september seaswells newsletter

8/8/2019 September SeaSwells Newsletter

1/8

Its almost fall again, and as

we are winding down our

local dive and outdoor activi-

ties, its time to start thinking

about our elections for next

year.

Our Vice President, Nick Lap-

pano will be establishing a

Nominating Committee that

will solicit nominations from

the general membership. The

nominations will then be pub-

lished in our Club Newsletter

and ballots will be prepared for

the election.

The Board of Directors and thegeneral membership may pro-

vide nominations for any office

(that includes President for the

first time this year). Nominees

must be members of the Club in

good standing. Nominations for

any office must be completed

and submitted to the Vice

President and the Nominating

Committee by our October

meeting.

The Club Officers up for elec-

tion are:

President: Directs financial,

legal, and administrative

functions of the Club.

Vice President: Assistant to

the President, Manager of

Elections, directs club par-

ticipation in public events

that promote diving. As-

sumes the responsibilities

of the President whenever

the President is unable to

execute them.

ANCHOR LINE 1

HONORS & AWARDS:TSSC Diver of the Year

2

ENVIRONMENT:Lobster Pot Retrieval

3

CONTEST:Coreys First DiveJudys 2nd First Dive

4

ANNOUNCEMENT:Intl Beach Clean-Up

5

DIVE IN:2010 Dive ScheduleLocal Dive Shops

6

CLUB NEWS:ActivitiesSocial Events & ProgramList of 2010 Directors

7

PROGRAM NOTES:September Speaker

7

ON-LINE:Galapagos & UNESCO

8

ENVIRONMENT:The Gulf Oil Spill

2

TRIP ADVICE 8

In This Issue:Treasurer: Manages and ad-ministers Club financial

activities. Presents a reve-

nue and expense report to

the Board.

Secretary: Records minutes ofthe Directors meetings and

provides copies of those

minutes before the next

Board meeting.

Now this is where you all in the

general membership come in. I

and the rest of us serving on

the board would like to have

some input from all of you. If

you feel you would like to be-

come involved with the board orwant to nominate another

member, now is the time.

Please send an e-mail to Nick

Lappano at [email protected]

before the October meeting,

which will be on October 13th,

2010, nominating another

member in good standing or

volunteering for a position.

The following Officers and Di-

rectors will be appointed by the

President Elect:

Executive Director: Respon-sibilities include; sales,

marketing, promotion and

communication of TSSC

activities to the public.

Assist in coordinating ac-

tivities that various other

directors are involved in.

Dive Planning: Plans and

executes the Clubs dive

trip program. Informs the

Club membership of

planned dive activities at

September 2010

Welcome to theSeptember 2010 issue of

the Sea Swells Log!TSSC definitely has not been

idle last month. A group went to

Canada to dive the waters of the

St. Lawrence, while others gath-

ered at various summer events.

Summer is winding down, but

that does not mean our activi-

ties are. Plans include a beach

clean-up in New Rochelle

more details in this issue, and

there is always something going

on at the TSSC membership

meetings.

Speaking of meetings, the Au-

gust meeting featured Matthew

D. Potenski of the Shark Re-

search Institute, yet another

warrior in the fight to protect

this endangered species.

For those of you interested in

underwater habitats, do not

miss the September meeting

with Dr. Richard Cooper of

Seabase I.

We hope you will join us at

the September meeting!

Visit Our Website At: www.thescubasportsclub.org

TSSC GeneralElections

the start of the dive sea-

son and throughout the

year.

Education/Safety: Providessafety training and infor-

mation to the members

of the Club. Plans, or-

ganizes and promotes

educational programs

and advises the Club of

Continued Page 3
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Page 2 September 2010 Sea Swells Log

A

fter a hiatus of several years, TSSC

is once again looking to recognizeour Diver of the Year. The recipient will

be honored by both the Club and at BTS.

The criteria are for nominations as TSSCDiver of the Year are that the diver must:

Support safe diving with the club, Provide service to the club, and Provide some form of service to the

community.

Although the award is called diver of theyear, when nominating someone con-

sider their continuous, ongoing efforts

over an extended time span, not justthis year.

Both the nominee and the person mak-ing the nomination must be members in

good standing.

Nominations must be made in writing(or via e-mail [email protected]) and

submitted before September 30, 2010.

