www.emeraldseadiveclub.org

In This Issue

Loogpla Cowden

Certificate of Giving:

What a magical time of year; desolate trees come alive as bright as a shining star. Dive buddies transformed into wonderful gifts, and forgotten friendships are once again rekindled. A time when we slow down our busy life cycles to wish those about us the best of the season, and exchange gifts of expressed appreciation.

When it comes to personal gift giving you're on your own, but for ESDC gift giving is all in the heart. Please join us for an evening of conversations, food, fun, gift exchange, raffles, and dancing on Saturday December 10^th.

I wish to extend the warmest greeting and may this time of year find you and your special ones healthy, experiencing the best that the holidays have to offer. From our family to yours have a wonderful holiday season and may the New Year be filled with all your wishes and dreams. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Thank You to everyone who entered the photo contest and to Phil for posting the entries on our website. Also, thank you Fran for her expertise in identifying the entries that made it into the calendar. And a special thank you to Darlene for all of her help this year. She helped edit all of the newsletters and single-handedly created the cover for the calendar as well as make all of the award certificates for the calendar contributors. THANK YOU! I have the calendars and will bring them to the Christmas Party. Cheng has the checks for the top three places. There are only about a dozen or so calendars left for sale. Will we need a second printing?

I hope we do this again next year.

Cheng Wong

I dove with the UW's Washington Sea Grant program "Club Tunicate Eradication" at Pleasant Harbor in Hood Cannel on 11/5/05. This is a five month old program and is led by Simon Greelofs. There were 30+ divers and 10+ shore support people who showed up on a cold, rainy day. I knew 4 of them from Moss Bay Dive Club and I was the only one from Emerald Sea Dive Club. It was fun to join the action, but it was a long drive alone from home. 

Simon (a diver) and Gretchen (a marine biologist, I think) briefly introduced the Club Tunicate in the marina store's sitting room, telling us that the tunicates were from Asian countries, reproduced by broadcast spawning in the water. The fertilized eggs take only 24 hours to hatch; 24 hours to be matured on the water's surface; and then they find a hard surface to attach to and continue to grow. In 3 months it could reproduce every 24 hours until it dies. Before it attaches to a surface the baby tunicate is poisonous to fish, so the survival rate is almost 100%. In Korea the tunicate is harvested for food, to eat with hot sauces, so the more the better.  In Washington waters and farther north the tunicate is just sucking up all the nutrients in the water and starving the clams and oysters to death, besides clogging up docks and boats.

We went out to the boat dock to gear up and team up with dive buddies.  My dive buddy was Mike Ulrich, from Olympia, WA. Mike works for the Fish & Wildlife Department at Olympia.  He has been diving since the early 80's and does about 100 dives a year working for the department on fish counting in WA waters. Mike was amazed that I could have done the "sports" dive 100 dives a year! No, Mike, my dives were recreational dives and I am only a tourist in the ocean. Mike came with his wife, Ann, and 4 year old daughter, Marina and they were on the first picture of my photo show.  Ann and Marina both did the shore support for our team in the pouring rain. In the afternoon when Marina was taking a nap on the floor inside the sitting room, Ann continued the support by herself in the even heavier rain for Mike and I. Thanks, Ann.

In the first hour our team cut and dragged 4 dive bags full of little tunicates (1" to 3" long - it could grow to 5" long) and the shore supporters (Ann and other shore supporters) counted 1500+/- in each of our bags. The area our team worked on was only a 4 foot square under the platform by the stairway that comes down from shore.... and that area was not totally cleaned. The ones smaller than an inch could not be cut, dragged or pulled off their base with our thick dive gloves. The much smaller ones were not even visible without looking straight at them with a dive light.....forget about trying to clean them off. The individual ones we had cut were so light that they floated right out of the dive bag. It was such a pain to keep them inside the dive bag. So Mike had to scoop them in every once a while with the dive bag wide open.  There wasn't any square inch of hard surface that wasn't covered with the tunicates. It was fully covered under the dock between the boats...Simon had said earlier in the briefing that Edmonds marina has the same issue too.

At the beginning of our second goodie bag dive (I don't know if these dives should be counted each as "a" dive, for each of them were above 10' fsw) there was a spotted shrimp about 4-5" long from its nose to tail. It swam close to my nose looking at my eyes while I had both hands dragging tunicates from the overhead board. When I noticed it, I turned my eyes down to it and it backed up 2-3 inches but still starred at my mask, so I lower down my arms to get my camera, it was still waving hard with all its legs but didn't go anywhere. But at the moment my camera was in my hand half way up to my face, it was gone like a bullet. Oh, well..... since the camera was in my hand, I took a couple of pictures of the overhead board and Mike. The water had been stirred up so much by our team and another team about five feet away that the picture didn't show much of what we saw down there. After that we were just dragging down the big ones like grapes dripping down..... every bundle would have 10-30 or more tunicates and it we quickly filled a goodie bag.

