San Francisco Reef Divers November 2017 Volume XLV No. 11 · San Francisco Reef Divers November...

San Francisco Reef Divers November 2017 Volume XLV No. 11

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THE SEA OF CORTEZ BY LIVE ABOARD by Jacob Rosenstein

I dove this part of the world twice using day boats based out of La Paz in 2003, and based out of Cabo San Lucas 2 years later, which also included a trip to Cabo Pulmo. This time I chose the M/V Valentina, which is docked at the Municipal Pier in central La Paz. What’s the difference you may ask? Whale Sharks and Hammerheads, although my group didn’t see the latter.

The crew delivered on the promise of snorkeling with Whale Sharks. After an hour of circling the Bay of La Paz in a smaller boat, our Dive Masters spotted a pair of juvenile Whale Sharks. All 14 of us jumped into the warm water in groups. I only got a brief glimpse, as the sheer number of spectators scared them. But there were other solitary “teen agers” who didn’t mind our presence on subsequent ventures into the water. What a thrill! I tried to swim away, but one of them swam closer to me while feeding. These were not the 30 to 40 foot fully grown adults of the species, but half the size. Kudos to Lorenzo Beltran for scheduling the trip a day ahead of schedule since bad weather was predicted for our final dive day. More about this adventure later.

The difference in the live aboard experience was diving remote Isla San Francisquito where California sea lions hung out, minus the many day boats, which did not venture this far. We were treated to a show underwater as I discovered a sand patch surrounded by rocks where sea lions were cavorting and showing off their acrobatic skills. One sea lion remained below while the others went up to the surface, then hurriedly returned to continue frolicking. Soon, the other group of divers

joined us in a semi circle as we watched, laughed and took pictures and video of the entertainment.

I did a couple of night dives watching squadrons of Mobula Rays attracted to a bright dive light placed on the sea floor. The glow lit up plankton and the rays kept coming for more food. It was amazing to see so many rays gliding, circling

overhead and speeding near us as we sat in awe on the shallow sandy bottom.

There were 3 ship wrecks during my dive week. At La Reina, I saw the propeller, boiler and drive shaft remains of the “Mazatlan”, which sank on the reef during a storm. I also dove the “C-59” shipwreck, listed on its starboard side, and it was impenetrable. The wreck of the “Fang Ming” freighter was penetrable

and quite good as it was upright. Lots of Cortez angelfish, Snapper, Giant damselfish and Blue Chin parrotfish make their home here. Max depth was 77 feet, and I had 45 minutes of bottom time while enjoying the inside and top deck of this ship.

There was a plethora of marine life in this part of the Sea of Cortez. Green morays and Octopus at El Bajito, California sea lions at Los Islotes, Zebra Moray at El Bajo, Gray Bar Grunt, Gold and Blue Snapper and Mexican Barracuda at Loberia de San Francisquito, a pair of Machete (tarpon family) at the “C-59” shipwreck as well as a Jaw Fish with eggs in its mouth, and a Banded Guitar Fish at Punta Lobos.

I woke up on our last dive day to a tropical storm- pouring rain, choppy seas with white caps as far as the eye can see. Diving was cancelled. The Valentina was headed to port. One diver changed her itinerary to catch an early flight out of La Paz. The rest of us packed up and headed for the dock.

Continued on page 5


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REEFER’S RAP - 2017

JANUARY

01 - New Year’s Day 14 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 16 - Martin Luther King Day 18 - Almanac Taproom 2704 24th Street @ Potrero 20 - Inauguration Day 28 - Chinese New Year

FEBRUARY

02 - Groundhog Day 11 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Doc 14 - Valentine’s Day 15 - l'emigrante wine bar, 2199 Mission Street 20 - President’s Day

MARCH

11 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 12- Daylight Savings Time 15 - Fermentation Lab, 1230 Market Street 17 - Saint Patrick’s Day

APRIL

01 - April’s Fools Day 08 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 19 - Barebottle Brewery, 1525 Cortland Ave., near Bayshore (before freeway)

MAY

05 - Scuba Show - Long Beach 17 - Movable Feast - Broken Record, 1166 Geneva Avenue 29 - Memorial Day Holiday

JUNE

10 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 21 - Ali Baba’s Cave, 799 Valencia Street @ 19th Street