So put on your thinking caps and ifsomeone is deserving please nominate

them, making sure that you include

examples of how the diver meets theaforementioned criteria.

Nick Lappano

By

Nick Lappano

TSSC Diver of the Year

Environment

Since April 20th, 5600 Vessels havetaken part in the gulf cleanup.

That includes hordes of helicopters,

bulldozers, Army trucks, ATVs, barges,dredges, airboats, workboats, cleanup

crews, media, scientists and volunteershave descended on the beaches, blue

waters and golden marshes of the GulfCoast.

Unfortunately that is the lesser of two

evils. "Absolutely nothing you do torespond to an oil spill is without im-

pacts of its own," Lisa Jackson, admin-

istrator of the Environmental Protec-tion Agency.

One unfortunate blunder has been the

use of dispersants. Bp PLC has been

using Corexit. This chemicals use

(approved by the EPA) has taken avery identifiable, track able oil slick,

and broken it up into globules, and

pools of every possible size. It does notcollect, it does not really float, just goes

everywhere, and not only travels withthe currents, but settles on the bottom

of the ocean. This will invariably im-pact sea life. This chemical, and its

byproducts, will leech into the flesh, or

be ingested by ocean creatures. As ofthe recent capping of the well, dispers-

ant operations have ceased Thank

God. The EPA's testing claims mild

damage from the effects of this chemical.I would tend to err on the side of caution,

and say, we will just have to wait and

see.

To combat the effects of oil spill on the

beaches, BP has hired hordes of inexperi-

enced oil spill responders shrimpers,unemployed workers, college students,

and migrant workers. This effort is de-signed to confront the impacts on large

expanses of coast line. But this has come

at a cost. Bird nestings, natural habitat,and dunes have all been impacted in

some way by the machine, and foot trafficof these workers. No matter how you slice

it, it is a compromise. Oil spill damage, orhuman interaction damage. Which are

we to pick?

Fourchon Beach and a large marsh areahas seen some of the heaviest oil so far.

There are also other areas that due to the

Corexit have received smaller oil slicksthat pocket in marsh land, making it

difficult to clean up.

What can we learn from all of this?Hopefully, that leaving dangerous, haz-

ardous operations to a company that is

motivated by money, is not such a great

idea. Although when writing this, it

The Gulf Oil Spill

really can apply to many professionalcompanies with which we are ef-

fected by in our daily lives. Hopefullyenough people will be woken up by

this disaster, and attempt to preventa repeat. I guess the Exxon Valdez

disaster was not enough of a disaster

to make people concerned.

Peter PealeThe comments made in this article, are my

opinions, not the opinions expressed by

TSSC.

By

Peter

Peale
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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formal and informal instructional op-

portunities.

Environment/Legislative: Informs Club

members of events, pending legisla-tion, environmental issues, etc., that

could potentially affect individual or

Club dive activities. Initiates action

within the Club to support beneficial

activities or to counter detrimental

ones.

Membership: Maintains the membershiprecords, processes application and

administers the membership program.

Forwards all data updates regarding

membership to the President and

Treasurer.

Newsletter: Edits and prepares the Club

newsletter for publication. Distributes

the newsletter in coordination withthe Club webmaster to be available

electronically online for download.

Solicits editorial contributions from

Board members and from the Club

membership and establishes guide-

lines, formats and deadlines for sub-

mission.

Program: Plans the agenda of the general

meetings of the Club in advance. Se-

lects and recruits guest speakers and

advices the membership and the gen-

eral public of program plans through

the newsletter and other media.

Social: Plans, implements, and promotessocial activities for the members of the

Club in coordination with the Director

at Large. Solicits, receives, and re-

cords payments for participation in

events.

Director-at-Large: Provides an independ-

ent representation of Club members

views; act as the voice of the general

Club membership. Participate in dis-

cussions, decisions, and voting activi-

ties of the Board of Directors. Assists

Social Director with various social

functions.

The Board is also always looking for sug-gestions about events or dives you may be

interested in or putting together. Please

send us an e-mail at Direc-

[email protected].

Jim SacciPresident

TSSCElections,

continued

The Scuba Sports Club of West-chester County and Captain Mikes

Diving Services on City Island, cametogether on August 15th to retrieve lostlobster pots from the Long IslandSound beginning in the City Island area.

