San Francisco Reef Divers June 2016 Volume XLIV No. 6

NETHER REGIONS CAVE DIVING A GO- down into a low, tight, vertical squeeze that takes you down to a horizontal tunnel at about 70 feet. GO IN NORTHERN FLORIDA You follow this along for about twenty minutes by Slip Mahoney until you come to a spot that may taste funny in your regulator. The reason for this is because there Having just returned from a few weeks traveling is a very tight crack in the ceiling of this tunnel that through more underground wet spots, tunnels, reaches to the surface. Deer have been known to caves, springs, swamps, and assorted dingy, smelly, fall through this opening, evidently while creepy, slimy, silty, dark places in and around attempting to drink. They get trapped and their Northern Florida, I decided to share one of the carcasses fall down this dives with you, or as shaft and slowly they say in Northern decompose, leaving a Florida, you’all. I was taste in the water for with Tim from New quite a long period of York and Boo from San time due to the low flow Diego. It was the last in this section of tunnel. dive of our trip as we We travel on, knowing would take the next day where we are via this off to off-gas from all landmark. Further on, the decompression dives we drop our smallest we had been doing so as tanks. We have our own not to snap, crackle, and method of dropping pop in the plane. Your tanks. Instead of all fellow passengers really three of us dropping hate all that screaming. them together, we stagger them about 2 or 3 I was the only one in our group of three who had minutes apart. Thus, if somebody has an issue with ever been to this spot in a very complex system, air supply, at least one of the tanks will be a little albeit, not necessarily via this route that I now laid closer on the exit. Plus, tanks are easier to deal out. We had three tanks each, but no deco bottles, with when picking them up if they are not all as to lighten the initial load and also, the amount of together. When putting them back on upon exiting, decompression I was figuring on was within the we grab them on the fly, never really slowing up, limits of the gas we should have on hand, barring and hook them up. We need to have separation to an unforeseen mega screw up and no cave monsters do that properly or you will just have silt out ripped our heads off and sucking out our guts conditions from picking all three tanks out of the through our necks. I hate when that happens. All silt on the bottom of the cave, all in one spot, all at told, we had over 310 cu ft of nitrox each. I had the same time. We would also run into each other. worked out the details and mapped the dive the I think we are the only cave divers who do that, but night before. It was a good thing I had planned it we like doing it like that. I think I came up with out, we really did not have a large margin of error that idea. I am awaiting my royalties. for the turnaround. After about another 20 minutes into the system, I have dove spots that would give your we come to a fairly small shaft that opens up, via a nightmares its own nightmare. This one was even crack in the bedrock, into a very pretty little better than that! The first part of the dive consists sinkhole about an eighth of an acre in size, about of entering a fairly large cavern underneath a Continued on page 6 slough of the Suwahnee River. It quickly funnels

1 Reef Divers June 2016 Volume XLIV No. 6 REEFER’S RAP - 2016

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH

01 - New Year’s Day 08 - Chinese New Year 12 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 20 - Movable Feast – Sunset Brewing 13 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 13- Daylight Savings Time Company 14 - Valentine’s Day 16 - Movable Feast – Pi Bar 15 - President’s Day - Holiday 17 - Saint Patrick’s Day 17 - Movable Feast - Nopalito

APRIL MAY JUNE

01- Beneath the Sea - New Jersey 02 - Catalina Chamber Day 04 - Scuba Show - Long Beach - 01 - April’s Fools 30 - Memorial Day Holiday scubashow.com 09 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 11 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 20 - Movable Feast - Dark Horse 15 - Movable Feast Rosamunde on Inn Mission & 24th Street TBD - Abalone Closer

JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER

04 - Independence Day Holiday 5 - 21 - Olympics 05 - Labor Day Holiday 09 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 13 Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 18 - 20 Peace Dive Boat 20 - Movable Feast - TBD 17- Movable Feast - TBD 21- Movable Feast - TBD

OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

08 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 06- Daylight Savings Time Ends 10 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 19 - Movable Feast TBD 08 - Elections 18 - Movable Feast - TBD 31 - Halloween 09 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 25 - Christmas Day 16 - Movable Feast - TBD 24 - Thanksgiving TBD - Abalone Closer

