AQUA TUTUS

DIVING CLUB

September 2017

Since 1958... a publication from the Aqua Tutus Diving Club, a non-profit organization established to promote Water Safety and to further the sport of SCUBA Diving.

MEETING SCHEDULEGeneral Club Meeting: First Thursday of Every Month at 7:30 p.m. (except December)Location: Round Table Pizza20920 Redwood RoadCastro Valley, CA 94546Board of Directors Meeting: Third Thursday of Every Month at 7:00 p.m. (except December)Location: Ricky’s Sports Theatre & Grill15028 Hesperian BlvdSan Leandro, CA 94578

UPCOMING CLUB ACTIVITIESOct 10: General Club MeetingOct 12: Club Social at Ricky’sOct 14: Club Dive: POC Gayle HudsonOct 18: BOD Meeting (New Location)

For a complete listing of club activities visit Meetup or ATDC Event Calendar.

IN THIS ISSUEEntertainment Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Club Social at Ricky’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32018 Officer Elections & Volunteers . . . . 4Aquarium of the Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4ATDC Holiday Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Dive Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Beneath the Sea Competition . . . . . . . . . 8Good Buddy Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Meetup Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8General Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9BOD Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Useful Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThank you presenters and newsletter contributors for making this Aqua Tooter possible: Mike Carter, Helga Mahlmann, Kari Klaboe, Alan Throop, Don Kelsey and Gayle Hudson.

Thanks to Steele’s Discount Scuba for sending member candidates to Aqua Tutus Diving Club. Steele’s is located at5987 Telegraph AvenueOakland, CA 94609(510) 655-4344

OCTOBER MEETING ENTERTAINMENT

Bruce Watkins: Diving with California’s Sharks

Bruce Watkins is our presenter for October and in his words, “West Coast divers

are fortunate to have many different kinds of sharks in our local waters. Some are

small and fascinating, others are big and scary, and all possess great beauty and

elegance. It can be humbling to meet a top predator in its own environment, but

I am always amazed just how powerful and yet how graceful they can be. This

seminar will discuss the life and habits of most of our pelagic and inshore sharks

from the humble horn the large white shark; as well as where and when to find

them, and how to photograph them.”

Bruce Watkins is a local photojournalist who has authored “A Diver’s Guide to

Monterey County”, “A Diver’s Guide to Northern California” and “California Abalone

Diving”. Over 500 of his articles and thousands of his photographs have appeared

in national and international publications and we are excited Bruce will be joining

us in October.

Diving the California Coast since 1955

2 | The Aqua Tooter

ENTERTAINMENT REPORT By Gayle Hudson

Antarctica Adventure with Mike Carter

At our September meeting, combining humor, history, geography, and an array of stunning photographs, Dr. Michael Carter of Lawrence Livermore Lab, took us to a continent few get the opportunity to visit and showed us the stark beauty of Antarctica. Escaping “work, the Trump inauguration, and spouses,” he and four friends traveled on a cruise ship to the continent this past winter, from January 14 to February 3, which was during the summer season in Antarctica.

Starting off his presentation, he asked us if we knew the difference between Lawrence Livermore Lab and Jurassic Park. Answer: one has high security and is filled with dinosaurs and the other one is a movie.

Mike’s adventure began with a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then on to the tip of South America to Ushuaia, the gateway to Antarctica cruises. The first stop was the Falkland Islands (population 2,800), where Mike photographed Southern Rockhopper penguins. These penguins leave a couple of ‘supervisors’ in charge of the chicks when they hunt for food, then climb 150’ back up the cliffs to reach the chicks. While visitors have to stay 30’ away from the penguins, the birds are not afraid of people and come quite close. The Falklands were also the last time they saw the sun during their cruise.

The next stop on Mike’s adventure was South Georgia Island, with a population of 25. However, the population of penguins is 250,000 and there is also a large population of fur seals, which would waddle right up to the visitors. Mike pointed out the result of so many penguins is a lot of poop! If the color is red, the penguins are eating krill and if the color is brown, they are eating fish. Mike also photographed the King penguin (the second largest of the penguin species) with a beautiful, shimmery coat of grey, black, yellow and red plumage. In sharp contrast was a humorous photo of a King penguin chick, very puffy with brown plumage and a tiny head, which begged the question, “Does this coat make me look fat?”

Elephant Island, with a population of “less than zero” – no, we didn’t figure that one out – offered deep blue glaciers floating in an icy sea and a statue honoring Captain Luis Pardo Villalón, who rescued Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton’s Endurance crew in 1916. Chinstrap penguins and Weddell seals populate this island.

