April

April 25th, 2012 - General Meeting
Social starts at 7pm - Meeting at 7:30pm
Mario’s Flying Pizza & Italian Restaurant
618 West NASA Rd. 1, Webster, TX
The BAD Calendar
April
3
BAD BOD Meeting
25
28
BAD Bring a Friend Night to Membership Meeting --Marissa F. Nuttall--Sea
Side Chat on Whale Sharks, Manta
Rays, and Sea Turtles.
Mammoth Lake Dive
Speaker of the Month — Marissa F. Nuttall is a
researcher for the Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary will give her presentation on Whale Sharks, Manta Rays, and Sea Turtles.
May
1
12
30
26-28
BAD BOD Meeting
Mammoth Lake Dive
BAD General Membership Meeting -TBA
Clear Springs Dive & Camp Out
April
Tory Jenkins
Don Barnes
Pete Richard
Neil Lowrey
Catherine Williams
Bradley Phelps
Elyse Leavine
Jim McConville
Davilynn Ward
Forrest DeVore
James Beeson
Tanya Poffenberger
June
5
23-24
27
BAD BOD Meeting
Lake Travis (Windy Point) Dive &
Camp Out
BAD General Membership Meeting -Dennis Davenport-Photoghraphy 101
July
10
14-15
27
BAD BOD Meeting
Annual Blue Lagoon Dive & Camp
Out- Ja Van Pruett
BAD General Membership Meeting -TBA
Marty Zamora
Sherwood Hamilton
Will Foster
Shawn Ward
Kenneth Chladek
Audrey Rivers
Andrew Chladek
Stacy Hale
Wayne Ayer
Sam Foster
John Tucker
COME VISIT and DIVE
WITH YOUR FRIENDS and NEIGHBORS
WEBSITE: www.bayareadivers.org
Have an event you want to lead,
contact the Board for
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Bay Area Divers meet at Mario’s 618 W NASA Rd 1, Webster, TX
77598 at 7:00 pm the last Wednesday of each month (except November
& December).
GUESTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!
Deadline for article submission for next month is:
May 13th, 2012
E-Mail [email protected]
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27
29
April
28
Mammoth Lake Dive
May
12
26-28
Mammoth Lake Dive
Clear Springs Dive & Camp Out
June
23-24
Lake Travis (Windy Point) Dive &
Camp Out
July
14-15
Annual Blue Lagoon Dive & Camp Out
Contact Ja Van Pruett
August
11
Mammoth Lake Dive
Sept.
8-9
Lake Travis Clean Up & Camp Out
October
6
13
Join us at Clear Springs Scuba Park
Memorial Weekend for diving, camping,
glowstick hunt and fireworks
May 26th-28th in Terrell, TX.
This is a very unique spring fed park
so please be sure to bring a wetsuit as
there is a thermocline about 20' down.
More info to come shortly but
be sure to save the date!
Please contact Doreen Wells
for more details.
Trash Fest
Divers Market
November
3
Anniversary Party
Bay Area Divers
In Association with Save Our Leatherback Turtles Organization
$$ Club Fund Raising Project $$
Bay Area Divers Officers & Directors
President
V. President
Secretary
Treasurer
Editor
Membership
Board
Board
Doreen Wells
Ja Van Pruett
Cindy Romano
Jim McConville
Ja Van Pruett
Seldon Crump
Randy Widaman
David Romano
Webmaster Jim McConville
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
WEBSITE: www.bayareadivers.org
Facebook: Bayareadivers - Group
Twitter: BayAreaDivers
"Turning Energy into Income"
www.BayAreaDivers.IgniteInc.biz
For more information contact Dennis Camp
Phone 281.703.6492 Email: dcamp@ hibexintl.com
Meetings ARE OPEN TO All, so come on out and join us
for our next meeting TUESDAY May 1st 2012 at 7:00 PM at
La Brisa, 501 North Wesley Drive (behind Sudie's at exit 28
on I45) League City, TX . Everyone is encouraged to
attend as we appreciate everyone’s participation and
your input. Come earlier if you would like to eat and
visit with some of us prior to the meeting.
