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Congrats to the UCLA Women's basketball team for
their national championship . . .
QUITE A SHOW -
They really dismantled South Carolina in the
final and it was a runaway game that no one
predicted. What a rout!!! Final score was 79-51
and ALL of the points were scored by seniors. So
Cori Close has her work cut out for her next
year in rebuilding the team and trying to repeat
as champs. But it was a fun season and congrats
to all.
SANTA ANAS BLEW -
That generally knocks down all the wave action
for shore dives along the L.A. coastline and
Redondo (Vets Park) looked pretty good on the
live cam over the weekend. I just looked at
Windy.com for the L.A. Basin (https://www.windy.com/?33.702,-118.801,10)
and it looks like the wind will be shifting over
the next few days but will be staying pretty
calm at least through Thursday. So if you're
planning a beach/shore dive, it looks like this
might be a good week to do it.
CATALINA EXPRESS FARES WILL INCREASE -
If you don't want to beach dive, you could also
go over to Catalina but be aware that the
Catalina Express will be increasing fares as of
April 15. From Long Beach and San Pedro, the new
round-trip fare will be about $10 more than
current pricing due to rising fuel costs. (They
weren't able to show me an exact fare.) Trips
booked and paid for prior to April 15 will be
honored at the current fare.
APRIL FOOLS!!! -
Hope you enjoyed the April 1 newsletter and
thank you to those of you who sent me a note. I
don't know that we "got" any of you this year,
but it's always a fun challenge to write.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE OIL -
The Trump administration has announced that they
are exempting oil and gas companies drilling in
the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the
Endangered Species Act. (To be clear, this is
NOT a late April Fools joke/story.) Among the
animals in peril could be Rice's whales, of
which there are said to be 51 left and only
found in the Gulf of Mexico. You can read more
about this here: GULF
OIL & GAS FIRMS EXEMPTED.
CHAMBER DAY 2026 UPDATE -
We're doing OK but we certainly could be doing
better. Although our Reef Seekers Chamber Eve
table is full, I can get us another one if
there's enough interest. (I know a guy who has
some influence.) Just let me know via e-mail.
One thing we've always prided ourselves on - as
you may know, Reef Seekers for over 30 years has
acted as Chamber Day HQ - is how many of you
sign up each year for the Flying Dutchman, our
fake dive boat for the day. ($95 makes you a
member of the crew, you'll get five daytime
raffle tix, as well as the Flying Dutchman
t-shirt, which is ONLY available to Dutchman
crew members.) Right now we have 11 of the 43
"crew" signed up so far. Not bad, but usually we
make up a higher percentage of the crew. On top
of that, many of you also make a donation of
$100 or more to the Chamber Challenge. At any
rate, whatever element of Chamber Day strikes
your fancy, Reef Seekers divers have always been
a mainstay in making this event a success and we
hope that continues. And since our Chamber
relies on public funding for well over 50% of
the annual budget, the support from Reef Seekers
divers is a big deal. The direct link to the
sign-up page is https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0jFziXyUHZALTIG.
Hopefully we'll be adding your name soon if we
haven't already. And if you've yet to see the
various logos (available on t-shirts), here they
are: |
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