Mike then showed us the first glimpses of Antarctica, where they got to spend 90 minutes out of a 20-day cruise. The rugged conditions only allow for brief visits on the outermost peninsula, which were completely covered in penguins and dotted with red jackets the ship’s passengers wear when going ashore. Gentoo penguins populate this island, as well as Macaroni penguins, and their predator, the Leopard seal. Also photographed were Humpback whales bubble feeding.

A rough crossing through Drake Passage completed the trip, where the seas rose 30’ and rocked the huge ship. After many attempts during this leg of the trip, Mike captured a beautiful photo of a seagull in flight.

Mike described the wildlife as truly incredible, the photography opportunities unique, the food on the French cruise line excellent, and he can’t wait to go back.

Words cannot give credit to Mike’s beautiful photography, so please visit his Antarctica 2017 gallery.

September 2017 | 3

CLUB SOCIAL AT RICKY’S SPORTS BAR TO CHECK OUT AS CLUB MEETING LOCATION!!When: Thursday, October 12, 2017 at 6:30p.m.Where: Ricky’s Sports Theatre & Grill15028 Hesperian Boulevard, San Leandro, CARSVP: Meetup

We will be voting on this item at the November meeting.

We are considering moving our meeting location to Ricky’s. Besides just a chance to informally hang out with friends, this social is a chance for the general membership to check it out. It’s within 8 min of Round Table, has more room, better beer, and a variety of food. Come see how it works out for you, so that you can vote on the move with knowledge.

No host anything, so you can come anytime to just say HI, to just have a drink, or to have a meal there. Folks will likely be there from about 6:30-9:30, so just stop in anytime. Bring a friend who might be interested in diving and wants to talk with us.

There will be a separate open door off the parking lot, or just go in the main door and ask for Aqua Tutus group. Please join us and sign up so we have a rough count.

Pros• It is vegetarian friendly as burgers can be ordered as veggie

burgers• Several people prefer the food and beverages at Ricky’s over

Round Table• Several like having a separate room at Ricky’s for meetings • Most agreed the staff at Ricky’s are very accommodating and

easy to work with• Several agreed that those seated in the back of the room at

Ricky’s may have a better view of the presentation screen than at Round Table because the room is longer

• Several agreed they like the larger room and the chairs at Ricky’s (the room can hold up to 90 people)

• Free wi-fi

Cons• The environment is distracting (TVs and decorations)• Several agreed that the room size is much larger than Round

Table and may be difficult to fill

• Most agreed the food at Ricky’s is generally more expensive than Round Table

• One person noted that a few club members have mentioned there are not many vegetarian options at Ricky’s

EVENING AT RICKY’S By Gayle Hudson (reprinted form July newsletter)

I thought I would recap our evening tonight at Ricky’s Sports Theatre for the benefit of Board members. Nine Tooters met at Ricky’s (Lola and Ken, Kat, Helga, Alan, Elaine, Mike B., Baerbel and myself, plus my husband) on what would be our General meeting night and time. The restaurant is large but was really quiet (except for the TVs) with just a few tables of diners.

Ricky Ricardo (yes, really) and his wife, Tina, are the owners. Ricky told me it’s ‘dead right now’ between sports seasons; there was only one bartender, one server and one chef on duty. However, it will be really busy when teams start playing again. There are 90+ TVs and the place is packed with sports memorabilia.

We were offered a room on the far west end of the building. It is large (more than twice the space we have at RT) with a door that closes to the rest of Ricky’s. We would have our own restroom and we can exit from the room straight to the parking lot. Ricky’s would be sure the A/C is on and the room cool before we arrive (it was off today because no one was using the room). The room has a large projection screen at either end, a ceiling mounted projector, microphone and, I believe, speakers. We can use all, or some, of this equipment. Ricky’s has free wi-fi (password is sportsbar), which would be handy for showing Tooters features on our website, Meetup, etc., when the need arises. Parking looks fine, although a large sports crowd will mean overflow to the surgical center parking lot next door, or the Lucky shopping center on the other side of Ricky’s.

The menu is pub food; ironically, no pizza. The bar offers draft beer and in bottles, cocktails, soda (no self-serve, but extra large glasses), water.

Ricky stressed making “things right” for ATDC; he didn’t say no to anything I asked. Kat talked to Tina, who told her we would have 2-3 servers taking our food orders and food can also be ordered ahead; the servers are expert with taking individual payments. Tables and chairs will be configured in any arrangement we choose, prior to our arrival.

