Sorry for no recent posts, but diving conditions on the weekends lately have sucked.

I didn’t realize this until last weekend, but I guess I’m considered a journalist!

I was invited to a junkette for the movie SANCTUM last weekend – you basically see the movie before it’s released and then sit in a conference room and ask the cast, directors and producers questions about the film.

Unfortunately, I can’t post any reviews or what was asked in the interviews until Friday, when the movie is released – so come back Friday!

However, here is some information that I can pass on at this time:

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Movie trailer to SANCTUM:

To watch this trailer on YouTube, click here.

SANCTUM in RealD 3D and IMAX 3D – in theaters February 4, 2011!
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Release Date: February 4, 2011
Rating: R
Genre: 3-D Action Thriller
Cast: Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson, Dan Wyllie
Directed by: Alister Grierson
Written By: John Garvin, Andrew Wight
Produced By: Andrew Wight
Executive Producers: James Cameron, Ben Browning, Michael Maher, Peter Rawlinson, Ryan Kavanaugh

SANCTUM Synopsis: The 3D action-thriller Sanctum, from executive producer James Cameron, follows a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic as they search for an unknown escape route to the sea.

Master diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored the South Pacific’s Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank’s team—including 17-year-old son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd)—are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?

Shot on location off the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, Sanctum employs 3-D photography techniques Cameron developed to lens Avatar. Designed to operate in extreme environments, the technology used to shoot the action-thriller will bring audiences on a breathless journey across plunging cliffs and into the furthest reaches of our subterranean world.

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The Sanctum YouTube Channel is hosted by Andrew Wight, the producer of the film and allows users to find out to what extremes they would go to for the sake of adventure. The channel hosts several extreme videos from previously existing YouTube content and filmmaker-provided footage, with a voting system for each video. Users are able to vote if they would/wouldn’t/already have done the things in the video. We then determine the users’ threshold for risk and how far they will go to reach an adrenaline high or discover the unknown. The user’s threshold level then determines which personality type they fit into. Users are able to share the videos, their votes, and their personality results on Facebook or Twitter. Users can also write and share their own extreme stories, and explore what others are saying about the movie in our social sphere.

I took their test and am rated as an “Adventurer.”

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The SANCTUM EXTREME ADVENTURE CONTEST on Facebook is now live:

SANCTUM, in association with NationalGeographic.com, invites you to share your most extreme adventure in the Sanctum Extreme Adventure Contest on Facebook. Upload a photo and story that details your greatest adventure for a chance to win one of three Grand Prizes: $1,000 cash and a Canon G12 10MP Digital Camera! 12 runners-up will receive a year’s subscription to National Geographic magazine, and a copy of the book “The New Age of Adventure,” a collection of the decade’s most thrilling, eccentric, and extraordinary adventure tales. The winners will be selected from all entries by Andrew Wight, the co-writer and producer of Sanctum (upon whose real-life story the film is based) and Steve Casimiro, National Geographic’s adventure expert.

Judging by my results from the YouTube quiz, I have no chance of winning this contest – there’s some real nuts out there!

Sorry friends, enemies and lurkers for the lack of recent posts, but up until recently, we’ve had a lot of storms – and yes, I’m still trying to get an unwanted roommate out of my apartment.

Hopefully, things will be a lot better in February, and if so, I plan to do a lot more diving.

I checked out Veteran’s Park in Redondo Beach yesterday – it looked flat, and from the surface, it had a potential to have some good visibility.

I was planning to do a quick solo dive, however, in my haste to pack my dive gear and escape psycho chick, I had forgotten my compass.

No way was I going to dive the pretty much barren landscape of Vet’s without a compass.

After seeking asylum at an undisclosed Santa Monica location, I showed up today to finally get my first dive in for the year.

I asked Military Bob, “Do you have a compass?”

“Yes, that’s one of the things I remembered to bring,” he said.

“Good, I’m following you.”

Seems that everyone had forgotten something – fins, a regulator, etc.

Luckily, a regular diver opted out of the dive due to congestion issues, and loaned some of his equipment out to fill the voids.

The trail down was closed for maintenance, but the signs are easily bypassed until you get to the sandy beach – more on that later.

Five divers made an easy entrance off The Cove, with two others opting for The Point.

Logged SCUBA Dive #376

Off The Cove At Terranea Resort
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Dove with Military Bob, Not New Chris, Donna The Hot Biker Chick and SCJoe

In With: 2700 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Slow moving, shallow rollers
Visibility: 10 feet
Water Temperature: 55 degrees – I think
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes

We all made a surface swim over 120 reef and submerged.

I believe we followed Military Bob most of the way, in a slow pace around the collection of reefs.

The kelp seems to have thinned out a bit since November, but the silt in the water made for a dim dive.

A sunstar and starfish.

Military Bob spotted a lobster too far in a hole to reach.

Maybe I should think about buying a fishing license and lobster report card for this year?

Donna floating in water – almost like an astronaut.

The arch at 120 reef – I only run in to it when I’m following other divers.

Now, I don’t know if I was narced or not – probably not at 40 feet – but when I saw Donna coming over the reef with a flashlight in hand, I had a flashback to my early childhood when I watched the NBC Mystery Movies of the 1970’s…

Hmmm… I really think of some weird crap when I’m diving.

A seal dive bombed the group – I was at the tail end, and didn’t get any pictures that turned out.

This was Donna The Hot Biker Chick’s first seal encounter – maybe it was a sea lion?

We came across a lobster trap…

There was a pretty good sized lobster in it that was bouncing against the walls in a panic.

The group kept going.

We followed Military Bob, hopefully back to the cove, but surfaced on the other side of the rocky finger next to the cave.

Oh well, it happens to everyone now and then.

We surface swam back to an easy exit – amazingly, with the 10 feet of visibility and five divers, we all stuck together throughout the dive.

The entire group of seven:

From left to right – Jordan, Military Bob, Nice Bob, Not So New Chris, Donna The Hot Biker Chick, SCJoe and Me.

Jordan and Nice Bob went off the point, and apparently experienced a very hairy entrance.

Now, to get to the water when the sandy beach is closed…

I’ve heard going to the left and across the shallow gully is easier, but we went to the right…

Take the right hand trail to the gully’s mouth and climb down to the beach.

Obviously, these pictures show us coming back – it’s good starter training for Honeymoon Cove.

Bob and Jordan came back with a scallop and treated everyone to some Ouzo flavored scallop sashimi.

Traditional debriefing ensued – we talked about some of the diving characters that have come and gone and some of the worst divers that we’ve met.

Let’s see – the 350 pound diver that was pulled off the rocks at The Point, who later strolled around the parking lot bare assed naked – this was when Terranea was nothing more than the vacant parking lot of Old Marineland.

Also, there was once a double tank “tech” diver who would hump his hundred pounds worth of gear down to the beach, only to be back in the parking lot when the regulars returned.

The stories continued, but eventually the beer ran out – and so, it was time to end another fun day of cheating death.