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South Florida Divers, Inc.
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Please mark your calendar for Thursday evening, June 20 for a very important event : a Hurricane Preparedness for Boaters Seminar sponsored by the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF) and Broward County Library in the Main Library auditorium at 100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale [map here]. Free refreshments at 6 PM and the seminar is from 6:30-8. Contact me for more details.
May turned out to have three major happenings. First, the Air & Sea show. This year was one of the best, and surprisingly the seas were the best that weekend than we have had the last couple of months. Record crowds turned out, plus live TV coverage was used for the first time, thanks to Channel 10.
Second, OceanFest turned out great. Lots of people stopped by the booth. Last year we gained quite a few new members from OceanFest and hope to gain some more this year. Our OceanFest tank winner was Mike Rand of Loxahatchee, congratulations to Mike. Thanks goes out to all the people who volunteered to work the booth and help out at the show.
(Editor's note: Mike Rand was lucky twice...after winning the OceanFest tank raffle, he attended our June 5 meeting...bought more tank raffle tickets...and won a second one, a matching set! He promises to become a member in July. You will definitely want to dive with such a lucky guy.)
And last of the three happenings, on May 17th, the long awaited Spiegel Grove...which did make it down to the Keys on the date promised...made international news. As part of the preparation for the sinking, the Spiegel Grove was being pumped with water to stabilize the ship. While the explosives were being set up, the ship took on more water than was expected and rolled over and sank upside down. Some people were still on the ship, but were able to get off safely. While only the bow remains above the water, currently a salvage company is in the process of hopefully up righting with the possibility of it only sitting on its side (anything is better than upside down). Up to date information on the Spiegel Grove is available on our website.
Our June 5 program was a presentation by Valerie Kevorkian of Tarpoon Dive Center, the oldest dive shop in Florida...celebrating their silver (50th) anniversary this year! Valerie is the daughter of diving pioneer Mike Kevorkian and has been diving since she was a little girl. She is now a NAUI instructor, and with her sister Stephanie, the owner of Tarpoon Dive Center with locations in Hialeah and Miami Beach. Valerie gave her presentation, with a video, about wreck diving off Miami Beach. We really enjoyed it...thanks, Valerie!
After Valerie’s presentation, we saw a raw, unedited video of the sinking of the Spiegel Grove. There were scenes of the sinking from a helicopter, from a boat, and from cameras mounted on the ship. There is also an underwater scene of the first divers to inspect her, and the “air shot” of a reporter asking the responsible parties a very embarrassing question!
Before I close, I would like to thank our April speakers, Stephen Attis of Vone Research and Capt. Frank Schmidt. They opened our eyes to the loss of underwater habitat that is being threatened by the beach nourishment program. Ironically, the day after they spoke at our meeting, the Sun-Sentinel, front page Sports section, had a great story about their efforts for getting help from everybody they can, to locate and document vulnerable reefs.
Dive safe,
~ Ski
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 and she will get the message to the coordinator.
After reading an article in the Sun-Sentinel about the Hollywood Parks and Recreation Department's SCUBA program for youth at risk, and learning that the program is run by volunteers and that they need diving equipment, SFDI President Jeff Guzowski invited one of their representatives to our June meeting.
Marcy Decker told members that this program is for children from ages 12 to 17. Volunteers teach the youths about diving and the marine environment, and the camaraderie is very beneficial to them. Most of us have at least an unused mask or fins, and you may even have a regulator, tanks or BC that you no longer use. Let's help our local youth become productive citizens. Get your unused dive gear to Ski and he will make sure it gets to Hollywood Parks and Recreation.
To defray the costs of cleanup, preparation, and towing of the Spiegel
Grove, the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce Artificial Reef Committee is selling
medallions which will be a prerequisite for divers wishing to visit the
artificial reefs off the Upper Keys. Divers may choose between a $250 gold
finish lifetime medallion, or a $10/year plastic version.
