It all started in Sandy Eggo...
A local weekly newpaper called the San Diego Reader (knlwn to locals as simply The Reader) has started an online section of old archived articles above San Digo. While doing some research I stumbled across an article from 1978 about the San Diego Bottom Scratchers. I'm sure anyone reading this will be fairly familiar with them so I won't go into the long list of reasons they ARE the godfather's of our ocean passion. If find yourself in San Diego and have some free-time, stop into James & Joseph on Harbor Island. The owners have a well maintained museum in the store with actual guns and diving history items from the Bottom Scratchers. It is very low-key and they don't make a fuss about it but what you will see there is priceless, you can even flip through Wally Potts' log book! As the surface water temp the past 2 weeks is bouncing around 78-80F and the algae blooms are starting to take effect on visibility, the beaches are once again slammed with people who have zero clue that it all started here. Below are links to the article (in the lower left of the story you will find links to related articles under the heading More from SDReader) and a link to J&J.
We lost Jimmy Stewart last year and slowly this group will become a memory. But, if you know where to look (hint: an easy surface swim off Pt. La Jolla/Boomers) and you can freedive to 30 feet or so, you just may be able to have a few underwater words with our godfathers of The C.
May these Watermen rest in peace and keep a watchful eye over us as we continue to explore the wide-open ocean.
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/197 ... der-water/
http://www.jamesandjoseph.com/