Mike Carew of Captain Mikes DivingServices chartered a boat suitable for

the task, and Bill Noel, Executive/Marketing Director for TSSC volunteeredhis sailing vessel for the day.

With the help of the DEC and local fish-ermen the volunteers were able to lo-cate and remove abandoned lobster potsaround Huckleberry Island, near NewRochelle in the Long Island Sound. Thesepots are an environmental and naviga-tion hazard.

This is j ust t he beginning. Staytuned for more information on futureevents like this. We hope to find a few

sponsors for next year to ensure that wecan continue to provide a public serviceand to protect Long Island Sound.

Please enjoy a few images from theclean-up. More images are posted atTSSCs Facebook page athttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17894&l=ca03c98104&id=1058413061 2 2 0 6 8 # ! / a l b u m . p h p ?aid=17894&id=105841306122068

DEC provided surface support for thedivers.

Abandoned lobster pots are removed.

Hauling in an old lobster pot.

Lobster Pot RetrievalA Success

Environment
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17894&l=ca03c98104&id=105841306122068#!/album.php?aid=17894&id=105841306122068http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17894&l=ca03c98104&id=105841306122068#!/album.php?aid=17894&id=105841306122068http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17894&l=ca03c98104&id=105841306122068#!/album.php?aid=17894&id=105841306122068http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17894&l=ca03c98104&id=105841306122068#!/album.php?aid=17894&id=105841306122068http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17894&l=ca03c98104&id=105841306122068#!/album.php?aid=17894&id=105841306122068


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By COREY JOYNER

My First Dive Story: Probably notreal exciting, but it is what it is. I

hope you enjoy reading it, and maybe

some new potential diver may get some-

thing from it.

I never had any intention of getting into

diving. I have always been a pretty de-cent swimmer and liked the water, but

the thought of diving never really oc-curred to me.

One evening in early 1993, I was attend-

ing a dinner party. The host of the partywas an avid diver and at the time had

been diving at least 25 years. He was at

the very least an instructor, but he mayhave had more advanced credentials

than that. He was also an avid underwa-ter photographer.

During the course of the party he was

showing me his collection of photo-graphs. I was awed by the majesty of the

pics, but still had not thought of givingdiving a try. Later that evening he told

me that a he and a group of his friends

were going on a trip to the Caribbean ina few months and that he was renting

an entire villa. He asked, would I wantto come along? The trip was to Grand

Cayman. I didn't even know where

Grand Cayman was at the time. Notsure if I had even heard of it. I thought

it was in the Caribbean, but thought it

was part of Mexico. Since it was a largegroup and we were renting a villa, the

price was really cheap for a 5-night, 6-

day trip. I was at a point in my life thatI really needed a vacation and consented

to go.

A short time later, after I had made asubstantial deposit on the trip, and as

my excitement grew about going on avacation, a vacation that I had not had

in about 5 years at that point, he toldme that this trip was a dive trip, and

that everyone on the trip would be div-ing. I was quite annoyed to hear that. I

thought I had been duped. Here I am,

going on a dive trip with about 25 peo-ple. Everyone would be diving, and I

would be hanging around with nothingto do. So he suggested that I take

classes and take up diving. He said I

would love it. He said that I had enough

time to find a class, take the academic

and pool portions in New York, and thathe would certify me in the open water

himself. He finally said "look, buy themask fins and snorkel, take the class,

and if I don't like diving, I could always

use the gear to go snorkeling". Now, atthat point, I had never been snorkelingeither, so I did not know how much fun

that could be, but he talked me into it

anyway.

I grudgingly came around and decidedto take the classes. So I did my home-

work, found a dive shop, a place calledMartini Scuba in Yonkers, and made

arrangements to take the classes there.

My Instructor: Lada Simek. The dive-master for the class: a guy named Rich

who later went on the marry a woman (I

forget her name) that was in that classwith me.

As the class goes on, I start to get into itand enjoy it more and more. My antici-

pation for diving in the open water grewwith each succeeding class. I was going

great guns in the class. Everything camepretty natural to me, but, one thing that

I did not heed was to practice equalizing

in the pool. Prior to taking diving les-sons, the only time I needed to equalize

was on a plane, and I used to do so byyawning. The pool in which I took the

classes was only 8 or 10 feet deep, so Icould get away with not equalizing or

not trying real hard to learn how to do itin the pool. Other than that I passed my

course without problems and received

my referral to take to the open waterportion of my training. Little did I know

how much I was going to need to knowhow to equalize in open water.

