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South Florida Divers, Inc.
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Did somebody say PARTY! ~ By Jeff Guzowski
Photo: Adrian and Sandra
Soler
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Another year has gone by. 2002 brought some great trips, local and out of country, and a manatee trip. Let’s not forget the long awaited (and infamous) Spiegel Grove that did not want to sink. A lot of new members joined the club, and some old ones returned. I would like to take this time to thank everyone for a great 2002.
Your E-board for 2002 did a great job as usual, thanks to all the E-board members for your hard work, and if you talk to any, let them know you appreciate their hard work. Remember this month are elections at the club meeting and our Holiday Party on December 7 at I.T. Parker Center in Dania Beach.
The 2003 E-board election will be at the December 4 meeting. If anyone is interested in an E-board position, check our list of offices below in this newsletter, please tell an E-board member or volunteer yourself. We need all the help we can get to help run your club for 2003. Thanks.
The Holiday Party starts at 7 PM and ends at midnight. For those of you who have never been to our Holiday Party, let me tell you about it. The club puts together a buffet style dinner, where we will provide 3 turkeys, 2 spiral hams, all beverages which include a full bar with mixers, beer, wine, sodas, water and the frozen drink of the night… mudslides made by John Kansman and his magical blender. We will have a DJ for dancing, and a raffle drawing for some gifts and door prizes. The dress is casual dress or dress up. All you need to do is bring $5, a covered dish, a toy for a tot, your appetite, and dancing shoes. If you don’t know what to bring for a covered dish, call Susan Judah, she had a covered dish sign up sheet that she can let you know what we will need.
The Toys for the Tots gift is for the kids that are living at the Women in Distress. We chose them a couple of years ago, when an article was written about how these children are forgotten for donations and the children don’t have Christmas gifts. They are thrilled every time we show up with the bags of wonderful gifts our club donates to them.
On the night of the Holiday Party, if you would be interested to help with setting up, we will be starting at 6:15 PM.
Before I close, we will be moving our Club Meetings starting in January 2003. Please keep checking the website or your newsletter for the new SFDI location. HoJo’s has been our home for 25 plus years and we are sorry to see it go, but unfortunately it’s not our choice.
Happy Holidays,
~ Ski
WELCOME YOUR NEWEST DIVE BUDDIES! We are delighted to welcome new members Cheryl Clayton and Daniel Moeller. We look forward to diving with both of you. |
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Phone 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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It's
time to vote for next year's SFDI executive board! We especially
encourage our many new members to get involved with the club and run for
an office. To nominate yourself or any other member, or just to find
out what is involved, contact any e-board member.
Executive Board positions include: President, VP of Membership, Membership Assistant, VP of Calendar, Calendar Assistant, VP of Programs, Secretary, Treasurer, Treasurer Assistant, Newsletter Editor, Web Divemaster, Sargeant-At-Arms, Member-At-Large, and Greeter. Here are the nominations so far:
| President | Jeff Guzowski | Greeter | Julie Taylor |
| VP Programs | Steve Anderson | Sargeant-at-Arms | Pat Lamicella |
| VP Membership | Joe Smariga | Membership Assistant | Jane McArthur |
| VP Calendar | Dave Wills | Calendar Assistant | Don Lawrynuik |
| Treasurer | Michele Burzese | Treasurer Assistant | Adrian Soler |
| Secretary | Donna Eades | Member-at-Large | Fred Miller |
| Web Divemaster | Debby Bradford Auchter | Member-at-Large | Wayne Pantke |
| Newsletter Editor | Susan Judah |
P.S.
By popular demand, we will repeat last year's "Wacky Gift Exchange" at
the January meeting. You are sure to get a Hanukah or Christmas or
holiday gift that made you say "thanks, but you really shouldn't
have." Put it aside, wrap it and bring it to the January 8 meeting.
Details in the January Wet Zone.
According to SFDI rules, any bylaw changes must be published in the newsletter for two months, and voted on by the general membership. The last time we changed our bylaws to determine who could be a voting member of the E-board, the job of webmaster didn't even exist. Then, we had a nice website, but it was static for a number of years.
Our current website was launched in February 2002, and marked a big change for our members. The website was expanded to include original articles and photography by members, extensive links to other good websites, and a monthly web-based newsletter. For 2002, the website was coordinated by the person who was elected as newsletter editor in December 2001. For 2003, your SFDI E-board proposes a new voting executive board position, Web Divemaster, in addition to the position of Newsletter Editor. Beginning in 2003, these positions will be held by two different elected members.
