Our Island Wedding, Part II

This blog entry is a continuation in a series about our wedding on Catalina Island. Read the previous entry here.

One of the best things about our wedding (if I may say so myself) was the itinerary we set out for our guests. There were a total of 4 days in our itinerary in which we loosely listed where we would be. Guests were welcome to join us, or were free to wander and enjoy the island on their own. If a guest is travelling far to attend a wedding, they usually want to maximize the amount of time they have with the bride and groom. That was why we arranged for 4 days of casual kicking back with which to socialize with our guests.

Every morning, as part of our itinerary, Mark and I had coffee at our favorite cafe on the island, C.C. Gallagher's. Family members, coworkers and friends co-mingled over their morning lattes. It was stimulating (and a bit stressful) to see all the important people in one's life thrown together in this casual setting and left to their own devices to start conversations.

Coffee at C.C. Gallagher's

In place of a "rehearsal dinner" (a rehearsal dinner wasn't really necessary since we had no wedding party or anything to rehearse!) we had a beach barbecue. The barbecue was at the Descanso Beach Club, a wonderful beach with tiki torches, a bar and a grill where you can buy and grill your own meat. All guests were invited. Seated on the sand, with the music playing softly in the background, and with the mountains rising steeply around, one felt transported far far away from everyday life.

Guests Grilling Dinner at Descanso Beach Club

As mentioned in the previous wedding blog entry, we concluded each night at the El Galleon, a famous Catalina Island bar. This occurred even on the night of our wedding. Everyone kicked back with their beers, looked through the songbooks, and chit-chatted. Occasionally, some brave guests mounted the stage to sing. It was brilliant.

Singing Along to Karaoke at El Galleon

The town of Avalon on Catalina Island is so small, that even when no event was outlined in our itinerary, we would still bump into our wedding guests on every block.

Olivier, Coco, Kurt and Mark sharing coffee

In their off hours, the guests took advantage of being on a beautiful island to explore. Some of the more athletic visitors rode bikes up a steep road to enjoy the harbor views.

Johnny, Javier on their Bike Ride

Guests Relaxing at the Beach House

Other guests took advantage of their off hours to relax and enjoy the ambience of the Beach House, the site of our wedding.

To be continued...

Our Island Wedding, Part I

Okay, it's about time that I blogged about something. Well, I got married last month, so I figured I should say something about that.

Let me first give some details about the style and idea behind our wedding. Every wedding has its own distinct flavor, and ours was no exception.

I intentionally wanted a few relaxed events before the wedding. The events were an excuse to have fun, and also gave everyone a sense of anticipation for the wedding itself. I had a blast at my bachelorette party. You can read more about it here. Mark wanted his bachelor party to consist of biking, more biking, and then going to a friend's house to watch bike racing on Tivo. Well, his friends rebelled, and so they ate Buffalo wings and ended up at a strip club instead.

Mina's Bachelorette Party (from Left: Cherie, Joann, Mina, Ching, Valerie and Sweta)

We also had a small wine-tasting party for selecting wines for the wedding. The evening was really fun. There were hardcore wine collectors as well as rank novices in attendance. My little cousin, Alicia, whom I think has never attended a wine tasting before, had a great time tasting wines, and taking notes on each wine. We all pretty much settled on the wines pictured below.

Wedding Wines Selected (From Left: Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet,

Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay, Five Rivers Cabernet)

As for the wedding itself, it took place on the island of Catalina, a place that has significance for us for all the positive memories we have had there. Also, I think our guests enjoyed transporting themselves both mentally and physically far far away from work. Below, is a picture of friends on their way over to Catalina to attend our wedding. They are already smiling.

Ferry Boat Ride to Catalina Island: (from left) Javier, Marsha

(picture courtesy of Johnny Chang)

A fun time wouldn't be a fun time if people couldn't unwind and even make fools of themselves. Also, a trip to Catalina wouldn't be right without a visit to El Galleon, one of the most festive bars on the island. Therefore, we designed the wedding to last for several days, with every night ending up at the El Galleon. On weekend nights, visitors sing Karaoke. Below, our posse entertains everyone with a round of "Boys of Summer".

