TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - May 1-8

[Ken Kurtis]

Chamber Day stuff, UCLA baseball, and more (please scroll down for details)​

This is going to be a short one for a host of reasons . . . CHAMBER DAY & EVE ARE LOOMING - It's this coming Wednesday, May 4, in case my frequent bombardment of marketing messages hasn't gotten through to you. It's shaping up to be a good year and maybe even a record-setting year. Here's where we are on the various aspects: CHAMBER DAY - Over 100 people already signed up for boats and room for more. Sundiver Express (fast boat) and Explorer right now each have about 8 spots still available. Two dives at Catalina plus a walking tour of the Chamber along with a chance to chat with first-responders and get a close-up peek at the USCG helicopter, which is being flown in for the occasion. FLYING DUTCHMAN - Lots of room. Make sure you give us your best pirate name. CHAMBER EVENING - Ticket sales have ended with 267 people scheduled to attend. It's really a fun evening. Wear whatever you're comfortable in but the nickname is Scuba Prom, although you don't need to wear a tux (but I will). CHAMBER CHALLENGE - Already in record-setting territory after last year's record-setting run. Amazing. Can we hit $120,000???? POST-EVENT - Once we survive Wednesday, we'll use Thursday as a day to decompress but I will do a FaceBook Live final update on Friday at 5PM. So if you can't attend Chamber Eve when we announce the total for this year, tune in Friday to get all the numbers. And remember: This all is to support our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber whose operation is largely dependent on public, not government, funding, so give what you can if you haven't already.​

THE FIRST PITCH - Many thanks to everyone at UCLA Baseball (especially my sister Sue who is the whole reason this came about in the first place) for making my throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Saturday's game so much fun. If you've never been to Jackie Robinson Stadium, you really ought to go. It's a charming stadium (I mean that in the best possible way) seating a little over 1,800 fans. That means there's not a bad seat in the place. Interestingly, the dimensions of the playing field itself mirror those of Dodger Stadium: 330 down the foul lines and 395 to center. Most of the seats are $10 but if you want to splurge for Dugout seats (right behind home plate which is where we sat), those will set you back $12. It was a great place to watch a college game (the Bruins won 7-5) and it was a perfect day for it, with the exception of my pitch attempt (I had really great warm-ups though and I did have a bit of zip on the ball) which you can view here (16 seconds long - thanks to Brian Smith at UCLA for being videographer): KEN THROWS OUT THE FIRST PITCH​ And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, I'll see some of you Wednesday, and let's go diving soon!!! - Ken​