JULY

04 - Independence Day Holiday 08 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 19 - Social Brewery & Kitchen, 1326 9th Avenue at Irving

AUGUST

12 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 16 - Rosamunde Sausage Grill, 2832 Mission Street

SEPTEMBER

04 - Labor Day Holiday 17 - 19 Peace Dive Boat 20 - PI Bar 1342 Valencia

OCTOBER

09 - Columbus Day 14 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 18 - PI Bar 1342 Valencia 31 - Halloween

NOVEMBER

05 - Daylight Savings Time Ends 11 - Veterans Day 19 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 15 – Blacksands Brewery 701 Haight Street 23 - Thanksgiving Day

DECEMBER

16 - Sanctuary Dive Boat - K Dock 20 - Movable Feast - TBD 25 - Christmas Day


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STAMMTISCH By Pierre Hurter

It’s November and as I’m sure you all know they’re are some key dates and events, National Pomegranate Month, National Vinegar Day, National Deviled Egg Day, National Vichyssoise Day, National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day and my personnel favorite National Espresso Day.

The official end of summer for me comes when we end daylight saving time. You’ll note the official spelling, saving not savings time. Saving is used here as a verbal adjective (a participle). It modifies time and tells us more about its nature; namely, that it is characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a saving daylight kind of time. Never mind, I normally say savings time when I’m talking about it and as long as you

remember whether its time to spring forward or fall back, it all works out fine. Funny how we call the alternative Standard Time, even thou we spend eight months of the year on Daylight Saving Time. Anyway, I’ll finally get that hour of sleep back, now if only I could collect on the interest.

One of my favorite stories about Daylight Saving Time has to do Benjamin Franklin, publisher of the old English proverb "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". During his tenure as the American envoy to France, he anonymously published a letter suggesting that Parisians economize on candles by rising earlier to use morning sunlight. His 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells and firing cannons at sunrise. Franklin was one of our founding fathers, a brilliant wit, raconteur and a bit of a rake, but not the inventor of Daylight Saving Time.

Last month I had the opportunity to be on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien as we sailed to Mare Island to put her into dry-dock ... OK, it was a graving dock, but in the end it’s dry. First call was at 5:00, I had to get up at o-dark thirty to make it to Fisherman’s Wharf in time. We slipped the mooring lines, brought on the lines from the tugs and headed out at 6:30. Being on the deck crew consists of handling lots of lines, big and small. You toss a heaving line, a light line with a monkeys fist at the end to the tug. They tie it to a messenger line, a heavier line, around an inch in diameter. You haul it onboard using “Norwegian Steam” ... muscle power. The tug end of the

messenger is tied to a heavier line, about three inches in diameter, again hauled onboard with muscle power. You loop the eye at the end of that line to a bit on the bow and stern and the tugs are secure.

While all this is going on you let loose the lines mooring the ship to the dock, bow, spring and stern. Most of this is done with old-fashioned muscle power. A three-inch line that’s dropped into the bay weighs a lot, a great time to have some young cadets aboard eager to show how strong they are. Once that’s done there isn’t much to do, reposition the booms, tidy-up and then coffee.

Once we were in Vallejo we made a bit of a tourist circuit until the dock was ready to receive us. Once again tugs fore and aft, pushing and pulling to line the ship up with the graving dock. We made our way forward slowly, throwing lines to the dock-crew and pulling the ship forward with the lines keeping the ship from swinging back and forth.

Once lined up and safely in the dock a caisson is towed into place at the end of the dock, lined up and filled with water forming a waterproof gate at the end of


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the graving dock. You then start pumping out the water until the ship is sitting on prepositioned blocks and phase one is done.

It was a long day, a spot of hard work at either end with long periods of down time in-between, but lots of fun. Those of us going back to the City headed for the Mare Island Brewing Company at the ferry building to wait for our ferry ride to the Embarcadero. A long day topped off by a cold beer, doesn’t get any better than that.

What else is going on in November? Well there’s Halloween, All Hallows Day, Dia De Los Muertos, All Saints Day, or All Souls Day if you prefer; a time to remember those who have passed out of our lives. It’s also Veterans Day, Remembrance Day in Canada and other parts of what was once an empire. November 11, the 11th hour of the 11th month of

1918, when Germany signed an Armistice to end hostilities on the Western Front. The “war to end all wars” didn’t officially end until June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. It was the main treaty of the five peace treaties that terminated World War I. There was the Treaty of Saint-Germain, for Austria; Trianon, for Hungary; Neuilly, for Bulgaria; and Sèvres, for Turkey. Signed on June 28, 1919, by Germany on the one hand and by the Allies (save Russia) on the other, the Treaty embodied the negotiations of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and set the stage for World War II.

