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I will take this pledge: “I will help save the underwater world that I love to visit.”
There is a league of nonprofit organizations dedicated to protecting, preserving, restoring and revitalizing our underwater world. They all need monetary contributions, of course, but they also need volunteers to assist in their efforts. Sometimes it’s as simple as signing a petition for new legislation. Sometimes it involves diving, helping as a researcher or collector. Sometimes all you need do is spread the good word.
Visit these sites and find what you can do.
Ocean Defenders Alliance www.oceandefenders.org
Orange County Ocean Restoration Project www.getinspiredinc.org
Adopt-A-Beach, California Coastal Commission www.coastal.ca.gov
Southern California’s Giant Kelp Restoration Project www.cacoastkeeper.org
Coral Reef Alliance www.coralreefalliance.org
Ocean Conservancy www.oceanconservancy.org
Oceans for Youth Foundation www.oceansforyouth.com
Oceans Futures Society www.oceanic-society.org
Project AWARE Foundations www.projectaware.org
Reef Check www.reefcheck.org
The Ecocean Whale Shark Photo Identification Library www.whale-shark.org
If you want to dive more often and dive locally, by all means join a dive club. Check these out. We'll see you at the monthly meetings.
Laguna Sea Dwellers http://www.lagunaseadwellers.com
South Orange County Dive Club http://www.socdc.com
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain
Dive Training Magazine is the best publication our industry has. Unfortunately the publishers do not promote subscriptions to long-time divers like us. They focus on the new diver and offer free six-month subscriptions to students through the dive shops. So important articles often go unnoticed and unread by divers like you (not us, we have a subscription). That’s why on occasion we take license to summarize and quote some of the articles from that magazine.
Here is one in the September 2011 issue written by Greg Laslo, entitled,Your Brain on Scuba: Scientific Proof that a Diving Vacation is Good for Your Mind—and Body, Too
What follows is a much-edited version of a fascinating and enlightening article:
An active participatory getaway—hypothetically, a dive trip to a sunny island somewhere—does the body good. The mind, too. There’s a growing body of research in both the medical and psychological worlds that’s exploring the health aspects of recreation, as well as the mental stimulation we get when we’re having fun.
Vacations aren’t just good medicine. The benefits of play include lowering our stress as well as fulfilling our brain’s ingrained desire for, among other things, finding passion in our experiences. Stress takes a very real physiological toll on your body when its fight-or-flight hormones crash your system. It takes a psychological toll, too, edging you closer to burnout when you’re tired, disinterested in getting up in the morning, wracked with aches and pains, and suffering even from disrupted sleep.
Joe Robinson, author of “Don’t Miss Your Life” said, “We’re no different from cellphones or iPods: we need to get recharged. When you don’t get recharged, then you just run all your resources down. That’s when you get depleted, get into burnout mode, and that’s taking down your body, because it’s suppressing the immune system 24 hours a day so you can be vulnerable to any number of things going haywire. A vacation is a healing process. It lets you build back up your resources again.”
Scientific research backs this up:
Our brains release nerve-growth stimulating hormones that wire memories together for future recall. They’re imprinted in our brains, so they not only make us happy when we remember them, but they actually become self-defining. In other words, we think of ourselves as the sum total of our past adventures.
Robinson said, “Studies show experiences can make up happier than material things.”
Now I bet you want to read the whole article! Click Here
Joe interviews Bob and Ludek.
Joe: Congratulations, guys. You are now the owners of Joe Liburdi’s Dive & Photo. What do you have to say to all my friends reading this?
Bob: We are thrilled to have this dive shop. It is the best in Orange County, thanks to the hard work of you and Carl. You have such a good reputation in the dive industry that it is truly a honor being the new owner. Of course, we have big shoes to fill.
Ludek: But we will work very hard to fill them!
Bob: And we promise to maintain the high standards you set in teaching and providing great service.
Joe: You guys are young and energetic and have a lot of good ideas. I know you’ll serve the dive community well.
Ludek: Vitejte (Welcome in Czech) everyone!
Bob: Come visit. We want to get to know you all!
Meet the new guys on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jldiveandphoto
Joe will be presenting a series of photo workshops at Dive & Photo. Three are scheduled for February. Each will be two hours. Start time: 11am. Fee: $15 per session. Refreshments will be served. If you have a camera and strobe, Joe suggests you bring them.
Saturday, February 4 • Point-and-Shoot Imaging for Beginners. Getting started in Auto Mode
Saturday, February 11 • Point-and-Shoot Imaging for Beginners. Advancing to Manual Mode
Saturday, February 18 • Techniques for Imaging with SLR Digital Cameras. For Advanced Amateurs
Call Bob or Ludek for reservations: 1-800-855-99-SCUBA
Private Lessons with Joe, $50 per hour. Call Joe at 949-448-0499.
Snorkel, swim, free dive with blue sharks. Two Blue Shark Expeditions planned: Sunday, January 29th and Sunday February 5th. A full day on the Yellow Charter, with food and drinks, $180. Departs 6:30am from Mission Bay, San Diego. Space is limited. Call Bob or Ludek to reserve your spot at 1-800-855-99-SCUBA
If you like dive adventure books, you will love Deceptive Times by Matthew Liburdi.
U.S.Review had this to say about Deceptive Times:
Filled with salty language, high action, and even a taste of the supernatural, the story plays out on the page like a Hollywood blockbuster. Intended as the first in a series following the missions of Harry Street, Deceptive Times provides all the back story necessary to get a feel for the characters, from the loudmouthed Captain Red to the intense behaviors of the terrorists aboard the Sea Fever. For fans of action movies, this book has all of the sharp-shooting, explosions, and heroism you could ask for in a book.
Available on Amazon.com electronic version for $5.99
To learn more, go to http://www.matthewliburdi.com/Home.html
Only two spots left! Click here to read why Wakatobi is the dive destination everyone wants to visit: www.JoeLiburdi.com/tours