After the first hour some divers were cold and wanted to get out, so we all got out of water for a pizza break where we discussed what to do next. But after the pizza most divers and supporters were gone. Only Mike, the group leader Simon Geerlofs and his wife (or girl friend) and I went back in just to check all the boat bottoms. Ann marked the boats with an orange tape indicating the ones that had tunicate growth on them.

Almost all the boats parked there had tunicates. It was only how thick the tunicates were that was an issue. Only one boat we looked at did not have any tunicates on it. It may have been Don's dive boat that is actually in use frequently. During the whole dive we saw only one Lion's Mane jelly fish, 6-7" wide cap when fully extended, with its tentacles a little mixed up, not in a very good shape. But I was in for the work dive so I didn't go out of our way for it. Besides that jelly I did not see any other fishes in the water the whole dive.

Anyway it seemed that it was a little too late for taking this 5 month old program to the road.  But it is better late than never.  I hope this road will continue. Thanks to people like Simon and his colleagues, who have the knowledge and ability to notice the eco balance and to raise the public awareness about this big change to the environment. Simon said that he will forward to all divers there that day his report on Pleasant Harbor. 

Hope there will be a pleasant ending to this issue.

http://www.photoshow.net/view/rQJpBqKee Copy and paste to your browser to watch Cheng's video!

Darlene Ripley

Hola, amigos y amigas. I bet you thought I had been abducted by aliens and gone to dive heaven because I have been very silent this year. Silent because I had nothing to report. However, I have now seen true aliens.

Some of you have met or seen my brother who suffered an aneurysm/stroke almost three years ago. At the time of his "illness" his daughters kept saying, "When this is over we're goin' to Mexico!". Well, 2 years later the daughters are over the "almost" death of their father and have moved on to other things. My sister-in-law spent hours, days, weeks, months doing therapy with my brother to get him back to "normal" and she wanted and needed a much deserved vacation when all was said and done. So, off to Ixtapa the four of us go.

My first airplane view of the area was coming into Zihuatanejo Airport where the flight path is over a jungle of assorted trees, bushes, palm trees, and huts. It was like in the movies when the helicopter is flying over "the jungle". I wondered if "Rambo", Bruce Willis or John Travolta were going to leap out of the assortment; then we landed. The day was bright with sun, 90 degree, warm air, hundreds of tourist in four immigration lines, and people complaining of the heat. David and I made it down the line to where we could see "the end" and a man approached us and said, "You won't know me but I'm your dentist from Flagstaff". Surprised? Oh, yes! He and his family were down for a week's vacation from the cold. (Yes, Dorothy, it gets cold in Flagstaff.)

With David's long, blonde hair, and his deep bronze tan everyone thought he was from California and were disappointed to learn he was from Washington; imagine our surprise to find people in our hotel pool from Federal Way, Renton, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, AND Issaquah. No way!! Yes, way. One of our Mexican taxi drivers lived in Renton for a year six years ago. What a small world of aliens, eh? Now . . . are the Mexicans aliens or are the Americans aliens? I'm so confused.

At the beach, David, who was born in the water, headed for the huge waves to body surf. While out there he made some new friends. He taught them how to "read" the waves, how to catch the waves, how to ride the waves, etc., etc., etc. This in turn brought forth mothers. David's new friends were boys in the pre-teen stage who could not stop talking about David who taught them to surf and their mothers had to come and tell him how wonderful he was. Word spread about the surfer dude from CA. Some of you know we dance a lot; being on vacation in a gorgeous resort in Ixtapa with lots of different things to do and explore did not stop that activity. Once word got out that the surfer dude from CA could dance too . . . a plethora of women wanted to talk and dance with him, especially the ones who thought he was Tom Petty on vacation. (One lady even had her picture taken with "Tom" for the folks back home.) Add to this the fact surfer dude from CA was a diver . . . now we have dads talking to us. Will it never end?

Finally, what did we come for? Oh, yes, diving. We took a taxi from Ixtapa to the marina in Zihuatanejo where we boarded a dive boat which took us back to Ixtapa to dive. Alien? While en route the DM told everyone the water was cold and we needed a long wet suit. He had a 3mil wet suit, hood, boots, gloves and also complained about bad visibility. We told him several times we were fine in our 3 mil and .75 mil shorties and anything beyond 3' visibility was good for us. He shook his head and I am sure he was thinking, "el loco gringos" and then explained about the thermoclyne. Then he said, "the water its very cold. It's only 70." I said, "70? We'll sweat in that." Everyone is ready and into the water we go. It is GORGEOUS 70 degree water with about 30'-40' visibility.

