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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2002)
may 3. 2002 » Ju s t s u t 3 g SPORTS ..................▼ ................... Lost in space Continued from Page 1 PHOTO BY ANITA FLOYD wrong. And after a certain age you realize that you’re not invulnerable. It was a real push for me to learn how to dive. My first day actually getting in the water in Puget Sound was a little scary. But I like a good challenge, so I stuck with it ” Floyd spent several years in the Army Reserve as a drill sergeant and says that experience also gave her the confidence to persevere in diving. “Doing things like rappelling...and obstacle courses where you learn to have confidence in yourself and your abilities, I think transferred a lot to scuba diving. It’s basically the same thing in learning to trust yourself.” She also emphasizes the importance of learning to trust and to use diving gear properly, likening it to jumping out of an airplane. You’d want to have “a damn good parachute,” she smiles, and you’d want to be sure you knew how to use it. In the six years since her fateful jump into Puget Sound, Floyd has Floyd and crew happen upon a World War I I Japanese freighter become a master diver, traveling miles off the coast o f Venezuela, Floyd was from Alaska to the South Pacific and from Diving for Life raises money through diver hooked. Micronesia to the Bahamas. She has floated fees and two auctions. Donated items come over the black abyss of a 9,000-foot canyon, She met participants from Seattle, with from diving clubs, she has taught many others to dive and has whom she continues to dive, and found a ers as well as celebrities like diver’s paradise she hopes to retire to someday. become active in Diving for Life, a nonprofit Drew Barrymore, Bonaire is in a marine preserve that Floyd says that raises money for gay and lesbian health is akin to diving in a giant fishbowl. Jennifer Aniston, charities. “You can’t even wear gloves in the water the Muppets and Martha Stewart. because they figure if you’re wearing gloves ince 1992 Diving for Life has organized that means you’re trying to touch something,” Floyd is hoping an annual jamboree o f gay and lesbian to get a club she remarks. “And they don’t want you touch scuba divers from around the world. O n together from Port ing anything.” her first one in Bonaire, an island about 50 land not only to start diving regu larly but also to attend this fall’s Diving for Life jam- Floyd emphasizes her point with a favorite saying in the diving world: “There are old divers and there are macho divers, but there are no old, macho divers.” She notes the cost of diving is sometimes pro hibitive, particularly the initial gear expenses, which can run upward of $2,500. Because your life is depending on the gear, she adds, the last thing you want to do is skimp. Then there are travel expenses to get to warm- water destinations such as Bonaire or Hawaii or the Bahamas. But Puget Sound and Canada offer plenty of diving opportunities for those of us here in the Northwest. “If you can dive in the Pacific Northwest then you can dive anywhere in the world comfortably,” she asserts, “because it’s harder to dive here than anywhere else. It’s colder, and you have to wear bigger suits and more equipment." O f course, the payoff is knowing what it S Freeport, Grand Bahama. “It’s a group of responsible gay and lesbian individuals,” she notes. “Thar is, to me, one of the greatest aspects of that whole event—people who go there are* not the party hounds. They’re respon sible divers. You don’t find people doing stupid stuff.” Floyd wants to take a Portland crew to Diving for Life MAN RAY Swimming with the turtles off the coast of Venezuela VOLUME II M I X E D BY: B R U N O E V I N , D J A M E L H A M M A D I A N D JULIO BLACK Wlith the success of its first compilation. Man Ray— the ultra hip and chic club of both Paris and N ew York City— has compiled a second mix by three of Electrónica s most cutting edge DJs Man Ray Volume II delivers an even stronger and sexier down-tempo sound, mixing acid jazz, ambient and dance Also includes a bonus track, “Fuse B o x ' from Canadian-born com poser Mychael Danna's soundtrack to the Indian film Monsoon Wedding, remixed by Julio Black. CALIFORNIA If you want to join A nita F l o y d ’ s diving club or learn more about it, call 503-421 -4788 or e-mail acfloyd@qwest net. The Diving for Life Jamboree is Sept 21 to 25 MELISSA SAYLER, who prefers diving into a hot cup of coffee to the ocean, is the Production Assistant at Just Out. DREAMIN' Stylish & cosmopolitan while being streetsmart. California Dream m ' provides the perfect cinematic atmosphere whether driving down Pacific Coast Highway, chilling out after-hours or having a dinner party with fnends Features tracks from world pioneers of downbeat, trip- hop, drum’n'bass and ambient music EAST PORTLAND • 32nd & E Burnside St. • 231-8926 M ILLEN N IU M Offer good thru 5-16-02 NW PO R TLAN D • 23rd & NW Johnson • 248-0163
