PINK DOLPHINS?

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

"It was absolutely stunningly pink.

"I had never seen anything like it. It's the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.

"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.

"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating its albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

"I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.

"As time has passed the young mammal has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.

"Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod."

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career.

"It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it - observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it

"While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes.

"Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited."

A close relation of dolphins, the Amazon River Botos, called pink dolphins, live in South America in the Amazon.

CPR / FIRST AID TRAINING WITH DEFIBRILLATOR CLASSES

Ever wondered what to do in an accident or medical emergency? Most people just do not know what to do or how to respond in those situations, and rely solely on the emergency medical services (EMS). What people do not realize is that it takes time for the EMS (ambulance, etc.) to arrive at the scene. In many cases, the victims died before the ambulance arrived. If the person who found the victim has training in EFR (Emergency First Response - CPR and First Aid), within those precious first few minutes he/she can start badly needed primary care on the victim which may mean the difference between life or death.

The EFR course is available and beneficial to everybody, not just divers...you never know when you will need to respond to an emergency situation!

Don't forget that Sea Lions Dive Center offers CPR / FIRST AID Training in our EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONSE COURSE (EFR) Learn how to properly perform CPR, helping a choking victim, bandaging, splinting, and many other skills. Even learn how to use a defibrillator! Child and infant classes are also offered.

Your training is good for 2 years, and is renewed with a refresher course.

Remember that CPR / FIRST AID is a prerequisite for the PADI Rescue Diver course but anyone can enroll in the course.

Contact Sea Lions for the next class date.

MASTER SCUBA DIVER DEAL! FIVE SPECIALTIES FOR THE PRICE OF FOUR!

Take the Master Scuba Diver challenge!

Complete your Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver Course, earn 5 Specialties of your choice and achieve the highest non-professional rating a diver can earn!

For a limited time, Sea Lions is offering 5 Specialties for the price of 4!

Stop by Sea Lions Dive Center and choose the specialties of your choice.

It’s the PERFECT way to get MAXIMUM DIVING in this summer!

FREE DIVE TRAINING MAGAZINES

Stop in the shop every month to pick up your free issue of Dive Training Magazine.
A great Magazine filled with great Scuba Diving related articles.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND PEAK PERFORMANCE BUOYANCY COURSE

Sea Lions will be offering a Peak Performance Buoyancy and Digital Photography Course.
Add 2 more specialties to further enhance your dive experiences.

Both of these specialties can be used towards the Master Scuba Diver Rating.

To learn more about the Peak Performance Buoyancy Course click here.

To learn more about the Digital Photography Course click here.

Remember that the key to taking great pictures is having great buoyancy! Both of these classes will be held on the same weekend. Sign up for one or for both. The Classes will take place at Haigh Quarry on June 27th & 28th @ 8am

Peak Performance Buoyancy $80.00 which includes the DVD

Digital Photography $125.00 which includes the manual

JUNE SPECIAL: Purchase together for a special rate of $175.00!!!

FREE PROJECT AWARE/CORAL CONSERVATION CLASS

Once again Sea Lions Dive Center will be offering a free Project Aware / Coral Conservation Class (well, sort of…)

This time the class will be held on 2 nights. Wednesday and Thursday, June 24 and 25 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM.


Sea Lions Instructors John & Kim Zalewski is going to be conducting a Project Aware/Coral Conservation Course.

Learn all about the problems and issues facing our Aquatic world. You can even read or download the book online for free at:

http://www.projectaware.org/uploadedFiles/Home/Global_Initiatives/Specialty_Courses/70241_AWARE_OurWorldOurWater.pdf

It is highly recommended to read the book and fill out the knowledge review. It’s a great read.

So, the class is free, the books are free, what do you have to pay for?

Project Aware and Coral Conservation are also 2 separate PADI Specialty Courses. (which you can apply towards your Master Scuba Diver rating) If you are interested in receiving 2 specialty cards, there is a small processing fee of $20.00 per card. The fee goes directly to PADI. Sea Lions, John, and Kim do not make any money from this class. We are huge supporters of Project Aware and just want to spread the word. If you are not interested in specialty cards, then you pay nothing.

Sign up today, space is limited!!!