A pot of money started to accumulate to get Mark to sing a song. When the dollar count reached $60, Mark dragged his butt up to the mike, but not without friends surrounding him. The song choice was Roxanne by the Police. Everytime, the Roxanne chorus started, Mark's brother, Matt threw me the mike, whereupon when I heard my screeching voice, I ended up cracking up and doubling over in laughter.

We were so animated, that every time our posse showed up on the list, the DJ bumped us ahead!

Singing Karaoke (From Left: Sweta, Yael, Cherie, Jeff M. and Mina)

To Be Continued...

Underwater Wedding Dive Log

I've been very delinquent in keeping up with the blog because there is so much I want to write about. But for now, I am going to list the dives we did in Catalina for our wedding. I promise to do a more thorough write up later on.

Dive #164: Casino Dive Park, Avalon, CA
Date: Thursday, Sept. 18th, 2008
Max Depth: <40 feet
Time: <1hour
Buddies: Mark, Tim, Coco, Olivier, Kurt
Temperature: 65+ deg F
Visibility: 40+ feet
Weight worn: 18 lbs

Dive #165: Casino Dive Park, Avalon, CA
Date: Thursday, Sept. 18th, 2008
Max Depth: <40 feet
Time: <1 hour
Buddies: Mark, Olivier, Kurt
Temperature: 65+ deg F
Visibility: 40+ feet
Weight worn: 18 lbs

Dive #166: Casino Dive Park, Avalon, CA
Date: Friday, Sept. 19th, 2008
Max Depth: <40 feet
Time: <1hour
Buddies: Mark, Tim, Coco, Olivier, Kurt
Temperature: 65+ deg F
Visibility: 40+ feet
Weight worn: 18 lbs

Catalina Scuba Diving Mini-Vacation

After my meditation retreat at Esalen (which I wrote about here, and here), I headed down the coast to Catalina Island. I was trying to do as much wedding planning as possible (wedding in Catalina) and wanted to meet wedding vendors face to face. During my stay, I also did a couple of days of diving.

While in Catalina, I stayed with my friend, Dr. Bill, who is the "ambassador" to diving in Catalina Island. Dr. Bill has been featured on the Weather Channel, and was also written about in Diver's Alert magazine. A Harvard and UCSB educated marine biologist, Dr. Bill is also a weekly columnist, hosts a public access TV show called "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill". He also produces a series of underwater educational DVD's, also entitled "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill". These DVD's are about the marine life around Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, but also of marine life elsewhere around the world.

Bill was my dive buddy on all listed dives below. All photographs are courtesy of Dr. Bill. All diving was conducted on the King Neptune Boat, owned by Catalina Scuba Luv.

Dive #1: Hen Rock (cumulative dive #150)
Max Depth: 48'
Time: 0:43
Temperature: 56-58 deg. F
Tank: AL 80
Weight: 26 lbs on weight belt
Vis: 20-30'

Observations: I lost my buddy, Bill within 5 minutes of descending the anchor line (I am so used to having people follow me, that I assumed he was right behind me as I swam) so the rest of the dive was conducted solo. I was pretty focussed on using my drysuit for only my second time in the ocean so I didn't observe anything. However, I did reacquaint myself with the usual Catalina suspects: bright orange Garibaldi fish, spiny lobsters, senoritas and wrasses.

Later, after I boarded the boat, Bill told me that when he lost me, he had surfaced to look for me. He had followed the PADI procedure, but I had not! He figured I was a hardy diver, so the boat didn't panic when Bill had surfaced and I had not. I felt guilty, but not too guilty.

Dive #2: Torqua Springs (Cumulative dive #151)
Max Depth: 53'
Time: 0:57
Temp: 56-58 deg F
Tank: AL 80
Weight: 30 lbs (20 lbs in weight belt, rest in BCD)
Vis: 20-30 feet

Observations: The boat arrived to the sight of a bait ball being attacked. Fish were flying out of the water. A bald eagle swooped down from an overhead cliff to snatch one of the fish. It was like a scene from Blue Planet (a BBC documentary series). Underwater, I got a chance to see these bait fish.

