June 2015 - San Francisco Reef Divers

San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLIII No. 6
June 2015
DIVING IN FORBIDDEN WATER
“Magic Kingdom”, a drift dive beginning at a wall
with a coral swim through. We stayed at 82 feet
max depth for a short period, with large Great
Barracuda surrounding us. Ascending to shallower
water, we saw a kingdom of tropical fish-Stoplight
Parrotfish, French Grunt, Blue-Striped Grunt,
Redband Parrotfish, Surgeons, Black Durgeon,
Angelfish, and mating Grouper. The coral and
sponge was healthy. We were 6 divers and one
Dive Master, and returned to the Point Francis
beach for our surface interval. We were the only
humans on the pristine white sand beach, which had
ample chairs lining
the edge of the
water. Our second
dive
was
at
“Solitary Head”, a
shallow max depth
38 feet adventure.
The vis wasn’t as
good
as
the
morning dive, and
there was lots of
algae growing on
the reef, maybe a
result of cruise ship
discharge.
We
crossed large areas of sand patch to get to the reef.
The sand dwellers were Peacock Flounder, Tilefish,
Conch and Garden Eel. Reef dwellers were Moray
Eel, the ever invasive Lionfish, large Crab, and
Pillar Coral. A delicious fish lunch was served in
the galley on our return ride to the Marlin Dive
Center dock. Lunch was tastier than the bland
dinner served at the Colony Hotel dining room,
which on most nights was either roast chicken or
steak, with potatoes and canned vegetables.
By Jacob Rosenstein
In spite of the thaw in diplomatic relations
between President Obama and Raul Castro,
travelling to Cuba hasn’t changed for U.S. citizens.
I still had to travel via a third country, Mexico. It
might improve the travelling diver’s luck in the
future. But for now, it still requires a license, or an
organized tour with a licensed group. I chose the
Web, and a travel agent located oversees to make
diving arrangements, including resort and
transportation.
Our first destination
was the Isle of Youth, or
“Isla de Juventud” in the
local lingo. We were
picked up at 3:30A.M.
at our hotel for our 6
A.M. departure from
Havana. This was an
adventure in itself, since
our hotel, located in Old
Havana, had no access
for automobile traffic.
But being oh dark thirty,
the
streets
were
deserted, and the cab driver was maneuvering
logistically through narrow streets avoiding the
auto barriers. Wow, the city looked eerily peaceful
-no Cuban music, no restaurant barkers, no tour
groups; just the restored and some dilapidated
buildings in the historic part of the city. The flight
was quick once we taxied to the international
airport runway, only a half hour to the island that
inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write the classic
Treasure Island. We saw the famous 3 camel hump
mountains on our taxi ride to the Hotel Colony,
which took us as long to get to as our flight. The
island was filled was pine trees, small farms,
banana trees, and the tropical palms.
On the next day, we left the Colony Hotel before
7 AM. The ride to the reef was spectacular, as the
sky at sunrise was filled with brilliant color. As we
approached the dock at Point Francis, we were told
to disembark from the boat to make room for
snorkelers coming from the huge Carnival cruise
ship. They snorkeled while divers lounged on beach
The diving was terrific! Although we missed the
first dive day due to strong winds, the 3 days of
diving made up for it. It was a 2 hour boat trip just
to get to the diving area around Point Francis,
located near a beautiful beach. Our first dive was
Continued on page 7
1
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLIII No. 6
June 2015
REEFER’S RAP - 2015
JANUARY 01 -­‐ New Year’s 10 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 19 -­‐ Martin Luther King Day 21 -­‐ Velvet Cantina 3349 23rd St, between Mission and Valencia at 7:00 PM FEBRUARY 02 -­‐ Groundhog Day 14 -­‐ Valentine’s Day 16 -­‐ Presidents Day 17 -­‐ Shrove Tuesday -­‐ Mardi Gras th
18 -­‐ Pig & Pie on 24 St in the Mission MARCH 08 -­‐ Daylight Savings Time Begins 14-­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 18 -­‐ Broken Record 116 Geneva 20 -­‐ Vernal Equinox APRIL TBD -­‐ Abalone Opener 11 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 15 -­‐ Sunset Reservoir Brewing Co. MAY 02 -­‐ National Explosive Ordinance (EOD) Day 05 -­‐ Cinco de Mayo 09 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 20 -­‐ The Dark Horse Inn 25 -­‐ Memorial Day JUNE 06 -­‐ D-­‐Day 06 -­‐ 07 -­‐ Scuba Show -­‐ Long Beach 13 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock th
17 -­‐ Pig & Pie on 24 St in the Mission JULY 04 -­‐ Independence Day 11 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐Dock 15 -­‐ Movable Feast -­‐ stay tuned AUGUST TBD -­‐ Abalone Opener 09 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 19 -­‐ Movable Feast -­‐ stay tuned SEPTEMBER 07 -­‐ Labor Day 16 -­‐ Movable Feast -­‐ stay tuned 19 -­‐ Talks Like A Pirate Day 20 -­‐ 22 -­‐ Channel Islands -­‐ Jim Vallario -­‐ 415.566.0784 OCTOBER 10 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 12 -­‐ Columbus Day 21 -­‐ Movable Feast -­‐ stay tuned 31 -­‐ Halloween NOVEMBER 01-­‐ Daylight Savings Time Ends 04 -­‐ 07 -­‐ DEMA -­‐ Orlando, FL 11 -­‐ Veterans Day 14 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 18 -­‐ Movable Feast -­‐ stay tuned 26 -­‐ Thanksgiving 2
DECEMBER 07 -­‐ Pearl Harbor Day 12 -­‐ Sanctuary Boat Dive -­‐ K -­‐ Dock 16 -­‐ Movable Feast -­‐ stay tuned 22 -­‐ Winter Solstice 25 -­‐ Christmas Day San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
STAMMTISCH
By Pierre Hurter
Sitting at my favorite parklet (a
sidewalk extension that provides
space and amenities for people
using the street. Shaped like the
wreck of a beached ship,
complete with a stoved-in
starboard bow. Sipping a cup of
Ritual Latte, the name seems
appropriate; the brew you drink
has become part of the San
Francisco meet and greet ritual.