2
Deadline for article submission for next month is:
May 13th, 2012
New Members– David Brinkley & Dahna Proctor, Judith Jackson, Marc & Susan Reiter
Renewals—Dave & Lon Lieb
Remember: Renew your membership
Due to the proposed changes to the bylaws that passed at the January meeting the rate has
gone up. Started in March rate will be $20.00 for Individual & $30.00 for Family
PeeWee Dwire
Rodney P. Dwire (PeeWee), has been diving
for 34 years and a member of BAD for 32 years.
He has been on the board for 4 times. He was in
charge of the Spearfishing Rodeo in 2001. His
favorite activity is Spearfishing. He has always
been a behind the scenes guy. If you need help,
you can count on him to be there. His favorite
location is the Gulf of Mexico, offshore rigs
and CoCo View.
Deadline for article submission for next month is:
May 13th, 2012
E-Mail [email protected]
See the beauties and the beasts that live under the sea
Sea slug in starring role
By: Pete Thomas,
GrindTV.com
Russian scientists have
released footage of
what's believed to be
the world's only allwhite adult male orca,
which belongs to a
small pod known to inhabit waters off Russia's Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. The orca was
named "Iceberg" because of the way its towering
white dorsal fin broke the surface of the chilly waters
east of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Researchers with the Far East Russia Orca
Project spotted and photographed Iceberg twice
in 2010, but are only now releasing the footage, as
part of announcement that they will launch another
mission in the hope of re-locating the
peculiar
mammal
early
next
month.
More than 700 underwater images were
submitted for the 2012 Annual Underwater
Photography Contest, hosted by the
University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of
Marine & Atmospheric Science. These 14
pictures were judged the best of the bunch.
Ximena Olds shot this "Best Overall” photograph in the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and entered it in the Macro category. The photo depicts a
vibrant orange headshield sea slug on a brilliant background of green
seagrass.
Hi from Bali
The second-place photo in the "Fish
or Marine Life Portrait" category was
submitted by Rockford Draper. It's a
colorful view of a paddle-flap scorpionfish (Rhinopias eschmeyeri), lurking
near the Indonesian island
Caught on camera
Kyra Hartog took first place in the
Student category for this photograph
of a whale shark (Rhincodon typus),
caught on camera near Mexico's Isla
Mujeres.
Iceberg, who is believed to be about 16 years old,
belongs to a pod, or social unit, of 13 orcas. The pod
is one of 61 social units identified in the region by
FEROP.
A news release about Iceberg issued Monday
morning -- under the headline "White Russian" -- has
generated lots of excitement among marine mammal
Enthusiasts.
Erich Hoyt, co-director of the FEROP and a research
fellow with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Society, stated on his blog: "In many ways, Iceberg
is a symbol of all that is pure, wild and extraordinarily exciting about what is out there in the ocean waiting to be discovered."
Hoyt said via email that he has heard of only a handful of white orcas having been spotted globally,
"with Iceberg being the only male and the whitest.”
The researcher concluded his blog post with this
passage: "With regard to Iceberg's pod, we have no
genetic data but are hoping to meet them again in
summer 2012 and learn more about the phenomenon
of white whales, why they occur, what it means and
whether Iceberg is a true albino -- perhaps we can
catch a glimpse of the pink eye -- or 'just' one of the
most beautiful orcas anyone has ever seen."
Clowning around
Second place in the Student
category went to Phillip Gillette for
this photo of Harlequin shrimp
(Hymenocera
picta)
amid
Thailand's Similan Islands.
http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/18/11271727-see-the
-beauties-and-the-beasts-that-live-under-the-sea?
chromedomain=cosmiclog
Wednesday - March 28, 2012
At the last General Meeting:
By the time she finished everyone wanted to hop on the plane
to go with her on her next trip to
RAJA AMPAT ISLANDS, her pictures were beautiful. She
also talked a little about the nesting leatherbacks, and their
babies hatching.
Deadline for article submission for next month is:
May 13th, 2012
By Nick Lucey
Sent in By Jim McConville
Please visit our web site for details and
photos: http://flowergarden.noaa.gov.
