Posted by Jon Davies on June 06, 2001 at 17:18:42:
In Reply to: Golden Days of Cailifornia Diving posted by Jon Davies on June 05, 2001 at 22:22:10:
Thanks for the posts guys.
Seahunt -- I've been reading voraciously for quite a while. You have a gift for descriptive writing.
Frank -- you make an excellent point about how the next generation will look upon what we have now. I wonder how much of what little is left will be there when (and if) my kids take up diving. That's why I wholeheartedly support expanded marine preserves.
I have a couple of follow-up questions: Was the kelp thicker and more extensive back then; did you encounter black sea bass and other large pelagics frequently or were they already becoming rare then; was the diving off Palos Verdes and Malibu really as great as the Channel Islands are now (I've heard some say that); was there a greater variety of species (invertebrates and vertebrates), or was it just more and larger specimens of the species we see today?
Thanks again.
By the way, anybody who has an interest in the early days of diving ought to check out Eric Hanauer's excellent book Diving Pioneers.