Well, “what’s your sign” or
“what’s you’re your lottery
(draft) number” ... I was number
29, are a bit dated.
“What’s your grind?” is
probably more in the Zeitgeist of
the here and now. The stairs on
the opposing stoop are neatly
stenciled with, “Do Not Sit
Here”. The Lost Weekend Video
shop has a new Lou Rawls
album, well a new pressing
anyway. Vinyl is not going
gently into that good night …
turntables live.
Thomas N. Harvey Realty on
the corner across from what used
to be a KFC (Kentucky Fried
Chicken in the pre-politically
correct world, a bucket of
chicken and a twelve pack, the
perfect meal) music by the Rat
Pack wafting out of its open
front door. It’s all part of the
here and now.
June 2015
It was Saturday, Memorial Day
weekend. The weathers been a
bit dodgy, cool, drizzly, overcast,
your typical summer in The City
and Saturday was no exception.
We started the day at the
intersection of Mission and 24th
Streets for the 37th Carnival
Parade. The theme this year was
Agua
Sagrada, Spanish
for
“sacred water”. Despite the
weather there were lots of people
in attendance, the air heady with
the smell of bacon wrapped
hotdogs grilling with onions on
small mobile grills. People
selling grilled corn and for
dessert, fresh mangoes on a stick.
When I had enough of the
scantily clad beauties, well when
Gerda said I’d had enough, we
took a Muni adventure, taking
the 48 and 44 to Golden Gate
Park to check out the Braque to
Botticelli exhibit at the de
Young. Nothing like taking in
the full sweep of the cultural
offerings here in San Francisco,
from dancing in the street to
great art in the park.
Afterw
ards we
mosied
downto
wn to
check
out the
progres
s
on
the
Central
Subway, $1.578 billion for 1.7
miles of light rail line; sounds
like a bargain. Not really sure of
the merits of the subway, but the
dig itself is fascinating. The
3
Subway’s two tunnels, one for
northbound trains and one for
southbound
train,
were
constructed using two tunnel
boring machines (TBM’s). Each
TBM consists of a rotating
cutter, approximately 20 feet in
diameter, a cylindrical steel shell
and a 300-foot train. The two
TBMs moved through the
ground at an average rate of
about 40 feet per day, with a
maximum speed of around 120
feet a day. The tunnels run
between 40 and 120 feet
underneath the streets of he City.
The TBM’s were given names;
the custom of naming the
machines is thought to bring
good luck to the project. Big
Alma named after “Big Alma”
de Bretteville Spreckels, and
Mom Chung, named after Dr.
Margaret “Mom” Chung, the
machines starting in SoMa and
headed north under 4th Street
and Stockton Street through
Union Square, Chinatown and
North Beach. They’ve arrived at
the former home of the Pagoda
Palace Theater in North Beach.
There they'll be dismantled then
brought to the surface. The
machines will be sold back to
their manufacturer, the Robbins
Co. who will refurbish them and
sell them to be used on another
project. In case you’re curious,
the machines are made in China.
As for the subway itself, it
should be open to the public by
2019, stay tuned.
After inspecting the project we
headed through Chinatown and
then down Columbus where we
Continued on page 4
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
Stammtisch from page 3
ducked
into
City
Lights
Bookstore. Since
1953
a
cornucopia of eclecticism, three
stories given over to the printed
word, a great place to hang out
and check out some books you
might not find on Amazon.
I was checking out their
selection of William Gibson
books, the noir prophet of the
cyberpunk subgenre according to
the blurb on one of the book
jackets. Not sure what that
means, but I like his writing.
Torn
between
Pattern
Recognition and Spook Country
as to which is my favorite. I was
looking for a copy of The
Peripheral, which they didn’t
have, but here’s an excerpt …
“Where Flynne and her brother,
Burton, live, jobs outside the
drug
business
are
rare.
Fortunately, Burton has his
veteran’s benefits, for neural
damage he suffered from
implants during his time in the
USMC’s elite Haptic Recon
force.” Probably a right to work
state.
June 2015
people moved back and forth
from the ground floor to the
basement and best of all, not a
single smart phone in sight.
Catering to the needs of the
City’s drinking classes since
1908. Word has it that no women
were served until 1972.
Reading, books, sharing ideas,
The afternoon we where there
was quiet, a British couple
sampling the beers on tap, a
young couple exploring some
classic cocktails and the two of
us taking refuge from the cold.
The bar tender was great; an avid
fan of amaro liqueurs. Amari are
for sipping, meant to be enjoyed,
potentially in quantity. Most
amari are Italian, and classified
either as aperitifs enjoyed before
dinner or digestive, afterwards.
apparently these activities have
not yet been totally superseded
by an Ap on a smart phone.
Give it time, but until then enjoy.
Reminds me of a post I saw on
Facebook, If the movie The
Breakfast Club were made today
it would be a silent film about 5
kids staring at their phones.
I was thinking of Ron
Burgundy and one of my favorite
quotes
from
the
movie,
Anchorman; The Legend of Ron
Burgundy, “I love scotch.
