PADI Instructors Dan Knauss and Bethy Driscoll and the House of Scuba's 'Dive Against Debris' Day at Mission Point was a success this Saturday, with both divers and non-divers alike showing up to pick up debris from both under the water as well as on the land.
Divers and their friends and family showed up for the morning event of picking up trash and the BBQ and raffle which followed afterwards, prizes donated by the House of Scuba [http://www.houseofscuba.com/].
Among the objects retrieved from the bottom was a coffee maker with an octopus living inside of it (which was returned to its home in the water after the dive), and a Brittle Star, also returned to the water.
Luckily, not too much debris was found in the waters of Mission Point, which is bad news for debris retrieval contests, but good news for the local underwater environment.
PADI Master Diver Michael Bear found no debris along the rocky wall of Mission Point, but was able to take some interesting video of two Kelpfish feeding on something in the algae. The water here was only 4-10 ft deep. It is also a popular fishing spot, so divers should avoid areas where people are actively fishing to avoid unwanted run-ins with fishing hooks and lines.
Mission Point is also home to many Calico Bass, Surfperch and the protected State Fish of California, the Garibaldi.
House of Scuba: http://www.houseofscuba.com/category/store-locations.html
Kelpfish:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/AnimalDetails.aspx?enc=n3f4wmcSJaM1wRIjL+yewA==
Brittle Star:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/AnimalDetails.aspx?enc=Z5SIVkZ+n+VnT0bLLJ1CbA==