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STAMMTISCH the goldfields of California U.S. Marshals searching his By Pierre Hurter worth $2 million at the time, mansion found bank receipts and some of which was intended to cash wrappers for $50K I cash prop up the banks of New York, as well as a book titled, How to when it went down in a huge Live Your Life Invisible. One two-day storm. Her loss was marked page was titled: "Live catastrophic, contributing to the your life on a cash-only basis." Panic of 1857, considered the That brings us to the present world’s first financial crisis. when Tommy who allegedly The second story is about cheated his investors and May seems to have slipped Tommy Thompson who made disappeared for two years was through my fingers when I history in 1987 when he found tracked down and arrested by wasn’t looking. It wasn’t a the sunken SS Central America. U.S. Marshals at a hotel in Palm complete loss, managed t spend a In what was a technological feat Beach County. great week in Cozumel and at the time, Thompson and his Currently Odyssey Marine finally managed to read Ship of crew brought up thousands of Exploration, a Florida-based Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. gold bars and coins from the deep-ocean exploration shipwreck. Much of that was I’ve had a copy of the Ship of company, is diving the later sold to a gold marketing Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by shipwreck on behalf of the group for about $50 million. Gary Kinder banging around the plaintiffs. Odyssey divers and house for awhile, actually several The book is a fascinating archaeologists have now copies, both in English as well as chronicle of one of America’s recovered more than 15,500 gold German. On our trip to Cozumel worst maritime disasters and the and silver coins and 45 gold bars I spent some of my time getting perseverance of one man; whose from the wreck site, according to around to reading the book. belief in his ability to discover the company. They've also found the wreck lead him to develop gold jewelry, gold nuggets. It’s two stories running in a new technologies, corral parallel vein. The SS Central On Sunday we headed down to investors and fight of modern America, dubbed the “Ship of the Mission to check out the day pirates. Gold,” sank some 160 miles off Carnival activities. Missed the the South Carolina coast during a parade, but Harrison Street was hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean blocked off between161th and in 1857, taking 425 souls and 24th. It’s a sad statement to the upwards of 21 tons of gold to the world we live in, but the streets ocean floor some 8,000 feet are blocked and entrance is via a below. The gold had been security checkpoint where a shipped from San Francisco security guard checked us for down to the west coast of weapons with a security wand. Panama, then sent by rail to the At least we didn’t have to take Central American nation's east our shoes off. coast and finally loaded onto the steamship bound for New York. The book ends with the recovery of the treasure, which led to years of legal wrangling between insurance companies and investors. You get the impression that at some point Thompson would come out a rich man. Fast-forward to Thompson, who by 2006 was living in a secluded Florida We had a good time, lots of mansion, and then vanished six families, music food and some The ship, a 280 foot side-wheel years later when a warrant was great classic cars. I don’t really steamer, was carrying gold from issued for his arrest. Continued on page 4

