Volume 54, Number 3

March 2012

Presidents’ Messages - March 2012

What a winter, or really the lack of one! The weather’s been good, the diving’s been good. What else can you ask for? I’m even beginning to see the sun a little more since it’s getting slightly lighter in both the morning and evenings. Plus, the water has been relatively warm, since 39 degrees is nice and toasty, as we all know.

The Boston Scuba show just passed and Sea Rovers is just a few weeks away; I think spring really is just about here.

This month, I’d like to recognize as Diver of the Month, Gary

Michaud who has faithfully gone wetsuit diving all winter, and as Member of the Month, Adam Hartnett for doing a great presentation recently that makes me really want to do some warm water diving.

Happy diving!

Meg Tennissen

Diver of the Month

for March 2012

Gary Michaud

who has faithfully gone wetsuit diving all winter.

Member of the Month

for March 2012

Adam Hartnett

who did a great presentation recently.

Coming Club Events

March 8: Faith Ortins-Presentation on diving in the Philippines.

April 5: Jerry Shine-Presentation on “small stuff”.

April 19: Fred Dion of Backscatter- Presentation on underwater cameras.

April 21: Float Cleaning at PCYC

May 31: Barbara Warren of SSCW- Presentation on marine invasives.

NOTICE

Dues for 2012 are now DUE.

In this Issue:
President’s Message	pg. 1
Meeting Summaries	pg. 2-4
Reviews of past events	pg. 4-5
Coming Events & Calendar	pg. 5-7
Story: CSS Hunley	pg. 8

The North Shore Frogmen’s Club

PO Box 3604

Peabody, MA 01961

2011 OFFICERS

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

Email: macduff18@yahoo.com

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

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

Email: vinnymass@yahoo.com

Secretary: Ellen Garvey Tel: 781-595-4978

Email: elleng@alumni.duke.edu

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

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* for the April 2012 issue

of Air Bubbles is

Thursday, March 22

Air Bubbles – March 2012

Meeting Summaries

19 Jan 2012 (missing from Feb AB)

Meeting called to order: 8:08 PM

Attendance: 3 Officers, 16 Members Guest: 1, former member John Blaney

Secretary: Minutes not read; Lauren filled in.

Treasurer: Previous year’s report read. $.12 deficit. Treasurer was given $.12 so we broke even. Lots of participa- tion and spending. $165 for Bay State council, $285 Sea Rovers booth, $75 Boston Scuba Show, $230 flyers (we still have lots). Banquet made ~$300

Committees:

-Program:

-1/26-Fred Calhoun

-2/9-Vic Mastone, MA BUAR tentative for Feb 9th on Battle of Chelsea Creek

-Membership: 2 new members in last 2 weeks

-Air Bubbles: Deadline tomorrow!

Old Business:

-Dues are due

-Sea Rovers sign-up sheet

-Do we want to reserve PCYC for banquet? Yes

New Business:

-Salem PD will most likely do 16 Feb dive Rescue demo

-Ice skating event?

-Maybe more diving events?

-Float cleaning coming up in spring- ish. Get scrapers! Good time!

-Bottle diving – take advantage of it over winter

-Shark savers lady will do presentation – after Sea Rovers

Dive Talk:

-Meg and Richard dove Sewall. Balmy 39F water; 15F air; 5 ft viz despite flat calm. 45 min dive, went to left. Didn’t see much life. Nice, despite cold temps.

-Claus dove in warm fresh water in DC; 60’ depth, 80F, great viz, in a big pool with his nephew. Dove BC-less. Also to Florida for cave diving class. Warrants a presentation; Claus has

videos

General Discussion:

-Make Facebook post on winter island dive

-Mike’s moments

- Cruise ship sunk Fri 13th, big brou-

haha

Raffles: – not recorded

2-Feb-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:05PM

Attendance: 3 Officers, 14 Members

Many jeers were heard as our president donned her Giants cap.