We did a shallow dive because there were two new divers on the boat getting certified. The male part of the twosome could not handle the boat ride nor the pressure of his first ocean dive and needed to hang in the water sin clothes until his recovery. And I thought I was a whoose. There were lots of colorful fish and brown and orange coral. Not too impressive for those who have dove the Palencar Reef off Cozumel.

Our second dive was back to Zihuatanejo and a very shallow cove—25' max. Sandy bottom, some fish, a couple of orange sea horses and then . . . and then . . . HUNDREDS of eagle rays; their sizes varying from tiny to small. It was a nursery. Some were hiding in the sand; as if we could not see their beady little eyes poking up, kids! There were also a couple of large skates; which surprised me. Them, I can see anytime in PS.

Back to body surfing, parasailing, sunbathing, dancing and Tequila for the surfer dude from CA. Two days later, back in the taxi, back to the marina in Zihuatanejo, back into the dive boat, and . . . off to Solitary Rock. This rock struts forth from a small reef off the coast of Mexico toward Baja or Hawaii, depending on your preference. This reef was home to electric blue fish, electric yellow fish, green fish, sea horses, puffer fish, etc. We were told to stay close to the reef because the bottom was 130' down and the DM wanted us to stay close to 70'. Again with new divers . . . different ones. My buddy had sucked up a lot of air taking photos and searching for the right subject so he had to surface and my new buddy was the DM. At one point he motioned for me to follow him away from the wall about 20' and turned around and pointed up and down. There in front of me was an enormously tall chunk of rock with yellow blooms on one side. No one else got to see because at this point one of the new divers swam to the DM showing him her air gauge. I guess she did not know the signal for GET ME THE HELL OUT OF THE WATER or was too panicked to remember it. Anyway, the DM grabbed a hold of her BC, she took about three swigs of air from her reg, took the reg out of her mouth, and he put his second stage in her mouth. We all ascended to 17' and sat for three minutes. I still had 1200 PSI. Off to our second dive . . . the ray nursery, again. Aghh, ya seen it once, ya seen it.

Ixtapa is a beautiful place to go and the people are very friendly and were eager to help the surfer dude from CA refresh his Espanol but a dive destination it is not. Give me Cozumel anytime. Well, maybe not right now with the hurricane damage and all but any other time.

As for the aliens I saw this time . . . French, German, Canadian, Russian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and a Mexican Linguistics Professor who told me more about English than I wanted to know! Happy Diving, Happy Traveling, and Happy Christmas/Holidays/Whatever

Norman Gregory

I was asked to submit a dive story about the ESDC trip to Thailand. Instead of offering up another "divelog" I am putting forth some thoughts about the culture we encountered including vacationing in the epicenter of the Thailand sex trade.

As much as I enjoy diving the real justification for taking myself, my wife and my daughter to Thailand was the opportunity to see and experience a different and exotic culture. I came to my first ESDC monthly meeting and picked up a brochure and by the end of the week had put down our deposit. Theeeennnnn I read on the internet and in the guide books about the reputation of Pattaya as the center of the notorious sex trade of Thailand. I silently wondered if maybe my first impressions of ESDC and president Loogpla may have been waaaaayyyyyy off the mark.

Our house and Rabbit Resort were both located in Jontien Beach, a community located to the south of Pattaya and noted in the guidebooks as having at least a bit of family focus. It was still a reality that as I walked down the street at 9a.m. past the groups of bar girls that I would be asked where I was from and they would come up and grab my hand as they began their sales pitch (I quickly learned that My Ow Ka (or something that sounded like that) means "no thank you"). As blatant as their Jontien Beach approach was it was nothing like walking past the numerous go-go bars and sex clubs in central Pattaya. A lone white male walking one street brought out the young women in large numbers and walking the next alley brought out the young men in droves.

On the other hand we were never at a loss to see sights that both astounded and amused us. Thousands of 100 cc motor cycles zipping through traffic – often making lanes for themselves in the two foot space between other vehicles and carrying a family of five. Side cars on the motor cycles filled with everything from sacks of concrete to booths selling fried chicken made in a wok sizzling away as the vehicle headed down the shoulder of the road to the next group of potential customers. Six story high scaffolding made of slim wooden poles with no visible cross bracing. McDonalds with Ronald bowing politely in the proper Thai way with his hands folded as in prayer. Fishing boats getting ready for the next outing crammed bow to stern and gunnel to gunnel on the dock painted in bright reds and blues; each one with a small shrine on the bow. Buddhist shrines ranging from the huge Buddha statue on the hilltop above town to the small spirit houses at every home and business (where we observed that spirits must prefer red Fanta soda over other flavors based on what was most often offered). Delicious fruits always served cut and displayed like a floral arrangement. Tropical islands surrounded by white sand beaches and 83 degree water. Lightning most days warning of the coming rainstorm with its 80 degree droplets. The constant smell of spicy food being cooked often over a small barbeque fire. Families fishing from the freeway where it passed over a Bangkok river.

