Aaron Simonton

October 2012
Down Under
Dive Club
DUDC Monthly Meeting
Since 1984
Inside this issue:
Wednesday, September 12th @7 pm
Speaker for September
Aaron Simonton
of
The Sea Turtle Preservation Society
Photo Contest
1
Calendar
2
Support Local Shops
2
Club Dues are Due
2
President’s Message
3
Safety Message
4
Dive Log
4
The Sea Turtle Preservation Society (STPS) volunteers are perAbout Our Club & For
6
mitted by the Florida Fish and
Sale
Wildlife Conservation Commission, Bureau of Imperiled Species, and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to work with endangered and threatened sea turtles. The purpose of our organization is to
educate the public about marine sea turtles. The society's goal is to help maintain
the current sea turtle population and to prevent a potentially irreversible decline
in that population. I will give the Turtle 101 discussion.
EVERY MEETING WE GIVE AWAY GREAT DOOR PRIZES
BRING A FRIEND
COME EARLY
AND
AND
AND
GREAT STORIES!
CHECK US OUT!
ORDER
A
FABULOUS MEAL
Meeting Location
The Broken Barrel Tavern
at 4700 Babcock Street NE
Palm Bay, Florida 32905
WWW.BROKENBARRELTAVERN.COM
DUDC will be raffling off a new dive light from Hatt’s Diving Headquarters. Ticket prices will be $2 for one ticket and $5 for 3 tickets.
Event
Member's
Cost
Time
Coordinator
Phone # / E-mail
DUDC Meeting
Broken Barrel Tavern, Palm Bay
Every 2nd Wednesday of the
Month @ 7 pm
Free
DUDC Board Meeting **Meeting place TBD
Every 4th Monday of the Month
@ 6:30 pm
Free
Blue Heron Bridge Dive
Any time the Tide is Right!
Free
Jeri Curley
jcurley@downunderdiveclub.com
Jupiter Dive Center, Riviera Beach
10 November 2012, @ 9 am
$55
Terry Peterman
tpeterman@downunderdiveclub.com
Shark Tooth Dive
13 October 2012, @ 8 am
$60 plus hotel
Scott Newland
Divecoordinator@downunderdiveclub.com
Jeri Curley
jcurley@downunderdiveclub.com
Contact any Board Member to Attend
Cancellation Policy for Club Sponsored Dives:
Deposits will be refunded with 2 weeks notice of the scheduled event or with a
paid replacement diver. Refunds of money paid after the 2 week cancellation period is subject to board approval. All requests for
refunds after this period MUST be made in writing. Money and deposits are refunded when dives are cancelled by the Charter or DUDC.
ALL DIVES MUST BE PAID PRIOR TO THE DAY OF THE DIVE. NON-MEMBERS ADD $5.
(This calendar is tentative and subject to change.)
We Support Our Local Dive Shops:
Sea Level Scuba
4155 Dow Rd Suite U
Melbourne, FL. 32934
(321)255-1825
DUES ARE OVERDUE
Don’t forget Club Dues are Due in February.
Keep your membership current. $25 for single member and $35 for family membership.
Ask about any discounts available.
Hatt’s Diving Headquarters, Inc.
2006 South Front Street
Melbourne, Florida 32901
(321) 723-5932
DUDC says a fond
farewell to Donald
M. Dessert. Jr. Born
on June 24 1946, he
passed away on
September 9, 2012.
He was a calming
and steady influence
in our lives. He will
be missed greatly.
JND Scuba Center
4651 Babcock Street NE
Palm Bay, FL 32905
(321) 723-8888
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
PAGE 2
DOWN UNDER DIVE CLUB
OCTOBER 2012
President’s Message
Photo by Vicky Spang
Wow! It has been an eventful September! DIVE! DIVE!
DIVE! I’ve been back and forth to New Orleans to help
with damage assessments after Hurricane Isaac and
down to Roatan for a great week of diving. Those
members stayed in the country had a great month of
diving as well. I’m going to let photos tell the story for
our Roatan trip, though
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
you may want to ask
Chucky about the bat
that peed on him.
Until Next time, I’ll See you Down Under!
—Jeri L. Curley, President
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
PAGE 3
DOWN UNDER DIVE CLUB
OCTOBER 2012
Don’t Be Trapped by Technology
By Terry Peterman
At the risk of sounding old fashion, I’d like you to consider the trap of relying too
much on technology especially when your life is at stake. Dive computers have developed to the sophistication of having all sorts of built in alarms to tell you when your
diving too deep or staying too long or your air is running low. But we are humans and
we do make mistakes, entering in the wrong parameters can to say the least be dangerous. When your setting up your computer be sure you have entered the correct inforPhoto by Terry Peterman
mation in the correct place. Be sure you understand its operation, if you only think you
know how it works; you need to read the directions again or take a class. There are
some excellent online classes for computers at http://www.divecomputertraining.com . Understanding how nitrogen
saturation and dive tables work along with oxygen toxicity from nitrox will give you insight to recognize when what
your computer is telling you is not reasonable.