It’s interesting to note that we used to celebrate Armistice Day, now it’s Veteran’s Day. Armistice Day commemorated the “war to end all wars”. Veterans Day commemorates the reality of war today. There will probably never be a “war to end all wars”, certainly not at the rate we’re going.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to

hold it high! If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields ... John McCrae

We tend to ignore history and maybe that’s the way it was meant to be, but on Veterans Day I am oft reminded of two quotes; "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - which may or may not have been written by George Orwell and “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it.” Jack Nicholson (A Few Good Men).

Meanwhile continuing on the theme of what’s new in Baghdad by the Bay. Its official Jeffrey’s Toys has reopened at 45 Kearny Street at Maiden Lane. The old spot on Market Street is still for rent. You can raise the rent, but empty is still empty. The Cartoon Art Museum, which had a space at 655 Mission Street for a long time, has found a new home at Fisherman’s Wharf across the street from Aquatic Park.

The Cartoon Museum's archive includes original Disney animation art from the collection of Mike Glad, comic strip art by Charles Schulz (Peanuts), Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) and Bil Keane (Family Circus), comic book art from DC and Marvel legends Bob Kane, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and many


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other works.

On the downside, The Great Overland Book Company on Judah is closing at the end of the month. The place is chock a block full of bucks, stacks of newspapers, magazines and prints. I’m a fan of old Popular Mechanics magazines, tons of “how to build it yourself” articles. I picked up a 1940’s copy of Golden Gate The Story of San Francisco Harbor by Felix Riesenberg, Jr. Another fascinating chronicle of a hardworking blue collar city, white gloved society women, steamship owners and bankers that is now long gone.

Books stores are a rapidly disappearing feature of the landscape. Out in the Avenues Thidwick Books on Clement Street is calling it a day after 23 years. I’m not Luddite, but all to often as Joni Mitchell would say “Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone.” I think what’s really going on is that we know what we had, we just never thought we’d lose it.”

Close to home, just down the hill, it looks as if Pasta Gina has called it quits after a decade of providing some pretty good take out Italian. The sign in the window is a bit vague, but it doesn’t seem like a positive development. When I walked by this morning there was a real estate sign announcing that the space was “available”.

Just when you think everything that’s quirky about San Francisco is gone you run into a reminder that it’s not so. Happened to be down at the Ferry Building picking up some rustic roles at the Acme Bakery. Wandering down Market Street there was Frank

Chu with his 12 Galaxies sign is still at it. He’s been wandering Market Street since the late 1990’s carrying a sign calling for the impeachment of a variety of former U.S. Presidents he considers guilty of collaborating with a nefarious network of alien populations called the "12 Galaxies”.

TV is full of Christmas movies, Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving is still around the corner. You can’t blame me for being a bit confused, Halloween, after Christmas sales, Thanksgiving and then it’s already a New Year.

One of the things I have always liked about the holiday season are catalogues; thick, glossy, colorful with a smell that I somehow find intriguing. Sure they’re old fashioned, but apparently they still sell. According to statistics from the Direct Marketing Association catalogues hit their peak in 2007, with 19 billion delivered. There have been a few tuff years but there are still some 12 billion delivered every year.

Lets face it when your sitting in the “library” pondering the great questions of our times, history, philosophy and whether you

should have hit the fan before beginning your morning ritual, a catalogue seems much more appropriate than a laptop. There is something appealing about looking at the gorgeously staged pictures of beautiful people wearing a traditional French working man’s wool coat while holding a heirloom, hand forged, made in America Hudson Bay axe and dragging a Christmas tree towards their handcrafted replica of a Caleb Chase late-1800s-design guide boat. Who can resist?

Don’t get me wrong I love this stuff. I have always been engrossed by our apparently never-ending fascination with “genuine” working stiff clothes and accessories. We have a Filson store in Jackson Square; a company that started out providing clothes for people seeking their fortunes during the Gold Rush. They still have great clothes, just a bit expensive for actually wearing for work. The other day I checked a slick, “curated” clothing store that among other things had a couple of wool shirts that were exact copies, right down to the tag inside announcing that they were a “shirt, cold weather, field.” I still have a picture of me wearing

one, of course at the time I didn’t

pay $200.

