CLD 2005 Event Information

Check out our 2005 Supporters who have donated AMAZING prizes!!
Win a new kayak courtesy of West Marine valued at over $500.
Spend a week in Hawaii at a private condo and enjoy a day of
snorkeling aboard the Body Glove catamaran.
Jet set to anywhere Southwest Airlines flies with roundtrip airfare for two!!

This fun event for both certified and free divers involves searching for BRIGHTLY colored, 8-inch plaster lobsters in the waters off Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. Divers may collect as many lobsters as they can carry, each of which are associated with a number of raffle tickets or a prize. Divers go to one of the prize stations to collect their raffle tickets for a chance to win any of the thousands of dollars in exciting prizes including scuba gear and dive trips. The event also includes live music, a treasure hunt for the kids, a fabulous live auction and a great way to spend a Saturday at the beach.

The 2005 Cabrillo Chocolate Lobster Dive will take place at Cabrillo Beach on September 24, 2005, about a week before the real lobster season is to start. Benefactors of the event are the educational programs for children at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. To learn more about the program this year' dive will benefit, click here. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, which shares the property where the event is to be held, has been educating the public on the wonders of the local ocean since 1935.

While Cabrillo Beach may not be a world-class dive, it will be the only spot you can find the elusive Chocolate Lobster, and only then on September 24! To learn more about diving conditions, click here.

What is a Chocolate Lobster?
The Panulirus yumlobsterious is a milk chocolate California Spiny Lobster. The successful lobster hunter submits his or her pseudo catch to the prize retrieval station to be redeemed for a scrumptious confection crustacean! Each delectable critter requires no cooking and can be eaten immediately after capture.

WHY?
Each year, the CLD chooses an Aquarium program to receive all revenue brought in from the event. This year we have chosen the Ocean Outreach Program to be the recipient of this funding. The Ocean Outreach Program is our 'aquarium on wheels' our most effective means for reaching over 30,000 children in under served communities each year. Ocean Outreach provides a hand-on learning experience for many children who might otherwise not have an opportunity to interactively learn about the marine environment.

What differentiates the Ocean Outreach program from others is that it is based on the idea that if the school cannot come to the Aquarium, the Aquarium will bring the wonders of the local ocean to the school. Live marine specimens in portable touch tanks are brought to the schools and provide students with opportunities to learn about and experience marine creatures first-hand.

As drastic changes in funding continue to challenge the ability of local schools to fund off-sight field trips, your support, through Chocolate Lobster Dive entry fees and sponsorships, will ensure that this hands-on learning experiences reaches those school children who need it most and help to inspire future generations to take care of our oceans.

Just what kind of a dive is Cabrillo Beach? The beautiful beach is a result of the harbor breakwater, debris from the harbor dredging, and the rocks of Point Fermin. Thousands of families flock to the beach every year to enjoy the protected waters, tidepools, and excellent facilities. Unfortunately, few divers visit here.

While there is abundant and colorful marine life on the bottom just off the beach, the not-so-clear water makes it hard to see. Cabrillo Beach's biggest handicap as a dive site is poor water clarity. The cove created by the breakwater and the point do not work well with cleansing currents, and dirty water gets trapped. Fortunately, for chocolate lobster hunters, fall is the best season for good water visibility.

The best part of this dive site for marine life and bottom terrain is toward the point. Patch rock reefs support a small kelp forest made up mostly of feather boa kelp. Crustaceans are abundant with a variety of crabs, including the large sheep crab. This is also a good spot for lobster, with few commercial traps and fewer divers. A large part of the site is part of the Point Fermin Marine Life Refuge, but taking of lobster and halibut is acceptable.

The farther you head toward Point Fermin the more interesting the bottom becomes, with steep rock pinnacles off the point. The pinnacles top out at just below the surface and drop to 50 feet. But this is an unrealistically long swim. Use kayaks from the beach or an inflatable or another private boat launch from where else? the Cabrillo boat ramp inside the harbor. Visibility improves somewhat toward the point but is still usually poor, falling in the 10 foot range. I had a dive here years ago, however, with 70-feet of visibility.

The Chocolate Lobster Dive will not be held over the rocky reefs but rather at the sand flats and jetty to the southeast. Water visibility is a more consistent 10 to 15 feet. The bottom slopes gently out to 20 to 25 feet just beyond the jetty. Coarse sand is home for hermit crabs, small clams, and sand dollars. Beyond the sand dollar beds (outside of the Chocolate Lobster Dive boundaries) the clay substrate is tunneled by worms, leaving a quicksand-like silting mud on top.

The water around the jetty is interesting but surgy. The sand can swirl in the surge dropping viz to zero. Schools of tiny bait fish provide food for barred sand bass on the bottom and an occasional kelp bass. Urchins and stars occupy the rocks. Like the reefs across the cove, crabs are abundant.

Out across the sand you'll find an occasional rock pile, but the main event will be the sand dollar beds. These interesting animals, kin to the sea urchin, prop themselves vertically in the sand to filter organic debris from the surgy water. With only sand around, small fish, crabs, clams and worms make the slight shelter of the sand dollar beds home.

Cabrillo Beach's best attraction is at the Aquarium. Extremely knowledgeable staff and a fine collection of specimens with informative displays will teach you volumes about local marine life in only an afternoon. The aquarium is open Tuesday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends 10 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

How much does it cost?
Each entry includes entry to the event, a lunch ticket, free t-shirt and parking (if registered by 09/19/05), a guaranteed Chocolate Lobster, and the chance to win some really great prizes! PLUS you are helping to support a really great organization.

NEW FEATURES
This year we have added a TON of new features to the dive to help make sure you have a great time but have kept the past 7 years of CLD fun! Look what we've got in store:

Pre-register by September 22, 2005 and receive a FREE T-SHIRT and FREE PARKING!

NO CATCH LIMIT! EVERYONE RECEIVES A CHOCOLATE LOBSTER!
Great Prizes -- Live Auction -- Treasure Hunt for Kids -- Food -- Visit the Aquarium