Part IV
April—All Month
Canada
The world's second-largest country is home to numerousalbeit extremity-numbing-wreck diving opportunities,
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In the far-western
province of British Columbia, the Artificial Reef Society
of British Columbia has sunk six ships in the cold emerald
waters of the Strait of Georgia-four 366-foot destroyer
escorts, the Chaudiere, Columbia, Mackenzie and
Saskatchewan, the 175-foot freighter G.B. Church and the
440-foot World War II victory ship Cape Breton, as well
as a Boeing 737. In Quebec's St. Lawrence River, divers
can visit the RMS Empress of Ireland, a 570-foot
transatlantic ocean liner that collided with the Storstad in
1914, claiming more than 1,000 lives and making it the
worst disaster in Canadian maritime history. Strong
currents, cold water and depths of 80 to 140 feet make this
a very advanced, treacherous dive. Farther east in Nova
Scotia-Canada's version of North Carolina-take your pick
from hundreds of shipwrecks, including the marine-lifeladen 525-foot Arrow in 25 to 90 feet of water off Cape
Breton Island.
Cayman Islands
For most divers, the Cayman Islands exude a safe, tame
atmosphere-warm, calm water, efficient infrastructure,
family atmosphere. Wreck divers, however, know that the
islands have a wilder, edgier side. Let the pedestrians have
Stingray City, Seven Mile Beach and the Turtle Farm, they
say. Bring on the wrecks-and there are some great ones.
The Oro Verde and Balboa are two easy, fishy wrecks a
short ride from most of the major Grand Cayman dive
operators. At press time, there were plans in the works to
sink the 251-foot U.S. Navy submarine rescue ship U.S.S.
Kittiwake off the island. There's also the Soto Trader off
Little Cayman and the Cayman Mariner and MV Capt.
Keith Tibbetts off Cayman Brac. Formerly the Frigate
365, the Tibbetts is the world's largest diveable Russian
warship, a 330-foot vessel in 65 to 110 feet of water that's
packed with marine life and has been down for more than
a decade.
Cozumel
It's best known for drift diving on sheer vertical walls, but
you can get your wreck yayas out on Cozumel, too. Take
the Felipe Xicotencatl, for example, better known as the C
-53. It was originally built as a U.S. Navy minesweeper,
measuring 184 feet long with a 33-foot beam. In 1962, she
was sold to the Mexican Navy for a dollar, converted to a
Deadline for article submission for next month is:
Early
Part
of
Month
Hammerhead sharks and spotted eagle rays
school
around
the
banks.
22 Earth Day - 42nd Anniversary
Get out and do something nice for
www.earthday.org/2012
the
planet!
26 UTMB Health Earth Day Celebration - Galveston
Moody
Medical
Library
Plaza,
10
a.m.-2
p.m.
The sanctuary will host an information table at this community
event. For more information, contact [email protected] .
May
Later Part of Month—
Whale sharks may be sighted in the sanctuary.
9 Sanctuary Advisory Council Meeting Galveston
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 4700 Avenue U, Building
216 For more information, contact
[email protected]
18 Endangered Species Day
This is a day to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species
and what you can do to help protect our
nation's disappearing wildlife.
Cozumel- (continued)
gun boat and renamed the Felipe Xicotencatl C-53. She
patrolled the Mexican Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico until
1999, when she was decommissioned, donated to the
Cozumel Marine Park and laid to rest in 82 feet of water
off Chankanaab. The marine park has recently restricted
access there, so you dive it at your own risk, but it's
generally believed to be safe and she remains one of
Cozumel's most popular dives. Hurricane Wilma spun the
C-53 around and broke her in two, and her average depth
of 65 feet makes her a perfect second dive. Also upping
the ante for wreck divers are two naval patrol vessels
intentionally sunk last June just outside the marine park:
the 85-foot Laguna Mandinga and the 42-foot Patzcuaro.
At less than 40 feet, divers and snorkelers alike can enjoy
them.
May 13th, 2012
E-Mail [email protected]
Bay Area Divers
P.O. Box 58404
Houston, TX 77258
409-622-3022
409-6BA-D022
Catch us on the web at:
WWW.BAYAREADIVERS.ORG
FACEBOOK: BAYAREADIVERS - GROUP
TWITTER: BAYAREADIVERS
“Members You Asked For It”
On
June 27th, 2012 at our - General Meeting
Speaker of the Month — Dennis Davenport
To teach us how to start taking pictures like some of the ones on page 4.
Dennis will bring his camera gear for “show-and-tell” and
then go into the classroom setting to show everyone what it takes to get it done.
Q&A from the audience will be encouraged.
This should be very interesting and informative MEETING!
Don’t forget to bring you camera.
Be sure to view some of Dennis pictures; http://www.facebook.com/
dennisdavenportphotography