Lest you

think that I’m


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being targeted as part of some sort of “old fart” demographic, I note that the catalogues we get run the gambit from Guideboat to Buzz Rickson to Huckberry to Duluth Trading Company from Lumber sexual to an emporium of all things blue collar. Who could possibly resist a shirt described as “Men’s Hanger Bender Fire Hose Shirt Jac”? In the interests of full disclosure I have one of these beefy rascals in steel blue, it’s great for those cold days on the Bay.

Right now I’m checking out the B&H photo catalogue, trying to decide between the medium format Leica DSLR for $18,950 with the 30-90mm f/3.5-5.6 Vario-Elmar lens for $10,895 and the Hasselblad H6D-100c at $32,995 with a 50 mm f/3.5 lens at $5,150. Of course there is always the more compact Leica Digital Rangefinder, a bargain at $6,995. That’s the great thing about catalogues; you can do all the fantasy window-shopping you want in the comfort of your own home.

We’re not going diving next week, we pushed the monthly club dive back a week, so you’ll have to wait for a write-up, until then dive deep, often and safely.

Sea of Cortez from page 1

My flight was scheduled to leave in a couple of days so there was no urgency. La Paz appeared gloomy as the rain continued to fall, the sky was dark and the wind blew the palm trees crooked. I found a good restaurant within walking distance of my hotel that was actually open, and stocked up on provisions for the night when power was scheduled to be turned off. Not much to do but read, watch Mexican and U.S. television until power down. Luckily, power stayed on all

night, but the following day everything was closed. Yesterday’s restaurant was today a take-out only. I passed the time with a long brunch at the hotel, reading, walking the flooded streets for food, and talking to one of the hotel workers. It was a nightmare getting to the Los Cabos Airport the next day. Roads were littered with sand, mud, debris, and a landslide closed part of the main highway. A bridge on the airport by-pass near Los Cabos collapsed in the storm, making the trip accessible only by city streets. The shuttle

van took me as far as Cabo San Lucas. I boarded a taxi, the driver convinced the Provincial Police to let us past the check point and unto the road heading for the airport, telling him that I was going to my home in Cabo San Lucas. When I boarded the plane, the flight attendant informed me that S.F. temps reached 106 degrees F the previous day. I couldn’t believe it. It was hotter at S.F.O. than in the Baja peninsula, but I was really glad to be home.

Old School Makes a Comeback The SS Jeremiah O’Brien is

currently in dry dock getting its once every five years checkup and overhaul. One of the things that most fascinates me is the rudder bearing. It’s made of lignum vitae.

Lignum vitae, Latin for "tree of life," is a wood obtained chiefly from the Guiacum officinale and Guiacum sanctum trees. They are small, slow-growing trees that are listed as potentially endangered species in the Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. It takes 350 years to grow a lignum vitae tree that can be harvested.

The wood is self-lubricating from a natural substance called guaiac gum that is bound in the homogeneous fiber of the wood and is impervious to water. It releases and coats the surface of the bearing as the shaft warms the bearing.

Lignum vitae was the main industrial bearing before World War I, and World War II placed a heavy demand on the supply of


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lignum vitae for stern tubes for nearly every ship in the U.S., German and Japanese fleets.

It's the world's densest wood, and has such unusual properties that the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, had its aft main shaft

strut bearings made out of the wood.

I thought it was a leftover, replaced by modern materials, but it appears that it is still very much in use. Partially due to recent EPA rulings for accidental oil spills there is a move to conversions back to water-lubricated solutions. Lignum vitae provides a water-lubricated technology that can operate at a zero clearance to replace oiled and composite bearing types. Converting to Lignum vitae can eliminate potential EPA lawsuits and fines for accidental spills

Old School ... sometimes there is a reason why people have been

doing something the same way for a long time. It’s not always because they are resistant to change, sometimes, it’s just the best way to go.

