Beach and Underwater Cleanup - Everyone's invited!

San Diego's oceans, bays, and beaches need our help!

Divers, snorkelers, waders, and shore walkers all may participate in this unique cleanup effort.

A volunteer opportunity for the whole family!

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Take a stroll along any San Diego beach or dive into our local waters then take a look around. You’ll see them: discarded plastic items, bottles, cans, and various other objects that just don’t belong. Want to do something about it? Here’s your chance, and you’ll have some fun doing it!

Power Scuba and San Diego Coastkeeper (http://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/) are teaming up to provide some “TLC” to the Mariner’s Basin corner of Mission Bay (see map below). This is definitely a unique event as we will be performing an underwater cleanup in concert with a traditional "above-water" beach cleanup. Power Scuba will be managing the cleanup, while San Diego Coastkeeper will have a representative on hand and will be supporting the dry-land beach cleanup effort by providing cleanup gear.

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Underwater Cleanup - Mariner's Basin is a calm, shallow body of water. Visibility can be quite good, and can make for an interesting dive, particularly along the rocks. Very large nudibranchs can often be found on the bottom in this area. Boats are moored in the shallow waters of Mariners Basin (wherever boats are moored, wine bottles, cans, cups and various other objects are sure to be found).
Thanks to the shallow nature of Mariner’s Basin, you don’t necessarily need to don scuba gear to participate in the underwater clean-up. You can help out as a snorkeler by covering the shallow zones (between 3 to 15ft deep). We can even use a few folks in kayaks or a small inflatable boat to help ferry the larger items back to shore and to provide on-the-water support.

Beach Cleanup - Don’t want to get wet? No problem. Roam the beaches surrounding Mariner's Basin. San Diego Coastkeeper will be providing bags and grab sticks for dry-land trash collection.

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Every small piece of trash we collect and remove from the marine environment is one less item that can find its way into the stomach of our local marine life.

Agenda

8:00 - Arrival / sign-in / refreshments
8:30 - Welcome / Environmental Talk by SD Coastkeeper
8:45 - Staging: Break into Groups / Briefing
9:00 - Cleanup begins
11:00 - Cleanup ends / photos of collected garbage
11:30 - Event ends...enjoy the rest of your day!

Where

Mission Point Park (we'll be staging on the grass area near the restrooms)
Click here (https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209401276850498225743.0004c6274c047eb6001c2&msa=0&ll=32.760751,-117.247185&spn=0.002903,0.002926) for an online Google map of our staging location.

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Our goal is to cover the beach area hilighted in yellow and the area of water circled in blue. Our meetup location and staging area is located at the bottom yellow area on the map (Mission Point Park).

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Parking

Parking at Mission Point Park shouldn't be too difficult since we're arriving early in the day. If no parking spots are available, there is a larger parking lot near the west (ocean) end of the jetty at South Mission Beach. As is the case at any beach, the earlier you arrive the better your chances of getting a sweet parking spot. We strongly encourage carpooling to this eco-event!

What to Bring

Bring sunscreen, a hat, etc, particularly if you'll be doing the above-water cleanup. Bring a reusable water bottle, if you own one (let's not use those single-use water bottles at this eco-event). We'll have containers of purified drinking water on hand from which you can refill your personal, reusable container. Bring non-diving friends and family members, there will something for everyone to do! Snorkelers: bring neoprene gloves, if you own them. It will be helpful to have some hand protection. Also, consider a wetsuit...a shorty or a 3mil full-length suit. You'll last long and enjoy it more if you're not shivering! Divers/snorkelers: bring a catch bag (or a drawstring mesh bag or "gunny sack") to hold the trash you find (CoastKeeper will provide bags and grab-sticks for the shore cleanup detail). Divers: bring an SMB (aka "safety sausage") and dive reel if you have one. Divers: bring a float with dive flag if you happen to own one. Divers: bring a line-cutting device if you own one (you all carry one on your BC or in a pocket, right??)

How You Can Help

This cleanup event will involve divers, snorkelers, and waders/beach cleanup volunteers. Please state in your RSVP which of the above you would like to help out as. You won't be held to it, but it will help us get an idea of our numbers. If you are a divemaster and you would like to help out by keeping track of divers, please let us know in your RSVP. We can use at least 3 or 4 DMs for this event, depending on the number of divers we'll have. We can use a few volunteers in kayaks or small inflatable boats to act as on-the-water support. If you own a kayak and you'd like to help out in this capacity, please state so in your RSVP.

Miscellaneous (but important!) Notes

If you haven't already done so this calendar year, please print and complete the Power Scuba Liability Release form (http://files.meetup.com/1307107/New_Liability_Release_with_Parent_Sig.doc) (and bring it to the event). Coastkeeper will have comprehensive forms on hand at the event that cover both the City of San Diego and Coastkeeper. If you do not have a mesh "catch bag", and you don't want to shell out the bucks for one, here's a tip: Target sells a mesh laundry bag for $2 that should work just fine for an underwater cleanup. It might be a little large, but it will work. Restrooms and an outdoor shower are located at Mission Point Park (next to our staging area). We will not be venturing out into Mission Bay Channel as part of this cleanup. The San Diego Lifeguard Service does not want divers surfacing amid boat traffic. Nor do we! Mission Point and the adjacent jetty is a diveable area with generally decent viz (unlike San Diego Harbor). If you're so inclined, bring a second tank for a fun dive after the event. For more information about San Diego CoastKeeper, check out their website here (http://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/).

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We hope you can join us for this fun, yet very important event.

ADMIN STUFF YOU MUST READ:

If you have not submitted a Liability Release for Power Scuba Meetup, please follow this link to the file, print, sign and bring to the event, along with your C-Card (scuba certification card). You only need to do this once a year: Liability Release and Assumption of Risk (http://files.meetup.com/1307107/New_Liability_Release.doc)

You must also read this: Disclaimer and Clarification... AKA Terms and Conditions (https://www.meetup.com/Scuba-Diving-San-Diego/messages/boards/thread/5914647)

Anyone with a medical condition possibly counter-indicitive to diving must have a doctors signature on a diving waiver form and submit signed form to Bill Powers (or an organizer) before they may attend any Power Scuba event. YOU MAY NOT ATTEND AN EVENT WITH AN UNDISCLOSED MEDICAL CONDITION. Doing so is grounds for expulsion from the group. Here is our Medical Statement (http://files.meetup.com/1307107/Medical%20Statement%20and%20Questionnaire.pdf). Therein you'll find a Doctor Waiver form as well.

Attending any scuba event Power Scuba facilitates constitutes attendee's affirmation they are medically fit to dive, certified to dive by a nationally-recognized agency, have the necessary skill & training level for the dive being offered, have read the Terms and Conditions, and have submitted a signed Liability Release to an organizer.

Important Note: It is not the organizer's role to lead your dive. He or she merely facilitates the pre-dive meeting. The Organizer will not assign you a buddy nor will he/she be leading the dive as a "group dive". Visibility and liability do not allow for that. Nor will the Organizer tell you whether you are skilled enough to make any particular dive. That is for you (only) to decide. When you enter the water, you (and your buddy) are on your own. You must plan and execute your dive with your dive buddy only. Once members arrive at the meeting spot, the Organizer becomes simply another diver.

Your participation constitutes your affirmation you agree to these above rules and disclaimers.