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Stammtisch from page 3 We managed to get in our onions, tomato and lettuce served monthly club dive. Headed for on toasted sweet rolls. get low riders, but then I don’t Monterey after stopping for get why you would drive a Prius Rereading some Roald Dahl coffee at Martha’s. We have this either. The classic cars lovingly short stories. One of my pretty much down pat. It takes restored to their original state are favorites is ”Taste” where a man two hours from our front door to great. And what can beat the bet’s his daughter’s hand in “K” Dock. I always like to leave smell of hot dogs grilled with marriage to a renowned wine a little bit of a buffer in case bacon and onions? expert, well snob, if he can some unforeseen issue pops up. identify the wine they are The Mission is a state of mind We got there without incident drinking with diner. as much as a place. It probably and hooked up with Joerg, has the largest concentration of Monica, Steve and Jim. We The man was about fifty years “SF” and “Hommie” tattoos in were joined on the boat by John old and he did not have a the City. a diver new to us, but quite pleasant face. Somehow, it was competent. Our crew was Mitch all mouth - mouth and lips - the at the elm and Danielle as our full, wet lips of the professional divemaster. gourmet, the lower lip hanging downward in the centre, a Our first dive was a bit of a bust pendulous, permanently open can’t remember the site’s name, taster's lip, shaped open to never heard of it, but it was on receive the rim of a glass or a the map. We dropped thru the morsel of food. green pea soup and found the anchor neatly laid out on the Slowly he lifted the glass to his sand, but no sign of the reef we nose. The point of the nose expected to find. We spent 15 entered the glass and moved over minutes or so running compass the surface of the wine, Don’t get me wrong, June is a headings looking for something delicately sniffing. He swirled great month, there’s the summer more interesting than the sand, the wine gently around in the solstice as well as those well but finally decided to head back glass to receive the bouquet. His know events such as: Seersucker up. The one thing we did see a concentration was intense. He Day, National Dairy Goat lot of were squid eggs, large had closed his eyes, and now the Awareness Week, National patches as far as we could see. whole top half of his body, the head and neck and chest, seemed Doughnut Day and finally Our second dive was at Eric’s to become a kind of huge National Oceans Month. Pinnacle, a short ride from our sensitive smelling-machine, National Doughnut day, on the ill-fated sand dive. Love this receiving, filtering, analyzing. first Friday of June, by the way spot, great structure, lots of life was created by the Salvation and today, a fair amount of For at least a minute, the Army to honor those of their surge. I was running the reel and smelling process continued, then, members who served doughnuts there where times when it without opening his eyes or to soldiers during World War I. seemed that I was kicking along moving his head, Pratt lowered My favorite by far is National while all the times going the glass to his mouth and tipped Negroni Week. backwards. in almost half the contents. Start with a chilled cocktail After the dive we headed for He paused, his mouth full of glass and then add an ounce of The London Bridge Pub for wine, getting the first taste, then, gin, an ounce of Campari and an lunch. I noticed that non of us he permitted some of it to trickle ounce of sweet vermouth, ordered a beer, another sign of down his throat and I saw his garnish with an orange twist. A our advancing ages, the drive Adam's apple move as it passed great drink on these warm home is just too long and ice tea by. But most of it he retained in summer evenings when we’re provides just the hint of bladder his mouth. And now, without sitting on our deck watching the pressure to keep you alert and swallowing again, he drew in local red tailed hawks being awake. I had the sliders, mini through his lips a thin breath of chased around by blackbirds. burgers with sundried tomatoes Continued on page 5 and chipotle aioli with Bermuda

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Stammtisch from page 3 those lines, where we put in our own lines, everybody’s air which mingled with the fumes responsibility at each of these of the wine in the mouth and points, etc. I am doing most of passed on down into his lungs. the talking as I planned this and He held the breath, blew it out have been to this spot before. through his nose, and finally But everybody repeats their began to roll the wine around portion of the puzzle. If we get under the tongue, and chewed it, lost, and can not find our way actually chewed it with his teeth back, I think I have a fairly good as though it were bread. We head down the dark, small chance of getting us to an hole at the other side of the It was a solemn, impressive opening below a swamp that I sinkhole. Boo is in front, then performance, and I must say he know of, albeit it, we will be on Tim, then me. I am almost did it well. fumes at that time, maybe buddy always in the back, it is the breathing. Supposedly, we can fit safety diver position. It also I won’t spoil the ending, but through this opening into the gives me a bigger picture of the like most of Dahl’s stories there bottom of the swamp. Even if tunnel as there are at least three is a delicious twist at the end and completely turned around, lights illuminating different all is made right with the world, following the darkest water will portions of it. I am usually the well for some of the characters at get us there. This is not our plan, navigator so this helps. Plus it any rate. and is only mentioned if a bunch keeps my mind off of how Until next month, get in the of real bad things happen. There hungry I am. A few minutes in, water and have some fun. is no plan to do this or else I we spot a hard turn in the tunnel. would have mapped it first and Tim stays on the line we have

done this portion of the been following, while Boo ties Nether Regions Cave emergency pull out already. I off a reel on this line and Boo Diving from page 1 probably would have dove it and I go down into a hole in the solo, as I have a great affinity for bottom of the floor. I have seen ten feet below the surrounding tunnels opening up to the this other line before but Boo countryside. We surface at this underbelly of swamps, a passion spots it before me as Tim was a point to check all gas supplies, that nobody else seems to share little slow getting out of my way. hoses, bearings, etc. It is also with me. Tim got pushed very abruptly. refreshing to drop the This is another location but There are no nuances in cave regulator(s) and breath nice, full shows what coming up through a diving and we all understand breaths of unlimited air. swamp looks like. I am the guy that, in signals, or anything else. But my description from We discuss the next section of on the right looking out for memory was pretty good, the dive, which starts in another gators, with a concerned look on although 180 degrees off. opening leading from this my face. Tim and Boo are left However, Boo recognized which sinkhole going out in a different and middle respectively. side of the tunnel I had described direction, with no openings to This next part of the dive is and saw the line in very short the surface, all the way to the where the spooky happens. The order. We swim for a little spot we are looking for. We limestone is dark due to the while down this inclined tunnel calculated that we can find it presence of iron. The water is until we find the line left by before we need to turn around. dark and murky due to the another explorer many years ago We figure that we should be back migration into the system by that we trusted was still there at this same opening in about one Suwahnee River water because leading into an even smaller, hour, ballpark, if all goes of the recent flooding, and the siltier, area. Boo and I go to find according to plan. We verbally abundance of silt, due to the it, then Boo ties off to this line discuss the turns down various sediment brought in, lack of while Tim comes down to get tunnels we will need to take, flow, and virtually no other back into our usual formation. I what lines to take left by past divers ever going into this can hardly see due to the explorers, where those lines section of the system to clear it might be, distances to out. Continued on page 6