SFRD October’s Blast From The Past

Once again You are There, the time is November 1997, here are some of the highlights of Volume XXX No. XI of The Reef Diver Times, Newsletter of the San Francisco Reef Divers. For those of you wondering how this is possible, you need only remember Mr. Peabody of Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show. As you may recall, Mr. Peabody, is a beagle and the smartest being in existence. A Nobel laureate, Olympic medalist, scientist and inventor, despite his many accomplishments, he is lonely. So, he decides to adopt. He meets Sherman a dorky, bespectacled, red-haired boy. After saving Sherman from a group of bullies, Peabody discovers that Sherman is an orphan and decides to adopt him. After a court appearance and a

talk with the President, Peabody becomes Sherman's new guardian. As a birthday gift for Sherman, Peabody invents the WABAC (Wayback) time machine. He and Sherman go back in time to see a Roman speaking in Latin; Peabody adds a translator circuit to the machine so that everyone seems to speak English. Their next trip is to see Ben Franklin flying his kite and discovering electricity, but Peabody and Sherman realize that they cannot interact or change the past. Peabody makes some more adjustments, turning the WABAC into a "should-have-been machine". That brings us to where we are now … REEF RAP November 29 and/or 30 Abalone Season Closer Coordinator needed(don’t be shy ne members). Tuesday December 16 Holiday Party Karen Wertz needs organizing this fun filed tradition. Please give her a call if you have some good ideas.


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Saturday December 28 Kayak Paddle Trip Enjoy a winter afternoon paddling the Oakland Estuary. Call Anthony Singleton for more information. LONG SHORE CURRENTS Thursday, January 1 Traditional New Year’s Day Hangover Dive Friday - Sunday, February 6 - 8 Ski Trip to Lake Tahoe

Brain-eating parasite may have caused California's leopard shark die-off A brain-eating fish parasite may have been the cause of the die-off of local leopard sharks and coastal ray species this summer. Over 1,000 sharks and some 500 bat rays have washed up dead in the San Francisco Bay Area since the die-off began and researchers have been scrambling for answers all this time.

Initial reports suggested a fungal pathogen, but DNA and RNA samples taken from several collected specimens suggest a protozoan parasite called Miamiensis avidus may be to blame. Hanna Retallack, a PhD student at the University of California San Francisco, detected the single-celled invaders in five shark

specimens sent to her by California Fish and Wildlife veterinary pathologist Mark Okihiro.

The parasite is well known: it's been tied to mass deaths in commercial hatcheries over the years, and has been studied in fish species like olive flounder.

Endangered vaquita porpoise dies in captivity A vaquita porpoise captured by a group of scientists attempting to save the species from extinction has died, prompting a review of the operation launched last month in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California.

The Vaquita CPR (Vaquita Conservation, Protection and Recovery) program, is the name of the operation led by Mexico’s Environmental Ministry in coordination with the San Diego-based National Marine Mammal Foundation and other organizations.

There are believed to be fewer than 30 vaquitas left in the world. The vaquita are a small porpoise that only lives in the Upper Gulf of California. Its population has been in a steep decline in recent years, as the animals have been caught in illicit nets used to catch another endangered species, the giant totoaba fish. The totoaba’s swim bladders are in demand in Asia, where

some believe in their curative powers.

The latest update; scientists have decided to halt their efforts to capture endangered vaquita porpoises on the Sea of Cortez.


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A mountain lion in San Francisco? Not dive related, but certainly local news of note. We heard a helicopter circling all morning on Friday and wondered what was going on. Turns out it was a mountain lion up the road in Diamond Heights.

According to a Twitter post the lion was shot with a tranquilizer gun by a Department of Fish and Wildlife warden shortly before 2 pm. How would you like to look out on your backyard and see this kitty?

SINCE JANUARY 1ST 1973

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO REEF DIVERS (SFRD): The Reef Diver Times is the official newsletter of the San Francisco Reef Divers, a not for profit

community organization dedicated to safe sport diving and the preservation of our ocean resources. Membership is $25 annually, dues payable to “SFRD”. The General Meeting is held the 3rd Wednesday of

the month. Location is announced one week prior to the meeting. Please check our yahoo site for details http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfreefdivers/ We meet at 7:00pm for socializing, drinks, food and club

business. For more information, visit http://www.sfreefdivers.org or our Facebook page

SAN FRANCISCO REEF DIVERS

Reef Diver Times C/O Gerda Hurter


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515 Diamond Street San Francisco, CA 94114

San Francisco Reef Divers November 2017 Volume XLV No. 11 · San Francisco Reef Divers November...

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