Secretary: Minutes read and accepted

Treasurer:

-So far for 2012 we have 77 members (33 paid, 44 non-paying). Dues collection has slowed down (~25 members from last year still haven’t paid)

-Courtesy cards have been shipped

-We have enough flyers left over from last year to get thru Boston Scuba & Sea Rovers

Committees:

-Program:

-2/9-Vic Mastone, BUAR

-4/21-Float cleaning – signup sheet is here

-5/31-Barbara Warren will present on invasive species in our area

-2/25-Boston Scuba Show

-3/10-11-Boston Sea Rovers (see below)

-Membership: 2 new members this year, and 2 members from times past have rejoined.

-Air Bubbles: electronic edition went out last night.

Old Business:

-Boston Scuba Show Feb 25

-Please sign up for manning the booth

-If you’re interested in signing up for tank inspection course, let Klaus know; he’ll try and arrange group rates

-Easter Egg dive

-Need a place for dive and party. Officers will address

-Need somebody to boil 5 doz eggs – Mary will.

-Vinny will lay them

-Will be Sat 4/14 or Sun 4/15 at choice of whoever’s hosting party

New Business:

-Banquet – everyone agreed we’ll use

PCYC, same food, same DJ, same limit on number of attendees (depending on where the budget is; would be nice to have more room).

-We need to renew our domain name in March. Network Solutions charges $37/yr; do we want to change to GoDaddy, which charges $11/yr? Club agreed that Markus can make that decision.

-Dive this week: meet at Burger King at 128 rest stop Beverly at 9 Sunday

Dive Talk:

-Gary went with Metro West at Old Garden. Buddy got cold and needed to be ‘rescued’.

-Ellen&Mike went to Little Cayman. Water was a chilly 79-81. Lionfish sushi was served.

General Discussion:

-DAN Stress Thermal Quiz – we learned some things!

-Mike’s Moments

-2 guys in 22’ boat were thrown out of the boat a mile offshore from the Cape and swam to shore. Boat landed in Spain 3500 mi & 3 years later

-Iran is threatening to mine Strait of Hormuz. Navy moved underwater mine-detecting dolphins in. They’ve trained whales and seals too

-Navy Seals rescued 2 people in Somalia

-Ship “Port Nicholson” sank in 1942 in 700’ water 50 miles offshore – supposedly contains platinum bars worth $3B - payment from Soviet to US for War supplies. In 2009, team from Maine got salvage rights, not

ownership rights.

Raffles:

Dollars Box: Ray Porter

Bug Bag: Jeff Lynch (bumper sticker “Save the Reef/Eat More Lionfish”)

Mystery Prize: Jack Munro (football platter)

9-Feb-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:04PM

Attendance: 4 Officers, 19+ Members

Guest: 1, Victor Mastone of the BUAR, our speaker for the evening

Abbreviated meeting - presentation.

We had a great a presentation from Victor Mastone. Vic is the Director of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, part of Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. He presented the research done on the Battle of Chelsea Creek.

Treasurer:

-Currently at 80 members; please pay dues if you haven’t.

-Listing of info is available tonight; please check that your info is correct and complete.

Old Business:

-10 people last year for float cleaning.

It’s fun! Will be Apr 21 – signup sheet is here

-Boston Scuba Show Feb 25; Please sign up for manning the booth

-Need to check with Tony to see if Salem PD is coming next week

New Business:

-Bay State Council meeting last night; they are looking for clubs to donate money to fund their booth at Sea Rovers. We approved $25 for that.

-Jesse sent Mary info about a talk on freediving in Gloucester. See Mary if you want the details

Dive Talk: Jack and Arnie went to front beach. Water 38F, 35 minutes. 35-40’ vis. Saw 1 crab, 2 lobsters.

General Discussion:

-Susan Coplas has the Curtis White pool at Haverhill HS on the following days if you want to come and enjoy it, try out equipment, etc. $10. Feb 12 from 12:30-2, and March 4 12:30-2.