Ricky’s is .06 mile from Bayfair BART. I am friends with SL Police Chief Jeff Tudor and will ask him about pedestrian safety walking from BART to Ricky’s, especially when daylight savings ends, and if the SLPD gets calls when the sports season is in high gear. Ricky’s website states their “No Knucklehead Policy is strictly enforced” so it sounds like they run a tight ship during sports seasons. They post game schedules on their website.Kat gave me a note from Tina, asking us to call her if any questions. I’ll ask her if our July Board meeting can be held in the meeting room, so we can try it out. Tina told Kat the room is not available October 5, but is available the other first Thursdays.

If you have anything you want me to ask Tina, please let me know. Otherwise, we are set to hold the July and August Board meetings at Ricky’s.

4 | The Aqua Tooter

Are you interested in becoming more involved with the club? Would you like to meet more club members?

If you answered yes, please consider running for an officer position with the club for the coming year. Elected officers include the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Coordinator, and Director of Training. Officer nominations will be opened at the October general meeting and elections will occur during the November general meeting. Positions are held for one calendar year and start in January. All officers must be a regular member in good standing.

Please contact any of the current Board members if you would like more information regarding officer elections.

• President: In addition to being a regular member of the club, the President must also be a diver. The President is responsible for leading the monthly general meeting and maintaining the ATDC Constitution & Bylaws, as required. The President must attend membership and board of directors (BOD) meetings, along with processing incoming mail. They must also communicate club membership requirements to prospective members on Meetup.

• Vice President: In addition to being a regular member of the club, the Vice President must also be a diver. The Vice President is responsible for leading the monthly Board of Directors meetings and assuming the responsibilities of the President when necessary.

• Membership Coordinator: Must greet and host new members at club meetings, and maintain the membership roster. The Membership Coordinator must also collect membership dues and transfer those dues to the Treasurer, and obtain signed membership forms and waivers.

• Secretary: Responsible for recording meeting minutes at the general and Board of Directors meetings. Those minutes must be provided to the Newsletter editor for publishing before the content due date each month. They Secretary is also responsible for processing outgoing Club correspondence.

• Treasurer: Maintains the financial records and transactions for the Club, including the Club bank accounts and other

financial instruments. The Treasurer is responsible for reporting the Club financial status at general and Board of Directors meetings, along with managing the Club post office box.

• Director of Training: In addition to being a regular member of the club, the Director of Training must also be a Certified SCUBA Instructor in good standing with their certifying agencies for courses taught and must have demonstrated effective interpersonal, safety, and teaching skills to the satisfaction of the Board. The Director of Training must be endorsed by the Board of Directors prior to the election. The Director of Training is authorized by the Board to provide diving, emergency responder, and related training to Club members and interested non-club members.

Are you interested in getting involved, but not quite interested in the officer positions listed above?

We also have two volunteer positions open with the club!

• Entertainment Chair: Responsible for facilitating the monthly entertainment at the general meetings, the Entertainment Chair communicates with prospective presenters, coordinates with presenters regarding presentation needs, coordinates AV equipment for the monthly meeting, hosts presenters, and following each meeting provides an entertainment report to the Newsletter Editor.

• Communications Coordinator: Responsibilities include working with Membership Coordinator, Entertainment Chair, Newsletter Editor and Web Goddess to create and send club roster, membership renewal notice, entertainment notices, newsletter, etc. via MailChimp.

Please contact the President or Vice President if you are interested in volunteering.

2018 OFFICER ELECTIONS & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIESBy Kari Klaboe

Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39 in San Francisco is currently looking for volunteer divers who can commit to a once a week 8hr volunteer shift for 8 months.

Days Available: Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, & Sun.

For more information visit their website to apply.

The holidays are nearly upon us – TIME TO GET TICKETS !! Come join your dive buddies, families, and friends as we join together for the holiday celebration. The evening will be filled with good food, fun events, and the usual surprise visit from Santa!

This year we will again celebrate at our favorite club restaurant, which we will take over after 7:30PM. Come at 6:30 for socializing and their great margaritas. We’ll have a great dinner, holiday music, camaraderie, raffle, fun group dances … and Santa (so bring a small fun or goofy gift - wrapped with name on the outside - for your friends and family if you wish).

Advanced-price tickets are only $10 for member or significant other, $15 for guest, $3 for child (10 & under); “day-of” tickets are: $20, $20, $5 respectively. Thisincludes a Mexican buffet, soft-drinks, and dessert. No-host bar. Please let us know one week before the party if you have any special dietary needs … and please buy your tickets by Dec. 1 so that we can get a count of attendees and you can get the cost break! Raffle donations beyond cost will go to Monterey chamber.

