Alacosta Blurb
November 2004
Alacosta Blurb
November 2004
Maintaining an icy distance between abalone and diver for over 40 years
LATE BREAKING NEWS:
NEW GENERAL MEETING PLACE for the Alacosta Dive Club -the November General Meeting will be on Monday, November 1, 2004 at 8 p.m. at the Round Table Pizza Parlor in Moraga, 361 Rheem Blvd. (925) 376-1411
Directions, courtesy of Jack Cash: Those traveling east through the Caldecot tunnel, exit at Orinda to the stop lights at the Orinda Crossroads. Turn right onto Moraga Way headed south toward Moraga. In 1.5 miles the next traffic light is encountered. Turn left onto Glorietta Blvd. In 0.5 miles angle right onto Rheem Blvd. Travel 2.1 miles to the Rheem shopping center. In the shops on the left side opposite the Rheem theatre, see Round Table Pizza. For those in the Pleasant Hill/ Concord/ Walnut Creek area, drive to the center of Lafayette on Mt. Diablo Blvd. Turn south onto Moraga Rd. Drive a few miles to the next lights at the Rheem shopping center. Turn right onto Rheem Blvd and right again into the shopping center opposite the Rheem Theatre where Round Table pizza will be found.
? Editor's Corner. As you can see - the Blurb is a little different this month due to the new Editor. It will be hard to top Susan Carter's excellent work (previous Editor,) but you are stuck with my bad grammar and humor. Having been a club member for only one year, I will try to keep up with all the Alacosta traditions and customs, but I'll have to “wing-it” on stories that happened 40 years ago. I will be trying different Newsletter formats (two column newspaper style maybe) for a while until I get a consensus on what most everybody likes, your comments and articles are especially welcome. All articles submitted will be published unedited/verbatim except maybe Simon's articles I may change around a little (just kidding!) Also, the deadline for all submitted Newsletter articles will be two weeks before the General meeting. This Newsletter is primarily distributed electronically by email, but a few still receive it by good old “snail mail,” so I will be fumbling with stamps and address labels, I don't mind doing both. Ciao divers. John Diola H(510) 523-5986 cell (510) 432-5477 email: jdiola@pacbell.net
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Alacosta Divers Club General Meetings are held the first Monday of every month from 8-10 PM at various locations to be announced in the East Bay.
Executive board meetings are generally held on the third Monday of the month at 8 p.m. and are usually preceded by a potluck at 6:30 pm.
The November Eboard meeting will be held Monday, October 18th at a location to be announced, find out what to bring for the potluck. All Alacosta members are welcome to attend EBoard meetings
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Minutes of the general meeting of Alacosta Divers on Monday, October 4, 2004, submitted by John Kelly.
Meeting was called to order at 8:00 pm by President Michael Daily
President requested a volunteer to take the minutes. John Kelly accepted.
16 members present: Aaron Waldon, Roy Benedict, Charlie Cleland, Jack Cash, Mike Daily, Mike Dixon, Mike Elliot , Mike Boom, Lynn Morton, John Kelly, John Diola, John Beland, Gary Schleimer, Kevin Dalley, Rod Vermeulen and Phaedra Caruso-Radin.
Old Dives: Santa Catalina dive redo. Boat engines need to be serviced.
Food service was not up to par with previous years.
Talked about date for next year. After discussion vote was taken. It was unanimous.
Saturday September 3 thru Saturday, September 10, 2005. Factors in favor were; Monday, Labor Day holiday would give working people extra day. Supposedly no other groups were scheduled that week. Hopefully better food.
New Dives: Talked about going to Jade Cove. John Diola had an oblong piece of Jade about 8 to 12 inches and 2 to 3 inches thick, that he passed around to the members.
Mike Dixon brought up possibility of fresh water diving at Whiskey Town Lake.
Kevin Dalley and John Beland are planning a dive at Van Damn October 14, 15, 16, 17.
Slide Show: John Diola presented a slide show of the Alacosta dive trip to Santa Catalina Island last month. Pictures included Mike Daily's as well. The show started with maps of the island, then pictures of the Miss Christie, with all of our gear. Pictures of the landing and the camp, dive room, tents, dining hall, lots of pictures of the divers and then the boats, dive spots, Ship Rock, etc, and then the underwater critters and ended with a blue stripped denizen of the deep. A great presentation. (my opinion is that this could be used as a recruiting tool, it was that good)
Refreshments: Cookies and Juice:
Nominations:
President: Susan Carter
Vice-President: Kevin Dalley
Treasurer: John Beland
Blurb Editor: John Diola
Secretary: Simon Kisch and Mike Elliot
Membership Chair: Jack Cash and Simon Kisch
Elections:
Secretary: Mike Elliot won on first ballot.
Membership Chair ended in a tie. A second ballot was needed to vote in Simon Kisch
Executive Board:
Jack Cash
Rob Vermeulen
Tom Whitaker
Gary Schleimer
Lynn Morton
Mike Dixon
New Business: John Beland brought up the Carolyn Oltman Memorial Fund being established by May Hicks at EBMUB. It was tabled for future discussion.
John Kelly mentioned that in a telephone conversation with Judy Pearce, the wife of Brian, Camp Emerald Bay Ranger, that we could probably use the cabins overlooking Doctor's Cove next year at the same price as the tents. Something to remember.
Garden Room meeting place. The custodian questioned the early birds, regarding our right to be in the room,.before he would unlock the door.. Apparently there are new rules, i.e. must be an Orinda group and non profit. Suggest getting our agreement to use the room in writing. Specify 8pm to 10pm.
