Air Bubbles

The Newsletter of the North Shore Frogmen’s Club

Volume 53, Number 8

August 2011

President’s Message - August 2011

This month's beach meeting was a great success. The weather was perfect, and sunny, there were no bugs around to cause a bother. Patty DeClue, and Linda Piehl Connors were there, and enjoyed their first dive of the year. Plenty of food was enjoyed including a guest appearance of Meg's home brew.

Attendance at meetings is picking up. We can now enjoy the meeting room at PCYC, and guest speakers like Norman "Dugie" Russell are being scheduled for future presentations. Mike and Ellen Garvey will be putting on a slide show from their recent dive vacation to Sipidan, Borneo. Susan Copelas will also have a presentation on her trip to Socorro Island later this year.

As many as 22 members at a time were at Patrick Madden and Annette Spaulding's camping dive week vacation. They enjoyed 3 meals a day, diving, kayaking, and a number of other activities. Dives at Spofford Pond, and sites on the Connecticut River were held by our members. Our Club is very lucky to have such an enjoyable escape hosted for them for the past few years.

For divers of the month I'd like to recognize Patrick Madden, and Annette Spaulding for everything that they do for the club. For member of the month I select Dave Dodge for providing excellent discount air fills for everyone who dove in Vermont.

John P. Sears

Coming Club Events

August 18: Ellen and Mike Garvey will show slides of their March trip to Sipidan, Malaysian Borneo.

August 25: Dugie Russell is scheduled to give his updated presentation about his years of diving on the USS New Hampshire.

Date TBD: Susan Copelas speaking on her trip to Socorro Island.

Divers of the Month

for August 2011

Annette Spaulding

&

Patrick Madden

Member of the Month

for August 2011

Dave Dodge

In this Issue:

President’s Message – pg. 1 Meeting Summaries – pg. 2-4 Upcoming Club Events – pg. 5 Other Events – pg. 6 Calendar – pg. 7

Vermont Camping/Diving – pg. 8-9

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 1

The North Shore Frogmen’s Club

PO Box 3604

Peabody, MA 01961

2011 OFFICERS

President: John Sears Tel: 978-750-4745

Email: john.sears@bostik-us.com

Vice President: Lauren Byrne Email: laurenb5635@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Vinny Egizi Tel: (858) 342-3365

Email: vinnymass@yahoo.com

Secretary: Meg Tennissen Tel: (781) 724-0071

Email: macduff18@yahoo.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Membership: Dan Hering membership@northshorefrogmen.com

Newsletter: Mary Howard

Tel: (781) 944-1292

Email: m.m.howard@comcast.net

Webmaster: Markus Diersbock

*Deadline for submissions* to the September 2011 issue

of Air Bubbles is

Thursday, July 25

Please have all articles and information to the

Air Bubbles editor by July 25, 2011.

Air Bubbles – August 2011

Meeting Summaries

7-Jul-2011

Beach Meeting at White’s Beach,

Manchester

14-Jul-2011

Meeting called to order: 8:06 PM Attendance: 15 members, 3.5 officers, 100% awesome

Secretary: Lauren is filling in for Meg Treasurer: Vinny's house got zapped and computers and electronics got fried. Markus is helping recover data and getting laptop back together. Club files may have been recovered, maybe not.

Announcement: Vinny, from Pat and Annette: whoever is coming to Vermone, can pitch a tent or park a trailer. Will have breakfast, lunch stuff and a nice dinner. They have lined up a few dive sites per day and kayaking, and there’s a pool. River water is warm and there can be a current. Under a bridge, last year Vinny saw large beams of old bridge. Perch, brown trout, artillery shells, other cool stuff.

Committees:

-Membership: Ron Baker emailed and asked if 14 y/o son could join and dive w/ Club members; Ron can join but members have to be 21. They can dive with the Club.

-Should schedule Dugie’s presenta- tion and get publicity this time.

-Program: (see last week)

-7/28 – Susan is scheduled to present on her trip to Socorro Island. Does she need a projector? We will have

the room from now on.

Old Business:

-The Beach Meeting was great; good turnout; good beer. Can get permit same day before 5pm.

-We don’t need to get the permit this year for the picnic; Metrowest will do that. BSC meeting Mary told them we charge $5 for nonmembers to eat our food. BSC people can do that and not have to bring food. Keep this in mind and ask nonmembers to pay up.