*** Tickets at the Nov 2 meeting or at aquatutus.org (at bottom of home page) ***

Saturday, December 9th, 2017Social begins @ 6:30PM Dinner 7:30 PM Party to 11:00 PM

La Cabana Restaurant7163 Rich Avenue, Newark, CA 94560

510-792-2600

Directions: From 880, take Thornton west, to Sycamore St south (near city center), to Rich Ave

Aqua Tutus 2017Holiday Party

Questions? : Alan Throop 925-455-8895, Patti Shannon 510-792-8460

6 | The Aqua Tooter

We went down for a checkout dive at San Carlos on Tuesday, August 22. Midweek is great for diving, but bad for traffic from the Bay Area. We left late to avoid traffic and got a first dive about noon – even after stopping at Aquarius. It was a beautiful dive day, with flat-flat seas, sunny but cool, and good vis for San Carlos. Mid-week you can park at the stairs, so it’s only a short easy walk to the entry … which is really nice as you get older!

We dove the outer edge of the center reef, starting at the wall side. Vis was about 20’. It’s a patch-like reef about 30’ deep, with isolated boulders and small reefs set in sand, with kelp floating above and sunlight shining through … beautiful setting that reminds me of Butterfly House at 80’. You can also go into the reef where it’s mostly rock, heavily covered with algae and kelp, but it gets shallow rapidly and of course the light is more intense if you’re shooting without a strobe. Gayle had her waterproof Olympus TG-3 in an Ikelite housing and shot without a strobe.

We saw a lot of smaller brown jellies in the water column, along with fry hiding in the holdfasts, and a lot of crab shells strewn over the bottom that indicated the molting season was in full swing. Moving toward the pipeline side of the center reef and going in and out of the rocky reef makes for a nice dive here. You sort of always know where you’re at and can readily retrace your path without surfacing. Center Reef has a number of pipes of varying diameters running out from shore, and it always pays to look inside. We found an adult Wolf Eel lingering at the end of one of the pipes, just in from the outer edge of the reef and about 2/3 of the way to the pipeline. It didn’t seem frightened enough to back into the pipe, so Gayle got some nice images.

We settled for a single dive, but enjoyed a nice picnic lunch, enjoying the surroundings and talking with a few other divers and tourists that are always friendly and curious about diving. The rinse station was turned off, but the bathroom still has the great outdoor showers to do a good gear rinse. We moseyed over to spend $ at Backscatter – to do our part for the economy – and enjoyed a great day. We went to Phi’s in Moss Landing for dinner and to let the traffic die down, so had an easy return trip.Gayle says that vis and diving are always better on weekdays. She and Bob dove on the weekends from their Boston Whaler for years and usually saw it flattening out on Sunday evening and heard good reports on the weekdays. Don’t know why…just something to frustrate divers. And cool critters, like wolf eels, take the weekend off!

San Carlos is a microcosm of all the great types of diving there is do in Monterey and yet very convenient … especially midweek. If you are free or able to take a day off for an easy mid-week dive, let us know … we’ll likely do it again. It makes for a nice relaxing day and there are always interesting and new things to see underwater.

DIVE REPORT: SAN CARLOS MIDWEEK DIVEBy Gayle Hudson & Alan Throop

September 2017 | 7

We went down for a checkout dive at San Carlos on Saturday – just because it was the only day free for the two of us. Our wives, Nelly and Colette, joined us and needed the car, so we were back to the old tarp-on-the-beach setup (photo) that neither of us had done for a long time! Still, the lawn is a nice sand-free place to set up there, and not far from the beach entry.

It was Monterey Shootout weekend, and there were a number of dive parties and classes, but not too many … surprising for such a great day for diving and for escaping the heat from the inland valleys. The seas were pretty flat, but the tide was coming in, offering lots of water flow on the beach. A number of photographers were shooting at the Metridium field off the north pipeline, but the ones we spoke to weren’t seeing anything unusual.

We tried a repeat of a dive that Al did the Tuesday-before – diving the outer edge of the center reef – but the vis was not as good as then … we both guessed about 10’ at the best. We started at the same location – at the outer-south corner – but found ourselves going up on the reef more during the dive and more of a challenge to stay near the outside deeper edge of the reef. The dive starts at about 30’, with the usual rock and small reefs serving as a base for the majestic kelp rising to the surface and where the kelp holdfasts serve as a refuge for all the fry-of-the-year. There were lots of fry of many types of fish and it’s always fun to try to identify (or maybe just guess) what they’ll be as adults. Some are pretty clear, but others not-so-much.