Scotchy scotch scotch. Here it
goes down, down into my belly.”
Or “I’ll have a Manhattan. And
kick the vermouth to the side
with a pair of steel-toed boots.”
Veronica Corningstone. We were
on Market Street near the Palace
Hotel, the wind was whipping
down the slot and it was cold.
Suddenly there it was, like an
urban mirage shimmering in the
fog, The House of Shields.
We tried several, the flavor’s
and aromas are interesting,
covering a wide range of
territory
from
wormwood,
gentian root, cinchona bark (the
source of quinine), to angostura
bark. Flavoring agents can
include artichoke, bitter citrus,
rhubarb, saffron, mace, kola nut,
cubeb, mint, menthol and
licorice. Amer Picon, Aperol and
Averna are among my favorites.
We finished off the weekend
with a bit of couch surfing, more
specifically watching James
Bond, MI6 agent 007 in
Thunderball.
One of my
favorites, you have it all,
jetpacks, his trusty Aston Martin
DB5, the evil SPECTRE (Special
Executive
for
Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge
and Extortion), a pocket sized
rebreather and lots of underwater
scenes.
The plot revolves the theft of
two atomic weapons and a
ransom demand of £100 million
in
white
flawless
uncut
diamonds, the usual. If their
demands are not met, SPECTRE
will destroy a major city in the
United States or the United
Kingdom.
The store was busy, full of
people sitting on the available
chairs, leaning against walls and
reading. The stairs creaking as
Continued on page 5
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San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
Stammtisch from page 4
Throw in a cast of characters
with names like Domino, Largo,
Felix Leiter, of the CIA, Fiona
who tries to kill Bond but is
dispatched
by
her
own
bodyguard,
Paula,
Bond’s
assistant, abducted by Largo who
kills herself before Bond can
rescue her and Q (Quartermaster)
and you have the makings of a
great movie and that’s before
you add the underwater infrared
camera,
Geiger
counter
combination.
That’s when it starts to get
exciting, Leiter, orders Navy
SEALS to parachute to the area
where the bombs are stashed.
There’s an epic underwater
battle, Largo escapes to his ship,
the Disco Volante, which has one
of the bombs on board. Largo
jettisons the rear of the ship and
attempts to escape aboard the
forward
hydrofoil
section.
There’s a fight between Largo
and Bond; Largo is about to
shoot him when Domino, freed
by Largo's nuclear physicist
Ladislav Kutze, kills Largo with
a spear gun. Bond and Domino
jump overboard, the boat runs
aground and explodes. A
skyhook-equipped
airplane
(more correctly the Fulton
surface-to-air recovery system STARS) rescues them. Oh and I
totally forgot to mention the pool
filled with man eating sharks,
just the thing for the backyard.
You hear the term algorithms
all the time, we rely on them
June 2015
when we go diving, blindly
looking at the numbers count
down your no-deco time,
beeping at you when you ascend
to fast, in general holding you to
short leash.
So what is an algorithm? Lets
start with the name, it stems from
a Latin translation of a book
written by al-Khwārizmī, a
Persian
mathematician,
astronomer and geographer. AlKhwarizmi wrote a book titled
On the Calculation with Hindu
Numerals in about 825 AD,
spreading the Indian system of
numbers throughout the Middle
East and Europe. It was
translated into Latin as Algoritmi
de numero Indorum. The term
"Algoritmi" in the title of the
book led to the term "algorithm".
According to Merriam-Webster
a procedure for solving a
mathematical problem (as of
finding the greatest common
divisor) in a finite number of
steps that frequently involves
repetition of an operation; a
step-by-step
procedure
for
solving
a
problem
or
accomplishing
some
end
especially by a computer.
Algorithm,
it
sounds
intriguing, so much better than
my long ago experience of
writing a Fortran programs to do
a Least Squares Adjustments in
college. Writing a program and
then running a box of punch
cards hoping that it wouldn’t
crash too early in the process ...
the good old days.
Continuing on the theme of
discoveries of the month how’s
this for a bit of irony; Tivoli
Hall, at 143 Albion Street, built
in 1907 has been remodeled as a
4,500-square-foot home and is
on the market for $6.5 million. I
can remember when this was a
dodgy neighborhood, but it
5
always had a great bar at the
corner of Albion and 16th.
Constructed as a meeting place
following the 1906 earthquake
and fire. From 1908 to 1912 it
served as the headquarters for the
Socialist Party, then called
Equality Hall.
From 1912 to 1966 the Hall
was
a
home
for
the
Arbeiterbildungsverein, or the
Workmen’s
Educational
Association,
and
the
International
Longshoreman’s
Association.
Walking down Harrison Street
near the intersection with
Mariposa when I stumbled on
Emiliomiti’s, an emporium of
antique and modern meat slicers.
Invented by Wilhelm Van Berkel
in Holland back in 1898 made
paper-thin
sliced
prosciutto
available to the masses. They
been there for 36 years, with luck
we’ll see them in another 36.
Haight Street is changing, still
plenty of people sleeping on the
sidewalk, smoking dope and
shooting up, but there is a subtle
shift, there are more of the slick
stores that sell high priced Tshirts, the price apparently based
on obscure logos, skateboard
paraphernalia and other goodies
that I don’t claim to understand.
Gleaming storefronts with
Continued on page 6
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
Stammtisch from page 5
vibrating
background
noise
coming in over the sound system
and clerks who never bother to
look up from their smart phones
as their thumbs whip out
mindless text messages. It’s
progress … a new generation
leading the way into the future.
The stretch of Larkin Street
between Eddy and O’Farrell is
officially Little Saigon. Around
80% of the businesses along this
stretch are owned by Vietnamese
Americans. There are signs and
monuments to mark the area for
those who wander.