New Business:

-Shall we make Al and Marc Sauvageau honorary members and send them a little plaque or something? Al to be member 100, Marc member 101? Agreed. Maybe make a plaque or something better? John M will find out costs for having two plaques made up.

-Shall we rename our photo contest after Paul? Motion made by Tony, seconded, all in favor.

-Meg - please send address for Pat and Annette and maybe directions.

Dive Talk:

-Vinny and Lauren dove Folly, 2 dives. Warm enough that if your zipper breaks on your wetsuit (which it did) you can still dive. Saw baby seal before dive.

-Vinny and Lauren dove Back beach - two dives with Meg D. and Kris Wheeler. One was night dive, saw squid. Water was warm, viz was good.

-Jim D - Plum Cove w/ 19 y/o son. 5 min in son taps Jim on shoulder looks at gauge temp was 66 degrees at 30 ft, nice and warm. 4 lobsters, 2 flounder. 1st lob was 2lb, got out through hole in bag. 5 lb had notch in tail and had to put it back. 8lb was over big gauge and had clear cut v notch in tail. 45ft max viz great.

-Jeff with John at Lanes Cove at high tide, they were the only ones there on Sunday. 20 ft vis, no waves. Torpedo rays are back. Big one is east, little one is west. Got some bugs, around 10 between two dives

-Dan went freediving 15-20' on breathholds. Got 18-20" flounder at end of breathhold but he got away. Got another just too small one. Nephews went with him. They are certified divers and were very excited.

-John dove 7/4 front beach with Frank; plenty of flounder viz 15ft small bugs except one large one. Good time, early in am; bathhouse there is great.

-Adam went diving in the boneyard in Venice Fla with Jes on boat Aristocat.

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 2

30 ft dive because of bad viz. When hunting for shark teeth, you look for triangles. In 2 ft of viz looking for teeth, came back with triangle shaped rocks. Got sand tiger tooth. Jes got 4 teeth, some vertebrae, stingray barbs fossilized. Sea robins everywhere on dive and batfish; didn't see anything else, didn't want to. Jes lives in Treasure Island near St Petersburg.

-Tony's daughter tried scuba for first time! She is hooked.

-Jim D helped when some guy got run over by boat. 68 y/o and drinking and other guys on offending boat were young. There were stripers jumping in water and Jim and family stayed out despite lightning and bad weather. On the way back in, they saw the accident. Young guys hit the dingy but guy in the dingy was okay, but drunk. He got thrown in air and came down on his engine then fell into water.

-Jim F dove on 7/3 and 7?4, tested out gear at Lanes, stayed shallow, puttered around.

-Ginny took refresher course in in pool a couple times, then in open water. Had some gear issues and put stones in pocket to get extra weight. 17 feet; saw crabs, flounder and one was small and had line across it where one side was light and the other was dark. Temp was warm. Planning to dive in VT

-Daryl - swimming with whale sharks in GA aquarium, young ones, only 15 - 20'. Paid $200 to swim; costs $275 to dive with them. They are close to surface so you just swim and they

follow you.

General discussion:

-Mary went to the BSC meeting; they extended condolences to the Froggies for loss of Paul.

-Jim went striper fishing the day after his dive. 37" striper was 22 lbs was so big it wouldn't fit in large cooler. Can keep 2 per person. Have to be at least 28"? Used fresh and frozen mackerel as bait.

-Ellen G trained through NE aquarium to rescue marine mammals. Down in

Air Bubbles – August 2011

Quincy rehab center to practice had dead seal and dead dolphin to practice measurements and rescues and was part of autopsies. 2 days later was called about dead seal close to home; took photos and measurements. Harbor seals born in May or June, weaned in 4-6 weeks, about now, so now is when they show up on beaches. Another dead seal in Swampscott. EP thought it was gunshot wounds, but it was just decayed. Exciting to go measure stinky dead seals.

-Vinny: Annual sardine run off ZA is thrill for divers. Sharks and predators swimming around and bashing into you. Whales are scary

-John got call about Joe Terra. He was in car accident, but he's okay.

-Dan - looking through old photos and whatnot - all the presentations he put together. One on cuttlefish played on

NOVA last night, terrific to watch. Raffles: Dollars box - John Marren

Mystery Prize – Vinny Egizi Bug Bag – Meg Tennisssen

21-Jul-2011

Meeting called to order 8:07 Attendance: 2 officers, 9 members

Secretary: Lauren filled in for Meg who is in Vermont. Treasurer also away.

