Posted by Nancy on April 01, 2004 at 15:59:25:
I'm sad to report that Santa Catalina Island's famous Casino Dive Park here
in Avalon has been closed indefinitely as of today.
Avalon Harbormaster (and neighbor) Brian Bray told me this morning that the
park had to be closed for an undetermined period because water quality
experts from the Los Angeles County Health Department working with Santa
Monica Baykeepers had discovered toxic carcinogenic chemicals leaking into
the waters there from the historic Catalina Casino building. Until the
precise source of these chemicals can be identified, the park has been
closed to ensure the safety of the thousands of divers that use it yearly.
It has been suggested that frequent divers there (such as myself) see their
doctors and be tested for the presence of acetohydroxychloroquin in their
blood.
Frankly I question the validity of these claims. I've dived there for
decades and anyone who knows me realizes I'm in great health (well,
physically at least). I think the real reason is due to the unusual schools
of great white sharks that have been observed swimming the perimeter of the
park. Several divers have turned up missing the past two weeks and it is
believed they strayed beyond the buoy lines and were quickly snatched by the
GW's. Apparently the resident sea lion population at the East End has
declined so much in the past month that they no longer offer a reliable food
source of these GW's, and they have turned to the more plentiful source of
food at the Dive Park.
This second reason makes sense given the City of Avalon's long history of
covering up the many great white and other shark attacks on divers in our
waters.