June 2015
green waters off of Point Lobos.
Gerda had a similar problem, but
since we were diving doubles she
just closed off the left post and
off we went. Between dives one
and two Phil applied his
experience in these matters and
judiciously whacked the gauge a
few times and voila, fixed.
Dive one was at Honeymoon a
beautiful site with loads of life,
fish and color. Since we were
diving nitrox we stayed fairy
shallow, around 110 feet.
Visibility was around 20 to 30
feet, water temperature at 50
degrees, not exactly toasty, but
not bad either.
After our first dive we headed
back to Whaler’s Cove for a
break and to pick up Curtis.
After hydrating, voiding and
shooting the breeze we headed
out for dive number two. Not
wanting to wander too far we
went to Pinnacles. Generally
one of the great things about a
pinnacle is that navigation is
simple, but I have to admit that
we didn’t find the anchor line
and came up on an obliging kelp
strand instead.
Aside from eating and drinking
adventures we managed to get in
some diving. Since Curtis is in
town it seemed only fitting that
we get in the water with him. So
we got a hold of Captain Phil and
headed to Point Lobos. Gerda
played hooky from work and
along with Curtis, Gerda, Me,
Bhushan and Jim we headed out
on an overcast day with fairly
flat seas towards Honeymoon.
It’s been awhile since we went
out with Phil and his RIB and we
had a great time.
One
concession to the times is that
Phil now has a ladder to aid in
getting back on the boat. So
much more dignified than
bobbing up and down and then
with a desperate kick, sliding
onboard like a beached walrus.
Painted on the wall outside of the
Vesuvio Café in North Beach …
Another great month, with not
one, but two club dives on the
second dive I was reminded of
the scene from Sea Hunt when
Mike Nelson says, “Kelp is a
beautiful underwater growth. It
forms underwater gardens, dense
jungles,
but
sometimes
graveyards. To swim through a
kelp forest, a diver needs a good
knife and plenty of experience,
or he may end up like Dan
Morgan”; more on that next
month. Until then stay wet and
remember, you always need a
sharp knife.
THE RULES
by Kenneth Gwin
We’ve all got little habits when
it comes to diving. We often go
to the same sites, dive the same
depths, and repeat the same
profiles. We take a lot of things
for granted. But little changes
can make things easier, or at
least more interesting. Even a
familiar dive can be made better.
And that’s all nice since I like
to dive deep.
Several things come to mind
when we start to talk about deep.
All the basic rules about diving
start to add up. Decompression is
the first one. Gas management
and other concerns are added.
But we have lots of tools to make
all of this possible and safe—
mixed gasses, more training,
more elaborate decompression
schedules, and way more cool
gear.
Nitrox (the gateway gas) was
developed for the recreational
diver to provide a number of
advantages.
Deeper
diving
requires more and different
mixes. For deeper diving,
Of course things didn’t turn out
quite as planned, Curtis had a
leak in his HP hose and had to sit
out the first dive while he got it
sorted out. The rest of us headed
out for a plunge into the cold
Continued on page 7
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San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
The Rules from page 6
everything is planned around the
target depth. You pick a depth,
sort out your arrangement of
mixes, and calculate a profile.
But it’s not rocket science.
The simple rules:
Over the years we have
developed some basic rules for
diving. Some of these rules, like
decompression protocols, are
pretty much absolutes, based on
theories (like evolution—they’re
only theories, but they tend to
work for us) figured out the hard
way, by trial and error (and
strapping young U.S. Navy
guinea pigs).
We use mathematical models
based on these results to predict
some future outcome.
June 2015
standards. And who would do
anything differently anyway?
Deeper divers dive with a list of
standards
depending
on
maximum depth. For dives
within 200 feet a bottom mix of
18/45 would be a standard and
deco gases are now always 50%
and 100% O2. Using these
mixes, you plug in your dive
plan, arrive at a standard
decompression profile, and off
you go. Your dive is now
designed around a series of
conventions you never need to
question. It’s so easy. Many of
us have been diving for years
within these conventions, and
after all this time most of us have
forgotten why we are using these
mixes.
We just go with it.
Some rules for diving might just
be helpful guidelines, formulated
with a little give and take. A
reasonable person might even
play around with a few of these
without much grief or threat to
life and limb. But in the case of
decompression, it’s our heathy
survival that’s at stake.
Most of our deeper dives are
planned using a square profile as
a starting point. This should
sound familiar, if you can
remember your exercises using
dive tables when you started
diving. Then there is multi-level
planning. And now we use
computers.
Garage blenders powered with
booster pumps and lots of helium
fiddled with mixes, tried to find
out what worked best for deeper
dives, balancing decompression
obligation, narcosis, and oxygen
toxicity. Eventually, groups
settled on a standard batch of
gasses ideal for a range of diving
and decompression protocols.
These ideals soon became rules
and these rules soon became
codified into laws.
Anyway, decompression and
total run times start with a
maximum depth and the standard
mixes. You go down. You come
up following the planned profile
and ordered gas switches.
The purpose of these laws has
become somewhat lost over time,
their application now habitual
routines repeated by divers again
and again without much thought.
These rules and laws have
become givens, accepted as
It so happens that for the last
few months we have been diving
a location off Yankee Point that
has given us an opportunity to
change a few things with these
standard mixes. Typically we
like to find a spot where a ridge
starts at 120-140 feet and then
drops to a bottom of 200 plus.
Sometimes this can be a dramatic
and nearly vertical rock face. But
we have found one area that has
very shallow peaks coming up to
75 feet and very deep canyons
7
(well past 200), all very close to
each other.