Committees:

-Membership: tons of hits on FB

-Program: (see calendar)

-28 Susan presentation is booked for next week

-Lots of members are at Pat and

Annette’s this week, so not many at the meeting tonight.

Old Business: Follow up on plaques for Al and Marc Sauvageau. Need to be confirm size and then move forward with pricing and maybe a sample?

Dive Talk:

-Jack went to VT. There were about 20 members at Annette and Pat’s when he left. Went on Spofford Lake for a couple of dives and then dove a couple of dives on river. Monday there was only kayaking. Got a

couple of bottles; found a large sword-like piece of metal. 82F water temp in the lake, 78-80F in river. Temp was predicted to be high.

-Dan free diving. Nearly got a tautog, spear broke; caught 17.5” founder by hand. Waves were bad today.

-Adam dove Folly, 3-4ft wolffish, got video, on FB. Not active. Went across to right side but didn't see torpedo ray. 50 min dive

-Adam –Sat, dove on the wreck of the Haight; current was awful, bug hunting not good. Sun, OGB 50 min dive. Ran into Amy and Roslyn. Roslyn found helmet thing under water

-Adam -at Rockport breakwater on leeward side. Awesome dive; would do it every day. Tons of urchins; lobsters in huge cracks, hard to get. Viz was good - 30ft above thermocline.

-Markus went diving Sat in harbor; found hole with 3lb lobster with huge crusher claw. Tried for 30 min to get him out, but no luck.

-Jeff and John at Lanes. No one was there. Dove 8 times in 4 days. Got tons of bugs; most at around 39-45 ft. Bumped into torpedo ray there. Got a 5.5lb bug, too big. Cried. Bumped into Honduran guy in camo wetsuit had huge 27lb bluefish on speargun, freediving. Had boogie board so he could shoot fish and let it tire itself out by dragging the board. Knew what he was doing.

General discussion:

-Jeff article in Tues globe out of globe. Found schooner that went down in 1909 south of Yarmouth. Completely intact, wheel and all. Built in late 1800's. Guy that found it Don Ferris wrote old book about Cape An Diving.

-Possible Great White off of Gloucester? Heard of ones off Cape, but possible sighting. Jack ran into a couple of kayakers who swear they

saw fin off of Graves.

Raffles: Dollars Box: Damian Mangini Bug Bag: Lauren Byrne

Bug Bag 2: Dan Hering

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 3

28-Jul-2011

Meeting called to order: 8:09 PM Attendance: 4 Officers, 18 Members Secretary: Minutes read and accepted Treasurer: we have money

Correspondence: an email from Jes says he’s having a good time, but he misses the Club.

Committees:

-Program:

-7/31 - Great Annual Fish Count; you need to pre-register; Amy will be at OGB at 8am, in charge of the list of divers there.

-8/25 - Dugie’s updated presentation on the Wreck of the New Hampshire

-9/25 - Annual Club Picnic, joint picnic with other clubs, and the BSC Treasure Hunt Event

-12/11 - Banquet

-Membership: Waiting on 1 person , more contact requests on Facebook from people moving to the area

-Announcements:

-Mike Denneler has info on tanks for sale, including a 19cu ft pony bottle

-Vinny has a friend selling a set of women’s boots and fins.

-Linda Piehl has drysuit for sale, women’s size 12

Old Business:

-John Marren got a quote from Colonial engravers for plaques for

Paul’s brothers. It was noted that there is usually a fee for engraving on top of the base price.

-Tentative date for Ellen and Mike

Garvey’s presentation on Sipidan is

8/11. (See calendar; this has been changed to 8/18 for availability of the speakers.)

Dive Talk:

Dan – free diving yesterday, Steffen was diving at the Poling and

rescued someone who was entangled there. Apparently he was not grateful.?

Linda P –Tuesday off of Salisbury; got a couple of bugs; about 48F at 36’ w/ 15’ vis.

Many Club members dove in the CT River and at Spofford Lake.

Air Bubbles – August 2011

-Mike Donovan found an interesting electrical insulator which, if perfect, could be valued at about $300.

-Vinny’s first set of dives in the river was at the base of Bellows Falls Dam. There was a strong current, but there was an eddy that brought them back upstream to the dam. Hans found mill stone about 3-4 deep 6’ wide and then found another one. Vinny found a porcelain cigar sign from about 1900.

-Mary dove in the CT. On the 2nd dive the current was strong. In Spofford, but didn’t find anything. The thermocline went from 81F at surface, 19 ft it was 64F.

