Minutes
Aqua Tutus Dive Club Meeting
May 1, 2025
Meeting called to order by President Jim Driggers at 7:03pm PST. This is a hybrid meeting with 11 members present at Roundtable Pizza in Castro Valley and 11 attending via Zoom.
Entertainment. Jim introduced the meeting’s speaker, Gil Zeimer (from San Rafael). Gil is an experienced travel author, blogger and ad writer. His topic, Blogging About Bubbles, addresses how to get your scuba articles published. He is a decade-long member of both NCUPS and the Marin Scuba Club. His talk discussed 13 tenets for getting published interspersed with interesting anecdotes. One important one is: a freelance writer needs a thick skin and tolerance for rejections. This talk was very well received and Gil responded to many questions from the membership.
Officer reports:
Secretary: Arnie reported that minutes from the April meeting and the Board meeting have been sent to the board for review.
Training: Dennis reports that there are no formal plans for training at this time, but he urged members to take advantage of incremental non-structured training by coming out to the club dives.
Treasurer: Helga presented the treasurer report. Class funds $ 3,797.21; general funds, $ 3,514.38; for a total of $7,311.59.
Membership: Debbie reported the club currently has 52 regular members, 6 life members, and 8 associate members for a total of 66 members.
Old Business:
Jim reminded the club that there will be elections for At-Large Board members at the June meeting. He encouraged any interested members to get in touch with him.
New Business: None raised.
Upcoming Activities.
May 15
Board of Directors meeting via Zoom
May 18
Club dive at South Monastery Beach; Alan Stanek is the POC
June 5
General membership meeting; Members Night and At-Large Board elections
June 14
Club dive at Hidden Beach (Aeneas Beach in Monterey); Shawn Passeri is POC
June 19
Board of Directors meeting via Zoom
July 3
General membership meeting; speaker tba
July 17
Board of Directors meeting via Zoom
Dive Reports:
Lindsay, Dennis and Arnie went diving in Palau aboard the Palau Aggressor II. A lot of strong currents. Manta feeding stations and shark dives were a highlight.
Dennis, Arnie, and Dave C, went diving in Guam. The diving was generally disappointing and the dive operator we used even more so. Particulars available upon request.
Dennis and Dave C. continued the South Pacific trip by flying to Yap for 11 days more diving. Dennis reports a good experience with both the resort and the diving operation.
Arnie, Dennis and Dave C. linked up in Hawaii for three more days of diving. The dives included three dives onto two wrecks (Sea Tiger and YO-257) and three reefs.
Fritz reported on a 9-day trip to Dominica with his grandson. He reports seeing a lot of marine life. One notable site was called Champagne, where the sand bottom was warm with volcanic bubbles escaping.
Jim reported on the recent club dive at McAbee; only one dive.
Bone Award: no nominations
Good Buddy Awards: no nominations
Jim D. urged everyone to take home a copy of California Diving News (at the back of the room). There was also some discussion about the upcoming Scuba Show in Los Angeles; discount tickets are available. There being no further business, President Driggers adjourned the meeting at 8:36pm.