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Nether Regions Cave Diving The entire tunnel was mud. off and go tank free no-mount from page 5 Nobody would know I was in through the squeeze. I can’t see trouble for a long time, nor anything, but feeling everything disturbance of the two guys in where I could possibly be. There is a fine way to do it. I front, which I like. I am feeling I am in an inclined position with eventually undo myself, not my way along the line for most rock on my head, back, ass, and taking very long, and as I swim of this section. hamstrings and my chest and out I shortly come across Tim We travel along this section of groin buried in silt and mud, very and Boo heading back to find tunnel until coming to a spot far from the nearest exit, no me, very glad to see my ugly, where the line does something visibility, tied up in a line that is very ugly, some would say weird, hard to explain, but not virtually unbreakable by hand. hideous, face. When we broke standard line protocol. I hairy And you know what I did…..I down the dive later, over ribs at eyeball this thing and believe just relaxed and began to look the local BBQ joint of course, that the spot we seek is just forward as to how to work this they were as worried about me as around a squeeze diagonally up issue. This is what all those I was, which was……not at all. ahead, which is why they got years of training are for. I would It really is a good feeling to be sloppy with the line. Thus, Tim hate to think I wasted all that with people you are comfortable and Boo stay back while I travel money and time on training to with, and know everyone can ahead and bam! This is it. I never use it. I doubt my heart handle problems, whether it be recognize the spot. I go back and rate increased at all. This your own or one of your signal Tim and Boo to follow. happens fairly frequently when buddy’s. No drama ever. This is the absolute spookiest diving very small, silty caves. It little dungeon of a cave you have took a while, but I worked ever seen. The line ends and myself loose. It turns out that right in the middle of this my buddies did know I was mausoleum looking type place, missing but had no idea where. some diver tied off a six inch We had not seen each other for a skeleton. We all paid homage to minute or two due to the mud Not one of our pictures, too the skeleton, looked around, and and silt. When it did clear, they clear, got it from somebody else. headed off as air supply was realized I was not with them. Further on, it gets too tight for approaching turn around They were now heading back to backmount, which this diver is pressure. find me, but going blind. We have all had so much training, wearing. He evidently stopped The way out was slow and this stuff is muscle memory and, before the end. difficult. Even the guy in front without sounding too stupid, fun. had limited visibility due to our We continued on, picking up I have so many tanks, reels, our reels and lines on the way previous swim through residue. gauges, clips, lights, more clips, out. We made it back to the Much of this exit was done on regulators, even more clips, etc., sinkhole in about 50 minutes, feel. There were a few spots that I just have to work out ahead of schedule, with the where you had to dig down everything by feel. There are correct amount of gas. We through the silt to get through the only so many grab points. And surfaced to make the final low crawl space. Me being third since it is sidemount instead of decision about which BBQ joint in line, I did not even see these backmount, everything, except to go to. We got back to seeing things until I was squeezed like a the reels and emergency mask, is sunlight and breathing fresh air. glob of toothpaste trying to get in front. Plus, if I can get through. During one of these After a few minutes, we headed enough room, I can take the stuff squeezes, I got caught very badly back down the other tunnel from in the line we were following. which we had started, with about another 40 minutes until the exit. Nobody could see me, it was The visibility in this tunnel had nothing all around me but mud. gone to crap also, not sure why. If I waved my light, they could We picked up our dropped not see it. But I could not have bottles with no issue, the moved my arm that much to staggering system of dropping wave the light anyway. Besides, them working very well. We had always look to yourself first. some decompression before