-Ginny – dove with rental/borrowed equipment, wearing a farmer john with a t-shirt she was fine. With Annette, found a motherload of broken stuff. There was a base of a bottle that if it was intact would’ve been a few hundred dollars. Also found an old broken fuse from someone’s house. This was her first time diving with the club since the 1990s, and she wants to stay diving now and needs plenty of equipment.

-Pete, diving with Annette and Ginny in the lake, found a piece of wood from a barrel with a bunghole. At first, thought it may have been for an illegal still, but Amy took good pictures of barrel shaped cement, so apparently cement filled barrels were used for moorings. Found an ashtray with neat cuts on it. Really have to burrow in the mud to find stuff. Found a roundish piece of metal, possibly a platter. Over an hour dive.

-Diving was at the oldest cottage on the lake. Annette had asked the owner if we could dive off the property, and the owner asked if we could help reposition the dock. With lift bags, Vinny and Pete, moved it total of 45’. The lift bags helped, but it was still heavy! Got the dock where owner, wanted it.

-While we were sitting by Spofford Lake after diving, we saw a bird getting closer. It was a bald eagle

that dove down and caught a fish and then flew right over us.

-Lauren went free diving with Dan , stopped over a hunk of circular/ tubular metal that they thought was a cannon, but it was old sewer pipes. After the dive Dan saw a huge bird come by – it was hawk 3’ tall that scared the gulls away; blue jays were buzzing it, finally it bombed down and caught a rat

General Discussion:

-Mike Miller is back from Afghanistan.

-Mike’s Moments:

-A huge chunk of NH timbers was found off a dock in Salem, has trunnel rods

-Salem News does a column looking at past residents’ lives. They did an article about Paul S that was really nice and mentioned all the things he did throughout his life.

Raffles: Dollars Box: Ginny Cookson

Mystery Prize: Jeff Lynch Bug Bag: hold ‘til next week

Please join in welcoming our newest Club member:

Ron Baker

of Saugus

who was voted in at the meeting on August 4.

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 4

Air Bubbles – August 2011

Upcoming Club Events

August 18: Sipidan Presentation

Ellen and Mike Garvey will show pictures of their March 2011 trip to Sipidan, which is in the Malaysian part of Borneo.

“Sipidan is an island on the continental shelf where the big attractions include schools of barracuda, bumphead parrotfish, and jacks, along with numerous sharks and turtles. The other dive days were incredible reef and macro dives with numerous 'firsts' for us and countless variety - all 3 colors of ribbon eel, several ghost fish, pipefish, leaf fish, frog fish, crocodile fish, cuttlefish encounter, sea moth, 20 kinds of nudibranchs, etc.

Ellen and Mike”

August 25:

Wreck of the USS New Hampshire

Dugie Russell will give his postponed updated presentation on his many years of diving on the wreck of the USS New Hampshire.

From his website at www.creationsbydugie.com:

Throughout the 1960's, Norman "Dugie" Russell dove on the sunken wreck of the U.S.S. New Hampshire, the last of the United States' 74-gun warships.

Dugie recovered 4 tons of gorgeous, nearly- petrified, marbleized timber and striking copper and brass fittings forged by Paul Revere & Sons in the early 1800's, and has fashioned these artifacts into some incredibly beautiful, and profoundly historical, pieces of art.

Future: Socorro Island Presentation

Susan Copelas will give a presentation on her trip to Socorro Island, off the western coast of Mexico, with the Women Divers Hall of Fame 10th Anniversary Dive Trip - Dec. 2010. (Date TBD – stay posted!)

September 25

Club Picnic

and BSC Treasure Hunt

Our Club picnic will be held in conjunction with other area dive clubs’ picnics again this year as it was last year. This is a great event attended by a lot of area divers.

At the same time, the Bay State Council will hold its Treasure Hunt event that is a lot of fun, a great way to meet people, support your Council, and have a chance at winning some great prizes.

These events will take place this date rain or shine.

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 5

Air Bubbles – August 2011

Other Events of interest to SCUBA divers:

The Next BSC Meeting

The next meeting of the Bay State Council of Divers is scheduled for Wednesday September 19, 2011 at the

South Shore Neptunes’ Clubhouse in Quincy at 7:30PM. We’ll be making final plans for the Treasure

Hunt Event scheduled for September 25.

