To the underwater thiefs at Catalina Dive Park: You suck

[drbill]

I was there and talked to two of the individuals whose gear was taken. This is certainly outrageous and it hurts that it was on my home turf (er, surf) that this happened. Since there are so few locals that dive, at least I can feel relief that it was some vile, unscrupulous jerk from "over there" that did this.

Hopefully the perpetrator will surface and we can expunge them from the dive community.

 

[Rainer]

Totally disgusting behavior.

 

[Codyjp]

I was there and talked to two of the individuals whose gear was taken. This is certainly outrageous and it hurts that it was on my home turf (er, surf) that this happened. Since there are so few locals that dive, at least I can feel relief that it was some vile, unscrupulous jerk from "over there" that did this.

Hopefully the perpetrator will surface and we can expunge them from the dive community.

Yeah, gotta hate those visitors.

 

[Rainer]

Ken, very generous of you to offer to help sort this out if the thief wants to step forward and make it right. Hopefully the stolen goods can make their way back to their rightful owners.

 

[riguerin]

It absolutely SUCKS, for sure ! What's even SUCKIER , though, is that was apparently NOT the FIRST time that this has happened to these individuals :-( The instructor sited other recent incidents involving cut lines and/or stolen gear under similar circumstances at this same location.

Hopefully this thread will raise awareness in the local community and help see these items back to their rightful owner(s) ...but more importantly, help put a stop to this disturbing trend. It's not only a crime, it just violates a basic code of trust and conduct between divers. It's bad juju.

 

[scjoe]

Assuming this was a thief and not a novice diver who didn’t realize what they were doing, does anyone really think that calling them a “thief, “clown,” “turd” and “petty, selfish, cheap, larcenous goober” with less than “half a brain” is an effective way of reaching out to provide an anonymous way to return the gear?

 

[merxlin]

Assuming this was a thief and not a novice diver who didn’t realize what they were doing, does anyone really think that calling them a “thief, “clown,” “turd” and “petty, selfish, cheap, larcenous goober” with less than “half a brain” is an effective way of reaching out to provide an anonymous way to return the gear?

Typically I would agree with you. But just as on land, if it doesn't belong to you, you leave it be (unless it is a hazard of some kind). Doesn't sound like anyone went around asking the divers who might have lost their reel/slate, which is what an honest person would do when "finding" something. This person or persons did not do that either. So in this case, IMO, sometimes you just have to call a turd a turd.

 

[muddiver]

I think all you DIR / HOG divers should stop and think about who your dealing with here.

The general diving public has been trained by and indoctrinated by the PADI police, who just happen to have the largest (or at least best advertised) environmental awareness program in the scuba community called Project AWARE.

Think about it from the other side of that line you just scribed in the sand. Look from the other direction is probably a super eco-freindly holiday diver that saw an detached fishing reel with rather large fishing line spooled out from it that some, obviosly, unattentive diver left behind. Therefore, by retreaving said ocean entanglement hazard they saved the lives of numerous leather back sea turtles and spinner dolphins (of which there are none off the California coast), that everyone knows become entangled in abandonded fishing gear on a regular basis.

It might not have been pre-meditated theft, just a thought.

 

[Teamcasa]

I think all you DIR / HOG divers should stop and think about who your dealing with here.

The general diving public has been trained by and indoctrinated by the PADI police, who just happen to have the largest (or at least best advertised) environmental awareness program in the scuba community called Project AWARE.

Think about it from the other side of that line you just scribed in the sand. Look from the other direction is probably a super eco-freindly holiday diver that saw an detached fishing reel with rather large fishing line spooled out from it that some, obviosly, unattentive diver left behind. Therefore, by retreaving said ocean entanglement hazard they saved the lives of numerous leather back sea turtles and spinner dolphins (of which there are none off the California coast), that everyone knows become entangled in abandonded fishing gear on a regular basis.

It might not have been pre-meditated theft, just a thought.

I'm hope you are right - they just did not know any better and believed they were saving another diver from a possible entanglement. They may have even tossed the stuff in the local trash.

However, if they knew what they were doing and just stole it, well then I'll can say is karma my come knocking on your door and you had better be ready.

 

[drbill]

This wasn't fishing gear, this was dive training gear. Big difference. If I saw fishing tackle in the water, I'd remove it as well... but dive gear that was set up for training is a whole different story... especially in the dive park where dive classes are extremely common.

I can't see an "eco-friendly" diver doing this. In one case the slates were attached to weights and had the directions for a compass course written on the slates. Perhaps it was an illiterate diver who took them?

And only one of the classes was GUE (not that that should make any difference), the other was a rec diver class.

I think all you DIR / HOG divers should stop and think about who your dealing with here.

The general diving public has been trained by and indoctrinated by the PADI police, who just happen to have the largest (or at least best advertised) environmental awareness program in the scuba community called Project AWARE.

Think about it from the other side of that line you just scribed in the sand. Look from the other direction is probably a super eco-freindly holiday diver that saw an detached fishing reel with rather large fishing line spooled out from it that some, obviosly, unattentive diver left behind. Therefore, by retreaving said ocean entanglement hazard they saved the lives of numerous leather back sea turtles and spinner dolphins (of which there are none off the California coast), that everyone knows become entangled in abandonded fishing gear on a regular basis.

It might not have been pre-meditated theft, just a thought.