-Dougie Russell is giving a talk on mushrooms Apr 10 - 6:30 North

Parish Church, 3 Pond Road, Beverly

Raffles:

Dollars Box: John Marren

Bug Bag: Michael Donovan

Mystery Prize: Michael Donovan

16-Feb-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:05PM Attendance: 3 Officers, 13 Members Secretary: Minutes read and accepted

Treasurer: Coordinated picnic with Metro West; we alternate paying for the permit; this is our year

Committees:

-Program:

-2/25-Boston Scuba Show. Arnie and Meg are manning the booth; others are welcome to assist.

-2/23-Adam will be presenting next week – Hawaii & Puerto Vallarta

-Events will be sent via email when they’re known, then again a week before and 2 days before. They’re also made available on the website calendar.

-Looking for speakers to fill out the year; our goal is to have 2 presentations per month

-Membership: Still looking for dues

Old Business:

-Club courtesy cards are available – please distribute to potential members

-Signup for float cleaning on 4/21.

-Boston Scuba Show Feb 25-Please sign up for manning the booth

New Business:

-Bottle Dive is due – Bring bottles and other artifacts Mar 1 – preferably from here; bottle dive Mar 4 9:30 PCYC; get in water at 10; lunch at 12; John Sears will confirm w/PCYC Commodore.

-Dive this week: meet at Burger King at 128 rest stop Beverly at 9 Sunday. Inside breakwater perhaps.

Dive Talk:

-Richard Tharin. 2 weeks ago off Back

Beach. 10’ vis, 39 degrees. Direction

060. Flat calm. Sea Raven or Sculpin, lobster fights, crabs. Good day.

General Discussion:

-Check out Mass Diving’s website for free “Discover Diving” opportunity

-NOVA show last night on diving blue holes in Bahamas – probably available on repeats – well worth

Boston Scuba Show, Feb 25

Some members of the North Shore Frogmen’s Club attended the Boston Scuba Show in Marlboro last weekend. Arnie and Meg had a table with some old SCUBA equipment and bits and pieces from the USS Constitution. MetroWest and the Bay State Council of Divers also had table space outside the meeting room.

There were a couple of Easy Diver movies that were fun and interesting, showing what you can expect if you dive at the featured sites.

Alex Shure showed some video of dives in the deep crack at Saturday Night Ledge. There’s not much light down there, but there are some creatures that are more often seen in places light Eastport, ME.

Of special interest was the very short slide show from Jerry Shine of a few of his favorite pictures taken over the years, some even back to the days of film!

Afterwards he was given the Paul Revere Spike Award for 2012 by Arnie Pettiglio.

The last, and featured speaker, was Jonathan Bird, who showed several of his Blue World episodes from season three, and answered questions from the audience.

And between talks, it’s a great place to hang out with divers.

Great show by all. Thank you Fred Calhoun!

Bay State Council of Divers

The next meeting of the Bay State Council of Divers is scheduled for Wednesday April 25, 2012 at the South

Shore Neptunes’ Clubhouse in Quincy at 7:30PM.

All are invited to attend these meetings

See http://www.baystatecouncil.org for more information on the Bay State Council.

Northeastern University

Marine Science Center Lecture Series

All lectures take place in the Murphy Bunker at the Marine Science Center. Light refreshments will be served half an hour before the start of the program, and most lectures last for 1-1.5 hours. The MSC is ADA-accessible, and no reservations are required.

Tuesday, March 13, 2011 at 7 pm

THREE SEAS PROGRAM: THE NEXT GENERATION OF MARINE BIOLOGISTS

Dr. Sal Genovese, Program Director,

Marine Science Center, Northeastern University

ANNUAL RISER LECTURE

Friday, April 27, 2012 at 4:00pm

Dr. Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair for Marine Biology Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

http://www.northeastern.edu/marinescience

Edible Mushrooms of Boston’s North Shore

April 10, 2012, 6:30pm North Parish Church

3 Great Pond Rd, North Andover Donation: $10

A talk by Dugie Russell, veteran professional wild mushroom forager

Dugie Russell of Beverly provided wild edible mushrooms for numerous local restaurants for many years. Now retired, Dugie is an engaging speaker. He will share some of his adventures foraging mushrooms, and talk about how to identify and collect wild mushrooms safely. Check out his web page at www.creationsbydugie.com.

