Reef Check Discussion Forum

Please mark your calendar for Sunday January 27th, from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.


Greetings divers,

I'm sure it's a busy time of year for you all, but I wanted to personally thank you for your support of Reef Check in 2012 and for being part of our team. Now that our survey season is officially over, I'm looking ahead to 2013. I know, it's crazy, but our recertification trips are just a few months away (the dates will be posted here in a few days: http://reefcheck.org/rcca/training_schedule.php )! I always like to end the old survey season with a bang and we have finally confirmed our Volunteer Appreciation Party date for Sunday January 27th. We'd like to thank all SoCal volunteers for your hard work in 2012 and to get you all excited for an big 2013 survey season. It's time to party!

We are mixing it up this year - for the first time ever we are holding this party at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. Our friends at the Aquarium of the Pacific have been so gracious over the years (thanks guys!) but we thought you might like to check out another awesome venue in SoCal this time around! Julianne Steers, RCCA star volunteer and Ocean Institute staff member, has been working with me to plan this year's party. Not only will we have our usual food/drinks/mingling/recap event and the presentation of the coveted Golden Slate, we will also have the option of joining a discounted whale watching trip after the party on the Ocean Institute's research vessel (see details below).

Both events are open to all RCCA certified divers who either got trained/recertified as a RCCA diver in 2012 or took part in at least one data collection survey in 2012 or assisted with data entry. Volunteers are also encouraged to bring a guest or two.

For the party, we'll have some info regarding our successes from 2012, a survey calendar for 2013, some photos to share with all of you and food/beverages. In addition, we will have access to the Ocean Institute for the day. There will be lots of other fun surprises as well (did someone mention a Golden Slate?), so I hope you can join us. The party portion of the day is completely free and includes admission to the Institute, food, drinks and my scintillating presentation/photos as entertainment. The party takes place from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. You are welcome to bring one or two guests with you. It's a great way to share your connection to RCCA with your friends and family! It's also a great way to give your non-Reef Check dive buddies a taste of what our program is all about! In order to plan for food, I will need to know exactly how many people will be attending by Thursday January 24th. Please respond to this post to let me know if you will be attending and if you will be bringing a guest or two.

As mentioned, there is also an opportunity to join us for a discounted whale watching trip, which will take place from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. The Ocean Institute will be running a whale watching trip on their boat in the afternoon, just after our party ends. We will be able to attend for $22 per person, which is discounted from the general admission price, and will be paid directly to the Ocean Institute. I will get more details for you on that, but please let me know in your reply below if you (and your guests) are interested in that option so I can get a general idea of those that may want to do the boat trip.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about this event. You can email me directly at colleen@reefcheck.org.

Hope to see you all there!

Attendees:
1. Colleen - whale watching interest
2. Brianne - whale watching interest
3. Mike I
4. Mike I guest
5.
6. Dirk
7. Dirk guest
8. Kevin Sullivan - whales
9. Liz Sullivan - whales
10. Barbara L - whales
11. Chris G - whales
12. Chris G - guest - whales
13. Sullivan - guest 1 whales
14. Sullivan - guest 2 whales
15. Ted S.
16. Jerry F.
17. Michelle H.- whales
18. Michelle H. - guest - whales
19. David B. -whales?
20. David B. - guest +baby- whales?
21. John M
22. Robin H.
23. Jeanne - whales
24. Jeanne guest - whales
25. Colleen guest - whales
26. Julianne
27. Matt McNally
28. Robert McClatchy
29. Robert McClatchy - guest
30. Claes - whales
31. Claes guest - whales
32. claes guest -whales
33. Dana M -whales
34. Bryan + baby -whales
35. Ana Luisa- whales?
36.Ana Luisa- guest- whales?
37. Kim Botts - whales
38.
39.
40.

I'll be there with one guest. We'll be staying on land that afternoon.
-Mike

Kevin and Liz Sullivan will be there. To watch whales too!!

I will be there!

And I would love to go whale watching

_________________
--
Barbara Lloyd
Videographer & Producer
Stella Luna Productions
http://www.StellaLunaProductions.com
http://www.vimeo.com/StellaLunaProd

858-255-4387 (office)
barbara.lloyd@gmail.com

Please Keep The World In Mind When Printing This!