Next we were off to Grand Cayman. Of

course, by now I had done my homeworkand found out where it was, and that it

was not part of Mexico :-). I was gearing

up for the first time and eager with an-ticipation. And I started to become ac-customed to the sounds that occur on a

dive boat. To this day, the sounds on a

dive boat are a rush to me: the sound oftanks opening and closing, the releasing

of pressure from the tanks by purging aregulator, the sounds of weights falling

on the floor (unless it is on someone'sfoot!), the sounds of fins flopping on a

boat deck, and the sound of people

struggling into their wetsuit for the

first time in the spring, since it hadshrunk over the winter.

At last, I was ready for my first open

water dive. I was fully geared up and

ready to go. I took my giant stride offthe back of the boat and looked down.

There, off in the distance, I could seedivers about 150 feet away as clear as

day. They were down on a wreck atabout 70-80 feet and about 75 feet

away from the boat. I could hardlybelieve my eyes. I could not be-

lieve that I could see anyone or any-

thing that clearly underwater.From that moment on, I was hooked

on diving like a junkie on VietnameseHeroin, as if a syringe of pure dope

had been stuck into my jugular vein

and went straight to my brains. Theeuphoria was overwhelming, and Iwas still only on the surface.

Next I started to attempt my descent

down to about 30 feet to meet my in-

structor. When I got to about 10 feet Ifelt this severe and intense pain in my

head, just behind my ears. It was ex-cruciating. My God, I needed to equal-

ize, and because I did not practice it inthe pool, I did not know how. I could

not for the life of me figure out how to

do it. I tried everything, wiggling my

ears, swallowing, pinching my noseand blowing, but I could not find thatpassage that I need to find to relieve

that pressure. I went up and cameback down, all the while trying to fig-

ure out how to get it done. I was sofrustrated. I saw that oasis down be-

low and I could not get there. Finally,

after about 15 minutes, I had to abortthe dive. My ear passages were sore

(and probably swollen) and I felt de-

flated and defeated. I got back on the

boat and tried and tried to practicewithout much success. After the other

divers got back on the boast, I saw theglee in all of their faces from the ex-

perience. I was jealous and deter-mined to make it happen.

After a surface interval for the other

divers, it was time for the second dive.

I was determined to make it happen. Igeared up and was focused on some-

how getting down that anchor line to

get to the other divers doing their

Continued Page 5


5/8


checkout dives. I did my giant stride and

started downward. Slowly, I inched downthe anchor line, little by little, bearing

the pain, and all the while trying allkinds of ways to relieve the pressure. I

could see my instructor coaxing me downlike a parent coaxing a child to take its

first step. He continued coaxing, encour-aging and imploring me to continue

downward, slowly and deliberately. Then

for the first time, at around 20-25 feet, Iheard a screech go through my ears and

some pressure was relieved. Eureka! Ihad finally discovered how to do it. Then

I did it again to make sure. My ears werea little sore, but I got down to about 40

feet and began my checkout dive. I was so

elated words cannot describe it. I felt Ihad made a major accomplishment just

getting down to the sand, never mind

doing the skills I had to perform to get

certified.

The rest of my checkout dives were a

piece of cake. Everything I had done inthe pool, just as my instructor had

drawn them up. I was now free to enjoythe underwater dives like the rest of

my diving colleagues.

Of course I got to see wonderful reefs,all kinds of colorful fish, sting rays and

moray eels. a wonderment the likes ofwhich I have never seen. But the story

of my first dive was not so much what I

saw, but the fact that I was able to getdown there, finally!

Needless to say, since I got certified in

the Cayman's, I am a tidy bowl diverand proud of it. I WILL go out in the

Northeast a couple of times during the

season and I do have a wide range

wetsuits, from 1 mil to a 2 piece 7 mbut my preference is to dive in war

blue water. So here I am, 17 years an

about 500 dives later, still doing mthing, swimming with the fish (as m

friends would say), as often as I ca

possibly arrange it.