To show our support for the years of effort by the Key Largo diving community, your dive club purchased Medallion #547 of a limited edition of 1,000 cast. We are raffling the medallion as a separate raffle from the regular dive club raffle at a cost of $5 per ticket. Tickets will be available at the next three general meetings.
The Lifetime Medallion, designed for display as a memento, has a raised likeness of the Spiegel Grove, is made of brass with an antique gold finish, and comes with a velvet look case. Also included is a gold colored injection molded plastic disk designed to withstand exposure to saltwater.
For purchasing the $250.00 Lifetime Medallion, our club's name will be placed on a permanent plaque that will be attached to the wheel house of the Spiegel Grove. For more information about purchasing a medallion to help the Artificial Reef Committee, click here.
Our website was found by divers the world over, and as I kept the site current each day, it was just a matter of time before I heard from the Associated Press, who asked me to cease and desist from using their materials. I left the older material intact for lack of time to edit it, but stopped adding new stories and photos. You will be able to view the older clips from the same page where Cary's article appears.
As of this writing, the Spiegel Grove has a small oil leak and is still closed to recreational diving until at least June 18.
SFDI Treasurer Adrian Soler invites you to join him on Sunday, August 11,
at the beginning of regular lobster season, for Hollywood Lobster Mania!
Meet
at Seafair Marina [Map
Here], 101 N. Beach Road in Dania Beach at 1 PM for a 1:30 departure
on the Dry Martini. Capt. Walt will take us to two reefs in search
of...well, you know what! Sign up at the July 3 meeting or contact Adrian
at
Adriansolr@aol.com or
(954) 545-4650.
Debby and Rick Auchter are running a a Star
Clipper cruise, 2-for-1 special, October 13-20. Fly from Miami
to Barbados then cruise/sail on a magnificent 360-foot sailing yacht that
only takes 170 guests. Itinerary includes Barbados, Martinique, Marigot
Bay, St. Lucia, Bequia, Tobago Cays, Grenada, and Grenadines. Visit
their
website for
more information about the ship and destinations, as well as luscious photos!
Click
here for more information about this trip.
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Reef Sweep 2002 Report
SFDI Really Cleaned Up! |
Cell phones were the "catch of the day" when South Florida Divers went
fishing for trash beneath Anglin's Pier during the 14th Annual Reef Sweep
on June 8. This popular fishing pier at Commercial Boulevard and
A-1-A gave up its morning revenue and closed so that about 30 South Florida
Divers, along with several other organizations, could clean the area under
the pier.
Our divers combed the area for trash, cutting and clipping miles of fishing line. Much of it was caught in the holes in the reef beneath the pier and was difficult to disentangle. Divers swam their finds to the surface, and volunteers on the pier lowered buckets, which the divers filled and the volunteers hoisted up.
Nearly three tons of trash...5,904 pounds...was collected by volunteer divers and beach walkers at Anglin's Pier and five additional sites, including North Beach Park in Hollywood, Dania Pier, South Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fisherman's Wharf in Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach Pier. Ten charter boats and several private boats took divers to the local reefs to locate even more junk.
Since the Ocean
Watch Foundation began Reef Sweep in 1988, more than 4,300 volunteers
have hauled in more than 11 tons of garbage. In the early days of
Reef Sweep, most of the garbage was tossed by careless boaters, divers,
and fishermen.
Today, more boaters are aware of the impact of trash on our reefs and are more considerate. The items found this year were more likely dropped overboard by accident, and the miles and miles of fishing line found under the pier are impossible for fishermen to retrieve when they get snagged. Seeing the amount of monofilament snarled beneath the pier made me wonder how anyone actually manages to catch a fish without becoming entangled!
SFDI members brought back lots of "treasure" from under Anglin's Pier. Wayne Pantke found a watch, Fred Miller found a bracelet, Joe Smariga found a 20-pound soft weight weightbelt, and Jon Black found a Penn reel that he will use for parts. Everyone found fishing weights and bucket loads of tangled monofilament. Cell phones and sunglasses were the catch of the day, and yours truly will admit to having lost a cell phone out of a pocket one day while fishing. The lesson learned is to keep your phone in a zippered pocket and secure your sunglasses around your neck.