We hope Dugie’s talk is the first of many.

Best mushroom collecting is in late summer and fall.

We’ll be organizing forays later this year to collect and identify choice edible mushrooms, and the first foray will be led by Dugie.

Join us for this talk and sign up for our email list!

Questions? Contact Liz Anderson at 978-474-9283 herblizard@comcast.net

Upcoming Club Presentations

March 8: Club member Faith Ortins will be in the area for the Sea Rovers Show. She has graciously agreed to give us a presentation on diving in the Philippines.

April 5: Who says size matters? In a seemingly infinite ocean world, a lot of the most interesting stuff is less than an inch in length. Jerry Shine will take a look at some of it in a talk on macro New England. He also told me he will be bringing copies of his amazing new book, Nudibranchs of the Northeast.

April 19: Fred Dion of Backscatter will give us a presentation on underwater photographic equipment and techniques.

May 31: Barbara Warren of Salem Sound Coastwatch will come and speak to us about marine invasive species in our area. These are animals and plants we can expect to see diving here in New England.

More to come!!

WHITE MOUNTAIN EXPRESS

Ride with us to your favorite ski/ride area. $80 includes round trip bus ride (Haverhill exit 49), coffee and doughnuts (up), movie (both ways), après ski party and a good time by all! Jan & Feb schedule:

Mar 3-10	Lake Tahoe trip
Mar 14	Mount Snow
Mar 21	Sunday River	Rossignol/Blizzard *
Mar 28	Killington
Apr 4	Sunday River-cookout		Atomic/Volkl/Nordica/
	Salomon/Fischer/Rossignol/Blizzard *

* Ski brand name indicates free demo days sponsored by Buchika’s

Ski shop

Reservations are required and are secured with a deposit; call 978-346-8667. (John Ferrier regularly goes on these trips; contact him with your questions.)

Boston Sea Rovers

If you’ve never been to the Boston Sea Rovers Show, you should try it sometime, especially since it’s in our own backyard again this year, at the CoCo Key Hotel & Water Resort at 50 Ferncroft Road (off Rte 1) in Danvers, MA.

The exhibit hall has booths with most of the major SCUBA vendors, area shops, and travel agents and dive resorts willing to book you on the next best trip.

Daytime presentation topics range from diving in the tropics of the Pacific to the cold waters of Alaska and downeast Maine; from sharks to technical dive and wreck diving to how to count fish.

The Saturday evening Film Festival always has amazing stories and video, as well as the presentation for the newest Scalli internship scholarship recipient.

Brian Skerry will be Master of Ceremonies for the Film Festival, and the scheduled presenters are:

Rick Rosenthal, a two-time Emmy award-winning cinematographer and marine biologist.

Jill Heinerth, award-winning filmmaker also known as an industry pioneer in the use of closed-circuit rebreathers.

Ernie Brooks, frequently referred to as the Ansel Adams of the Underwater World for the breathtaking, timeless black and white images that he has captured on film.

Nancy McGee, explorer, documentarian, teacher, guide, business owner, movie producer, speaker and emcee who is dedicated to bringing her love for diving to others.

Tickets are available from the Sea Rovers website (for pick-up at the show), or for purchase at the door. For more information on the Saturday and Sunday daytime presentations, and for more bios on the Film Festival presenters, check it all out at bostonsearovers.com. Note that tickets for the Saturday night Film Festival are limited and may sell out.

*Note also that the North Shore Frogmen’s Club will have a booth at this show. Please let the Club officers know if you can spend some time helping out at the booth.

The C.S.S. Hunley

By Jack Munro

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.

For more information see the new BSC website at

http://www.baystatecouncil.org

Your NSF Club Dues are now

DUE!!

Consider yourself notified.

42 Water St.

Beverly MA

978-927-9551

DIVE@underseadivers.com

2011 Hours:

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

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