Greetings from the President, August 2023
Jim Driggers | Published on 8/28/2023
Hello Aqua Tutus,
A big thank you to Paul Rosenblum for coming to our August meeting in person and showing us images from his multiple, fairly recent trips to various parts of Indonesia. The photographs were amazing and the stories he told were enjoyable. I’d definitely like for him to return for another visit.
I’m disappointed work responsibilities will keep me from leading the September meeting at which Marc Shargel, another wonderful photographer--and naturalist, will talk about the underwater ecology of our own Pacific coast and the dramatic changes that have affected it. For a teaser of what to expect, see the News page of Marc’s own website.
Dennis Hocker will be doing double-duty during the September general meeting. Both Oliver and I will be unable to lead the meeting, so Dennis is filling in for us. Dennis has led many club meetings in the past, so I know you're in good hands.
I’ve heard a saying that if you haven’t submerged to begin a dive and flooded a snorkel because you forgot to put your regulator in your mouth--then you haven’t done enough diving. I’m going to self-nominate myself for the Bone Award, by saying I think the same thing is true of gearing up at a dive site and then discovering you left your mask at home. The night before the August 19th night dive at Breakwater, I checked my tanks to be sure they were full, my dive computer’s battery to make sure it was full (glad I did, it was empty), and recharged my video lights. Shortly before driving down to Monterey, I packed (almost) all my gear, including my save-a-dive kit with the extra mask strap. Unfortunately, I forgot my prescription dive mask. Let’s see anyone beat that for the September Bone Award.
As I’ve written before, I took on the role of club president this year to promote diving safety and training. I also took on the role to help promote greater attendance at club meetings. For multiple reasons, I’m very glad David Sheh attended the club dive. He not only filled his new member at large responsibility by serving as the dive's point of contact, he also agreed to be my dive buddy. And the cherry on top was he'd brought two back-up masks and offered both for me to try. The first I tried fit well enough, and I was happily surprised that I was able read my gauges more than well enough to dive the Breakwater wall at night. Since I won’t be at the General Meeting, I’d like to nominate David for the September Good Buddy award.
Finally, I’d like to announce the entertainment portion of the October general meeting, but I can’t. The board has two or three possibilities it’s pursuing, but none have committed. If you have any leads or suggestions that might be available, let me and the rest of the board know.
Warmly,
Jim Driggers
Club president