Minutes
Aqua Tutus Diving Club Meeting
July 11, 2024
Meeting called to order by President Jim Driggers at 7:04pm PST. This is a hybrid meeting with 12 members present at Roundtable Pizza in Castro Valley and 8 members attending via Zoom.
Jim introduced tonight’s guest speaker, Marco Mazza, who spoke on the plight of disappearing Sunflower sea stars along the Northern Californian coast. Marco leads the Sunflower Star Laboratory, which is located at Moss Landing. Hastening to remind that correlation does not equate to causation, he pointed out that the sea star population crash correlates well with the sea urchin population explosion, which has been implicated in the demise of our kelp forests.
Officer Reports
- Secretary: Arnie reported that the June meeting minutes and the June Board of Director meeting minutes (collected by Debbie D; Arnie was at a medical appointment) have been posted.
- Treasurer Report: Debbie (for Helga) reported that we have $3,797.21 in the Training fund and $5,305.85 in the General fund for a total of $9,097.06.
- Training Report: Dennis encouraged members to share training interests with him. He noted that there has been some recent interest in navigation training. He suggested perhaps a short compass course review could be coordinated with a club dive. More to come as this idea gels. Dennis also offered to produce ATDC calling cards for members to hand out to non-club members met during local diving trips as a way to promote the club.
- Membership Report: Debbie noted that we currently have 69 members: 56 regular members, eight life members, and five associate members.
- Entertainment: David S. reported that our speaker in August, Mark Strickland, will cover how to approach shy marine life (important for marine photography). He reminded everyone of the upcoming club swap meet scheduled for Dennis and Patti’s digs.
- Communications: Derek reported that he is working with Oliver to create a short tutorial on how to upload photos for ATDC articles.
Old Business: Jim and Derek are still working on the final version of the planned member survey.
New Business: None raised.
Upcoming Activities:
July 18 Board of Directors meeting (via Zoom); all members are invited
July 20 Club dive will be a night dive at Breakwater; Derek S. Is POC
July 27 Swap Meet at Dennis and Patti’s home in Newark. Adult beverages to be provided.
August 1 Membership meeting. Guest speaker, Mark Strickland, will talk about how to approach timid marine life
Aug 9-11 Monthly club dive will be held at Salt Point State Park. Debbie asks those interested to resister that interest on the club website.
Aug 15 Board of Directors meeting (via Zoom); all members are invited
Dec 14 ATDC Holiday Party
There was also some discussion about the possibility of scheduling another Point Lobos dive—maybe for November. It was suggested that the September club dive might be a good time to incorporate the navigation skills practice. Matt Warren was mentioned as a possible leader for a navigation course. (Neal reminded everyone that an important part should be a 100-ft course to use to determine one’s pace.) Alan S. Is POC for the dive. Looking ahead a bit, Giuseppe is considering acting as POC for the club dive in October.
Diving Reports:
- Christina went diving in Greece and reported warm, clear water with lots of octopus. She also went diving last weekend in Mendocino.
- Oliver went diving last Saturday along with David S. and Bo, to South Monastery. They reported poor visibility. Oliver noted that he navigated (by natural feature) from South to North Monastery. It was a long swim better-suited to using a DPV.
- Jim reported on the club SnorkelDive at Lovers. He noted that the original plan was to enter at Lovers 2 but changed that to Lovers 3 with the exit at Lovers 1. Good visibility. It was Dan and Nicole’s first time doing a cold water snorkel dive.
- David C. Reported on his dive for Reef Check at Point Lobos. He mentioned that he had a hard time swimming back against the current. His buddy lost her mask, but Dave was able to recover it. He also found (and returned to owner) a dropped camera.
Bone Award. Oliver was nominated for taking David S. on an extended dive at South-North Monastery, He won the coveted award.
Good Buddy Award. David C. For retrieving a buddy’s lost mask. He received the award by acclamations nominations.
There being no further business, Jim adjourned the meeting at 8:40pm PST.
Faithfully submitted:
Arnie Warshawsky, Secretary