The "yeah" or "nay" vote for this bylaw change will be held at the February 2003 meeting. If you have any questions or concerns before that time, please contact any E-board member.
Hey South Florida Divers!!
Have you dove with the Manatees lately? Or have you wondered what
you have been missing out on?
Whatever
your answer is, Fred Miller and John Kansman invite you to join us on
next year's Crystal River Manatee Dive Trip, March 7-9, 2003. We
have made limited reservations at American
River Rendezvous on the Homosassa River. The trip will include
two nights stay at the resort, Friday and Saturday nights, a Saturday morning
snorkel with the manatees on the Crystal River followed by a cavern dive,
an afternoon drift dive on the Rainbow River (very relaxing!), and a snorkel
with plenty of manatees on the Homosassa River on Sunday morning.
If
you have made this dive before, you know what a great trip this can be.
If you haven't, you have missed out on sharing special time with these
gentle giants. They seem to love the attention of human contact,
even rolling over on their backs to allow their stomachs to be scratched.
This
trip can be yours for the low cost of $145 per person , based on double
occupancy per room. We usually carpool up there, so the expense of
travelling is shared as well. Please sign up by the December meeting
with a deposit of $50 to save your space on this great experience.
Oh by the way, did I say that the boats were heated and covered if necessary and they serve Hot Chocolate after the dives? Now there's enough of a reason to dive. Isn't it?????
Click here for John Kansman's report on the 2002 Manatee Trip!
At
dusk on August 28, a dozen underwater photographers climbed aboard the
Conch Republic in Tavernier. We were a group of voyeurs, hoping
to watch some spectacular sex. The coral was due to spawn and this
might be the big night. There was no guarantee. We had
spent the previous night watching and proposed to watch tomorrow night
if it didn’t occur tonight.
When we arrived at the dive site the surface of the ocean was almost flat and as we descended to 40 feet, we found no current. A nurse shark greeted us. It might be accustomed to being fed, since it was bumping divers and swimming beneath them. There were opportunistic fish, swimming at the fringe of our lights, waiting to eat the bait fish the light attracted. There were lots of “dancing worms.”
We
checked out the coral heads and found some bursting with round coral colored
eggs, waiting for the moment they felt was right. All of a sudden
the water was filled with eggs and sperm. The water became cloudy
with an almost gelatinious mass, and it made the light from our flashlights
cloudy. Our air was running low and we made our way to the surface
to change tanks and get back in again. We didn’t see another spawning,
but the people in the water after we got out saw a huge coral head spawn.
The eggs and sperm float on the surface for five days and are carried in
the current northward. According to a marine biologist on board,
the fertilized eggs settle in water too far north to grow.
We have seen movies of spawning but never experienced it first hand. It was an awesome experience for us.
Click here for more great diving stories by our members!
THE
South Florida Treasure Coast Working Equipment Group, whose members are
also members of The Historical
Diving Society-USA, is a group of divers who collect and dive
vintage (and new) copper and brass deep-sea diving helmets and suits.
All members of this specialized group are at the very least scuba certified, and many members have some commercial and/or military diving training. Please note that none of the two above groups have any responsibility and/or any liability for any individuals and/or their equipment. Also, they do not claim to be a training agency and/or a commercial diving company.
Their
annual diving rally will be held the weekend of Saturday, November 30-Sunday,
December 1, from 8 AM to 4 PM on both days. All South Florida Divers
are invited to attend. The location will be: Jules
Undersea Lodge, 51 Shorewood Drive, Key Largo, Florida 33037-4752,
Phone 305-451-2353[MAP
HERE].
Membership in the Historical Diving Society-USA is also encouraged and is for anyone interested in any type of underwater diving and its history. The international membership roster reads like a who’s-who of diving. For further information, please contact: The Historical Diving Society-USA, 340 South Kellogg Avenue, Suite-E, Goleta, California 93117-3815, Phone 805-692-0072, Web: www.hds.org
Or, you can contact Marc J. Cohen , who is a member of the Historical Diving Society-USA and of SFDI. Marc also runs the South Florida Treasure Coast Working Equipment Group. He can be reached at:P.O. Box 100637, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33310-0637, Phone 954-565-9754
Club members Mary and Larry LePage joined
Rick and me on the Star
Clipper in October for a cruise of the Southern Caribbean. We
flew to Barbados a day early so we could enjoy the island. Although
nearly everything there is closed on Sundays, we took a long, enjoyable
walk on the St. Lawrence Gap beach road. The people from Barbados,
called Bajans, are very friendly and the island is beautiful...we will
be back one day! That evening we departed for Martinique, and I will
never forget the majesty of the rising sails.