Hmm.
One of my dive buddies
decided to change our deco
gasses a bit to give us longer
time at shallow depths, changing
50% to, oh, let’s say 36% for our
first gas switch (another standard
mix, but use it a little
differently). This means we
switch to our first deco gas a
little deeper (at 100 feet instead
of 70) then amble longer as we
come up, enabling us enjoy the
sights. Rather than leaving the
bottom and ascending through
blue water as we usually would,
we get colorful reefs, fish, and
all the rest. This gives us a lot
more time to enjoy the shallow
part of the reef and deco at the
same time.
It turns out that when we get to
our 20 foot stop and switch to
(our standard) 100% O2, our
usual 15-20 minute deco stop is
now only 9 minutes long.
Nice.
DIVING FORBIDDEN
WATER FROM PAGE 1
chairs or swam in the clear
tropical water. There was a
second but smaller cruise ship
anchored on the other side of the
point. What was a peaceful
Continued on page 8
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
Diving Forbidden Water from
page 8
tranquil beach yesterday was
today a boisterous tourist parade
and picnic. But when the
snorkelers had their fill of the
reefs, the boat returned for the
divers. We were rewarded with a
remarkable dive at the famous
“Cueva Azul”, or “Blue Cave”.
Henry, our Dive Master led
Hannah and I down a steep
tunnel filled with coral and
sponge down to 124 feet. It was
a quick ride down to a sheer wall
at the exit. On the way up to the
shallower
depths,
we
encountered schools of Chromis
and Yellowtail Snapper. We did
our safety stop at a pinnacle
teeming with tropical fish like
French Grunt, Angelfish and big
eye Squirrelfish. A Great
Barracuda met us on the way up
to the boat. It was definitely a
dive to remember, as the wall
and the reef life was healthy and
profuse, not to mention the thrill
of a ride. The second dive, at
“Rainbow” had a lot to see, and
Henry didn’t miss any of it. A
Giant Moray met us at the start,
2 very large Spiny Lobsters, 2
Sting Rays, a camouflaged
Scorpionfish, and a Nassau
Grouper at a cleaning station
along the way. Finally, a Great
Barracuda at a safety stop. We
dove twice the following day, at
“Hidden Passage” and “Jardin de
la Reina”. The first was a
fantastic wall dive with lots of
swim-throughs and great variety
of coral, Giant Sea Fans, sponges
and Gorgonian. The second dive
had lots of tropical fish and
lobsters, and surge, current to go
along with it. Henry and a
Swedish diver, Mile, were
jigging for fish during our
surface
interval,
which
eventually ended up on our lunch
plates.
June 2015
On our last day on the island,
Hannah and I spent a lazy day at
the beach, something we weren’t
able to do on our arrival due to
cool, windy weather. We got
ready for our expected Havana
return flight scheduled for 8:30
P.M., only to find the airport
closed on our arrival. At 10:30
PM the flight crew and airline
personnel finally made their
appearance, and we learned that
the flight was delayed until 2
AM. OK, we checked bags,
waited for departure, and found
ourselves returning to our
Colony Hotel due to fog that
cancelled the flight. Next
morning, we rode back to the
airport on 3 hours sleep, along
with some of the flight crew
hoping to be on the first flight to
Havana. We met an English
speaking local Cuban whose
family migrated from the
Cayman Islands during our long,
long wait. We also spoke to a
disenchanted Airport Security
officer until our boarding at 6
P.M. It’s amazing how much you
can learn about Cuban life when
you’re standing still! So, after
being stranded on the Isle of
Youth for 22 hours, I will not
make this trip again. The diving
was great, the airline not so
good; the inconveniences were
due to lack of communication
between
Aero
Caribbean
management and the airline folks
at the bottom of the hierarchy.
We were picked up at 9 P M
outside the Havana domestic
airport by our taxi driver for our
next dive adventure on the
8
western end of the Cuban island.
After a dinner stop in Pinar del
Rio, we arrived at Maria la
Gorda at 1:30 A.M. After
sleeping in and a late breakfast,
we were ready for the late
afternoon dive at “El Labyrinto”,
or The Labyrinth. So glad to be
back in the water, we were
rewarded by seeing a huge 200
lb. Giant Grouper at a cleaning
station, 2 Great Barracuda, 2
Southern Sting Rays, Queen
Angels,
Spotted
Grouper,
Lionfish,
and
schools
of
Yellowtail Snapper and French
Grunt. The visibility was poor,
but the nutrient rich water
attracted many fish. Water
temperature was a balmy 79
degrees F, and my 5mm wetsuit
was plenty. The accommodation
at this privately run resort was
several notches above the
Colony Hotel, as long as you
didn’t ask for the beach
bungalows. Meals were superbfresh fish and cooked local
potatoes, taro root, steamed
vegetables, savory poultry and
meat dishes, as well as a variety
of dessert, including ice cream.
You could get eggs cooked to
order for breakfast, a variety of
meat and cheese, home fries, and
lots of fresh fruit every day. The
next day’s morning dive was at
“Yemaya” - a gorgeous wall dive
with swim-throughs and tunnels,
reminiscent of Isle of Youth
diving. Marine life was also
plentiful, with the usual tropical
fish, stingrays, and schooling
fish. Max depth was 78 feet. The
reefs were a short boat ride away
in this neck of the woods, and
the boats returned to the dive
center afterwards. Diving was set
up so you could do 3 dives in
one day, if you chose to do so.