6 San Francisco Reef Divers June 2016 Volume XLIV No. 6 exiting. We had just enough about gassed us with three hours is currently in Turks and Caicos deco time to make notes to each worth of piss soaked into the filming a treasure diving reality other about the pros and cons of lining. The rest of us shortly show for Discovery. They are which BBQ joint to go to. followed. I think we even investigating a number of Almost all technical divers are disgusted the spiders and ticks as potential Spanish shipwrecks. writing all this really techy stuff they all left us alone. We are He is the lead and safety diver. to each other on their slates. about the only ones in Florida It should be aired on the Ours, at least, have crudely caves who use wetsuits instead Discovery channel starting in drawn naked women and food of drysuits. I guess we are just January. The working title, for discussions. glamorous that way. now, is Cooper’s Gold. We try to get together for cave diving in We hauled our gear back to the Afterthought: My buddy Boo, between his film shoots. You car through countryside infested listed in this article, has a real can’t miss him, he is the guy with spiders the size of your name, it is Steve. But nicknames with the long, blonde hair, which head, no exaggeration. Boo persist. Lately we have taken to really pisses us off. getting out of his wetsuit just calling him Hollywood Boo. He After saving Sherman from a July 19th - 21st. Monterey Dive group of bullies, Peabody and Camping Trip. Contact discovers that Sherman is an Pam or Jim for details. orphan and decides to adopt him. th SFRD MAY’S BLAST After a court appearance and a August 14 - ? John Muir FROM THE PAST talk with the President, Peabody Wilderness Backpacking trip, becomes Sherman's new Quite a Bash. Hang from your SFRD June’s Blast From The guardian. crampons with Ray from the Past As a birthday gift for Sherman, highest peeks to the deepest Peabody invents the WABAC canyons. Call Ray Will.

(Wayback) time machine. He th and Sherman go back in time to September 8 Alcatraz see a Roman speaking in Latin; Invitational Swim, Get out your Peabody adds a translator circuit kayaks and do your good deed to the machine so that everyone for the day. Help Jim guide some seems to speak English. Their wayward swimmers. next trip is to see Ben Franklin flying his kite and discovering Other highlights included; Once again You are There, the electricity, but Peabody and time is June 1996, here are some Sherman realize that they cannot Hooky Dive - Friday, July 7th of the highlights of Volume 29 interact or change the past. on the Cypress Sea. A two-tank No. VI of The Reef Diver Times, Peabody makes some more dive with lunch included, leaving Newsletter of the San Francisco adjustments, turning the the Commercial Dock at 10AM, Reef Divers. For those of you WABAC into a "should-have- the boat provided the tanks. If wondering how this is possible, been machine". That brings us to you’re interested, send a check you need only remember Mr. the here and now … for $55 to Jim Vallario. Peabody of Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Up Coming Events There was an article titled Show. June 28 - 30 Abalone Closer, “Hellride”, about driving to Key Camping and Diving Trip. See As you may recall, Mr. Largo to do some diving as well article this issue of Reef Diver Peabody, is a beagle and the as a write-up about diving a Times. smartest being in existence. A Liberty ship, the SS John

Nobel laureate, Olympic Morgan, sunk of the coast of July 4th Paddle to Fireworks. medalist, scientist and inventor, Norfolk, Virginia. despite his many The world wants t know who’s accomplishments, he is lonely. coordinating - is it you? So, he decides to adopt. He meets Sherman a dorky, bespectacled, red-haired boy.

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Discovery of Navy Shipwreck Solves 95-Year-Old Mystery A Navy tugboat that disappeared after setting sail from San Francisco in 1921 has been found by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers near the Farallon Islands, putting an end to a 95-year- old mystery. The ocean going tugboat, the U.S.S. Conestoga, left California with 56 officers and crewmembers, bound for Tutuila, American Samoa, by way of Hawaii. When the ship failed to arrive, the Navy dispatched a massive air and sea search around the Hawaiian Islands consisting of 60 ships and dozens of planes covering 300,000 square miles, but only a battered lifeboat with the letter “C” on its bow was ever found, hundreds of miles off the expected course. In 2009, the NOAA Office of Coast Survey spotted an uncharted shipwreck near the Farallon Islands. Video from an investigation in 2015 using remotely operated vehicles shows the shipwreck in 200 feet of water. Using the video, the NOAA and Navy researchers confirmed that the wreck’s distinctive propeller and deck-mounted gun matched the long-lost tugboat. Weather logs indicate that soon after leaving California, the tugboat hit high winds and rough seas. A garbled radio transmission relayed later by another ship stated that the tug was “battling a storm and that the barge she was towing had been torn adrift by heavy seas.” Researchers said they believed that the boat had sunk as the crewmembers tried to reach a protected cove on the Farallons. NOAA did not disturb the wreck, nor does it plan to. Under the Sunken Military Craft Act of 2004, no one is allowed to perturb sunken military vessels or planes owned by th US government, or foreign sunken military vessels that lie within US waters.