I
spent my birthday in Martinique and Rick had planned to purchase my birthday
gift there. Alas, we found it dirty and crowded, we couldn't speak
the language and didn't find anthing worthy of a birthday gift, although
Mary found some adorable hand-crocheted booties for a grandchild.
Mary and Larry gave me a beautiful Star Clipper mug and the crew sang Happy
Birthday to me at dinner time.
The
next day we took the tender into St. Lucia, where we took an exciting jeep
ride up to the rain forest for a mountain bicycling adventure. Once
we were there, we chose 
decrepit
bikes and began our adventure through...mud, what else would you find in
a rain forest? The roads and trails were somewhat treacherous, but
we were finally rewarded with a beautiful waterfall to cool off in.
On the ride back to the tender, our charming and knowledgeable guide told
us about the fruits, nuts and spices grown on St. Lucia, and offered us
tasty samples. We fell in love with St. Lucia, a very beautiful island,
and discovered that there is a lot of adventure- and eco-tourism there.
Mary
and Larry dove nearly every day, but we only dove twice. We departed
St. Lucia for Bequia and the next morning dove Moon Hole Bay. According
to my logbook, "the water was so clear that we had color at 60 feet."
We dove right next to cliffs rising out of the sea, and enjoyed swim-throughs
and lovely soft corals. Great quantities of butterfly fish gather
here to eat the Sargent Major eggs. The only downside is that it
is nearly impossible to get back into an inflatable boat without lots of
assistance and maybe a few bruises. Bequia is a charming little island
and it is here that Rick purchased my birthday gift, a beautiful print
of an underwater scene entitled "Through the Looking Mask".
Thursday
we chose to dive again, on Horseshoe Reef at Tobago Cay. There was
a lot of ugly red algae there, but we did see a beautiful spotted eagle
ray and , in an anenome, what the locals call a "Paul Newman eye shrimp".
I was disappointed because I read so much about the great diving in Tobago,
but this reef was not all that spectacular. At least by this time
Mary convinced divemaster Juan Carlos to jury-rig a rope ladder for us.
Friday
found us in Grenada, the Spice Island. We found the spice market
to be difficult to navigate and the vendors were overly aggressive.
We quickly returned to our ship for lunch before beginning a hike to the
Seven Sisters Waterfall. After a beautiful bus ride to 
the
beginning of the hike, we made a nearly vertical descent through
mud to get to the waterfalls, then climbed back out. We knew it would
be strenuous and we wore sturdy sneakers and socks. It was a very muddy
mountain, and our sneakers were trashed with mud. Several people
fell, including Rick, and were covered with thick, gooey red mud.
We all washed off best we could at the waterfall, but we had to climb back
out through the same mud. My sneakers are still tinged with red.
But we aren't complaining, it was a beautiful adventure.
On our next-to-the-last day, we fell in love with a tiny place called Carricou near Grenada (not to be confused with Curacao). After a visit to "town" we took a tender to the beach where we ate a delicious barbecue lunch and enjoyed watersports such as a banana boat ride.
Of
course, there was a lot of fun aboard ship as well. Passengers were
invited to climb the mast (we chickened out) and tour the bridge. One evening
we took a "photo tender" ride where we were able to get photos of the Star
Clipper at sunset. We had pirate's night and a talent show, but mostly
we just spent the time "chilling". There were only 140 passengers
on this trip, and at least a third of them were repeat customers.
The crew is from all over the world and they spoiled us rotten. The
food was incredible, and our 
cabins
were very nice and clean. Each day there are several itineraries
to suit different tastes, ranging from bus tours to high-level activities,
or you can just relax in one of the two pools or by the bar. You
don't have to do strenuous mountain biking and waterfall hiking to enjoy
one of these cruises. While it was not a "dive trip", it was wonderful
to have the option to dive.
So, would we do this again? In a minute...but next time, we want to cruise the Star Clipper or one of her sister ships in the Mediterranean!
