NEWSLETTER February
10, 2003, Issue 25
Members are encouraged to
submit articles, dive plans and dive reports.
Visit club web site at https://www.angelfire.com/nj4/divers/
Holiday
Party Report
DA Dive Log
DA Dive Plan
Members Selling Gear
Columbus bell to go on
auction block
NAUI Deep Tech Workshop
January DA Meeting Minutes,
Unapproved
_____________________________________________________________________
Austin activated to US Army
DA member Austin Jackson advised me that he has been called up for
military duty. Our prayers go with him and we wish him God Speed to complete
his assignment and return home safely so he can join us diving soon.
Next Meeting
Notice
Next club meeting is 730PM, Monday,
February 24, 2003.
Flea
Market and BTS Notice
Feb 23 Toms River Scuba Flea Market – great
opportunity to pick up used and new equipment at discounted prices. http://www.oceanwreckdivers.com
Bring used
gear for sale at our table.
Mar 28 Beneath The Seas will be held Mar
28~30 in Meadowlands Sports Exposition Center.
http://www.beneaththesea.org
2003 Divers
Anonymous Holiday Party
The Fifth Annual
Holiday Party put on by Divers Anonymous Dive Club was another successful
event. Awards, prizes, photo album laughs, raffles, and some good stories were
the hit of the night. The food was very tasty as usual. Thanks go to Al, Jamie,
Norva, Rich, Tom, Ben, Rick, Edith, and Mike who helped with the planning or
conducting of the evening. Thanks also go to Dr Herb, Mike, Rich, Al, Ben, Tom,
Jamie, Chris Rollins, Dave from In Too Deep for donating prizes to be disbursed
to other members. A big thank you also goes to Lakeland Dive Center for
supplying the 2003 air pass, which was won by Chris Rollins. A big thank you
goes to Ed of St Thomas Barefoot Adventures for their donation of a 6-dive
package, which was won by Dr Herb. A big thank you also goes to Enrique Alvarez
for donating a “Doria Dish” which was won by Jamie. Mike won another good
prize. It seems pleasantly ironic that the people who donated prizes or were
active in the planning of the party were also some of the night’s big winners.
The rest of the story is that everyone who attended came away a winner due to
the good time as well as the nice general prizes and parting gifts supplied by
the donors and the dive club.
We hope to see
at least as big a turnout for next year’s event, and hope that Al agrees to
chair the event for another year.
See you all
next year, 2004.
_______________________________________________________________________
Peggy’s News
A
reminder from Frank on Mo's website
http://members3.boardhost.com/Modiver/?973252669 --
Greetings Fellow Divers! Ocean Wreck Divers will be hosting their 16th
Annual Scuba Flea Market on Sunday, February 23, 2003, at Toms River
High School East Cafetorium. There will be artifacts displayed;
speakers, and door prizes will be given throughout the day. Food too!
Proceeds go to such organizations as DAN, Clean Ocean Action, Artificial
Reef Program (we've sunk 5-1/2 so far!), and Marine Mammal Stranding
Center. $4 donation at the door and children under 12 are free with a
paid adult. Hope to see you there!
Ocean Wreck Divers http://www.oceanwreckdivers.com/
----------------------
Peggy
Bowen, Director, NJ Council of Diving Clubs
E-mail: mailto:pegdiver@monmouth.com
______________________________________________________________________
Bottle Show Report
By Rich Mullen
Sun Feb 2
Club members and friends Tom, Norva, Ben, Mike, Joe,
Paul, Gary and Rich went to
DA
Dive Log
Shore Dive Log
None to report.
Boat Dive Log
No boat dives were logged since the last report.
(Any
sales of gear are subject to terms agreed upon by sellers and buyers.)
E-mail:
Al Nesterok 2 aluminum 80 cylinders
E-mail: Rick Farmer stainless steel
backplate and OMS back inflation BCD
___________________________________________________________
Columbus Bell to Go on Auction Block
By DANIEL WOOLLS
.c The Associated Press
MADRID, Spain (AP) - For sale: one ship's bell, old
and corroded, big piece missing. First user: Columbus.
Bidding starts at $1 million when that bronze
artifact from the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus' historic
1492 voyage, goes to auction Feb. 20 in Madrid.