HELP! Stop Shark Finning in Palau

Diving the famed Blue Corner won't be the same if Palau's politicians approve Senate Bill SB8-44 to permit commercial fishing for sharks and shark finning. A follow-up punch is SB8-50, which would encourage commercial fisheries in Palau's waters by granting them a five-year tax exemption. This would gut the 2004 legislation that banned shark fishing by foreign fisheries, one of the most ironclad laws in the Asia-Pacific area.
To stop this nonsense, sign the petition sponsored by SharkSavers.org to keep the bills from becoming law at http://www.sharksavers.org/get-involved/sign-these-petitions/542-petition-to-palau-stop-senate-bill-8-44-on-shark-fishing.html

CONFISCATED DRUG SHIP BECOMES NEW ARTIFICIAL REEF

NEAR DEERFIELD BEACH, FL-- A mission nine years in the making is reality tonight.

Federal, state and local law enforcement teamed-up with water-lovers to turn a negative into a big positive.

"The project we've been working on finally came to fruition," said Craig Ash of Cepemar Environmental Services.

The "Lady Go Diver" headed across a canal in Deerfield Beach.

On-board the scuba ship were divers with their gear, journalists armed with a pen and paper and videographers shooting the beautiful landscape.

"It's good to see all of your efforts turning-up for something that will be beneficial," said Ash.

As the ship left the Boca Inlet, you got a feel for the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean and the land we left behind.

The boat's captain steered her to a spot about a mile out, along the Broward-Palm Beach County line.

This is where dozens of boaters gathered to witness the spectacular event.

Meanwhile, US Customs & Border Protection boats joined vessels from the sheriff's office to maintain safety.

"You see the flare, the smoke has got to go off," said one of the event organizers.

"Customs & Border Protection has donated a freighter for the artificial reef program," said agent Robert Del Toro. "We'll be sinking the vessel today."

Last June, the feds confiscated 165 kilos of cocaine from the Miss Lourdies.

The 165-foot ship was in Miami, picking-up cars, bicycles and mattresses to sell in Haiti, when the discovery was made.

Authorities actually had to take some bunk beds and walls out of the ship's crew cabins. They found the drugs inside a metal compartment.

Cameras rolled to capture the freighter's journey more than 100 feet to the bottom of the ocean.

"There's a lot of boats here, a lot of people" said "Lady Go Diver" scuba boat owner Arilton Pavan. "Everybody's watching. I think the idea worked out very well."

Within minutes, the Miss Lourdies disappeared into the big blue sea, to eventually become a part of nature's underwater landscape.

Sinking of the Vandenberg in the Keys

BY SUSAN COCKING
scocking@MiamiHerald.com

Out of the dusty, blue gloom, about 45 feet below the ocean's surface emerges a pedestal that once held a large telescope. Now, a gigantic radar dish that resembles a giant spider web appears in view. And you still haven't descended to the actual deck of the USS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg.

The Keys' newest and largest artificial reef began welcoming fish and scuba divers last weekend following its May 27 sinking about 6 ½ miles south of Key West.

At 523 feet long and 10 stories high, the retired military ship is impossible to explore fully in one trip. But a group of scuba divers from several media outlets got a partial view of the bow and amidships during a one-tank dive last Friday with the crew of Dive Key West.

A day before the shipwreck was opened for public diving, media divers were sent down in teams of three, each escorted by a divemaster or instructor, with no one allowed to dive below 70 feet or to penetrate the interior. The ship rests perfectly upright in the sand, the bow at 140 feet deep and the stern at 150 feet.

With 60 feet of visibility, there was plenty to see on the outside of the ship -- especially the radar dishes, which dislodged from their pedestals during the sinking and had to be secured with cables.

''I think they look really cool the way they are,'' said dive boat operator Joe Weatherby, who launched the project 14 years ago.

The bow is decorated with plaques honoring various backers of the $8.6 million deployment, and a Conch Republic banner flaps in the current. There are barely hidden clues welded around the higher parts of the ship for divers to solve a puzzle revealing the ''mystery of the Vandenberg,'' according to Weatherby.

''We're trying to keep the whole community involved,'' he said.

Weatherby said his favorite part of the wreck is the engine room, with its giant turbines, reduction gear and six stories of catwalks. But exploring deep in the bowels of the ship is restricted to expert divers certified to enter overhead environments using guidelines and multiple lights.

Unlike older artificial reefs, the Vandenberg is not covered with sea life. But some highly desirable pelagics have paid a visit. Shortly after the ship went down, boaters observed a pod of sailfish leaping out of the water nearby.

And on the day of the media dive, a large dolphinfish appeared at the stern of the dive boat as it bobbed on one of seven mooring buoys secured to the wreck.

''It was a gaffer,'' publicist Andy Newman said, referring to the jumbo-sized mahi.

``I wish I had brought a fishing rod.''

The Vandenberg lived several lives before coming to its final resting place on the bottom of the ocean.

