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Posted by Divebum Don on March 02, 2010 at 16:04:08:
~Your Invited to help our Local Ocean’s and Marine Life!~
Celebrity Fun’d Raiser for O.D.A. @ A.O.P. and Your Invited!!
(….or, “guess who’s coming to dinner?” :~)
Your invited to please “Join the Alliance” with the nice folks at the OceanDefenders.org and treat yourself to an evening of ocean and marine life appreciation and education while dinning on a delicious meat free, gourmet sit down dinner, April 11, 2010 at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We’re very pleased to announce our celebrity guest and keynote speaker for the evening will be the lifetime environmental activist, author, and controversial ship’s captain “Paul Watson”, founder of the Sea Shepherd Organization, and now of “Whale Wars” fame on Animal Planet, Whale Wars : Sea Shepherd, Whales, Whaling : Animal Planet
The hard working divers and volunteers at the Ocean Defenders Alliance have made good advances this last year onboard our flagship the “Clearwater” and hope to continue our momentum in 2010 to lead clean up efforts in and on our local Southern California near shore ocean neighborhoods. We want to eliminate dangerous and deadly “ghost nets”, line traps, abandoned crustacean traps, acidic marine batteries, floating debris and underwater trash. But we need YOU to please help us continue to “make every dive a clean-up dive”.
Volunteer divers (the core of O.D.A.) have really stepped it up in 2009, and we now have 3 Dive Teams including the Regs(air divers to 130’), the Techs(mixed gas to 160’), and now the RB’s(extended dives, deep). Wow!! Our 38’ foot (all aluminum) flagship the “Clearwater” is undergoing a very needed cool new paint scheme and outfitting right now. She received some great new electronics, and a new 10’ dinghy/tender with outboard last year, as well as a new high load electric winch at the rear deck “haul out” davit, all very useful. And the ‘scuttlebutt’ on board is that an underwater GPS system is coming our way, Wow! ...and Animal Planet may come aboard this year to document our efforts, and help us more publicly expose ours (and others) challenges to retrieving all this junk from our underwater playgrounds and habitats and the current efforts to make all the marine polluters more responsible for their (out of sight, and seemingly out of mind) trash.
Monthly dock fees, fuel and maintenance costs and repairs keep our small Ocean Defenders Alliance budget stretched taught, we get out on work dives up to (4) weekends per month (weather permitting), and always try to make smart use of our limited fuel funds. Organizational growth, and any surprise repairs usually are challenging and tough on us, and your generous contribution can go a very long way to cleaning up your favorite underwater trails systems and yet unexplored near shore habitats .
We still have few Items on our *wish~list* to make our regular work dives and the “Clearwater” work boat more safe and efficient, including:
-a deck-to-diver communication system, -fresh water HOT showers for divers, -a new dinghy cover (we’ll lock down the next one), -a 120’ Drop Camera, -and Misc. work and dive gear.
Many thanks to our founder Kurt Lieber, the many people who have generously helped build the O.D.A. and who ARE today the backbone O.D.A.!
This event will SELL OUT, please R.S.V.P. A.S.A.P., so we can make an early and accurate head count. Hope to Sea ya There!
Sincerely,
Don Robarge Dive Team Coordinator Ocean Defenders Alliance Oceandefenders.org P.S. PLEASE FORWARD THIS to Any and All Oceans Lovers as you see fit!! __________________________________________________ ______________________
ODA is pleased to announce our first major awareness and fundraising event scheduled the evening of April 11, 2010, at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA, featuring very special guest and keynote speaker and environmental hero of the high seas: Captain Paul Watson, Founder and Preside of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society!!
Our reception will feature a fine assortment of vegetarian & vegan hors d'oeuvres, full bar, a modest silent auction, and other notable speakers and special guests including Sea Shepherd helicopter pilot and ODA board director Chris Aultman. Due to space constraints in the Aquarium’s main presentation auditorium, tickets are limited to the first 140 people and are now on sale at our dedicated April 11th Fundraiser Webpage and via snail mail for $50/each.
Note: This ODA email blast is the first to make the public aware of this rare appearance by Paul Watson, who will be just returning to the USA after the current dramatic Sea Shepherd campaign near Antarctica to stop illegal commercial whaling by the Japanese whaling fleet. We are very appreciative of Sea Shepherd’s support and wish everyone a safe return after this very challenging campaign!
If you’d like to volunteer for the April 11th ODA fundraiser, we have a few slots open for those who can be of significantly help with preparations and day-of responsibilities, especially kindly soliciting for silent auction items and sponsorship over the next several weeks. If that sounds like you, and/or you can donate something (valuable goods, services, trips/accommodations, etc.) for the auction/raffle, please let us know ASAP at scott@oceadefenders.org, or call Scott’s cell at 310-741-7617.
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The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.
Jacques Yves Cousteau
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