The Pacific Harbor Seal (err… Critter of the Month)

The Pacific Harbor Seal inhabit our oceans and attached waterways, north of the equator. California is home to about 50,000 of the little fur balls. The seal is fun to watch and can offer some awfully close and friendly subjects for underwater photos. They can be a pest at times for divers spearing fish. I have made may unwilling donations to a seal’s dinner while spearing my own dinner.

Seal pups are born between February and April, weighing in around 20 lbs. Momma seal provides meals for about 4 weeks, then the pups start to hunt. The Harbor Seal spends half its time on land and the rest in the water. They do prefer the ocean but have been spotted miles up rivers, walking on roads, cruising in parking lots and hanging out at piers and docks. They do eat a lot of fish, but octopus and squid are also on the menu. A fully grown male can be 6 ft. long and weigh almost 300 lbs. Females are smaller.

I love to run into Harbor Seals under the water. Once they figure out that you will not hurt or bother them, they will let you take a photo. Sometimes you can get them to play with your bubbles, your fins, your mask, or whatever catches their eye. While ab diving, they will come up to you and check out what you are doing. Often, I have been prying an abalone off a rock and get that feeling of being watched. I look to my right and there is a Harbor Seal watching me. After my heart rate drops below 100 bpm, I smile and continue with my dive. Yes, they can be a real pain at times! I put up with them
scaring the stuffing out of me because they are so much fun to interact with. Remember, the ocean is their home, and you are just a visitor. Let them have their fun and enjoy the show they put on.

Oh, if you see a Harbor Seal with ears, it is a Sea Lion.

LIGHT AND MOTION DIVE LIGHTS

If you have recommendations for equipment, please share them by submitting a “GEAR REVIEW” article in the Bubbles. If your experience differs from a reviewer’s, please share that too. Other perspectives can give us a better view of what will or will not work for individual divers.
REVIEWER DESCRIPTION: Ken Takata, Sr. Citizen, SCUBA Diving since 1980, 900+ dives (cold and warm water),
DIVE ACTIVITIES: SCUBA and Freediving, UW Photography, UW Sightseeing, Ex-Spearfisherman
GEAR REVIEW:
LIGHT AND MOTION DIVE LIGHTS: Over the past 8 years, I have owned several models of the SOLA and GoBe dive lights made by Light and Motion. Over my diving career, I have owned many different brands of dive lights and have found Light and Motion lights to be the best. They are compact, rechargeable, durable, and most importantly put out a tremendous amount of light for their size and weight. Light and Motion makes several different sizes from the pocket-sized GoBe flashlight to their immensely powerful Sola series with sufficient light output for videography.

PROS:

1. The lights can be adjusted in intensity from normal to a near blinding brightness. It is, by far, one of the brightest lights I have ever used.
2. The beam is very even with no dark spots within the illuminated area. The beam can be adjusted from a narrow spotlight to wide angle.
3. It is rechargeable and charging can be accomplished externally without having to dismantle the housing to remove a battery. You just need to plug charger into the external charging sockets on the light housing. Furthermore, you don’t need to deal with “O” rings which can be a source of leakage. External charging is convenient if you want to quickly recharge the light between dives.
4. My experience has been that a partially charged light takes less than an hour to fully recharge. A fully discharged light will take about 2 hours to fully charge.
5. A fully charged light will provide illumination on High for about 45 minutes. Illumination will last much longer if you turn it off when not in use.
6. For a light with this much power, it is very lightweight and compact. This is an advantage when traveling via air.
7. Light and Motion is located in Northern California and a light can be sent to the factory for repair.
   CONS:
8. Expensive

DDS Store COMING SOON!!!

With the lack of General Meetings due to COVID-19, there has been no opportunity for you our members to buy DDS clothing swag. Coming in the new year, we will have an online store so you can get your DDS swag! In the meantime here are a few examples of what is available. In addition, is our current inventory. If you’re interested in purchasing any items, contact Tracy Clarke at tracycdiver77 at yahoo.com.