Keri,
It seems that you can knock on any door and there will be a similar story - The American tragedy of this century- you certainly have my and Mrs Millers sympathy and most hear felt condolences.
You daughter has a wonderful final resting place at one with the eternal sea
Daughter #3 is named Keni -- we lived on a street that intersected with a street named Keri, We almost named her Keri at the last moment decided on Keni
San Diego California is the birthplace of recreational diving in the US and the world.
My I suggest that you visit Scrips aquarium ?
There is a local SD program titled 3 Rs Reefs, Rocks & Rips ( or something similar to the title) which was developed many years ago by the LA Co UIA and is also being offered free in SD. It would be advisable to attend - not as a participant but initially as an observer.
Also the 2 day SD UW International Film festival is coming soon - it sells out FAST - suggest that you might want to attend -- check with local dive shops etc for tickets -- well worth the time effort & $$$$
FYI a little about San Diego and La Jolla Cove
-- Where it all began
There are a number of vintage books devoted to spear fishing, the most desirable and rarest is of course Gilpatrics "Complete Goggler," published in 1938.
Equally rare, perhaps even rarer are vintage magazine articles. The 1949 National Geographic magazine article "Goggle fishing in California Waters," Vol ZCV #5,May 1949, is considered by most serious magliophile/bibliophile as the fountainhead of magazine articles devoted to spear fishing. And it all took place in LA Jolla Cove in Sam Diego California
Universally known as the "Bottom Scratcher issue," Pages 615 to 632 is jammed packed with with the photograpy of Lamar Boren, who later gained fame as the photgraher of the Sea Hunt series, there are 7 B&W photographs, 12 "natural color" photographs (in 1949 color photography was in it's infancy) and with a text written by professional National Geographic staff member. This issue should be on every collector/historian bucket list.
There is a historical significance of articles and books of this era that provide a glimpse in to a the genesis of the sport and should be cherished as great historical documents...The crude early Churchill fins; the homemade equipment; the masks, the jab sticks (pole spears) the lack of thermal protection...All these items were in the process of future development.
So by visiting and hopefully diving La Jolla Cove you are diving "where it all began" in California by the Bottom Scratchers spear fishing club - One of the most historical diving locations in the world.
LA Jolla Cove was also the location of the famous GWS attack during the summer of 1959 when skin diver Robert Pammerdin lost his life-
Only a few remain who were participants of that bygone era and they are rapidly dwindling in numbers, soon they all will be gone... The last member of the Bottom Scratchers Jim Stewart passed away just a year ago- they are no more
