February 2025 General Meeting Minutes
Arnie Warshawsky | Published on 2/28/2025
Minutes Aqua Tutus Dive Club Meeting
February 6, 2054
Meeting called to order by President Jim Driggers at 7:00pm PST. This is a hybrid meeting with 13 members present at Roundtable Pizza in Castro Valley and 7 members attending via Zoom.
Tonight’s talk is given by True Barnes. He works for the Citizen Science Informing Management part of the Reef Check Foundation. His talk covered the objectives of his area and then he specifically spoke about the Coral Reef Program, the Kelt Forest Program, and the Tankers Reef Project. His talk was very interesting and lasted almost an hour including question and answers.
Jim introduced and welcomed one guest to our meeting, a women who was scuba certified in Iceland. Officer Reports
• Secretary: November meeting minutes have been posted to the website.
• Treasurer: Helga reported $3,797.21 in the training fund and $3,636.21 in the general fund. Total is
$7,433.42.
• Training: Dennis urged anyone interested in any specific training to contact him. He also encouraged
everyone present to take a supply of ATDC business cards to hand out to divers met at the beaches.
• Membership: Debbie reported on the status of membership annual renewal. She noted that if someone
has not renewed before March, their names are purged from the membership rolls. As of this month we
have 58 members: 46 regular members, eight life members, and four associate members.
• Entertainment: David S. Recapped upcoming entertainment events. David noted we have not yet secured
a speaker for March. In April, Randall Spangler will speak about how to assess ocean conditions. May will
be another of the popular Members night where we get to vicariously share fellow divers’ trips. (Speaking of which, Jim mentioned that NCUPS might be setting up another Monterey Shootout.) If you have
any leads for speakers, shoot them over to David.
• Communications: Derek reports communication are flowing smoothly.
• Newsletter: Oliver. While Oliver was absent this month, he keeps the newsletter rolling. Send him articles
to share with your fellow club members.
Old Business. None New Business. None
Upcoming Activities
| Feb 20 Mar 6 Mar 15 Mar 20 Apr 3 |
Board of Directors meeting (via Zoom); all members are invited.Membership meeting; speaker to be determinedMonthly club dive; Jim Driggers is POC, annual snorkel from McAbee to Breakwater.Board of Directors meeting (via Zoom); all members are invited.Membership meeting; speaker Randall Spangler addressing how to assess ocean conditions for divingBoard of Directors meeting (via Zoom); all members are invited.San Francisco Film Festival; Natasha Benjamin’s film, Sequoia’s of the Sea, will be shown.Monthly cub dive; Lindsay Martin is POC, location to be determined.Membership meeting; Members’ Night |
| Apr 17 Apr 17-27 Apr 19 Mary 1 |
Diving Reports:
• A few club members joined Dennis and Patti diving Cozumel. Dennis presented Dan Wilcox with a certif-
cate recognizing safe completion of a two-hour long dive (admittedly a shallow one).
• Alan S. Reported a nice dive at Lovers’ Point. Great visibility and pretty clam conditions.
• Dave and Christina reported on an ad hoc dive at McAbee, which included cormorants and seals.
Bone Award. Alan S nominated Michael on an episode of running very low on air (Michael won by acclama- tion). This led to Dennis discussing the training point of practicing oral inflation skills. He also reminded everyone that a diver needs to know how to drop his/her weight belt if having flotation problems at the surface. The cost of weights is not worth your life. Jim added on that there are a myriad of little things you learn during scuba training that you should routinely practice to keep muscle memory current.
Good Buddy Award. Christina, David S., and Derek S. Were each nominated for this award. The vote went to Christina.
There being no further business, Jim adjourned the meeting at 8:40pm PST.
Faithfully submitted:
Arnie Warshawsky, Secretary