No more new business the chair entertained a motion to adjourn. Mike Boom so moved. It was seconded by John Beland. Meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm.
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FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR
Simon Kisch
ENTERTAINMENT
It's going to be a good year! To start us off our own President, Susan Carter is going to show us some of her very best slides from her recent trips. Come and be amazed.
In December, Jim Steele is going to show us what is really inside those $300 second stages (it turns out not very much) and why you should cut those pesky dust caps off them. Jim will be giving his very informative talk on SCUBA equipment, “What it is and how to fix it.” Even if have taken all your equipment apart, well perhaps especially if you have taken all of you equipment apart and its still in pieces, come and learn how to put it back together. Bring your gear and your questions answered and your equipment serviced right there.
In January, our own Mike Boom is going to show us some of his outstanding Videos and describe some techniques that will make you a much better photographer.
In the following months we are going to see films from some amazing photographers and videographers, including Neil Benjamin's films on Cozumel and Bonaire, and pictures from our own Kevin Dalley and John Beland. I am also hoping to have several internationally know photographers speak to the club, but those appearances have not yet been definitely confirmed.
We are also going to have a talk on Emergency SCUBA medicine from Chris Dutra. Come and learn why you really shouldn't touch those pretty cone shells and why urinating on your buddy after he has been stung by a jellyfish might be good payback but is not good medicine. We are also going to have a talk on the latest recommendations for safe ascents. There have been some quite dramatic changes in this area and if you haven't been keeping up with the latest dive literature, this talk might keep you out of Cozumel's very impressive new chamber (room for 7, television included, but a lot more expensive than a night out at Signore Frogs).
MEETING LOCATION AND FORMAT
As you can see, there is going to be a lot going on at the meetings. So please come and support the speakers and our club. Part of being a club is the keeping up with other members. A vibrant meeting will encourage new members to stay, and if they don't stay, they won't learn what a really nice bunch of people Alacostans are dive with. To try to make the meetings more fun, we are going to try a few new things. First we are going to have the entertainment at the beginning of the meeting. So if there is someone you want to hear, don't come late. We are also going to try new places to meet. There was some discussion of this prior to our eviction from the Orinda Library, but that sudden and unexpected occurrence has rather forced our hand. As you know, the first new site is the Pizza Parlor in Moraga. However, this is not necessarily our permanent new home. If you know of a place where we can meet, preferably with food and a private room, please let me know. We also need to know what you need to know. If there is some topic that you would like to hear about at a meeting, please let me know. It does not have to be a topic that will fill an entertainment bill by itself. We can always slip in a short topic somewhere.
TO MEMBERS WHO DON'T USUALLY COME TO MEETINGS
We have a lot of members who rarely, if ever, come to meetings. Would you please let me know why you don't come to the meetings? Is it that they are too far away, the wrong time, too boring, you just don't like meetings, or you just don't like the club? We need to know. You can e-mail me at skisch.pklaw@prodigy.net. And, if you don't e-mail, please don't be offended when I call you. If we are going to make the meetings better, I need to hear from you. ?
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Treasurer's Report (as of August, 2004)
Catalina Fund: $872.91
Boat Fund: $2487.96
General Fund: $3709.62
Total: $7070.49
UPCOMING DIVES:
November: Van Damme Ab Dive/Camping weekend over Thanksgiving Holiday weekend: John Beland and Kevin Dalley are chairs.
Point Lobos, Traditional New Year's Day Dive, January 1, 2005: Susan Carter will be leading the traditional Club inflatable dive to Point Lobos. Divers interested in going should mark Monday, November 1, 2004 as the day to log onto http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/ to make their reservations to join us on this great dive! Spots traditionally go quickly, so we recommend that hard core Alacostans stay up until mid-night the night before to log on and get their spot….
Cozumel 2005: Simon Kisch will be leading a club dive to Coz in April 2005. Details to follow in an upcoming Blurb…
Catalina 2005: Based upon responses to the survey, the Catalina 2005 trip dates will be September 4 - 11, 2005. Catalina Co-Chairs for 2005 are Bill McDowell and Susan Carter.
Australia: Susan Carter is leading a dive trip of a lifetime to Oz in October of 2005. This will be a nine day special expedition trip to dive the very far northern reefs of Australia. Our liveaboard for this trip will be the Undersea Explorer, a dive boat that also conducts marine research. More information about the trip is available on the Alacosta website at www.alacosta.org. Currently, the trip is full, but Susan is taking names for the waiting list in the event of cancellations.
Alacosta Calendar
November 1, 2004: Make reservations for Diving at Point Lobos New Year's Day
January 1, 2005: Inflatable boat Dive at Point Lobos State Reserve
April, 2005; Cozumel
September 4 - 11, 2005; Catalina Trip, Emerald Bay
October 24 - November 2, 2005; Far Northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Alacosta Divers Officers and Executive Board Members:
Officers: Susan Carter, President; Kevin Dalley, Vice President; John Beland, Treasurer; Mike Dailey Immediate Past President; Chris Fryer, Membership Coordinator; John Diola, Blurb Editor.
Executive Board Members: Mike Elliott, Simon Kisch, Bill McDowell, John Purnell, Gary Schleimer, Rob Vermuelen
The Blurb
Alacosta Divers, Inc.
Editor: John Diola jdiola@pacbell.net (510) 523-5986
Alacosta Divers Inc.
1252 Broadway
Alameda CA 94501
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Alacosta Divers General Meeting the first Monday of the month