We were surprised by the size of Pattaya and the surrounding towns. From the water we could see high rise condos stretching for miles along the beach. Everywhere construction was going on and sales offices were open for business. Then as we walked along we would see a vacant lot where a squatters village had risen up with multiple families living in squalor in corrugated metal shacks.

Max – our dive host – was originally from South Africa and immigrated to Thailand several years ago. We were pleased to learn that he has clearly fallen in love with the country, its people and its culture. Max hosted us to a cultural outing to a park area with acres of formal gardens, an elephant show, and a show of traditional Thai cultural events including dances. We also took a trip to Bangkok where we explored the floating market (and learned the hazards of even looking at an item in a shop when the proprietor has a 2 meter long hook with which to grab your boat). We were amazed by the intricate tile work on the dozens of buildings and structures in the royal palace. These places may have "touristy" in nature but they helped us appreciate the beauty of high Thai culture.

Back in Pattaya we did hear that the show at Tiffany's was a "must see". The show is made up of men – er… that is women – well they said they were men – but, oh my gosh, that's not how men I know look (in fact not many women are built like that) – you mean I was lusting over a ….. no no no …. I'm straight (I think …. I mean I'm sure!!). Lets just say we all left feeling VERY confused about everything we ever though we knew for sure about human sexuality.

We did learn that guessing the age of Thai women is VERY difficult for we American men (the women in the group seemed to do better). (At this point if Loogpla told me she was in her 80's I would have to believe her.) On the other hand seeing balding, fat, European men in Speedos one after another with young appearing Thai girls giggling at their sides didn't feel right. (In fact Mark told me later that it "really bothered" him – maybe that's why I've come to like the guy – he's got a good heart.) I had gone with the attitude that I couldn't change the way things were so I would just observe and not get emotional about it. On the other hand I think in our little sand-flea-size way we maybe did make a positive impact. We shopped for things other than sex (my power shopper daughter made a huge impact on the gross national product of Thailand I'm sure) and we supported a growing environmentally sound business when we hired Adventure Divers. None of these alone is going to keep young girls from leaving their village homes in the north of Thailand to go to Pattaya and make an income to support families back home; but they may give them opportunities to choose to make the income from selling goods other than their bodies.

The last day we were in the Pattaya area I saw an aged man with a hand cart loaded with at least a hundred wicker baskets. He paid me no attention as I walked by so I'm sure he was planning to market his wares to the local folk rather than to tourists. I took a second look at his load and a small woven spirit house decoration caught my eye as a possible addition to Clarice's tree ornament collection. He was not even able to tell me the price in English. Standing next to the cart was a young Thai woman and a White man – I suspect that a negotiation was taking place for her the use of her body as his play toy. The woman saw that the elderly Thai man needed help negotiating with the American man and offered to help. In the end I bought two baskets (and may have paid far above market price) and bowed a proper Thai "good bye" to the basket seller. I then thanked the young woman for her help and headed on my way with my purchase. In the preceding paragraph I said I had gone on the trip with the belief that I couldn't change the way things are in the sex trade in Pattaya, Thailand; the glance the woman gave me as I walked away made me believe otherwise. The look on her face suggested that the small act of being kind to an elderly basket salesman and demonstrating appreciating for something she had done with her intelligence may have made her stop and think, if only for a moment, that perhaps there was another side to Old White Men than she had considered before. I would like to believe that I left Thailand a tiny, tiny bit better than I found it. I'm very sure that ESDC did so as a group. I'm also sure that we as a group have grown in our appreciation and knowledge of the world because we went.

Club Logo Clothing

Anyone interested in logo patches or clothing with our logo embroidered on said article please make yourself known to any of the board members so we can put an order together.

Christmas Party

in Snohomish.

Saturday,  December 10th 2005.

The Cabbage Patch Restaurant

111 Ave. A Snohomish Wa. 98290

6:00 pm (the upstairs room)

Dinner Menu is as follows:

Soup or Salad

Your choice of Baked or mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes or rice

Vegetables & Assorted Rolls

Any choice of non-alcohol beverage (soft drinks, coffee, tea, lemonade or milk

Entree' s are as follows

Prime Rib w/Au jus

Honey baked salmon (baked with honey and citrus)

Pecan Chicken

Charbroiled chicken breast smothered in a creamy Honey Mustard sauce.