Researchers examine WWII wreck and its potentially dangerous fuel supply found in B.C. waters The SS Coast Trader was an old coastal freighter that worked the west coast of the U.S., ferrying goods between , Oregon and California. Six months after the , it became the second merchant vessel to be sunk during War by a Japanese off the west coast of North America. The same submarine shelled the Estevan Point lighthouse near Tofino a few days later sowing panic into coastal Canadian and U.S. communities and for the first time brought home the perils of the war in the Pacific The SS Coast Trader, a 324-foot-long freighter, was chartered by the U.S. Army to carry a cargo of 1,250 tons of newsprint to San Francisco. It left Port Angeles, Washington, on June 7, 1942, but shortly after passing Cape Flattery was struck by a single from the submarine I-26. Within an hour the ship had sunk. A nearby fishing vessel found some survivors in a lifeboat and took them to Neah Bay; 10 hours later HMCS

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Edmundston, a Canadian corvette, found two rafts and rescued 57 men. One person died of exposur The official story was that the boiler blew up, the U.S. military didn’t want to acknowledge that it was a submarine attack. Two weeks later I-26 surfaced off Estevan Point lighthouse just north of Tofino and fired 17 shells in an attempt to destroy a radio-direction finding installation. Around the same time the Canadian freighter, SS Fort Camosun, was torpedoed in the same area by I-25, the sister submarine to I-26. The crew abandoned ship but the freighter and its cargo of plywood was retrieved and towed to Neah Bay. The I-26 became a serious threat to shipping in the Pacific. By the time it was sunk in November 1944 in the Philippine Islands, it had claimed 51,500 tons of shipping, making it the Imperial Japanese Navy’s third-highest scoring submarine.

World's biggest sponge found off Hawaii The largest known sponge in the world has been discovered at a depth of more than 2km in Hawaii by the USA's National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Scientists aboard NOAA’s research vessel Okeanos Explorer were using an ROV to explore at depths between 700 and 5000m when they came across the giant sponge, on a ridge extending from a seamount south of Pearl and Hermes Atolls in Papahanaumokuakea Marine Park, the USA’s biggest conservation area. The sponge measured 3.5 x 2m, which NOAA compared to the size of a minivan. Some species of large sponge found in shallow waters have been estimated to live for more than 2300 years, so the team’s find could be several millennia old. The discovery came during last year’s Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deepwaters off Hawaii expedition, but details have only just been published, in the scientific journal Marine Biodiversity.

Lionfish Available at Whole Foods stores in Florida Lionifsh are an invasive species that breed fast and have no natural predators, making it a serious threat to the reefs around the Florida coast. Since lionfish eat the same food that local reef inhabitants need to survive, their growing population is threatening to push out native species, endangering healthy reef systems. The lionfish has been spreading throughout the Caribbean, the Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico in large numbers. Local and vacationing fishermen alike are encouraged to catch as many as possible, and there are even a growing number of events for spear fishermen to gather up as many as they can. The University of Miami recently sponsored a Lionfish Derby to raise awareness of this threat, and to bring together hungry volunteers eager to catch some fish. Makes a great ceviche as we discovered in Cozumel. Whole Foods will be selling the fish for $9.99 at all 26 of its Florida stores. Stayed tuned for future developments.

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2016 Channel Islands Dive Trip Sunday, Monday and Tuesday September 18 - 19 – 20

FULL!!! Waiting List Only!

• The tradition continues into a new year, we have 14 spots (half of the Peace)

• 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) to our esteemed and beloved treasurer - Pierre Hurter, 515 Diamond Street, SF, CA 94114. Spots will go on a first check received basis, they fill up fast, so don’t delay.

• The Peace leaves the dock at 10PM on Saturday, September 17th - 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 415.819.1159 (cell).

10 San Francisco Reef Divers June 2016 Volume XLIV No. 6

SINCE 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

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