Commissioned in 1943 as the Gen. Harry Taylor, it carried troops during World War II and brought postwar refugees and Holocaust survivors to the United States. Renamed the Vandenberg during the Cold War, it served as an Air Force missile tracker -- hence the huge radar dishes. In 1999, it played a supporting role as a Russian scientific vessel in the movie Virus.

Now the Vandenberg is expected to serve a dual purpose: economic boon to the Keys' tourism-dependent economy and safety valve for the stressed natural reef nearby.

''Unbelievable,'' said Monroe County Commissioner Mario DiGennaro, who dived it last Friday. ``I've dived all over the world, and this is one of the most interesting dives I've been on. It'll take pressure off the natural reef. [It] will take 20-30 dives to see the whole ship. It's a win-win.''

HOT NEW GEAR FROM SCUBAPRO!

Scubapro has some really cool gear for 2009. Be the first to own the brand new A700 Regulator. Match this with the MK17 or MK25 First Stage. Looks really sharp in all chrome!

Also check out the new Seawing Nova fins. A new funky design that will surely be a conversation starter!



To learn all about both of these items and more checkout Scubapros website by clicking here.
Sea Lions will have these in Stock soon!

WHAT'S THE VIZ?

Ever wonder why the visibility is better in some places than others? What makes "good viz"? Want to learn a simple method how to measure the viz? Click here to learn all you ever wanted to know about visibility.

BECOME A MASTER SCUBA DIVER!

Take the Master Scuba Diver challenge!


Master Scuba Diver is the highest nonprofessional PADI recreational scuba diving certification and the dive possibilities are endless.

To become a PADI Master Scuba Diver, you must log 50 dives and complete the following PADI courses:

* PADI Open Water Diver course
* PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
* PADI Rescue Diver course
* Five PADI Specialty Diver Courses

One of the best ways to become an active diver is to experience new and exciting adventures. That, in essence, is what the PADI Master Scuba Diver program is about.

Complete your Master Scuba Diver certification in 2009 and your efforts will be rewarded. If you live in the Americas, you will receive:


* a customized wall certificate and embroidered Master Scuba Diver mesh bag (Delivery takes up to six weeks once you’ve submitted your PADI Master Scuba Diver application.)
* the highest non-professional PADI rating in recreational diving

With these in hand, you also will gain experience and explore new destinations with many new friends. With the new places you explore, you gain a higher lever of experience and become a more skilled diver. Most importantly, you can stay active, gain confidence and earn the respect of other divers around you.

In addition, you can join PADI Diving Society (click here to find out more) and earn free prizes with the Specialty of the Month program.

The next specialty of the month will be Peak Performance buoyancy. Dates to be announced.

SCUBA DIVING FITNESS

Here is a great link all about Fitness for Scuba Divers.

DIVEFITNESS.COM

MARES TRADE IN AND TRADE UP DEAL

Bring any DACOR Regulator (1st and 2nd Stage) produced in the US prior to the year 2000 and receive a special upgrade purchase price on a new MARES PRESTIGE 12 or VOLTREX 22 Regulator. Up to a $300 credit will be deducted, depending on the regulator you purchase!!!

Historic World War II Aircraft Pulled From Lake

This article is from the WBBM website but there are others on the web regarding the recovery of a WWII air craft from Lake Michigan last week. Our own Instructor Bruce Bittner and Paul Ehorn who has done presentations many times at Sea Lions participated in the recovery.

Historic World War II Aircraft Pulled From Lake

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) ― A vintage World War II aircraft was pulled from the depths of Lake Michigan Friday morning, some 65 years after it sunk during a training exercise.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber was lifted onto a pier at Larsen Marine in Waukegan. It was rusty and covered in zebra mussels, but it will be restored for future viewing.

"I'd say it (was pushed) over the left side of the carrier," said Grant C. Young of Lanark, Ill., who flew bombers just like it out of Glenview Naval Air Station in December 1943.

"You see how the one propeller is bent backward. That tells me the engine was at idle -- if it was at full speed when it hit the water, they'd be bent forward."

During World War II, the plane departed from the Glenview Naval Air Base for a carrier qualification training exercise. It was supposed to land on either the U.S.S. Wolverine or the U.S.S. Sable, two paddlewheel steamboats that were converted to aircraft carriers for training exercises. But instead, it ended up in the lake.

The plane crashed in Lake Michigan during qualification training in the 1940s, and has been in 315 feet of water about 25 miles off Waukegan since then, said AT&T Recovery President Taras Lyssenko, whose firm is handling recovery efforts.

More than 17,000 pilots completed that training, including former President George H.W. Bush.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was credited with winning the Battle of Midway and turning the tide of the Pacific Theater in America's favor.

