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December 2024 Newsletter

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Vol. 52 No. 12


The Christmas Tree Worm is a marine animal distantly related to earthworms.  Could anything be more festive?

Click HERE and enjoy a short video about the beautiful Christmas Tree Worm.  What a fantastic photo.  It was captured by our talented Club Photographer, Laura Moran, during some local diving on the Loggerhead dive boat in beautiful Boynton Beach. Doesn’t it just inspire us to dive in and explore?

This holiday season, treat yourself to something special.  Renew your membership in the USA Dive Club and enjoy the thrill of diving with great company.

No longer diving?  That’s totally fine.  We’re all about having fun together on land as well.  Lureen has some fantastic non-diving events in the works that you definitely won’t want to miss.

The best part?  Our annual membership dues haven’t gone up.  You can renew your individual membership for just $50, or if you’re a married couple or domestic partners, it’s only $90 total ($45 each).  Plus, if you have adult, dependent children who are certified divers and still live at home, they can join for FREE! 

Join us at our in-person meetings to connect and socialize with fellow dive enthusiasts and be entertained and educated by our guest speakers.  Feel free to bring along a friend or two—it’s a great way to make new memories together.  You won't regret it.

As always, we invite you to browse through our extensive Photo Gallery to take a look at our social and diving activities.

Overseas Diving Update

Upcoming trips 2025:

See details for all trips on: https://usadiveclub.org/Overseas

  • Little Cayman Beach Resort - May 31 - June 7 - The most urgent part is booking your own airfare - to make sure you get an acceptable schedule. Then reach out to Roger or me to confirm your spot
  • Philippines - Aggressor (I) - July 12-22 - We are 11 divers so far. We have added a land based extension the week before - Salaya - details and signup form is posted on the Overseas web page - 2 pool side rooms still available
  • NOTE - Our ability to hold on to unsold spots for Aggressor  have expired - Please call me at your earliest convenience if interested - most likely we can still add rooms/bunks back 
  • Roatan Aggressor - Sept 6-13, 2025. We are 10 divers so - we have rooms for a single male and a single female. After that we might be able to add more rooms - on request only. Please reach out to Ronnie or me before or at the Christmas party. At this time the airfare remains reasonable priced
 
    Nils Jacobsen
    VP Overseas Diving


      Presidents Waves

      Happy Holidays to everyone. Please join us at our Holiday party, I believe there are seats available still.

      Please sign up and join the club out diving. Please keep an eye on upcoming dives and join in if you are inclined. It is always a lot of fun catching up on the boat and having lunch afterward with friends. The Blue Heron Bridge crowd is still very active also.

      It is that time of year again for Board of Director elections, the Board is proposing the following slate of electors.

      • President – Chris Hardham
      • VP of Programs – Rick Dayan
      • VP Overseas – Nils Jacobsen
      • VP of Social Events – Lureen Ferretti
      • VP of Local Diving – Ryan Goheen
      • Secretary – Amy Welman
      • Treasurer – Ronnie Farr

      As in recent years, the election will be held online for a week closing with the Holiday Party.

      There are several positions on the Board of Directors where help would be greatly appreciated. It is a great opportunity to learn about the club and our membership. The members that volunteer their time would appreciate some new blood to join the BoD and help guide the club into the future. Additionally, there are several appointed positions that will be filled after the new year, please reach out if you are interested.

      Please come to meetings and help our club grow.

      Happy diving,

      Chris Hardham
      President

       


      Educational Blog

      Did You See That? The Art of Observing Marine Life

      This article represents the views of the authors. The article has not been fact checked by myself, the Board of Directors or any member of the USA Dive Club.

      Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

      Did You See That? The Art of Observing Marine Life

      By Marty Snyderman

      The fish, a spectacularly colored grouper, paused and opened its mouth. Finning only slightly to maintain its position just a foot (30 cm) or so above the reef, this brightly colored red and blue-spotted grouper waited patiently for another fish, a cleaner wrasse, to provide its services. Within only a few seconds the cleaner approached and went to work, moving from the tail toward the head along the grouper’s body. The cleaner paused every few seconds to pick at the skin of the grouper.

      Like other cleaner species, cleaner wrasses help rid groupers and other host animals of irritating ectoparasites that can be found on the skin of the hosts. In doing so the cleaners gain a meal while the host benefits by getting cleaned.

      My dive buddy and I followed the grouper as it slowly moved down the reef. We watched as another fish, the same general size and shape as the cleaner wrasse, appeared. Looking quite confident that additional cleaning services were about to be rendered, the grouper paused and opened its mouth. In the blink of an eye, the fish I thought was a second cleaner wrasse swam up and bit a chunk of skin out of the side of the obviously startled grouper.

      Clearly, the attacker was a mimic, a species that does a good enough job of imitating a cleaner species to fool groupers and other fishes into thinking the mimic is the real deal. It’s a risky business to try to fool well-equipped predators, but if well-done, the act of deceit can provide a mimic with a meal. If done badly, no more meals will be necessary. This mimic was a tiger blenny, a fact that, like the grouper, I realized only after the daring blenny had enjoyed its success.

      After the dive I excitedly asked my diving buddy what she thought of the scene we had just witnessed, and much to my surprise, her only comment was, “that big fish sure is pretty.” At first I thought she was putting me on, but I soon realized that she had missed both the cleaning and the attack. She had noticed that the grouper had its mouth open rather wide, but she wasn’t sure why. She thought the fish might have been injured.

      Observing marine life is like putting puzzle pieces together. When you look at one fish, you see only one piece of the puzzle. Yet when you connect the pieces — say a fish to its habitat and to other creatures within that habitat — you begin to see the inner workings of a marine ecosystem.

      But how does one go from fish watcher to underwater naturalist? First, the more you dive, the more you will begin to see various subtleties, and the better observer you will become. You’ll find that your awareness of the underwater world increases with time, the number of dives and the variety of habitats you get to explore and enjoy. Second, it helps to learn about what’s going on under the waves so you are more likely to recognize the happenings that you encounter during your dives.

      For the rest of this article, please use this link.

      Did You See That? The Art Of Observing Marine Life - Dive Training Magazine | Scuba Diving Skills, Gear, Education

      Membership

      Since there is no program in December, Membership is at the top of the page.
       

      Hospitality Hut


             

                                                                                       

      Happy Holidays From The Hospitality Hut,

      We are now in the midst of the holiday season and people are decorating and preparing feasts for loved-ones.

      I am very happy to report we had 3 guests attend the November meeting.  Former member, Deb Devers joined us.  It was great to see Deb and talk about our past dive trips.  Pat Schwab, one of our favorite frequent guests, popped in for a visit.  Lastly, Phil DuBois, was a guest of the speaker.  Thank you all for your support.   Hope to see you again.  

      Our club Christmas Party is coming up on December 5th.  Looking forward to seeing you and catching up with all your latest news.

      I encourage you to visit our home page www.usadiveclub.org.   Please click on the calendar and keep up to date on all the diving and non-diving scheduled activities.  You may also take a look at the photo gallery and take a peek at past events.

      I wish you all Happy Diving.

      Clare Anthon

      Hospitality Coordinator

                              

      Local Diving

      Overseas Dive Trips

      LOBSTER POT

      USA's Lobster Pot drawings Include CASH prizes, and a variety of PRIZES donated by Sponsors or Club Members.

      Funds from ticket donations help to support our many club activities. Congratulations to all our Lobster Pot participants. Be sure to visit our Local dive shops who support us and say 'Thanks'.


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