There you have it. I am sure it may nbe the best story, but I do enjoy tellinit, especially to new diver

CoreyJoyner

Life is not about how hard you h

it's about how hard you can get h

and keep moving forward.

with Cousteau. Certification was NOTrequired. I'd taken the YMCA course

but had not yet had the open waterexperience. They didn't care. All they

required was that we, (even certifiedLada), take their pool test (and pass).

Keep in mind that I had a dread of put-

ting on a mask underwater. I wasafraid I'd flunk their test and the whole

week would be a waste.

We arrived bright and early that morn-

ing, our bathing suits under ourclothes. Of course, the outer clothes

would have to be removed prior to en-

ter the water. So I began. Off came thesandals, followed by the shorts, shirt,

and, (almost), the bathing suit top. I

was so uptight I simply continued to

disrobe, past the point where I shouldhave stopped.

After that everything went smoothly. I

easily replaced the mask, did every-thing else correctly, and passed.

Our first dive was to 85 feet.

Judy Simek

Organizations all over the wowill be holding beach a

coastal area clean-ups on the weeend of September 25th to 26th, 201

In the spirit of ocean conservation tScuba Sports Club has once again reistered with Project Aware (http:www.projectaware.org/) and will

cleaning Davenport Park and ShoArea in New Rochelle, on SundaSeptember 26th, beginning 10.00 am.

TSSC members will have free acce

to the park. There is a need for vunteers to clean up the grassy arewhich extends from Davenport Avnue all the way to the rocky shordivers and a few individuals wdont mind combing the rocky oucrops for garbage and floating debri

For more details, please contactDenise Kurz at [email protected]

International BeachClean-Up Day

ANOTHER FIRST TIME

By JUDY SIMEK

This is the middle one of my 3 first

times for SCUBA diving. Let me

explain.

The third one I wrote about two yearsago. It occurred when Lada took me out

to the Sound for my first dive after beingcertified. But who really believes that all

SCUBA diving is done after certification?

My very first time was at the age of 15. I

don't think certification had been in-vented. My sister and I were enrolled in a

Red Cross Life Saving course and the

director was a diver. He wanted to share

his love of the sport and introduced eve-ryone in the class to it. I still remember

his name: Ralph. By the way, he was

handsome, at least to a 15 year old.

This article, however, is about my second"first time". From my earlier experience I

knew that I have trouble clearing mymask. The sensation of water up my nose

was not one I savored. I dreaded having

to do it.

Lada and I had gone to the Bahamas. It

was a number of years ago and, as I re-

call, the dive shop had some connection
http://www.projectaware.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.projectaware.org/


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Club Dive Schedule

Date/Time: Location Description Contact/Organization

Nov. 27 to Dec 4 Exumas, Bahamas Aquacat Liveaboard Jim & Joann Sacci

All dates and programs are subject to change without prior notice. For more details and updates, either contact

Jack Kurz or the dive coordinator shown, or refer to our website at www.thescubasportsclub.org .

LOCAL DIVE SHOPS - AT YOUR SERVICE

The listing of local dive shops is provided to you as a reference and public service.For each shops specialty, dive training and trip programs, please call or visit their website.

Captain Saams Scuba

School863 E Main St., Ste B

Stamford, CT 06902

Tel. 203-32 SCUBAwww.capt-saam.com

The Dive Shop439 Federal Rd.

Brookfield, CT 06804Tel. 203-740-9166

www.TheDiveShoponline.com

Pan Aqua Diving (2 locations):

460 W 43rd St., New York, NY 10036Tel. 212-736-3483

and461 Federal Rd., Brookfield, CT 06804

Tel. 203-775-3573www.panaqua.com

Rex Dive Center

144 Water StreetNorwalk, CT 06854

Tel. 203-853-4148

www.rexdive.com

Cougar Sports

917 Saw Mill River Rd.Ardsley, NY 10502Tel. 914-693-8877

Durland Scuba Committee

& School

Venture Crew #53

35 East Grassy Sprain Rd. Ste 204Yonkers NY 10710

Tel 914-961-1263

http://www.durlandscuba.org


Aqua Visions Scuba118 West Boston Post Road

Mamaroneck, NY 10543

Tel. 914-381-1884

www.aquavisions.biz

Ski and Scuba Connection26 Saint Roch Ave

Greenwich, CT 06830

Tel. 203-629-4766

www.skiandscubaconnection.com

2037 Central Park AveYonkers, NY 10710

Tel. 914-779-2966

and

2672 Gerritsen AveBrooklyn, NY 11229

Tel. 718-769-0099www.scubany.com

Captain MikesDiving School530 City Island Ave

City Island, NY 10464

Tel. 718-885-1588

www.captainmikesdiving.com

Abyss Scuba222 E Main Street

Mt. Kisco, NY 10549

914-244-3483

www.abyss-scuba.net

Marsh Scuba Supply93 Lauer Rd.

Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Tel. 845-452-8994

www.marshscuba.com
http://www.aquavisions.biz/http://www.skiandscubaconnection.com/http://www.skiandscubaconnection.com/http://www.scubany.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.abyss-scuba.net/http://www.marshscuba.com/http://www.marshscuba.com/http://www.scubany.com/http://www.abyss-scuba.net/http://www.skiandscubaconnection.com/http://www.captainmikesdiving.com/http://www.aquavisions.biz/


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Whos Who at TSSCin 2010


Executive Director: Bill NoelDive Planning: Jack KurzEducation/Safety: Bob BakEnviro/Legislative: Peter Peale

President: Jim Sacci

Vice President: Nick Lappano

Treasurer: Cindy Fisher

Secretary: Joann Bohannon

Director At Large: Michael Noel

Membership: Denise Kurz

Newsletter: Ruth Emblin

Webmaster: Jim Sacci

Program: Allan Rios

Social: Judy Simek

Legal Advisor: Robert Schrager

Founder: Armand Zigahn

Co-Founder: Soliman Shenouda

List Maintenance: Anne Judge

Note:

Programs may change without prior notice.

Seewww.thescubasportsclub.orgfor

updates.

SOCIAL &

EVENTS

2010

For details on the individual events,please go to

www.thescubasportsclub.org

and click on Events

Date Description

Sept.

26th

International Coastal

Clean-Up DayLocation TBA

General Meeting:

Wed. Sep. 8th, 2010, at 7.00 pm

Victors Restaurant, Hawthorne

Program Notes:Dr. Richard Cooper on Seabase I

(see Program Notes below)

September Program

Directors Meeting:

Tue. Oct. 5th, 2010 at 7.00 pm

(Petes Saloon, Elmsford)

General Meeting:Wed. Oct. 13th, 2010 at 7:00pm

Victors Restaurant, Hawthorne

Program Notes:

Details to be announced.

October Program

Official Dive

Clubof

BENEATH THE SEA

Dr. Richard A. Cooper

Managing Member. Founder of

Ocean Technology Foundation.

Professor Emeritus of Maritime

Studies and Director Special Pro-

jects, University of Connecticut at

Avery Point Campus. U.S. Navy and

NOAA certified Aquanaut. Veteran

of five saturation diving (habitats,submersible and diving bell lock-

out) programs. Extensive manned

submersible experience with

twelve deep diving systems. Re-

ceived NOGI award for Science

Diver of the Year (1984). Former

Director of National Undersea Re-

search Center and Director of Ma-

rine Sciences and Technology Cen-

ter at UConn. Former Director

Manned Undersea Research

and Technology Center, Na-

tional Marine Fisheries Service

and Director of Lobster Re-

search Program, National Ma-

rine Fisheries Service,

Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Au-

thor of numerous scientific arti-

cles on biology and ecology of

marine sport and commercial

fish and shellfish. President of

Innerspace International,

Inc. (IIC), a children's book pub-lishing corporation.

Seabase 1 is the ideal extreme

underwater adventure. Scien-

tific researchers and anyone who

yearns to know what it's like to

actually like to live in the ocean

for an extended period of time

will find this to be the ultimate

ecotourism destination. Seabase1

will offer an undersea habitat

that provides the diving enthusi-

ast with days of underwater ex-

ploration opportunities. Nothing

on earth can compare. The sea-

Base1 project is slated to revital-

ize and expand the Man-In-The-

Sea Program of the 1960ies and

1970ies, concentrating first on

the coral reef environment.

http://www.seabase1.org/

September Program Notes
http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.beneaththesea.org/http://www.seabase1.org/http://www.seabase1.org/http://www.beneaththesea.org/http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/


8/8


EDITORS NOTE:

This newsletter is a publication ofThe Scuba Sports Club of Westchester, NYIssue 09/2010 Material may not be reprinted without explicit permission by TSSC.