"The recovery of this aircraft and others is the continuation of a program started in the 1990s to recover and preserve Navy aircraft lost in World War II," said Navy Capt. Robert Rasmussen, director of the National Naval Aviation Museum.

Over the years, the effort has recovered more than 30 vintage aircraft, Rasmussen said.

Many of the planes are on display at aviation museums or other public venues across the country, including O'Hare and Midway airports.

Agencies began recovering lost planes in the late 1980s, but the process was on hold for the last 12 years until Navy officials pushed for its resumption.

"This plane is an object that Americans built with American ingenuity that won a war in the face overwhelming odds," Lyssenko said.

Once the plane is extracted and eventually restored, it will be displayed at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Complete restoration is expected to take three years, officials said.

"The only thing high school kids know about World War II is that Hitler was in it," Lyssenko said. "Through these planes, we want them to know more about the history of the war and the freedom we enjoy today."

Hundreds of lost vessels rest, rust on Lake Michigan bottom

Like the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber salvaged Friday, hundreds of vessels are deep beneath the surface of Lake Michigan.

Especially during the 19th century, "every year there would be 15 or 20 ships go down, so Lake Michigan is literally littered with shipwrecks," said Perry Duis, a history professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Here are just a few of the most famous:

Le Griffon, 1679. Considered the "holy grail" by area shipwreck hunters, this French trading ship was among the first European ships to sail the Great Lakes. A 2001 expedition claimed to have found the wreck off the coast of Michigan.

Lady Elgin, Sept. 8, 1860. This steamer sank after another ship collided with it. More than 400 people, who were returning to Milwaukee after attending a political rally for Stephen A. Douglas in Chicago, lost their lives.

The Rouse Simmons, Nov. 23, 1912. Remembered as the "Christmas tree ship," it disappeared in a storm, carrying a load of the trees bound for Chicago.

Northwest Airlines Flight 2501, June 23 1950. Flying from New York to Seattle, 58 passengers and crew died when their DC-4 disappeared over Lake Michigan. The next day, an oil slick and floating debris were found about 18 miles north of Benton Harbor, Mich. The cause was never determined.


CBS 2's Kris Habermehl and the Lake County News-Sun's Kendrick Marshall contributed to this report.

(CBS 2 and the Lake County News-Sun are news partners covering stories in the north suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

GOT ANY HAND SIGNALS YOU WANT TO SHARE?

We all know of the common hand signals while Scuba Diving. Sea Lions is looking for some that we have never seen. Anybody have any that they would like to share? Please e-mail a description, or even better, a photo of you using it to gotair2@gmail.com. We would love to share it with other divers in an upcoming newsletter.

6 WAYS TO EQUAILIZE YOUR EARS

Do you ever have trouble equalizing your ears during a dive? Follow the link for some great tips and techniques. CLICK HERE

FREE PROJECT AWARE/CORAL CONSERVATION CLASS

It’s EARTH DAY

We’re offering a FREE

Project Aware / Coral Conservation Class (well, sort of…)

on Saturday, May 23^rd @ 9am – 3pm (bring a lunch)

Sea Lions Instructors John & Kim Zalewski is going to be conducting a Project Aware/Coral Conservation Course.

Learn all about the problems and issues facing our Aquatic world. You can even read or download the book online for free at:

http://www.projectaware.org/uploadedFiles/Home/Global_Initiatives/Specialty_Courses/70241_AWARE_OurWorldOurWater.pdf

It is highly recommended to read the book and fill out the knowledge review. It’s a great read.

So, the class is free, the books are free, what do you have to pay for?

Project Aware and Coral Conservation are also 2 separate PADI Specialty Courses. (which you can apply towards your Master Scuba Diver rating) If you are interested in receiving 2 specialty cards, there is a small processing fee of $20.00 per card. The fee goes directly to PADI. Sea Lions, John, and Kim do not make any money from this class. We are huge supporters of Project Aware and just want to spread the word. If you are not interested in specialty cards, then you pay nothing.

Sign up today, space is limited!!!

WHAT SHOULD I EAT?

We all love to eat seafood, but unfortunately some of the seafood that we eat may be over fished or reefs may be damaged by destructive fishing practices. How are we supposed to know what is safe to eat? Click on this link to get the latest information on what is safe, a better alternative, and what to avoid. You can even print a small pocket size version to carry with you.

WHAT AND HOW IS A TANK HYDRO TESTED?

We all know that our scuba tanks need to be visually inspected every year, but every 5 years a scuba tank needs to be hydrostatic tested. So, what exactly does that mean? How do they do it? Click on this link to read more. Lots of photos with step by step explanation.