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Date: 6/27/2026
Subject: The Aqua Tooter (July 2026). Aqua Tutus Diving Club's Newsletter
From: Aqua Tutus Dive Club


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The Aqua Tooter

July 2026
 
Announcements and Club News
 
 
 
Greetings from the President
 
Jim Driggers' monthly
newsletter is here.

Club Meeting July 2nd

 
On the heels of the Club Trip to the Philippines, our own Neil Benjamin will present his stills and videos from recent dives there. We are anticipating making this location the focus of our Fall Member's Night, so hopefully Neil's recent work can inspire some of our intrepid Tooters to prep their own shots from the recent sojourn.
 
Upcoming Dives
 
 
Want to Dive More? 
 
Planning a dive? Want to find dive buddies?
 
Create your own dives on our Event calendar and announce them in the Members Dive Forum.
 Read this news article to find out how.
 
Club Dive July 11th
 
   Shawn Passeri will sneaking us into Hidden Beach in Monterey. Tucked in between McAbee and Breakwater, you get all the marine life and great conditions without the crowds. Check out the Forums for more details.
 
Salt Point Campout 8/28 - 8/30
 
Our annual dive weekend on the north coast is coming up!
We are staying in the Woodside Lower Loop. Some are showing up as early as Thursday and staying until Sunday.
Check out the event calendar for links and the Forum for details!
 
Dive Reports
 
 
Gerstle Cove 6-7-26

Mark and I were the only club members, and we were accompanied by Rich from Marin Scuba Club and Alex O'Malley (a newer driver I met at Caspar Cove ) and her lovely dogs. We met at Gerstle Cove, hauled our gear down, and did a short (30ish min) dive . It was Alex's 7th dive and we ended up practicing our search for lost diver skills, underwater communication skills and diver towing skills.  
It was fun and what mattered was that 4 divers went in alive and 4 divers came out alive :) I left the dive thinking that it might be a nice idea to practice more diving skills during club dives. I saw slightly more kelp at the cove than last year (3 or 4 stalks visible at surface in different parts of the cove). With the limited attention capacity I had remaining between keeping track of our navigation, trying to keep Alex from popping up, tracking her air and keeping her somewhat calm, I managed to notice some very spiky punk-looking sea cucumbers, many starfish (no sunflowers unfortunately), some weird orange mushroom-looking things and some cool small fish (and of course purps). Mark said he saw a largeish crab too. At the surface we saw a curious seal, but thankfully not too curious to approach us. We then had a lovely time in the sun, sharing food and hot drinks, staring at the gorgeous ocean, a kelp patch farther out the cove and seals and then Mark and I climbed the rocks to some tidepools. Vis was about 8'-10' and temp was about 48F.                            -Sofia
 
Member Recommendations
 
 
"Smoke and CO Monitors. In view of so many fires aboard liveaboards in recent years, let us remind everyone of the security brought by carrying your own smoke detector and carbon monoxide monitor when you travel. Available from places like Home Depot and on the Internet, you can be more certain that your own devices will work should they be needed."

Think I’m going to do that- been thinking of it for a while. -Oliver
 
The image to the left is the one I have from a company called Forensics. Was developed for use by pilots in aircraft. -Derek
Due date is September 7, 2026. It would be great if one of the members was included as a winner! :-)

-Helga
 
Club Website Update
 
Some of you may have noticed that AquaTutus.org has been responding very slowly and functionality has been intermittent. 
 
Our hosting provider, ClubExpress, has been suffering from a massive denial of service attack for the past two weeks. They are upgrading their systems to deal with the problem and seem to be making improvements. While it has been an inconvenience to us members, we have been told that there has been no unauthorized access to any club data.
 
Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. -Derek
 
Diving Related News
 
 
PycnoPalooza
 
A great article about the discovery of a colony of sea stars off the coast near Mendocino. 
 
 
 
  Scientists Worry El Nino could Supercharge Marine Heat Wave Roiling Coastal California
 
A widespread marine heat wave and brewing El Niño could further threaten California kelp, sea birds and marine ecosystems.

 
 
Club Minutes and Business
 
 
 Please use these links to find our most recent General Meeting 
and Board of Directors minutes.
 
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