From www.diversalertnetwork.org

There are health risks associated with

travel, and some of them may be life-

threatening. You can prevent or reduce

many of them.

DAN TravelAssist can provide the informa-

tion you need to be safe around the world.

That is a benefit you receive just for being a

DAN Member. You can also buy from DAN

the most recent edition ofInternational

Travel Health Guide, a useful book of travel

health advisories or the DANDive and

Travel Medical Guide. Both guides are avail-

able from the DAN Online Store.

Before You Leave:

1. Put a copy of the DANDive and TravelMedical Guide with your plane tickets.

Sea Swells Log, 20 Tinker Hl, Putnam Valley NY 10579 OfficialDive Club

Time to reflect on this past summer:

I personally think it has been oneof the best summers ever, not just in

terms of weather, but also in terms of

activities, events, get-together, and the

overall camaraderie of friends and

scuba buddies in and around our club.

Time to say thank you to all of those

dedicated souls at TSSC who took it

upon themselves to drive the Evolution

of TSSC forward this summer. We are

happy to have gained a number of new,

already active members, and will con-

tinue to promote the club to people who

love diving but until now, did not knowthat there was a scuba enthusiasts

club right on their doorstep.

Mind you, the (dive) year is far from

over. Water temperatures are still

warm, even for LI Sound, and there is

always that dive trip later in the year

to look forward to.

RuthEditor

Galapagos No Longer On UNESCO List

From Sea Shepherd News

At the annual meeting of the

UNESCO committee for World Heri-

tage Sites, which was held this year in

Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, it was

decided that Ecuador has improved

the situation in the Galapagos Islands

to such an extent that they need no

longer be included on the List of

World Heritage in Danger.

The Galapagos Islands were added to

the List of World Heritage in Danger

during the 2007 meeting for three

reasons:

Uncontrolled human population

growth,

Unregulated tourism, and

Insufficient measures to stop in-

vasive species from entering the is-

lands.

For the past three years, the Ecuador-

ian governmentworking in conjunc-

tion with the Galapagos National Park

Service and several other governmen-

tal and non-governmental environ-

mental groups (including foreign

NGOs such as Sea Shepherd Conserva-tion Society), have been working hard to

improve the situation in the archipelago.

The following are examples of these im-

provements:

Illegal immigrants have been de-

ported, and immigration control has

increased.

The tourist sector is better regulat-

ing the influx of a high number of tour-

ists each year.

Several projects are underway to

minimize the transportation of invasive

species on cargo and tourist boats. Sea Shepherd Galapagos has sev-

eral running projects that contribute to a

better-controlled environment, such as

the Police Dog Project, Radio Communi-

cations Project, Automatic Identification

System (AIS) Project, and more.

Sea Shepherd will continue to work on

these initiatives.

For the complete article, go to

http://www.seashepherd.org/

news-and-media/news-100729-1.html

The CDC maintains up-to-date travel

advisories and information on every

region of the world. The organization

recommends all travelers follow these

steps as they prepare to travel.

Carefully follow the information

for your destination.

Begin the vaccination process

early.

Find a Travel Clinic for immuniza-

tions.

Plan ahead if you are traveling

with children or have any other special

needs.

Learn about safe food and water,

diseases, and other precautions.

Prepare for illness and injury

abroad.

Links for all items can be found at

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/

medical/travel/travelprep.asp

2. Call DAN to make sure your insur-ance coverage is adequate and up-to-date.

Compare the various insurance programs

to make sure you have all the coverage

you need.

3. Talk to a DAN Medic if you have anyquestions regarding your health and div-

ing.

Pre-Travel Precautions

The four most important categories of

pre-travel precautions are:

Vaccinations and Immunizations

Malaria Prophylaxis

Diarrhea Management

Behavioral Counseling

The US Centers For Disease Control

is a tremendous resource for travelers.

Planning a Dive Trip?Be Prepared!
http://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.seashepherd.org/new-and-media/news-100729-1.htmlhttp://www.seashepherd.org/new-and-media/news-100729-1.htmlhttp://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/travel/travelprep.asphttp://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/travel/travelprep.asphttp://www.thescubasportsclub.org/http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/travel/travelprep.asphttp://www.seashepherd.org/new-and-media/news-100729-1.html

september seaswells newsletter

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