Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Cleanup, Photo Workshop, new fish, & more
(please scroll down for details)
What was with all that wind????
AVALON VIRTUAL QUARANTINE CLEANUP A SUCCESS - Fortunately, the wind didn't affect us since we were 100% virtual this year due to on-going COVID restrictions that prevented us from gathering together in Avalon. But we made it into a pretty good party on-line and had lots of participation, not only from those of you who signed up for the event, but also with Avalon Mayor Anni Marshal, plastic debris researcher Megan Fieser, Jeff Bozanic representing NAUI, and others. Congrats to all of our "Supporter Appreciation Award" winners as well. As you can well imagine, it took a bunch of people to make all of this happen. If you missed the webcast or want to see it again, simply click on this link to watch on YouTube: VIRTUAL CLEANUP 2021.
SPECIAL AWARDS - We did give out two special awards during the webcast and if you don't want to sit through the entire 75-minute program to see them, you can click on them individually here. First up was Captain Arnold Lancaster of the Cee Ray, who received the Jon Hardy Award for his many years of promoting diving at Catalina and taking people there to experience it: ARNOLD LANCASTER - JON HARDY AWARD. The second special award was NAUI's Environmental Enrichment Award which was presented to Dr. Bill Bushing: DR. BILL - NAUI AWARD. Both well-deserved and we were happy to have them as part of the proceedings.
NEXT UP - With the Cleanup in our rear-view mirror, that must mean we'll start getting ready for Chamber Day 2021. You can start signing up on March 1. You can expect all kinds of info next week. We'll be 100% virtual again but we have a few new things for this year that we hope you'll enjoy.
LOCAL DIVING THIS PAST WEEKEND - The wind certainly complicated things. Vets Park in Redondo didn't look too inviting Saturday morning and I read posts from a number of people who decided to cancel beach diving plans. Things were better on Sunday as John Lumb reports. He says he went to Crescent in Laguna where it was 55º with less than 10 feet of viz, strong surge, and Sargassum. But, despite all of that, he said he had a pleasant dive. (Your results may have varied.)
PHOTO WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY - We've got our regularly-scheduled Zoom-based Photo Workshop ($25) scheduled for this Wednesday evening starting at 7PM. We'll share some tips and tricks on how you can get better photos as well as touch on how to improve your shots with programs like Lightroom. And - since we're Zooming - we can also have you share-screen photos of yours that you'd like to know how they could have been better. So whether you're a newbie or an old pro, there might be some things that you can benefit from. Make sure you call or e-mail so I'll know to send you the Zoom link. Very informal and usually a good time is had by all.
NEW FISH SPECIES NAMED AFTER SUMO WRESTLERS - Although the initial discovery was in 2016, it's taken up until now for a paper to be published about this find in Japan, first thought to be a type of Coelacanth. It's a deep-water new species and is rather nasty-looking. But it also underscores that there's still an awful lot that we don't know about the ocean because so relatively little of it, maybe 20%, has been explored. Read all about this new fish here (and hope that you don't run into one): NEW JAPANESE FISH.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, wear your mask, wash your hands, and let's go diving soon.
- Ken
(please scroll down for details)
What was with all that wind????
AVALON VIRTUAL QUARANTINE CLEANUP A SUCCESS - Fortunately, the wind didn't affect us since we were 100% virtual this year due to on-going COVID restrictions that prevented us from gathering together in Avalon. But we made it into a pretty good party on-line and had lots of participation, not only from those of you who signed up for the event, but also with Avalon Mayor Anni Marshal, plastic debris researcher Megan Fieser, Jeff Bozanic representing NAUI, and others. Congrats to all of our "Supporter Appreciation Award" winners as well. As you can well imagine, it took a bunch of people to make all of this happen. If you missed the webcast or want to see it again, simply click on this link to watch on YouTube: VIRTUAL CLEANUP 2021.
SPECIAL AWARDS - We did give out two special awards during the webcast and if you don't want to sit through the entire 75-minute program to see them, you can click on them individually here. First up was Captain Arnold Lancaster of the Cee Ray, who received the Jon Hardy Award for his many years of promoting diving at Catalina and taking people there to experience it: ARNOLD LANCASTER - JON HARDY AWARD. The second special award was NAUI's Environmental Enrichment Award which was presented to Dr. Bill Bushing: DR. BILL - NAUI AWARD. Both well-deserved and we were happy to have them as part of the proceedings.
NEXT UP - With the Cleanup in our rear-view mirror, that must mean we'll start getting ready for Chamber Day 2021. You can start signing up on March 1. You can expect all kinds of info next week. We'll be 100% virtual again but we have a few new things for this year that we hope you'll enjoy.
LOCAL DIVING THIS PAST WEEKEND - The wind certainly complicated things. Vets Park in Redondo didn't look too inviting Saturday morning and I read posts from a number of people who decided to cancel beach diving plans. Things were better on Sunday as John Lumb reports. He says he went to Crescent in Laguna where it was 55º with less than 10 feet of viz, strong surge, and Sargassum. But, despite all of that, he said he had a pleasant dive. (Your results may have varied.)
PHOTO WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY - We've got our regularly-scheduled Zoom-based Photo Workshop ($25) scheduled for this Wednesday evening starting at 7PM. We'll share some tips and tricks on how you can get better photos as well as touch on how to improve your shots with programs like Lightroom. And - since we're Zooming - we can also have you share-screen photos of yours that you'd like to know how they could have been better. So whether you're a newbie or an old pro, there might be some things that you can benefit from. Make sure you call or e-mail so I'll know to send you the Zoom link. Very informal and usually a good time is had by all.
NEW FISH SPECIES NAMED AFTER SUMO WRESTLERS - Although the initial discovery was in 2016, it's taken up until now for a paper to be published about this find in Japan, first thought to be a type of Coelacanth. It's a deep-water new species and is rather nasty-looking. But it also underscores that there's still an awful lot that we don't know about the ocean because so relatively little of it, maybe 20%, has been explored. Read all about this new fish here (and hope that you don't run into one): NEW JAPANESE FISH.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, wear your mask, wash your hands, and let's go diving soon.
- Ken