Our afternoon dive was at
“Aquarium”, aptly named for the
numerous tropical and schooling
Continued on page 9
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
Diving Forbidden Water from
page 8
fish. Add Scrawled Filefish,
Puffer and a Green Turtle to the
list. The following day, fresh
with a good night’s sleep, we
headed for “Moby Dick”, famous
for the ancient classic ship
anchor on the sand bottom. This
was another great wall dive with
small tunnels and large caves,
with a max depth of 90 feet. Our
Dive Master for both dives that
day was Osvaldo Noriega, a
good friend of the Dive Master
Henry, from the Isle of Youth.
He took us to “Garden of
Gorgonian” on the shallower
afternoon dive, which was filled
with, you guessed it, Gorgonian,
and just about every type of
sponge native to the Caribbean.
Yellow, orange, brown Tube
Sponge in large colonies of a
dozen or more, huge Barrel
Sponge, purple, and green Vase
Sponge also in large colonies.
Also seen were the usual
tropicals, including Grouper and
Jack, and plenty of Lionfish.
They’re allowed to live in this
part of the Caribbean.
We were probably the only
U.S. tourists at either dive resort,
as European, Canadian, Israeli
and South American divers
frequented this island. The only
U.S. folk we met were U.N.C.
students at the El Mirador
Restaurant
overlooking
the
beautiful limestone mountains
and lush farm fields of the
Valley of Vinales. We were
served a huge lunch consisting of
salad, soup, chicken, lamb, pork,
turkey, root vegetables, pastry
puffs, dessert, and Mojitos to
wash it all down. Hannah and I
couldn’t eat half of it, and our
guide got his fill as well. The
vegetables were a product of the
organic farm surrounding us. It
was a fitting end to a long
June 2015
morning hike into the Vinales
valley, visiting farmers and
tobacco growers. We witnessed
one of the tobacco growers
rolling his product into a fine
cigar, which was passed around
for us to sample. Also grown
here is coffee and tropical fruit.
Our ride back to our Casa
Particular was in a restored 1958
Chevy, with alligator interior and
real wood door handles. We
made a stop at the Alejandro
Robaina Plantation on our way
from Maria la Gorda the
previous day. We kept a couple
of samples hand rolled by an
experienced cigar maker from
their choice tobacco grown in the
best fields in the world.
On the road back to Havana, the
scenery was spectacular: horse
drawn carts, rolling hills, lush
verdant valleys, farms, cottages,
and 1950’s American “classic”
cars. The bustling auto and
pedestrian traffic was a stark
contrast to the slow life in the
country and seaside. Cuba is a
country of contrast, Old Havana,
with buildings dating from the
17th
Century,
versus
the
newfangled bars and hotels in
Central Havana to attract
tourists; renovated Art Deco
buildings and crumbling, but
architecturally pleasing homes
for the local inhabitants.
9
There are narrow cobblestone
streets in Old Havana, and wide
Parisian- style boulevards in the
center of the city. It is a
backward country frozen in the
fifties, but it has a rich tradition
of music and dance still vibrant
and enjoyed worldwide. The
camaraderie among divers was
outstanding at the Colony Hotel,
but divers mostly kept to
themselves at Maria la Gorda.
Perhaps it was the size of the
resorts? It’s an enigma, just like
the rest of Cuba.
It’s May and among other
things, National Golf Month,
who knew? And how has it
already gotten to be May? The
year seems to be flying by at an
ever-accelerating pace.
SFRD JUNE’S BLAST
FROM THE PAST
Once again You are There, the
time is June 1995, here are some
of the highlights of Volume 26
No. VI of The Reef Report,
Newsletter of the San Francisco
Reef Divers. For those of you
wondering how this is possible,
you need only remember Mr.
Peabody of Rocky and His
Friends and The Bullwinkle
Show.
As you may recall, Mr.
Peabody, first name possibly
Hector, a beagle and the smartest
being in existence. A Nobel
laureate, Olympic medalist,
Continued on page 10
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
Blast from the Past frompage
11
scientist an inventor, despite his
many accomplishments, he is
lonely. So, he decides to adopt.
He meets Sherman a dorky,
bespectacled, red-haired boy.
After saving Sherman from a
group of bullies, Peabody
discovers that Sherman is an
orphan and decides to adopt him.
After a court appearance and a
talk with the President and the
government, Peabody becomes
Sherman's new guardian.
As a birthday gift for Sherman,
Peabody invents the WABAC
(Wayback) time machine. He
and Sherman go back in time to
see a Roman speaking in Latin;
Peabody adds a translator circuit
to the machine so that everyone
seems to speak English. Their
next trip is to see Ben Franklin
flying his kite and discovering
electricity, but Peabody and
Sherman realize that they cannot
interact or change the past.
Peabody makes some more
adjustments,
turning
the
WABAC into a "should-havebeen machine". That brings us to
where we are now …
The front-page headline under
June Entertainment was … Aside
from gaining gills, using a dive
computer is the best way to
increase your bottom time. For
those of you who have never
tried it, however, diving with a
computer can be a bit unsettling
at first. After all, it’s pretty
tough to see the monitor clearly,
and typing with gloves on is
nearly impossible. Seriously,
though, purchasing a computer is
not something you should
generally rush right into. Instead,
you should rush right over to the
next Reef Divers meeting. Sal
Zammitti from Bamboo Reef is
coming to talk to us about dive
computers.
He’ll provide
June 2015
information on the latest models,
features, theories, and just about
anything else you want to know
about computers and how they
work. Hope to see you all there!
The Reef Rap included the
following:
Thursday - Sunday June 22-25
1000 Isles Lake and Banner
Ritter peaks are still under 22
feet of snow but Ray Will has
found us a new place to go; an
area around Redding. Ray claims
it will be an easier hike; so easy
hebe hiking it the whole way on
a pogo stick, Word!
