Mark the date - Wednesday, May 7 - for the 20th annual Chamber Day. The first one was held in June of 1989 and has been an annual tradition since.

SoCal’s finest dive boats donate their services for the day. They are (in alphabetical order): Bottom Scratcher, Cee Ray, Island Time, Magician, Mr. C, Pacific Star, Psalty V, Sand Dollar, Sea Bass, Second Stage, Sundiver, and Sundiver II.

Here’s the way it works. (And for those who can’t actually take the day off, there’s always the Flying Dutchman, but more on that later.) You choose the boat you want to go on and donate $90 (all those proceeds go to the Chamber). Book early because once a boat fills, it’s unavailable. Although we’ll hold a reservation for you for 72 hours, after that time, spots are only guaranteed when they are paid in full. Again this year, all the boats are doing food-and-air-included so we’ll also collect $30 from you for that (making the total tab $120).

In general, the boats will leave their respective dock at 7AM and head for Catalina. (Some boats may allow you to board the night before and sleep on board.) You’ll get a commemorative Chamber Day 2008 t-shirt, five raffle tickets (you can buy more on your boat or at the Chamber), and make two dives at Catalina. During the day, there will be an on-board raffle on each boat plus you’ll have a chance to buy more raffle tickets for the big Chamber Day raffle.

Sometime during the day, your boat will stop at our Catalina Chamber in Big Fisherman’s Cove. You’ll all disembark for a 75-minute overview of Chamber operations. L.A. County Lifeguards will explain their job, rescue helicopters and crews from the Coast Guard and Sheriffs will be on hand, and the Chamber crew will show you the Chamber itself, including taking you inside and pressurizing the Chamber to a depth of 1-foot.

Most of the boats will arrive back at their docks by 5:30PM. We try to radio all the boats on the way back to tell them their raffle winners. But all raffle prizes will be available in front of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach at our drive-up raffle prize pick-up table. However, we can’t do any of this unless you sign up for the event by calling 310/652-4990 or by going to our secure server. Come alone, or come with a friend, but just come.

But if you can’t do the daytime event (or if you do the daytime and want to cap it off with a fabulous evening) . . .