We found one holdfast where the kelp had settled on a rock too small, and it was now floating off the bottom 3-4’ and bouncing in the swell (see Don in the photo). On the middle reef, there are a number of smaller rock-linear-reefs, 8-15’ high, that run both perpendicular and parallel to the shore, so you need to try to find your way around them without getting too shallow, where the surge was larger. We did find ourselves in the shallows at one point, when looking for a large (12” dia) pipe with the wolf eel, but we easily climbed/swam over the reefs to the deeper outer water where the patchy reef is to me much more pleasurable.

We never found the wolf eel, but did enjoy a nice dive. After a good rinse at the showers and getting out of our gear, it was time for a beer and enjoying the scenery and folks around (photo). Backscatter was getting ready for the Shootout party that evening, so lots of good friends were there. Bruce Watkins had told me that Bob Hollis – while he sold his companies – still owns Breakwater Scuba and also bought Glenn’s

Aquarius, so it might be good to check those out.

Our wives and the car arrived, so we loaded up, did some window shopping, and went to Phil’s for dinner. Interestingly, one of the fellows taking our order at Phil’s mentioned that he had been “caught” spearfishing at San Carlos a few months before. He had seen folks line-fishing from the wall and had assumed (but didn’t read the signs, duh!) that he could spearfish. Somehow, the ranger caught him – hopefully someone reported him – and they took only his game. He was lucky not to have lost his spearfishing gear and gotten a fine. He said he did it by mistake and wouldn’t be doing it again, but I suspect that he’s not the only one spearfishing there.

Anyway, another great day in Monterey!

DIVE REPORT: SAN CARLOS CHECKOUT SATURDAY DIVEBy Alan Throop & Don Kelsey

8 | The Aqua Tooter

GOOD BUDDY AWARDCongratulations to Nancy Gearty for taking another diver out to Monterey.

GOOD BUDDY& BONE AWARD

BENEATH THE SEA: 2018 INTERNATIONAL IMAGING COMPETITIONBeneath the Sea 2018 is pleased to invite all Photographers and Videographers from the international imaging community to enter this year’s open…

International Imaging Competition

In addition to general prizes, the competition in each category will be for individual recognition from the Grandmaster of that field:

• Underwater Photographers will compete for the coveted David Doubilet award for excellence in underwater photography.

• Underwater Videographers will compete for the distinguished Stan Waterman award for excellence in underwater video.

• Underwater Photographic Artists compete for the celebrated Jim Church award for excellence in creative underwater photography.

Wherever you live in this wide world, accept the challenge, and submit your underwater photographic work to the Beneath the Sea International Imaging Competition. The contest deadline is December 31st, 2017. For contest rules and entry visit Beneath the Sea at their Internet site. There you may see the images of previous winners, get a set of rules and regulations, and download an application form for this year’s competition.

The winners of the Beneath the Sea International Imaging Competition will be announced at the Saturday Night International Film Festival the weekend of Beneath the Sea’s Ocean Adventure Exposition and Dive Travel Show, March 23-25, 2018, at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. In addition to the awards that the Grand Prize winners of each category receive, there will also be prizes for all First, Second, and Third place winners.

For questions about the Imaging Competition, email photo@BeneathTheSea.org. For more information about Beneath the Sea call 914-664-4310, e-mail info@Beneaththesea.org, or visit our web site.

HOW TO JOIN THE AQUA TUTUS MEETUP GROUP

A Guide for Aqua Tutus Club Members

To get email updates about upcoming Aqua Tutus club events like meetings and dives posted on Meetup, you must have a Meetup account and be accepted into the Aqua Tutus Dive Club Meetup group. This guide is for Tooters who want to join the Aqua Tutus Meetup group but don’t have an existing Meetup account.

Joining Meetup is very easy. Download the instructions first, find the club’s Meetup page and then join Meetup. After you’ve applied and a club Meetup Organizer verifies you’ve paid your club membership dues, you’ll be able to learn about upcoming dives and other club events posted by members. You’ll also be able to invite others to join you on dives you’re planning.

September 2017 | 9

Date: September 7, 2017

Meeting called to order by Vice President Patti Shannon-Hocker at Round Table Pizza in Castro Valley, CA at 7:30 pm.

Speaker: Mike Carter

Guests: Linda, William, Jay, Benji, Mike, Daniel

Entertainment (Gayle Hudson) 2017• October: Bruce Watkins – Diving with California Sharks• November: [TBD]• December: No general meeting

Please check Meetup and the Aqua Tooter for entertainment updates. If you have any requests or suggestions for future entertainment, let us know at entertainment@aquatutus.org!