Friday - June 30 Rocksucker
Closer We need a lily-livered,
shiftless,
work
slacking
scoundrel to organize this event
for the Reef Diving hooligans
who insist that scrounging up abs
is more fun than doing menial
labor over and over, day after
day, year after year …
Tuesday - July 4 G.G. Bridge
Fireworks Kayak Trip Michal
Staninec will be unable to lead
the star-studded cast of beautiful
people watching this annual
extravaganza, but understudy,
Alice Yip, will direct this event.
Yea!!!! Call her if you plan to be
a part of this amazing flotilla.
Auditions will be held at this
months general meeting.
July - 1-16 Fish Count As a
newly appointed fish census
taker, I will be required to lead a
crew of Ref Diving rapscallions
to search the reefs, registering
data on the mysterious denizens
of the deep. Call Kurt Hayworth
if you wish to learn more about
our gill-breathing progenitors.
August - 3-5 Channel Islands
Waiting rom only for this one
folks.
Contact vigilante Jim
Vallario to be on the waiting list.
Sigh … always the bridesmaid.
10
Friday
August
11-13
Rocksucker Re-Opener at Van
Damme. The Dynamic Duo is
back in action, leading the
abalone starved masses back to
the submerged crevices for the
slurpy sea slugs.
Call Bill
Galarneau or Jim Vallario.
August - 14,16,21,23,26,27
Rescue Dive Class John Senger
is the contact person for this
happening. Call to be a buddy
everyone wants.
Long Shore Currents
August - 10-13 High climb
backpacking somewhere in the
Palisades range with yodeling
Ray Will. Call him to find out
when, where, and how high up.
September - 23 - Beach Cleanup
Day. (Also coincidentally Mess
Up Your Wetsuit Day).
Aside from the items in the Ref
Rap there was the opportunity to
buy Saurus Sunbloc, a truly
waterproof, doesn’t sting your
eyes or smell funky sunscreen at
40% discount. (Amazon has this
to say, Currently unavailable. We
don’t know when or if this item
will be back in stock)
Club Safety Policy
Reminder
The San Francisco Reefdivers
safety policy; If a club member
ditches (as opposed to loses) a
weight belt during a dive as a
safety measure the club will
replace the dropped belt. We do
this to help insure that members
will
not
let
monetary
consideration be a factor in dive
safety decisions.
If you have found it necessary
to drop your weight belt to
insure your personal safety
contact Jim Vallario, the club
Treasurer, or any other club
Officer
to
discuss
its
replacement.
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
But Remember: Try not to put
yourself in a situation where
you find it necessary to drop
June 2015
your weight belt in the first
place!
Expedition to Nikumaroro to find Earhart’s
plane set to sail in June
interpretation Brody represents the "white middle
class male, you might remember there are no black
folks in the film and the women disappear fairly
quickly.
The non-profit,
International
Group
for
Historic Aircraft
Recovery
(TIGHAR)
is
returning
to
Nikumaroro in June to conduct further research at
the site where Amelia Earhart may have crashlanded in 1937. This will be their eighth expedition
to the island.
In early June about a dozen TIGHAR researchers
will embark for the island from Fiji to undertake a
survey of the Nutiran reef, focusing on anomalies
identified in previous expeditions and also doing an
on-shore archaeological survey.
On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her
navigator Frederick Noonan departed Lae, New
Guinea en route to Howland Island for the last leg
of their around-the-world flight. They were never
heard from again. TIGHAR hypothesizes that
Earhart and Noonan landed their plane on Gardner
Island, now Nikumaroro in the Republic of Kiribati
and died on the island.
My favorite character was Quint, the tough
working stiff who knew what he knew about sharks
from hard won experience. Hopper, the squint,
wasn’t bad either and of course who didn’t like the
flinty eyed lawman, Brody.
You're gonna need a bigger boat!
It’s been 40 years since Steven Spielberg's Jaws
scared millions of American’s out of the water. It
was 1975 and I bet you can remember where you
where when you saw the film. I was in Giessen,
Germany and the film was dubbed in German.
All I know is that the opening musical score still
makes me jump and every so often when I’m
diving, I’ll make a slow 360 turn to see if anyone is
out there, watching.
There are those who claim that the film is some
sort of allegory for the Watergate scandal. In this
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San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
June 2015
Are You Ready For This Month’s Leap Second?
between a uniform time scale defined by atomic
clocks does not differ from the Earth's rotational
time by more than 0.9 seconds. Since the first leap
second in 1972, all leap seconds have been positive
and there have been 25 leap seconds to date. This
year’s will happen on June 30th.
Time is a complicated construct; Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC) is based on atomic time, the
basis of the civil time we all take for granted.
Historically, the second was defined in terms of the
rotation of the Earth as 1/86,400 of a mean solar
day. The problem, at least for scientists is that the
Sea Shepard to pay $2.55 to settle court case
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has resolved
its legal dispute with Japan’s Institute for Cetacean
Research (ICR) over whether Sea Shepherd and its
affiliated parties were in contempt of a 2012
injunction entered by the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals.
earth’s rotation is not particularly.
Astronomers at the U.S. Naval Observatory
(USNO) and at the National Physical Laboratory
(Teddington, England) determined the relationship
between the frequency of the cesium atom (the
standard of time) and the ephemeris second. They
determined the orbital motion of the Moon about
the Earth, from which the apparent motion of the
Sun could be inferred, in terms of time as measured
by an atomic clock. As a result, in 1967 the
Thirteenth General Conference on Weights and
Measures defined the second of atomic time in the
International System of Units (SI) as the duration
of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation
corresponding to the transition between the two
hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium
133 atom.