Computer or not you should always monitor both your bottom time and air pressure. If you discover you have used
up 500psi in 5 minutes on the bottom expect to need to come up when about 25 minutes have passed to leave with
500psi ([(3000-500)/500] x5 = 25). You should be able to figure this air consumption in your head [(tank pressure –
500) / pressure drop] x elapsed time = air consumption. If you’re fighting a heavy current expect to go through your
air faster and the need to keep a check on it more often. Don’t rely on your computer to alarm you when it’s time to
come up. Monitor the basics yourself always know your situation and your buddy’s as well. Be safe and I’ll see you at
the anchor.
September 8th Jupiter Dive
By Terry Peterman
Once again we beat the weather odds, despite a 60 percent chance of rain forecast we had great weather for our
dives in addition to flat seas and good visibility. We
went out with Jupiter Dive Center, an excellent dive
operation with the best dive ladders of any of the
dive boats in the area. For our first dive we did the
“Jupiter Wreck Trek” consisting of the Zion Train,
the Jenny and the Esso Bonaire III. An Impressive
group of wreckage, they lie in 75 to 90 ft of water.
While we were there we were treated to 70 ft visibility and a group of goliath grouper that could only
be described as a herd. Grouper are not a schooling
fish but there was a group of maybe 50 or so goliaths lying on the bottom next to each other aiming
in the same direction. In addition the wrecks were
loaded with goliaths. Perhaps the fact it was mating
season brought them together. It was breath taking
and awe inspiring to see. And of course I didn’t have
my camera. The second dive was on a reef called
“Scarface” Deep Ledges made this a magnificent
reef loaded with fish and once again we had great visibility, better than 70 ft. Current was a bit swift but sinking below the ledge, slowed things down a bit. Depth ranged from 65 to 80 ft. A good time was had by all, we were all
smiles leaving the boat. We met up at a Mexican restaurant and continued the good time. We had such a good time
before we left I booked another dive for Nov10th. Don’t miss it.
PAGE 4
DOWN UNDER DIVE CLUB
OCTOBER 2012
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
PAGE 5
DOWN UNDER DIVE CLUB
OCTOBER 2012
The Down Under Dive Club is located in Melbourne on the sunny east central coast of Florida. Formed
in 1984 by a group of enthusiastic divers, DUDC currently has about 100 members. Our mission is to
promote safe, organized dive events, provide a social setting comfortable to everyone, and encourage
environmental responsibility among the diving community. Our past dives covered the Atlantic ocean,
from Georgia to Bonaire. We organize all types of dives: drift dives, wreck dives, shore dives, liveaboards, spring dives, and even shark dives! Our members include a diverse group of divers. There
are men, women and kids, ages from 11 to 65+ with all certification levels from new Open Water divers to Instructors.
Meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 7:00 PM at the Broken Barrel Tavern, Located on the southwest corner of Babcock Street and Palm Bay Road. Door prizes are awarded each
month and we book a fascinating assortment of guest speakers. We invite everyone interested in
SCUBA diving to stop by for some stimulating conversation, meet our group, and have some fun! If
you have any questions, you can E-mail us at info@downunderdiveclub.com
ITEMS FOR SALE OR TRADE:
If you have any items you wish to sell or trade,
send an email with a brief description to
jcurley@downunderdiveclub.com.
PHOTOS FOR SALE: Help support a starving diver/artist. Jeri Curley has her dive
photos for sale. You can purchase them at
the monthly club meetings or at Sea Level
Scuba.
Dive Photos for Sale
Cameras for Sale – Make an offer
Canon G10 15MP camera & housing, Bonica Neon-XP
strobes, Nikon D80 SLR 10MP camera & housing, SB-800
strobe & housing, Intova strobes and lots more. Will sell all
or individual items as needed. Make offer. John Dockendorf
321.431.0430 johndockendorf@earthlink.net
jcurley@downunderdiveclub.com
Board of Directors
President :
Jeri L. Curley
jcurley@downunderdiveclub.com
Vice President:
Shannon Hackett
VicePresident@downunderdiveclub.com
Treasurer
JoEllen Dessert
Treasurer@downunderdiveclub.com
Secretary:
Vicki Spang
Secretary@downunderdiveclub.com
Membership:
Kyle Frinkley
Membership@downunderdiveclub.com
Safety Officer:
Terry Peterman
tpeterman@downunderdiveclub.com
Dive Coordinator:
Scott Newland
Divecoordinator@downunderdiveclub.com
PAGE 6
DOWN UNDER DIVE CLUB
Photo by Jeri L. Curley
OCTOBER 2012