Artichoke & Mushroom Penne

Sautéed in olive oil w/ Italian herbs,onions and red peppers

topped with Asiago cheese

Dessert

The Cabbage Patch Tartlets

There is a no host bar

All dinners are $20 per person, alcohol is not included.  The Restaurant will be decorated and looking good.  There will be a GIFT EXCHANGE (NOT WHITE ELEPHANT) the max. is $20 per gift.  Greg is planning another award show.  Oh ya the best part the Raffle we are getting some cool prizes this year.  Each extra raffle ticket is $5.  I will need to get RSVP's and Payment before the Party.  If you all could RSVP with what kind of entree you would like, that would make everything go smooth. Please bring your money for the meal at the November meeting that would be great.  If you cannot pay then November 20th will be the cut off date.  You can RSVP at esdcrsvp121005@yahoo.com I will let you know, at a later date where to mail your money if you can not pay at the meeting.  If you know someone in the club that does not receive e-mails please contact me.  We will send out a paper invitation to them. We will have a great time so join in on the fun. 

Did you know that if you show your ESDC membership card at Northwest Sport Dive you get a free air fill? Be sure you have your ESDC membership card with you when you go shopping at dive shops—you just never know.

If other shops give you a discount please let us know and we will publish their name.

You could win a $50.00 ESDC check by hosting club dives. Every time you sponsor a club dive your name "goes into a hat" and twice a year a raffle will be held and one person from each drawing will receive $50.00 from ESDC as a Thank You for sponsoring dives, friendships, and fun! Remember, a club dive is a dive approved by Greg Becvar, Activities Coordinator, and placed on the clip-board and on the ESDC web site. This is a great way to meet club members and have lots of fun. Book your dives today! Remember: the more dives you book the more chances you have of winning.

When you take a class that furthers your diving experience, such as Advanced Open Water, Rescue, Dive Master, etc., show The Board your certification card and you will receive a congratulatory $15.00. This offer is only good one time per calendar year.

E-mail Jason Miller, our mailing list moderator, jason.t.miller@comcast.net

to be put on the ESCD yahoo group mailing list

(www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ESDClist) where you can communicate with other members regarding various dive topics, find dive buddies, or let everyone know about a

planned dive that did not make it to the newsletter or clipboard in time. Join the list so YOU won't be left out!

Wednesday, January 4 at Alfy's Pizza

4820 196^th SW

Lynnwood WA

425-775-5459

Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.; everyone is welcome to join. General meeting, 7:00 p.m.

Heading north on I-5: take exit 181B (196^th St SW/Alderwood Mall Pkwy). At the top of the exit there is a stop light, turn left. At the next stop light turn left onto 196^th St SW proceeding to 48^th. Alfy's is on the south side of the road. (Alfy's is 4 blocks down from The Rock.)

Heading south on I-5: take exit number 181 (Lynnwood). At the top of the exit there is a stop light, turn right onto 196^th St SW, proceed to 48^th. Alfy's is on the south side of the road. (Alfy's is 4 blocks down from The Rock.)

President Loogpla Cowden loogplacowden@att.net

Vice-President Steve Berthinier resoyrua@verison.net

Secretary/historian Rose Lyn Tadlock tadloro2002@yahoo.com

Treasurer Cheng-Hui Wong chengwong@comcast.net

Activities Coordinator Greg Becvar tridoxia@yahoo.com

Newsletter Editor David Ripley esdcnewsletter@mindspring.com

Big Buddy Coordinators Skip Stacy skipstacy@aol.com

Wendy Drucker astromoi@earthlink.net

Greeter Shawn Miller shawnm1833@yahoo.com

Web Master Phil Morgan-Ellis pmorg@olympus.net

Visit our web site: www.emeraldseadiveclub.org

Write us: Emerald Sea Dive Club

PO Box 73

Edmonds WA 98020

Contact any of the board members via telephone or e-mail www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ESDClist

₪ Greg Becvar

360-659-2853

tridoxia@yahoo.com

₪ Bruce Bury –PADI rescue

425-788-8063

bury1of6@aol.com

₪ Jason Miller –Rescue

425-778-7548

Jason.t.miller@comcast.net

₪ Skip Stacy – rainy days

425-775-2410

₪ John Laggart –weekday dives

jmnlaggart@msn.com

If you are interested in being included on this list please contact the editor.

DATE LOCATION HOST