Treasurer’s Report (Helga Mahlmann)We have $4,570.85 in our account and received $22.55 from Amazon Smile.

• Motion by Helga Mahlmann to donate $100 to the Humane Society in Cozumel in honor of lifetime member Apple. Seconded by Don Kelsey. Motion passed.

Membership (Debbie Muth-Driggers)79 members.

Training (Dennis Hocker)• No training scheduled.• October club dive skill will be buoyancy. It’s important for

new divers to go diving and the club focuses on diving and skill practice. An individual must participate in five club dives before signing up for the club Advance Open Water course.

• Mike Barrett and Bo Peng finished their Advanced Enriched Air certification.

For more information on training contact Dennis Hocker (510) 792-5606 dennis@rxscuba.com or Neil Benjamin (510) 673-0073 neil.benjamin@lamrc.com.

Newsletter (Lola Johnston)Newsletter went out! Contact Lola at newsletter@aquatutus.org if you are not receiving the newsletter. Input due by the 20th of the month.

Web Goddess (Lola Johnston)• Everything is up to date! Content can be sent to webmaster@

aquatutus.org.• Some new content on the website about Amazon Smile and

eScrip.

Social Media (Gayle Hudson)• Facebook: 108 members. Participation is open to the public.• Meetup: 57 members. Participation is limited to club

members. Meetup instructions are available on our website.• YouTube: We are looking for more video uploads and

recommend the video length be five to eight minutes.

Old BusinessNone

New Business: • Recurring Club Expenses: The club has the following

recurring expenses: Meetup fee, web domain, web hosting, and post office box. Motion by Alan Throop for the Club to allow the Treasurer to spend up to $700 for recurring club expenses, consisting of Meetup fee, web domain, web hosting, and post office box. Seconded by Joe Timmons. Motion passed.

• Officer Elections: Kat announced that officer elections are coming up. The following is a list of club officer positions: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Coordinator, Newsletter. Nominations will be open at the October general meeting and are open again at the beginning of the November general meeting. Elections will occur in November.

Special Committee:Holiday Party• Alan passed out a volunteer sign-up sheet. Contact Alan if

you would like to help out with the party. Past Dives• Boat Dive on the Silver Prince to Carmel (2 Tank) (Kat

Smith, Jono Dove, Dennis Hocker, and Bill Chinook): A little rough, but they made it down to Carmel.

• Boat Dive 2/3 way to Big Sur (3 Tank) (Kat Smith and Dennis Hocker): Diablo Pinnacle, Lobos Point, and a no-name site between Lobos Point and Yankee Point. Stumbled upon a pod of Humpback whales, lots of sea lions, and shore birds.

• Hawaii – Maui, Kaua’i, and Ni’ihau (Susan): Dove Molokini Crater and saw lots of colorful fish. Flew to Ni’ihau and dove around the island. Dove with a monk seal and saw a turtle cleaning station.

• Breakwater in Monterey (Gayle Hudson and Alan Throop): Dove Middle Reef during the week and got great parking. Saw a large wolf eel at the end of a pipeline on the edge of Middle Reef, not the main pipeline.

• Northern Channel Islands with Reef Check (Dave Chervin): 69 degrees at surface. Dove Santa Rosa and Anacapa islands. Lots of algae around Anacapa.

• Half Moon Bay with Reef Check (Bill Briscoe): Rough water. First time Reef Check tried that area and it was a learning experience. Visibility 2 meters and lots of bull kelp.

GENERAL MEETING MINUTESBy Kari Klaboe

10 | The Aqua Tooter

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTESBy Kari Klaboe

Date: September 21, 2017

Present: Patti Shannon-Hocker, Lola Johnston, Kari Klaboe, Dennis Hocker, Fritz Welss, Kat Smith, Myran Gist, Helga Mahlmann, Gayle Hudson, Alan Throop, Mike Barrett, Sheila Doney, Larry Muth

Meeting called to order at 7:04 pm by Vice President – Patti Shannon-Hocker.

Upcoming Entertainment (Gayle Hudson – not present)2017 October: Bruce Watkins – Diving with California’s SharksNovember: Channel Islands with Vaqueros del Mar and the

San Jose Flipper DippersDecember: No General Meeting

2018January: [TBD]February: Paul Rosenblum – Indonesia

Please contact Gayle at entertainment@aquatutus.org if you have any requests or suggestions for future entertainment.