The dive was a real treat for South Florida Divers, who normally would
not be permitted to dive beneath a fishing pier. Snook and a huge
Manta Ray delighted our divers, and they had a lot of fun wrestling with
Dusky Damselfish to clear tangled monofilament from their nests.
We were rewarded with a Trash Bash at Harbour Grille that evening. It was a time to meet up with old friends, enjoy a buffet and beer, and support Ocean Watch. Several SFDI members won raffle prizes, and your editor won two Silent Auction items. If you missed this year's Reef Sweep, be sure to make next year's!
Click here for more Reef Sweep photos by Julie Taylor!
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3rd Place in OceanFest Photo Contest!
~ By Sandra
Soler, Member-At-Large
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Since the weather conditions and visibility were far from ideal, I concentrated on photographing those little critters inhabiting the reef that have no regard for the strong current that was blowing that day. I worked diligently throughout the dive at keeping off the fragile reef while accomplishing my goal of getting the shots I needed for the contest.
On Saturday, May 12th, I proudly turned in my roll of film and held my
breath all week awaiting the announcement of the results. On Sunday afternoon
at the awards presentation I had little hope of actually placing in the
top three in the amateur division, yet I listened with anticipation.
To my surprise, my name was called - THIRD PRIZE! Mother luck was on my
side. My entry of a very sharp and focused shot of a brittle starfish working
his way across soft orange coral was a winner.
After less than one year of underwater photography my diligence paid off. My prize was a Sea & Sea T-Shirt, which turned out to be far from the island adventure and camera set offered for first and second prize, but I won nonetheless and brought pride to my club – I guess this is not bad for a girl from a cold country with no ocean anywhere near its borders!
If you are an underwater photographer you know that it takes lots of luck to get a good picture, next to a good camera, skills (or in my case even more luck) as well as many other factors. The Ocean Fest Under Water Photo Contest is open for all non-professional photographers. Sea&Sea even provides cameras for free. Now, isn’t this enough reason to try it out for yourself next year at Ocean Fest 2003?
Click here for a larger view of Sandra's winning photograph!
It was
a dark and stormy day...well, let's just say that you could dive at OceanFest
right in the parking lot! SFDI photojournalist Julie Taylor didn't
take near as many photos as she had planned, but she got such a kick out
of Marc Cohen from the Historical
Diving Society that she took a few photos of him. Enjoy!
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Marc Cohen in the Historical Diving Society booth. His helmet alone weighs 60 lbs (boots 20 lbs each) |
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Marc Cohen from the Historical Diving Society walks from the next tent, wearing 80+ lbs of historic dive gear, escorted by Julie Taylor, to purchase a ticket for the SFDI tank raffle. | |
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Fred Miller and Gerry Cowan sell Marc Cohen
a ticket for the tank raffle.
If he could only win our tank...and switch to modern dive gear...it would be so much easier for him! |
I had
never been to an Our
World Underwater show and decided this would be the year to check it
out. I joined Ann, Judy, and Steve for the trip to Chicago and we had a
blast! We left Thursday evening and flew United (the airline, no mile high
awards this time) to O'Hare. We checked into the Hyatt and chilled out
for the night.
Steve attended a tank visual inspection class on Friday while the ladies and I checked out the city. In the Loop (downtown) we found their equivalent to our Ohio Designer Craftsmen shops and determined that our crap was better than their crap. After a drink at Harry Caray's (not bad for a sports bar, how about that?) we caught the train back to Rosemont and got plugged into the diving scene.
The main speaker/emcee for the show was Wes Skiles. You've seen his work
in National Geographic and various other places. The man can take a picture.
After the Friday evening film festival we had dinner with Wes (he's a serious
cave diver and close friend of the Ormeroid's) and his stories were almost
better than his videos. On Saturday we bounced between the various video/slide
presentations and the exhibit space before the main film show. I was amazed
at the number of booths that covered everything from equipment to travel,
conservation to art, and a little of everything in between.