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Curacao, Netherlands Antilles
~ By Jeff Guzowski, SFDI President
 The
club is running a trip to Curacao, located 35 miles off Venezuela's north
coast, June 7– 14, 2003 (Saturday to Saturday). The trip will cost
$1,150 plus airfare. The lodging will be at the Sunset
Waters Beach Resort. According to their website, "Picturesque
mountains, bays, cliffs and quiet waters surround Sunset Waters Beach Resort
on Curacao's Gold Coast. Renowned for its beautiful crescent shaped
beach and accessibility to the islands premier dive locations makes this
small boutique hotel the perfect island retreat."
I have information sheets and a payment schedule made up, and if you are interested, see me at the December meeting. (The first payment of $150 was due at the September 4 club meeting.) (Note: Joe Smariga and Julie Taylor are arranging the identical trip from June 28-July 5, 2003. All of the same information applies.) |
Hermione and Ron (Lydia and Cary) were bewitching 
Madam Debby Pince, Hogwarts Media Centre Librarian |
Several
SFDI members braved the severe storms November 16 to ride their brooms
to the Harry Potter fundraiser at Lauderdale Isles Yacht & Tennis Club.
If you weren't there, you missed one spell of a great time!
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Photos by
Rebecca Gaines 
McGonagall was organizer extraordinaire! |
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The Florida Keys Dive Guide By Stephen Frink and William Harrigan |
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While
there are many guides to diving the Florida Keys, this volume is unique
in that every major dive site is actually mapped out with a suggested tour,
including drawings of what you will see at various depths. At left
is an example of the entries. Each map includes insets showing the
reef's location in the Keys, an "aerial" drawing of the actual reef, then
an underwater profile of the reef. You can review the exact layout
of the site, including depths, sizes, and distances between reefs and wrecks
or any hazards -- and even the lighting conditions for optimum underwater
photography.
Text following each map tells you the history of the reef (especially in the case of artificial reefs), how it got its name, what it feels like to experience each reef, and typical marine life for that site. Frink's incredible photography appears throughout the book.
The final 26 pages are a guide, "The Fish of the Florida Keys," including excellent color illustrations, common and Latin names, and descriptions of each fish including where it may be found.
It's too bad that this excellent 1998 guide to diving our Florida Keys is out of print, but you can check out a copy @your library.
Click here for more book reviews!
DeeperStuff,
in the words of webmaster/technical diver Mark Zurl, "is a web site
dedicated to dispensing information, photos, and stories concerning technical
wreck diving." He warns, "Please be aware that all of the dive sites
mentioned or documented on this web site are beyond recreational SCUBA
diving limits. In no way am I encouraging or promoting any visitor
to this site who does not have the proper training, equipment, or
experience to attempt any dive beyond their capability. "
I first discovered Zurl's website while doing research on the Spiegel Grove. He has some wonderful underwater shots of her, and many other local wrecks including the Bibb and Duane in the Keys, the Lowrance, RBJ, and Sucre in Broward County, and wrecks in Stuart/Jupiter and the Cape Canaveral areas. Many, if not most of these wrecks are beyond my personal diving limits, but I thoroughly enjoyed the "virtual dives" from my desk chair.
Other interesting places to click on DeeperStuff include new wrecks, how to mix air, a monthly feature "Survivors Tell Their Tales", do-it-yourself plans for some custom dive accessories, and stuff for sale.
The best parts of this site, however, are the incredible clear-water pictures of our deeper local wrecks. Zurl's photos have been published in such places as Florida Today, the Miami Herald, Advanced Diver Magazine, and Florida SCUBA News.
Click here for more Websites of the Month!
Members of South Florida Divers, Inc. are entitled to place free Classified Ads here! However, you must agree to have either your e-mail address, telephone number, or both published so that people can contact you. Members, to place your free ad, simply e-mail me with the details. Non-members, come to our next general meeting and join us!COMPUTER NEEDED: Do you have a no-longer-used Windows 98 desktop or notebook computer that you would donate to the club? Your web divemaster needs a backup unit. It would remain the property of SFDI; if someone else becomes the web divemaster, it goes to them or back to you. Contact Debby Auchter. |
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Having buddy troubles? Can't stay together underwater? This diver taught her buddy to heel! |
This
is an all-inclusive trip and the price includes hotel and service tax,
round trip airport transfers, two restaurants which include ALL meals (breakfast,
lunch, & dinner), all beverages (premium, top shelf are extra), two
boat dives a day, unlimited shore diving, tanks, weights, and air fills,
complimentary shuttle to Willemstad (the capital), use of all hotel facilities
(pool, Jacuzzi, beach lounges, towels, fitness rooms), tennis courts, 18
hole mini golf, and motorized water sports. Not to mention a casino
on the premises!
