill" DVDs. And the crowd always roars when T.J. merntions that a raffle bag contains... a monkey (or any one of a number of different plush primates).
It has been a while since I've dived the event. I used to film it underwater for the event organizers. Since the Bay is the terminus of the "Avalon River" (which runs only during hard rains), the bottom is quite silty. With hundreds of divers in the water, there are years when visibility drops to near zero. However, this year the vis was reported at an excellent 40+ feet... until all the divers had entered the water!
A while back I asked lead organizer Jill Boivin what the highest number of divers was over the past decades. I had hoped we might have had over 600 in the water, but alas that was not the case. My curiosity had been perked (slightly after my coffee) when I saw a Facebook posting back then. A cleanup event in Florida had set a Guinness record of 633 divers in their event.
Since next year will be the 40th annual cleanup, I suggested to Jill and Bob Kennedy that we try to break that record. Heck, we SoCall divers dive year-round. Many of those Florida divers are warm water wussies and wouldn't think of diving during the winter when water temperatures there drop to about SoCal's peak annual temps. I'd be amazed if we hardy year-round SoCal divers can't get at least 650 participants for next year and bring that Guinness record here where it belongs! Dive shops and clubs, please start preparing for next February's dive!
© 2020 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 850 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
View attachment 569914
Signature SCUBA's large group and empty tarp waiting for trash; Ron Moore and harbormaster JJ giving dive briefing and divers entering water at Middle Beach.
View attachment 569916
Large section of boat hull removed at step beach and Ken Kurtis addressing divers; TJ and... a monkey and the Silver Tongued Devil competition.
