Barnacle Busters travels to the beautiful islands of Palau and experiences the spectacular wildlife....

I’ll get the bad news out of the way first: The diving was disappointing on the 4th of July at Catalina. Although we had moments of brilliance, visibility was generally poor. Of course when conditions are not great is when we look for little stuff: nudibranchs, gobies and the like. Octopus, sea lions, giant sea bass were all fleetingly spottedRead more »...

Another round of Legendary Bingo and club fundraising is completed! Thanks to all who came out to support the long term health of the club! Your participation helps make this event a truly, fun (and successful) night for everyone. The house was mostly packed, the prizes were primed and the cocktails were flowing by the time our MC Joel andRead more »...

Well, it was another successful day poolside for the club. We managed to meet and encourage more than a handful of brave newcomers to don some gear and test out underwater breathing. And while it’s not official yet, it looks good that we’ll be adding a few new faces to our buddy roster! There were some folks who brought newRead more »...

Researchers have uncovered a nursery site for juvenile giant manta rays off the coast of Texas in the protected Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary. Notoriously shy, the juveniles’ early years remain somewhat of a mystery to scientists. A chance siting by a marine biologist lead to intensive study of surveys of other juvenile siting records in the area. This allowedRead more »...

On May 26, I arrived at LAX at 3am, sleep-deprived. The airport was cold and practically empty except for a small group of smiling travelers, the Barnacle Busters. At the time, only a few of them were familiar me. Little did I know that by end of the trip, I would consider them all friends.   After a short layoverRead more »...

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when seven of us joined a full boatload aboard the Cee Ray, for a day of diving. For most of us, it was the first in 2018. A lot of us were trying out new gear: Michael had a new wetsuit, Adam had a new BCD and one of us even had a newRead more »...

July may seem like its in the distant future, but it will be here before you know it. And with it comes our annual fundraiser of Legendary Bingo. In order to participate (and make the club operating funds for the year), we are required to provide 10 prizes for the winning players. If we can get items donated for this,Read more »...

There is a new study supporting the scientific world’s concern on the effect that rising levels of CO2 will have on our planet’s environment. There has been quite a bit of research conducted on fish populations, but very little on any higher invertebrates. This time, researchers chose to study what increased levels of carbon dioxide has on two types ofRead more »...

You probably already know that we recently posted the upcoming certification class schedule (see blog post 2018 Event Schedule). As per usual, Buck is planning to be ready to conduct a monthly class for interested, potential open water divers (and thus swelling the ranks of our membership further!). But what you may NOT know is that Buck is also moreRead more »...