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Date: 4/7/2023
Subject: Aqua Tooter (April 2023)
From: Oliver Edwards



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The Aqua Tooter

April 2023


 
Announcements and Club News
 
 
 
Greetings from the President
 
 
Jim Driggers has written to us here

General Meeting
Thursday April 6th
 
Dennis Hocker, a long time Monterey diver, will give us an overview of Monterey area dive sites. The ocean should start to improve as spring arrives - you can use this information to plan your upcoming diving! Please register for the meeting here. 
 
 
 

Training plans from the 
Director of Training
 
Dennis Hocker, our Director of training is conducting an Advanced Open Water class; diving is planned for 4-7. A follow-on rescue class will be held given enough interest.
 
Dennis encourages club members to request training. Reach him at dennis@rxscuba.com or in the club members contact list.
 
(Dennis is on the left with Eric Minowski and John Petrash)
Dennis Hocker, Eric Minowski, John Petrash

Club Dive
Lovers Point April 15
 
Dennis Hocker is POC for the April club dive being held at Lovers Point. Read more details and make sure to register on the website for event updates.

Board of Directors Meeting 
Thursday April 20
 
 
Interested in how the club is run? Want to contribute to club activities? Come attend the Board of Directors meeting via zoom. All current members are welcome to attend. See the event calendar for details. 

Members Night photo show
May General Meeting
 
It's not too early to start preparing for our "members night" at the May General Meeting. Members night is where club members present a short collection of their water themed photos or videos, generally limited to about 10 minutes in length. Dave Chervin is organizing the event. See details here.
 
 
 

Club Dive at Breakwater
Saturday May 13
 
 
 
Breakwater, The Pipe and Metridium field are the feature attractions. Let me know if there are skills you need to exercise, etc. Arrive early for best parking. See the event for details and Please make sure to register on the website for updates.
 
 

Club Dive at Stillwater
Saturday June10
 
Many club members have never dove at Stillwater but it's known for good diving! Find details in the event and a future thread on the club dive forum. Please make sure to register on the website.
 

Bonaire Entertainment Show
Call for member participation

 

If you have traveled to Bonaire we want your photos and/or (short) videos for our Bonaire show. We can use a wide variety of images: underwater and topside shots. You don't have to be an expert photographer - cell phone snapshots are fine too. I will assemble and present the show.

 

Photos / videos are due May 1st. Please check out the helpful advice here.

 
 

Dive Trip to Truk Lagoon
 
Here’s your chance to dive the famous World War II Japanese wrecks of Truk Lagoon for two weeks - July 22nd through August 5th onboard the Odyssey.

Don’t put off diving the wrecks of Truk Lagoon as time is taking it’s toll on the wrecks.

Contrary to the misconception that the wrecks of Truk Lagoon are deep, the majority of them rest in less than 130 ft. of water making it possible to reach the deck without exceeding a depth of 100 ft. The superstructures are as shallow as 30 ft. with some of the King Posts, which are completely overgrown with marine life, coming within 7 ft. of the surface.  Photographers have been known to do a whole dive photographing the life on the King Post of the Fujikawa Maru and not go below 40 ft.

We will be diving some of the deeper wrecks. A minimum certification level of Advanced Enriched Air or equal is needed to dive these wrecks. A typical day of diving is 2 morning dives, 2 afternoon dives and a night dive (a dawn dive can sometimes be done).
 
2 weeks on the Odyssey including Enriched Air $5,800.
 
If you’d like more information contact Dennis at 510 RxSCUBA (797-2822) or email at dennis@rxscuba.com.
 
Dennis reports there are still spaces available.

Update on Kelp restoration at the March meeting
 
Keith Rootstaert and Dan Abbott gave an engrossing update to the Tanker Reef urchin removal project as a part of restoring the California kelp forests. 

 
Dive Reports
 
 
March club dive postponned
 
Due to poor weather.

 
Diving Related News
 
 
Dive related websites
 
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) has provided a nice list of diver related websites on their pages. it includes: Dive shops, dive boats, dive equipment suppliers, and other useful resources.
 
 

Sea Stars Endangered 
 
The Washington Post reports that Sunflower Sea Stars have been proposed for listing on the endangered species list. Sunflower Sea star wasting is hypothesized to be one of the causes of the loss of kelp on the Pacific Coast. 
 
 
 

Bob Hollis dies
 
 
 
 
 
Bob Hollis, known by many for creating Oceanic died earlier this year. There is an informative obituary in Deeper Blue
 
 
 

Dan March Newsletter
 
Dan's March issue of Safety Stop, their member newsletter, is available here. Dan provides many valuable services to divers including staffing a 24 hour Diving Emergency Hotline and offering diving accident insurance. (The editor is a longtime Dan member, carries Dan insurance, and encourages all divers to do so.)

MBNMS calendar
 

The Monterey Bay National  Marine Sanctuary publishes a calendar of activities. It includes talks at the Santa Cruz Sanctuary Exploration Center (free admission).
 
 

MBNMS diver news
 
The march issue of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary News includes articles about viewing and protecting sea otters as they congregate in Monterey Bay. 
 
 
 

 
Club Minutes
 
 
The March General Meeting minutes are here.
The March Board of Directors Meeting minutes are here.
 
 All of Aqua Tutus' minutes are stored as news articles (under the category "officer reports").