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South Florida Divers, Inc.
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Go Get 'Em! ~ By Jeff Guzowski
June, 2004, we have planned an all inclusive trip to Brac Reef Beach Resort in Cayman Brac. We have already 8 members signed up for this trip and if you are interested in going, you will need to make your 1st deposit of $175 due at the August meeting. Trip information is located below. We have our annual August Keys trip to Key Largo to dive the Spiegel Grove on August 22-24. Because this seems to be a popular trip every year, we are going to run 2 trips next year. This way we should be able to accommodate more people with a fun trip to the Keys. I have been giving members
time to socialize before the meetings and starting late and unfortunately
our meetings started running later. So for August, we will be starting
at 7:45 P.M., make sure to plan on getting there early. Thanks.
Safe diving,
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WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST DIVE BUDDIES! We are delighted to welcome new members Steven Balestriero and Robert Horin! We look forward to diving with you! |
 August
2003 Calendar and beyondPhone numbers of trip coordinators
are not posted here to ensure privacy. If you are a club member,
consult your Buddy List for numbers; if not, and you wish to contact a
trip coordinator, e-mail the web divemaster.
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Ken Weemhoff on Fiji Join us August 6 as Ken Weemhoff of Galapagos Adventures makes a return visit to tell us about his exciting adventures in Fiji. SFDI meetings start at 7:30 at the Ramada Fort Lauderdale Airport. If you are not a member, and you are reading this on the Internet, please join us because visitors are ALWAYS WELCOME! Remember to bring your wallet or checkbook ... we have some great raffle prizes, and you'll be wanting more SFDI T-shirts or hats for your surface interval on hot, sunny days! For those of us who have been missing the turn to get into the Ramada (yes, I'm guilty), Ski was kind enough to write explicit, detailed directions to our meeting place from the North, South, East and West. You may view his driving directions here on our About Us page. |
Lobster Laws and Tips!
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Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, land transfers, hotel taxes, and service charges are included. It also includes round trip airfare from Miami to Cayman Brac, (the air departure tax is not included). Cost around $1375. First down payment of $175, due at the August 6 Club meeting. Trip coordinators are Jeff “Ski” Guzowski and Michele Burzese. |
~ Review by
Tom Wilcox, Broward County Library
There is plenty of battle of the sexes verbal wrangling, as well as, diving and treasure hunting in the book even if it usually ends with Matt and Tate kissing at the surface ("She tasted salt and sea and man, and wondered if anyone ever sampled such potent flavors all at once."). And there are the expected pop fiction errors-like putting clownfish in the Caribbean and having a school of fish provide "bubbles" for Tate to giddily swim through--but Roberts has done quite well wrapping the dive action around the mushy stuff. The plot holds up, the characters are rounded if not voluptuous, and only the love story is painfully predictable. My only major complaint-that there was more promise of and much less actual sex than I thought there'd be. Check it out @your library! |
Spiegel Grove: Before and After ~
Photos from the Official Tourism Web Site for the Florida Keys
For the moving, the sinking, and diving on the Spiegel Grove, visit the Official Tourism Council Web Site for the Florida Keys at www.fla-keys.com/spiegelgrove. The story on the opening page quotes the impressions of local divers. You will also find a nautical chart of her location, Spiegel Grove fast facts, some photographs, and a project history. |
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Mini
Season is coming up as I’m writing this letter. We had some good
weekends of diving this month, but I haven’t seen many lobsters on any
of our dives. Some members tell me their secret spots are loaded,
where others say their spots are empty. The regular lobster season
opens on August 6 and is here till March 31, to fill up your freezer.
Good hunting and dive safe.
Our
first international trip of this year was June 7-14 in Curacao. It
was a most memorable trip. Everyone arrived there on time, except for one
unfortunate diver in our group who forgot to make sure his passport was
with him. He arrived the next day.
We
were greeted at the airport with a welcoming party of about 50 local adults
and children. They sang Island songs, Gospel hymns, and even Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday?.... Well, that group was actually welcoming Grandma or
Great-grandma!!! But it COULD have been for us! The tour bus was there
to pick us up and all our luggage and gear and the driver proceeded to
truck us across the island to 
At
the resort, we were greeted by the resort staff with Rum punch and hors
d'oeuvres. We were all checked in, and all of our things put away when
it was time to find our way around the resort. We found our way to the
pool bar. After all, we were on vacation. Did we need to go any further??
We
had our dive shop orientation that same day where we met Mike and Michelle
Day, the owners of the dive shop on site, Sunset Divers. Carlos, Kristen,
and Wade were our divemasters. They explained how we would be diving. They
showed us the new boat they had just attained. And they described some
of the sites we would visit. We were even more enthused about our upcoming
dives. The sites we would dive included Mike's Place, Harry's Hole, Mushroon
Forest Deep, Lost Anchor, Pelican Beach, Mako Mountain, Boca Hoela, Casa
Abao, and El Rancho.
The
typical diving around that area of Curacao consists of rocky shoreline,
a gentle sloping sandy area, and then a near vertical drop off to the deep.
Soft corals and hard corals, as well as plenty of fish life, inhabit these
areas. It was a great opportunity for those of us using video and photography
equipment. My favorite site was called First Encounter. It had a nice combination
of coral spurs and sand chutes similar to that which I have dove in Cozumel.
We
did have a casualty on one of the last days of diving. On the way back
to the resort, after a great day of diving, the wind blew Donna's favorite
hat overboard. This was a hat she had for many years, even collecting pins
and other ornaments from past diving vacations. Capt. Mike did turn the
boat around to look for it but it was to no avail. It was gone, sunk, overboard,......Castaway!
When we couldn't find it, Carlos our divemaster, yelled out; "WILSONNNNNN".
Donna tried searching for it to be washed up on the shore. Nope, it was
"taps" for the hat. Time for a new one!
Well,
I could probably go on and on about this trip but space limits me. I do
want to point out how helpful everyone at the resort was to all of us.
and how friendly the dive operation, Sunset Divers, was to us as well.
If you have been on one of these international trips, you know how much
fun they can be. If you've not, you have missed out on great vacation times.
Just ask any one of us, we'll be glad to tell you all about it.
June,
2004, we have planned an 8 day/7 nights all inclusive trip to 
With
the annual Key Largo/Spiegel Grove trip right around the corner, it is
time for you to visit two Spiegel Grove websites to brush up on your
history! These websites can give you good "before" and "after" lessons,
that is, "before" when she served her country as a U.S. Navy Landing Ship
Dock, and "after" as she serves as an underwater environment, attracting
marine life as well as avid divers.
Historian
Kevin Flatley, OS2/USN, served aboard the Spiegel Grove from June, 1980
to August, 1983. Visit his extensive website at 