This time I had no problem descending with the extra weight (30 lbs in all!), however I did feel there was an enormous air bubble in my drysuit. This time, I did not lose my buddy. Bill spent quite a long time videotaping a juvenile horn shark (see below). Later on that dive, I saw a mature horn shark swimming at the outskirts of the kelp forest. I also saw a swell shark egg and left it out in the open as I had found it. There were hundreds of bait fish swimming about as happy as could be. The kelp forest was thick and dark.

Juvenile horn shark

(photo courtesy of Bill Bushing, www.Starthrower.org)

Dive #3: Garibaldi Reef (cumulative dive #152)
Max Depth: 98'
Time: 0:56
Temp: 56-58 deg. F

Observations: Bill and I dove deeper to the sand flats covered by deep water kelp. There were many nudibranchs at this depth. Bill filmed some yellow and orange Peltodoris Nobilis, whose color is determined by their diet. I saw a couple of Hudson nudibranchs (Acanthadoris Hudsoni). I don't really know the names of these species off the top of my head, since I don't yet have an underwater camera. There were also various fist sized whelks (underwater snails) that were gathered in small groups, mating.

Dive #4: Little Gibraltar (cumulative dive #153)
Max Depth: 103'
Time: 0:48
Temp: 56-58 deg. F
Tank: AL80
Weight: 28 lbs (20 lbs on weight belt, rest in BCD pockets)

Observations: This was a pinnacle dive that reminded me of Monterey. There was an octopus hiding beneath the deep kelp. Also, there were numerous fragile rainbow sea stars (see below). There was a plaque in memorium of a diver. Bill and I got separated, so we continued our dives solo. Since Bill lost his wet suit vest, he tended to get cold earlier and would surface first, leaving me to complete all the dives myself. Although I tended to surface after about 50 minutes, it wasn't due to getting cold. Temperaturewise, I could have continued for another 30 minutes or more. But I tended to want to surface to use the restroom facilities.

Fragile Rainbow Star Fish

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)

Dive #5: Pirate's Cove (cumulative dive #154)
Max Depth: 77'
Time: 0:52
Temp: 56-58 deg. F

Observations: This was my favorite dive during my stay in Catalina. First, I saw a 2 foot long giant sea hare (see picture of me petting it below).

Mina petting the giant sea hare

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)

Bill threw the sea hare at me... As it fell through the water towards me, I got a good look at the suction foot underneath the sea hare, and it was clogged with stones, and I freaked out. I have always had a fear of slugs and worms, and to me, this was a gigantic version of a worm.

Sea Hare Eating

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, www.starthrower.org)

A few minutes later, the sea hare relaxed enough to continue feeding on sea vegetation (see above). On this dive site I also saw:

• sheep crabs
• navanax slug
• a large mound of sea hare eggs, the result of a sea hare orgy where as many as 17 sea hares have been observed to mate
• a small halibut on the sand

Bill saw some interesting kelp at this dive site that was not local to Catalina waters the previous week. He managed to get the captain to dive this site again. He spent the entire rest of the dive filming the kelp in order to document it and to figure out what it was. After some research, he found out that it is a highly invasive Asian species of kelp, the Undaria pinnatifida, also found in miso soup. To read more on the ecological implications of the presence of this species in our local California waters, read Dr. Bill's column.

Invasive Asian Kelp -- Undaria pinnatifida

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)

Drysuit Diving Afterthoughts

Diving in a drysuit is a little like learning to dive again. I noticed that I couldn't stay still in trying to control the airbubble in my drysuit. When Bill tried to show me the octopus hiding underneath the kelp, I couldn't stay still enough to observe. However, after my 5th dive in the drysuit, I was able to stay still enough to observe individual creatures.

I noticed that my center of buoyancy was close enough (no floaty feet) with the low slung AL80 tank, and the hig hugging weight belt. I noticed, too, that if I bent my knees, I could constrain the air bubble in my drysuit to my torso. Once again, I found myself naturally gravitating towards the frog kick.

Catalina is a few degrees warmer than Monterey this time of year. I could have done 90 minute dives in Catalina without getting significantly chilled, which means I should be able to do 60 minute dives in Monterey easily. Drysuit diving also offered a benefit over wetsuit diving: surface intervals were warm and toasty while my buddies were shivering in their seats.