I'm still not used to writing "2025", plus Zager & Evans keeps popping into my brain but that was "2525" . . .

HAPPY NEW YEAR - How has 2025 been going for you so far? I don't know why, and maybe because it started in the middle of the week, but it feels to me like the "new year" doesn't really get going until Monday (tomorrow, as I'm writing this). Maybe it's because that's the first full week of 2025. Maybe it's because there was still enough residual stuff left over from 2024 - take down Christmas stuff, close out 2024 books, etc. - that it just feels like the new year hasn't quite kicked off. Whatever the case, here's looking to a fun and interesting ride for the duration.

ROSE PARADE 2025 - I love parades in general but REALLY love going to the Rose Parade. Since 1982, I've gone to a "secret" spot about a block and a half from the official end of the route at Sierra Madre and Orange Grove and it's always wonderful. I shoot a ton of images with the hopes of bringing it to you on a level you don't quite get from watching on TV. One of the nice things about where we are, as you'll see, is that we're literally 10 feet from all the floats, bands, and equestrian units as they pass us by at 2.5mph (official Rose Parade speed). Once the parade is over, we go to The Hat in Pasadena (on Lake) for a hot pastrami with fries, and then I head for home and start tweaking pix. You can see what we saw, including Grand Marshal Billie Jean King walking the last two blocks because her car broke down, through this link: ROSE PARADE 2025 PIX.

CHAMBER DAY STICKER SHOCK - We might as well get this out early as we've started prep for Chamber Day & Eve 2025. But we're succumbing to economic realities and having to raise prices, for both Chamber Day and Chamber Eve, to $175/person for each. Especially for Chamber Eve, our pricing hasn't kept pace with increased costs for holding the event - we don't pay for the Aquarium but we have to pay for food and some other things - which necessitates the increase. By the same token, we're holding the prices for both the Flying Dutchman and Virtual Chamber Eve steady at $95/person for each one. And it certainly all goes to a good cause, which is keeping our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber financially sound. I shudder to think what diving would be like, or how many people would suffer catastrophic injuries, if our Chamber was not available 24/7/365. The official date for the event is May 7 and the website will go live on March 1 which is also when official sign-ups begin. Reef Seekers will once again serve as Chamber Day HQ and we'll have a table at Chamber Eve (and Virtual Chamber Eve) as well. Hope to have you involved.

LIGHT & MOTION IS CLOSING THEIR DOORS AFTER 35+ YEARS - These are the folks that make Sola lights and this is rather sudden, unexpected, and sad news. CEO Daniel Emerson has this posted on their website: "Due to many factors, Light & Motion, a US manufacturer of dive, bike, photography and video lights is closing its operations. Over our 35 years in business, we have delivered some amazing products and enjoyed innovating to solve customer problems while building products in the US. The challenges of being a US manufacturer are significant and the political winds, regardless of the talk, have been against US manufacturing, which continues its decline. We designed our lights to provide many years of continued use and we thank you all for your support over the years. We are not able to provide service, but some of our dealers are able to repair lights, including Backscatter." Their lights are really good - I shoot my GoPro stuff with two of their video lights - and they will be missed. Their website lists everything as SOLD OUT but I'm sure you'll find some dwindling stock at some of their local dealers.

GOLDEN GLOBES - Congrats to our divers who won.

That'll do it for now. In the meantime, let's go diving together somewhere in 2025!!!

- Ken