Treasurer’s Report (Helga Mahlmann) • We have $4,726.47 in our account.• Helga completed a profit and loss comparison of this year

and last year. Primary membership is up $500 this year.• Lola updated the payment for the web hosting so that it is on

the club debit card.• Recurring Payments: Board to present motion for annual club

fees at every September membership meeting. [This item is to permanently stay in meeting minutes.]

Membership (Debbie Muth-Driggers) • 85 members: 66 regular members, 9 associate, 10 life• A club roster was recently emailed to club members.

Director of Training (Dennis Hocker) • No specific training on the schedule. Contact Dennis if you

want to request training.• With so many new club members coming in, Dennis

reminded Board members to welcome new divers and go diving with them.

Web Goddess (Lola Johnston)Lots of new information coming in. Lola will review updates over the weekend.

Newsletter (Lola Johnston)Alan commented that VDM club members are going to our website to read our newsletter because of the great content and format — great job Lola! Content is due by the 20th, email newsletter@aquatutus.org.

Social Media (Gayle Hudson – not present)Meetup: 60 members, 9 pendingFacebook: 112 members

WHAT IS A “POC”?The “POC” is a Point of Contact for a club dive.

Any member is welcome to plan a dive and put in on our Meetup calendar. You don’t have to be a dive master, or the director of training, or a board member to do this. Any club dive is done with the expectation that there will be people there to help.

» See our website for other Frequently Asked Questions.

BEGINNING PHOTOSHOP FOR UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHERSThis and other tutorials can be found on our website’s tutorials page.

Awards• Good Buddy Award: Nancy Gearty for taking another diver

out to Monterey.• Bone Award: None.

Upcoming Activity and Dives2017Sep9-12: Channel Islands trip with Vaqueros del Mar dive

club – contact Alan ThroopSep 16: Club Dive at Breakwater in Monterey – POC Kari

KlaboeSep 29-Oct 1: Salt Point – POC Nancy GeartyOct 12: Club Social at Ricky’s Sports Theater and Grill –

POC Alan ThroopOct 14: Club Dive at Lover’s Cove – POC Gayle HudsonOct 21-30: Dumaguete Philippines – contact Dennis HockerNov 11-18: Roatan Island, Honduras – contact Nancy GeartyDec 9: Club Holiday PartyDec 21-Jan 6: Cozumel, Mexico trip – contact Patti Shannon

2018Jun 28-Jul 8: Papua New Guinea – contact Dennis Hocker

MeetingsNext Membership meeting: October 5, 2017Next BOD meeting: September 21, 2017

Meeting adjourned at 9:33 pm.

GEAR FOR SALE OR TRADELooking to advertise your gear for sale or trade? List it on our Meetup message board.

September 2017 | 11

Special Committee Holiday Party: Date for the 2017 holiday party is set: December 9, 2017. La Cabana is confirmed.• Alan drafted flyers for the holiday party and provided a copy

to the Board for review. He also circulated a volunteer sign up sheet and is still looking for volunteers to help with the party. Please contact Alan if you are interested in assisting with planning of day-of party activities.• Lola to set up the Holiday Party ticket sales on Square.• Debbie to make name tags for the party.

• Ticket costs will be the same as last year.• Advanced Tickets: $10/member or significant other, $15/

guest, $3/child• Day-of: $20/member or significant other, $25/guest, $5/

child

CenCalNone

Old Business• Constitution and Bylaws: In order to finalize our

Constitution & Bylaws, Helga needs the cover page signed and dated by the President and Vice President. The date for the document also needs to be updated to the date the club approved the document.

• Board Retreat: The Board retreat will be November 11 and the location is TBD. The following topics have been proposed by Board members.• Club Planning

• SWOT Analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) – Jono Dove

• Board and Club Liability: protections and indemnifications in the case of an accident during a club event – Larry Dimitri

• Communications – Lola Johnston• Evergreen Email accounts (BOD updates and how to)• Communication expectations between Board Members

and volunteers (i.e.: new member name & email for member roster / MailChimp / Meetup, timely information supplied for calendar, entertainment notices and newsletter, etc.)

• How to post entertainment reports and minutes to website

• How to send out MailChimp notices• How to POC a club dive• Dive reports

• ATDC at Ricky’s Sports Bar: See previous minutes and newsletter for pros and cons discussed regarding moving the meeting location for general meetings.• Gayle suggested via email that we vote on moving the

general meeting location at the November general meeting. This vote can be announced at the October general meeting. The Board discussed and decided we will be voting on this item at the November meeting.

• Lola to include Gayle’s write up on Ricky’s in the next newsletter. The following items will be added to Gayle’s write up: 1) the environment is distracting (TVs and decorations) and 2) it is vegetarian friendly as burgers can be ordered as veggie burgers.