I plan to be there.

Ted Sharshan

Count me in.

~Jerry F.

I will be there and will probably have one guest who will join me on the whale watching. I will confirm as soon as I know about the friend. Looking forward to it!

I will be there with my wife Daniela and Mattia.

Not sure if we can make it for the whale watching... it depends on our boy!!!

David Baccini

Hi, I will be there with my wife Julia and son Timothy. And, yes to Whales also.

Bryan and I will be there, with little Coral in tow... we're possibly interested in whale watching too.

I'll be there with a possible guest and possibly whale watching!

So glad you are able to attend our Volunteer Appreciation Party this coming Sunday January 27th at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point! The party starts at 10:30 and should last around 2 hours. And after that you are welcome to walk around and explore the place - there is a lot to see and do! We'll provide plenty of food, drinks and entertainment. You just need to show up. Special thanks to Julianne for being our gracious hostess for the event! Please let me know ASAP if your plans have changed and you can no longer attend. I'll need to know if our numbers changed since I still need to get the food.

I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see who wins the Golden Slate award this year - it's been wonderful seeing you all so much this year on all of our surveys and I think it will be a close race! There will also be, for the first time here in SoCal, a spectacular free raffle for all our divers. You will all receive a certain number of raffle tickets depending on how many transects you did in 2012. I've gathered some great prizes including sailing trips, wine cruises, hotel stays and dive trips out on the Lois Ann and the Magician. Should be awesome!

Here's some info about the party:

• Check this link for directions: http://www.ocean-institute.org/programs/directions.html
• Parking is free - just park out front or in an adjacent lot.
• Meet out front by 10:30 am. One of us will be out front to escort everyone up to our secret party location.
• All ages are welcome to join us for the party. However, see below about whale watching. Glad so many of you are bringing guests!

If you are interested in whale watching, Julianne has encouraged us all to call and pre-register/pay for the trip. It will save a lot of time the morning of the party (since there really isn't spare time between the party and the boat departure) and will also guarantee you a space on the boat. The trip is open to the public and they aren't holding any spaces for us, so we may be stuck at the dock with sad faces if they run out of space. Here are some things to know first:

• Minimum age is 4 years. This is an Ocean Institute policy, so that may affect your plans.
• Whale watchers must be wearing closed toe shoes (i.e. no sandals!) while onboard the vessel.
• The trip runs from 1:00 pm until approximately 3:30 pm.
• The trip will go on despite the weather, except for a torrential downpour. I know a few of you were concerned about the potential for some rain.
• To reserve your space at the special discounted members rate ($22 per person), call 949.496.2274 and speak with Barbara, if available. If not, anyone else should be able to help you. But you need to mention that you are calling regarding Reef Check and you should get the special rate. I'm guessing if there is a huge problem, you can say Julianne Steers helped arrange this special price.

I think this should cover most of the details. Please email me if you have any questions.

Thanks and I'm looking forward to partying with you Sunday morning!

Colleen

Hip hip hooray for our team!

Thanks to all who came out to celebrate our volunteers and our 2012 successes. The volunteer appreciation party at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point was a huge success. We had a great turnout, awesome food (thanks food helpers!), a gracious hostess (thanks Julianne and the Ocean Institute), a super fun raffle (thanks Matt, Lois Ann Dive Charters, the Magician Dive boat and all our other generous donors) and an excellent time out on the whale watching boat.

Congrats to Dirk Burcham, four time winner of the golden slate (this time it was the golden abalone) and first time winner Mike Ireland, winner of the silver slate. We had our most successful year to date last year, doing more surveys at more sites around the state. And we couldn't have done it without you. So thanks again!

I posted a few photos of our party here: http://gallery.reefcheck.org/index.php/ ... te-1-27-13

Hope to see you all on your recert this spring. We've got some big changes coming (did someone mention fish sizing to the nearest centimeter?) so we definitely need to get out to practice and recalibrate.

See you soon and thanks for all your help in 2012! We're looking forward to another successful year this year!

Colleen