Otter Release on Saturday

Monterey Bay Aquarium released a young, surrogate reared otter on Saturday - good luck #451!!

See the full story here.

This is a good article to share with the dive instructors at Breakwater because many of them are not "otter friendly" after our good, but yet unidentified, friend continues to go out and play with/pop multiple dive floats on any given weekend.

I did call the aquarium about this strange behavior and they encouraged the dive community to stay patient - breakwater is the otter's home, not the divers!! They also stated that the oft repeated myth that the otter that frequents breakwater is a released otter from the aquarium is not true - this is a wild otter and has not been raised by humans or surrogates in the aquarium. This wild otter could be showing sings of aggression towards the divers by popping the floats or could have simply learned that "floats are fun" all on it's own.

Dive Date Changes & the Great Annual Fish Count

Taking a year off teaching scuba is turning out to be a GREAT opportunity to just make some fun dives! I'm more excited than ever to go diving and start getting into underwater photography. This business of being a part time independant instructor is the pits! My recommendation to anyone who ever thought about: DONT DO IT!

On another note; I was looking into underwater photography and current Monterey dive conditions, and realized that I've missed the "Great Annual Fish Count". So reminder to self, July is the month every year that divers around the world are counting fish - and that includes ALL interested divers, regardless of ability to identify the fish - what a great opportunity!! So put that on your calendars for next year!!

Also, I've gone ahead and booked a boat dive for Saturday, August 8 instead of August 1 in Monterey. Looking foward to playing with that camera underwater. Will be staying over Friday night.

August Dive Dates

I'd like to try to book Point Lobos or a boat for August 1st - I'll put out the word and see how many we can get to go on the dives! Fun dives only, no class. Bring your cameras!!

Also, I'm going to advertise for Gene's annual Tahoe trip, August 29 & 30. This trip is for both fun dives and altitude certification. I haven't gone yet, so I was thinking about joining this group and I might take the altitude class myself, since I've never done it. It's a great time to visit Tahoe and terrific instructing staff.

See you in the water!