• Officer Elections: Kat has volunteered to spearhead the election process for the Board. Elections will occur at the November general meeting and an announcement was made at the September general meeting.• Current officer slate

• President: Jono Dove• Vice President: Patti Shannon-Hocker• Treasurer: Helga Mahlmann• Secretary: [open]• Membership: Larry Dimitri• Director of Training: Dennis Hocker. Motion by Mike

Barrett to recommend Dennis for the Director of Training. Seconded by Sheila Doney. Motion passed.

• Lola to send out a MailChimp announcement about officer elections and about open volunteer positions (entertainment chair).

• Club Dives: Gayle is POC of the October Club Dive. We still are looking for a POC for the November dive. Mention at next meeting that we are looking for a POC for the November club dive.

New Business• Entertainment Chair: Gayle would like to step down from

the position at the end of this year and we will need to recruit a new chair.

• Communications Coordinator: Lola proposed developing a new volunteer position for communications. Responsibilities would be to work with Membership, Entertainment, Newsletter Editor and Web Goddess to create and send club roster, membership renewal notice, entertainment notices, newsletter, etc. via MailChimp and maintain the MailChimp list. Included MailChimp list.

• Name Tags: Dennis to update name tags.• Post Office Box: Alan brought up potentially moving the PO

Box to the area. Helga to look into San Lorenzo PO Box.

Upcoming Events2017Sep 29: Dive and Camp Gerstle Cove/Salt Point –

Contact Nancy GeartyOct 12: Club Social at Ricky’s Sports Theater and Grill –

POC Alan Throop Oct 14: Club Dive at Lover’s Point – POC Gayle HudsonOct 21-30: Dumaguete Philippines – contact Dennis HockerNov 11-18: Roatan Island, Honduras – Contact Nancy GeartyDec 2-3: Channel Islands Again – Contact Nancy GeartyDec 9: Club Holiday PartyDec 21-Jan 6: 14th consecutive Cozumel Christmas in Mexico

trip – POC Dennis Hocker – Divers are welcome to stay for part or all of the trip.

2018June 28 – July 8: Papua New Guinea – POC Dennis Hocker

MeetingsNext Membership meeting: October 5, 2017Next BOD meeting: October 18, 2017

Meeting adjourned at 8:39 pm.

12 | The Aqua Tooter

2017 OFFICERS/BOD/VOLUNTEERSPresidentJono Dove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . president@aquatutus.org

Vice PresidentPatti Shannon-Hocker . . . . . . . vicepresident@aquatutus.org

SecretaryKari Klaboe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . secretary@aquatutus.org

TreasurerHelga Mahlmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . treasurer@aquatutus.org

Membership CoordinatorDebbie Driggers . . . . . . . . . . . .membership@aquatutus.org

Training DirectorDennis Hocker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . training@aquatutus.org

Entertainment CoordinatorGayle Hudson . . . . . . . . . . . . . entertainment@aquatutus.org

Newsletter EditorLola Johnston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .newsletter@aquatutus.org

Social Media CoordinatorGayle Hudson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . socialmedia@aquatutus.org

Board Members at Large:Jeff Doney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bmal@aquatutus.orgLarry Dimitri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bmal@aquatutus.orgKat Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bmal@aquatutus.org

Past PresidentMike Barrett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pastpresident@aquatutus.org

Web “Goddess”Lola Johnston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . webmaster@aquatutus.org

SUBMISSIONS NEEDEDDive pictures, stories and videos needed for the website, Tooter, YouTube channel and social media sites. Visit our photo submissions page for details.

PUBLICATION SCHEDULESubmissions due by the 20th of each month. The Tooter is published by the end of each month. No publication for December.

USEFUL LINKSInternet Resources for the Bay Area Diverhttp://www.garlic.com/~triblet/swell/

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaryhttp://www.mbnms.nos.noaa.govhttps://www.facebook.com/MBNMS

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institutehttp://www.mbari.org/https://www.facebook.com/MBARInews?fref=ts

California Marine Sanctuary Foundationhttp://californiamsf.org/index.html

Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamberhttps://www.facebook.com/PGHyperbaricChamberhttp://californiamsf.org/pages/donate-pgh.html

BIG ISLAND, HAWAII KONA CONDO FOR RENTBook now at this low price!June 15 - July 13, 2018$450 per week + $14 taxOne-time $50 registry fee covers one or all weeks. Weeks run Thursday to Thursday.

Contact Don Kelsey 925-820-8362 dwk.kelsey@gmail.com

» Resort info can be found on The Kona Billfisher website.