Minutes
Aqua Tutus Diving Club Meeting
April 7, 2022
Meeting called to order by President Neil Benjamin at 7:34pm PDT (started late due to technical issues with setting up Zoom).
Attending: This is a hybrid meeting with face-to-face attendees at Roundtable Pizza in Castro Valley and Zoom participants. A total of 20 people attended; 11 in person and 9 via Zoom.
Entertainment:
Unfortunately, at the last minute an unexpected circumstance precluded our scheduled speaker, videographer extraordinaire Marcelo Ogata, from attending. Instead, Neil presented a slide show of he and Ajna cave diving in Mexican cenotes this past December. Stills of four sites showcased beautiful cave formations.
Business Meeting:
- Old Business:
- Minutes of the March 2022 Membership Meeting, as published in the Club Express (CE) version of the Aqua Tooter, were approved. Minutes of the March Board of Director meeting have been posted onto the member site; see Officer Reports.
- Director Reports:
- Neil (for Entertainment). In May, we will host (via Zoom) Mike Boom, will present video from the Red Sea and Egypt. Possibly, we will hold a Members’ Night in June.
- Arnie (for Newsletter). Oliver posted the latest edition of the CE version of the Aqua Tooter. It consists of a set of short article summaries with links to the full articles.
- Helga (Treasurer) reported the club has $2,778.21 in the Training Fund, $4,860.67 in the General Fund, for a total of $7,638.88.
- Debbie (Membership). Debbie reported that 2022 paid membership (in CE) are: 8 Life members, 5 Associate members, 0 Student members, and 47 Regular members, for a total club membership of 60.
- Dennis (Training). No training is currently scheduled. Some members have expressed interest in holding an Advanced Open Water training class.
- New Business:
- Jim Driggers noted that the California Diving News is back printing issues; copies were available for the taking at the meeting.
- Belatedly, two visitors were introduced: Brendan and his mother, Tracy. They are certified divers who are interested in joining the club.
- Dive Reports
- Arnie reported on recent experiences gas matching with a local cohort of divers. He is now diving with a steel 95 cylinder and routinely matches the cohort’s 2-hour long dives.
- Lindsey and Dennis reported on the diving at Roatán. Over the one-week period, Lindsey dove a total of 33 hours and 45 minutes. The dives were easy and the water a warm 81°.
- Neill reported his recent dives in Maui, where he was visiting Elizabeth’s family. The dives were shore-based. He reported seeing a large school of coronet fish and a large group of white tip reef sharks.
- Bone Award: Arnie was nominated for the award based on his admission that he had not realized the true cylinder sizes used by his dive buddies. Dennis nominated Chris Sculley for leaving his camera behind in the hotel room. Dennis was nominated for losing Lindsey on one of their dives. By acclamation, Chris won the coveted Bone Award.
- Good Buddy Award: Dennis was nominated by Lindsey despite him losing her. Dennis received the Good Buddy Award since there were no other nominations.
- Upcoming Dives/Activities:
- April 9, a San Carlos to Macabee and back snorkel dive. Jim Driggers is POC for the dive. Meet at San Carlos at 8:30 am. Debbie suggested it is advisable to get there early to find parking. Debbie noted that a second scuba dive after the snorkel run was possible.
- April 21, ATDC Board of Directors meeting (via Zoom). Meeting begins at 7pm PDT.
- May 5, ATDC general membership meeting (at Roundtable in Castro Valley and via Zoom)
- June 11-25, 2022 — Bonaire trip. Contact Dennis if you are interested.
- July 18-28, 2022 — Indonesia trip. Currently there are six vacancies. Contact Dennis for further information.
- There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:53 pm PDT.
Faithfully submitted:
Arnie Warshawsky, Secretary