All are invited to attend these meetings

Feb 25, 2012 (10AM to 2PM)

at the Holiday Inn, Marlboro, Mass,

The Boston Scuba Show presents

Jonathan Bird and Fred Calhoun - witty sayings, soft-shoe routines, and Scuba Films/Stuff. Annual Paul Revere Spike Award (to be announced).

The Great Annual Fish Count on July 31

was a great event. The weather was perfect, the people were fun, the fish were scared (at least they were at OGB!), and the prizes were distributed according to plan, though not to this newsletter editor. Numerous Froggies attended and counted fish, ate well and thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Froggy Blankets

Contact John Sears to place your order for a fleece blanket with the Freddy the Frog logo similar to the one pictured below. The projected price is about $30.

He’s asking for a deposit of $10.

Please respond ASAP.

The Bay State Council of Divers

Supporting and promoting the recreational diving community in Massachusetts.

The Bay State Council of Divers (BSC) is a diver’s advocacy group. The BSC monitors local, state and federal regulations that may affect the recreational diving community in Massachusetts. When required, the BSC represents the interests of the diving community in these matters.

The BSC serves as a liaison between dive clubs and dive stores to promote recreational diving activity in Massachusetts. All divers are encouraged to support the BSC with an annual contribution of $5. Your contribution will allow the BSC to continue to be a strong advocate for the recreational diving community in Massachusetts.

See http://www.baystatecouncil.org for more information on

the Bay State Council.

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 6
          Air Bubbles – August 2011      
          Calendar of Events      
                   
                   
  July 31   1 2   3 4 5 6  
  GAFC           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
                     
  7   8 9   10 11 12 13  
       
  Sunday Dive           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
                   
  14 15 16   17 18 19 20  
  Sunday Dive           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
              PRESENTATION      
                     
  21 22 23   24 25 26 27  
  Sunday Dive           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
              PRESENTATION      
                     
  28 29 30   31 August  
  Sunday Dive            
               
                     
                   
  September   1 2 3  
    8:00 PM Meeting      
           
                   
  4 5 6   7 8 9 10  
  Sunday Dive           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
                   
  11 12 13   14 15 16 17  
  Sunday Dive         BSC meeting 8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
                   
  18 19 20   21 22 23 24  
  Sunday Dive           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
                   
  25 26 27   28 29 30    
  PICNIC &           8:00 PM Meeting      
                   
  BSC event                  
                     
                     
    Activities List
- July 31, Sun Great Annual Fish Count at Stage Fort Park (pg 8)

-Aug 18, Thur Sipidan Presentation by Ellen & Mike Garvey

-Aug 25, Thur Wreck of the New Hampshire Presentation by Dugie Russell

-Sept 14, Wed Bay State Council Meeting

- Sept 25, Sun Diving Clubs Picnic and BSC Treasure Hunt at Stage Fort Park
- Dec 10, Sat Annual NSF President’s Banquet at PCYC
Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 7

Air Bubbles – August 2011

Week in Vermont

Diving, Camping and Kayaking

Company’s coming!!

Annette in the River Jack and Ray rest up in the shade Group taking nourishment in preparation for dive #2

Dinner out on Friday night at MacLaomainn's Scottish Pub in Chester, VT

Photos on these pages are courtesy of Amy Maurer, Hans Hug and Vinny Egizi

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 8

Air Bubbles – August 2011

Michael geared up in cornfield Meg doing aquarobics Saturday night spike presentation

Fish and a gear of some kind seen by this group diving in Spofford Lake.

14 people in

13 kayaks went for a nice little paddle on Sunday. Lunch in the river was cool!

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com 9

Air Bubbles – August 2011

The North Shore Frogmen’s Club Inc

PO Box 3604

Peabody, MA 01961-3604

Upcoming Event

Aug 18: Sipidan, Borneo

Aug 25: USS New Hampshire

Sep 25: Club Picnic

Sep 25: BSC Treasure Hunt

42 Water St.

Beverly MA

978-927-9551

DIVE@underseadivers.com

2011 Hours:

Tue-Fri 10-6, Sat 9-5, Sun 9-3

Sales Service Rentals

AQUA LUNG SEAQUEST SUUNTO

GENISIS DUI VIKING HENDERSON

VISA MASTERCARD AE DISCOVER

The North Shore Frogmen’s Club meets every Thursday at 8PM at

Palmer’s Cove Yacht Club

at 74 Leavitt Street

Salem, MA 01970

More parking is available in the Harbor Sweets lot across the street.

Visit our website at www.northshorefrogmen.com

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