Sea Shepherd will pay the ICR $2.55 million
under the terms of the settlement. In exchange, the
ICR will dismiss its action for $4.1 million in
damages related to contempt, and drop all claims
against the former Sea Shepherd board of directors.
Funding for the settlement will come from money
from other legal actions and settlements, and will
not include donor funds.
The ICR had filed suit against Sea Shepherd in
2011 in federal district court in Seattle. In March
2012, District Court Judge Richard Jones denied
the ICR’s motion for a preliminary injunction, but
in December 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals reversed that ruling and entered its own
temporary injunction, prohibiting Sea Shepherd,
Watson, and any party acting in concert with them
from approaching within 500 yards of any ICR
vessels in the Southern Ocean.
Got that? So here’s the issue, the Earth is
constantly undergoing a deceleration caused by the
braking action of the tides. By looking at historic
observations of eclipses, it is possible to determine
the average deceleration of the Earth to be roughly
1.4 milliseconds per day per century.
This
deceleration causes the Earth's rotational time to
slow with respect to the atomic clock time.
The injunction came on the eve of Operation Zero
Tolerance, a campaign designed to interfere with
the ICR’s whaling in the Southern Ocean during the
2012-2013 season. In response, Sea Shepherd
withdrew from the operation but the interference
continued by independent foreign groups.
So Civil time is occasionally adjusted by onesecond increments to ensure that the difference
12
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
June 2015
The main forces contributing to the decline of the
Maui dolphin are fisheries, specifically, boat
trawlers, which drag fishing nets along the bottom
of the sea, and gillnets, a vertical wall of nylon
netting that entangle the dolphins along with the
intended catch. Some 95 percent of all Maui
dolphin fatalities are attributed to these fishing
methods in New Zealand. Other culprits in the
Maui dolphin demise include oil and gas production
and seismic testing in its habitat.
The ICR filed a motion for contempt in 2013, and
an Appellate Commissioner recommended that
neither Sea Shepherd nor any of its affiliates be
found in contempt. In December 2014, the Ninth
Circuit disregarded the recommendation and found
Sea Shepherd in contempt of the injunction based
on the actions of the independent foreign groups.
In a case set for trial in the fall of 2016, Sea
Shepherd is seeking a declaration that the ICR’s
whaling in the Southern Ocean is illegal under
international law. Sea Shepherd is also asking the
district court to award damages for the sinking of
the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil in 2009
Reward offered in fatal sea lion stabbing
Federal authorities investigating a sea lion found
with a spear in its side at Channel Islands Harbor
last month offered a reward in the case.
The world’s smallest dolphin is about to vanish
entirely
The NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement
will give a reward of up to $2,500 for information
leading to the prosecution and conviction of the
person or people responsible for the fatal injury.
The smallest and rarest dolphin in the world, the
Maui dolphin, is on the verge of disappearing.
There are fewer than 47 of the mammals left in the
wild, existing in a narrow area of ocean on the west
coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The Maui
dolphin on average 5 feet, 5 inches in size has a life
span of about 20 years.
On May 26, the sea lion was rescued from the
harbor near Oxnard with a harpoon-like. The sea
lion was captured by crews with SeaWorld San
Diego and the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife
Institute.
It was taken for treatment to SeaWorld's rescue
center in San Diego, nicknamed Bubba, it was
given antibiotics for several days, but the rescue
center said it refused to eat and became increasingly
lethargic. After several days of treatment, it died.
Anyone with information concerning the incident
can call the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement in
Long Beach at 562-980-4056 or the NOAA's 24hour hotline at 800-853-1964.
13
San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
June 2015
2015 Channel Islands Dive Trip
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
September 20-21-22
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The tradition continues into a new year, we have 14 spots (half of the Peace)
ONLY 4 spots left
The Cost per spot is $450 - still one of the best bargains for Channel Island
diving anywhere.
To secure your spot, send a $100 deposit (per spot) and $25 annual membership
fee if you have not done so yet to our treasurer - Pierre Hurter, 515 Diamond
Street, SF, CA 94114. Spots will go on a first check received basis, so don’t
delay.
The Peace leaves the dock at 10PM on Saturday, September 19th - The first
dive is on Sunday morning.
Bring all of your dive gear, including one full tank. The Peace can refill air or
32% Nitrox. Alternatively, you can rent a tank and have it delivered onboard.
For those diving Nitrox, unlimited Nitrox fills cost $75. If you want Nitrox,
bring your Nitrox certification card and a separate check for $75 payable to the
Peace Dive Boat.
Wine, beer and other adult beverages may be brought on board, but remember,
your 1st drink marks your last dive of the day.
For additional information, directions to the boat, or to rent gear, etc. check out
the Peace website … www.peaceboat.com.
For any other questions, contact Jim Vallario at 415.566.0784 or 415.819.115SINCE
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San Francisco Reef Divers
Volume XLII No. 6
June 2015
JANUARY 1ST 1973
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO REEF DIVERS (SFRD):
The Reef Diver Times is the official newsletter of the San Francisco Reef Divers, a not for profit
community organization dedicated to safe sport diving and the preservation of our ocean resources.
Membership is $25 annually, dues payable to “SFRD”. The General Meeting is held the 3rd Wednesday of
the month. Location is announced one week prior to the meeting. Please check our yahoo site for details
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfreefdivers/ We meet at 7:00pm for socializing, drinks, food and club
business. For more information, visit http://www.sfreefdivers.org or our Facebook page.
SAN FRANCISCO REEF DIVERS
Reef Diver Times
C/O Gerda Hurter
515 Diamond Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
15