Most of the presentations were great, we only ran into one that was just average. Wes stole the show on Friday and Saturday with his Mexican cave diving and Antarctica iceberg diving presentations. The little piece he did that started with investigating a shallow wreck and then segued into swimming with whales was incredible. Commander Don Walsh was the 'deep' expert at the show. He was with Jacques Piccard when they went 7 miles down to visit Challenger Deep in the bathyscaph Trieste. He's now doing a commercial venture and if you've got about $40,000 to blow he can take you to the bow of the Titanic for lunch. Joyce Hayward had a wonderful Great Lakes presentation and Lynn Funkhouser had an interesting bit on the Philippines. Lots of other great visuals too, you should have been there!
With summer vacation here, I decided to take a break from nonfiction
book reviews and tell you about Carl Hiaasen's latest novel,
Basket
Case. This ninth novel isn't as funny as my favorite, Double
Whammy, but it's a darn good mystery set right here in Sunny SoFla.
Jack Tagger, once a hotshot reporter, has been demoted to obit writer for a SoFla daily newspaper after shooting off his big mouth. Tagger becomes obsessed by death, memorizing the ages of celebrities at the time of their demise and hoping he will outlive them. Jack never gets to break a real news story anymore, and his editor is making his life a living hell.
The first thing that draws his attention to the death of James Bradley Stomarti is his age...a mere 39, seven years younger than Jack. Yet Stomarti's name is somehow familiar...a database check reveals that he was Jimmy Stoma, lead singer for the Slut Puppies. Sensing that he has a breaking news story, Tagger begins his investigation. Stoma's Courtney Love-esque widow, Cleo Rio, claims her husband died in a SCUBA diving accident. Jack doesn't buy her story, and begins an investigation through the world of rock-n-roll, drugs, South Beach nightclubs, and music industry wannabes.
Tagger uses a 26-pound frozen lizard to save his life, the widow tries to promote her own cheesy music career, and his editor ends up seeing him in an entirely different light. So, did Stoma die in a diving accident or did he have a little "help"? Check out a copy of Basket Case @your library and find out for yourself!
Click here for more book reviews!
The United Nations and leading scientific institutions launched the first online atlas of the world's oceans, at www.oceansatlas.org/index.jsp, in order to educate, monitor, share research and help track problems such as the effects of global warming.
The UN Oceans Atlas required a decade of planning and more than two and a half years of development. It contains an initial 14 global maps, links to hundreds of others, and over 2,000 documents on 900 subjects ranging from climate change, fishing areas and ship piracy to poisonous algae, offshore oil and recreation activities.
There are headlines on the front page and several ways to navigate the atlas. By clicking on "Uses" under "Navigate the Atlas" you'll get links to Ocean news, as well as subtopics ranging from Energy to Marine Biotechnology to Offshore Oil, Gas, and Mining.
Click on the "i" beside a topic or the topic name, and you'll get an overview of the topic with sub-topics for that topic. Each sub-topic has its own small introduction and possibly more sub-topics in the column on the left. "Issues" is set up much the same way, as is "About." But Geography is different. Geography has topics based on countries/continents with a couple of exceptions (FAO fishing areas, marine areas.) In addition to the features described the new atlas also has a link to the FAO Fisheries glossary and their gallery of images. The online atlas has the capacity to hold 100,000 documents and thousands of maps, and will be constantly updated.
This website is still under development and will be growing. Bookmark it and expand your knowledge of our Ocean Planet.
Click here for more Websites of the Month!
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The funniest caption from our May caption contest, as judged by diver and
cat fancier Rick Auchter, won a can of tuna, brand determined by what was
on sale that week and what coupons Rick had. Pat Kahl, Julie Taylor's
dive buddy from New Jersey, won the contest with this caption:
"And those stupid tuna thought I was a diver!!!! "
Here are the other entries we received:
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!
For Sale: Three Nitrox tanks. Contact Laura Johs at LJJOHS@AOL.COM or call her at home home (561) 470-5807 or cell (954) 383-9461.