The bell belongs to an Italian diver, Roberto
Mazzara, who found it in a shipwreck off Portugal's coast in 1994 and did years
of detective work to prove it is the bell that tolled when Columbus and his
tiny flotilla arrived in America.
A Barcelona auction house expects about 10 bidders -
a mix of private and institutional buyers - to vie for the one-of-a-kind piece.
It not only is the oldest ship's bell ever recovered
and the only known relic from Columbus' first journey across the Atlantic - it
also symbolizes that instant when European settlers first glimpsed the New
World.
``Let's be frank,'' Mazzara said. ``This object has
a value that is incalculable.''
Pretty, it is not. Turquoise rust cakes much of the
bell after spending 450 years underwater. A gaping hole with jagged edges mars
much of the top half of the bell, which measures about 10 inches tall and
10-inches in diameter.
Encrusted in the bottom part is a flat, white
seashell the size of a fingernail. The bell weighs about 31 pounds.
Is it for real? Yes, said Claudio Bonifacio, a
shipwreck expert who has done extensive research as a consultant on this and
other sunken treasure cases at the Archive of the Indies, the official record
of Spain's colonial era. ``It is not fake,'' he said.
Mazzara, 41, and another diver found the bell while
searching for a gold-laden Spanish galleon, the San Salvador, that was twice
the size of the Santa Maria and sank off northern Portugal en route to Spain in
1555.
The Atlantic waters were calm the July 1994 day when
Mazzara's colleague spotted a small arc of metal peaking out of the seabed in
just 25 feet of water, about 150 yards from the beach.
Mazzara said his buddy yanked on the metal so hard
it broke - apparently causing at least part of the hole that mars the bell
today - and whipped out a knife to scrap away undersea crud until Mazzara
wrestled the bell away from him.
Mazzara's first reaction was puzzlement. The bell
had been found in what was the San Salvador's cargo section rather than its
mast, where it should have been located if it had been the galleon's bell.
Also, the bell was too small and plain for such a
powerful, well-armed vessel, designed to carry vast loads of gold, silver and
gems from the Americas back to Spain's royal court.
Why would anyone bother to ship such a cheap ringer
back to Spain, especially when bells - used for churches, alarms and
assemblies, among other things - were in such short supply in America?
``The first thing I thought was, 'This thing should
not be here,''' Mazzara said from his home in Algeciras in southern Spain.
``The feeling I had was like finding a refrigerator inside the treasure chamber
of the Great Pyramid.''
An important clue appeared on the bell itself. The
small hole at the top, for hanging the bell, showed signs of erosion caused by
a metal object. While in use on the ship, the bell would have hung from rope,
so there should be no erosion.
The use of metal - nails, which were square back
then and thus abrasive in the hole - suggested the bell was attached to a wall
or tree. Then, at some point, someone in Spain decided the bell was so valuable
it should be brought home.
Mazzara hypothesized - and Bonifacio and other
academics agreed - that the bell was used at the fort Columbus ordered built on
the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
The bell was taken ashore when the Santa Maria ran
aground on Dec. 25, 1492, along with wood from the ship, in order to build the
fortress named Navidad, or Christmas.
Archives of the Indies documents and other records
show that in 1555, Columbus' grandson Luis was expecting a shipment of family
belongings from Santo Domingo, the city founded on Hispaniola.
Records also say a bell in storage at a fortress in
nearby Puerto Rico was listed as being worth 32 pesos, an extraordinary amount
equal to three times the yearly salary of a 16th-century sailor.
In addition, the manifest from the San Salvador -
the wreck Mazzara found - said the cargo included a bell from a fortress called
Navidad.
``It would make no sense for this not to be the bell
of the Santa Maria,'' Bonifacio said.
Spanish law allows the government to acquire the
bell by matching the top bid at auction. Culture Ministry officials were
unavailable for comment Friday on whether the government would take such a
step.
But Portugal, in whose waters the San Salvador sank,
said its Culture Ministry has begun legal proceedings to recover the bell if it
is authenticated as coming from the Santa Maria.
However, the auction house said the sale would go
ahead and it has not heard anything to the contrary from Spain or Portugal.
02/07/03 16:52 EST
___________________________________________________________
NAUI Deep Tech Workshop
February 7, 2003 - For immediate release
Dear Fellow NAUI Members,
It's still not too late to register for the upcoming Tech
Workshop to be held on February 22 & 23, but you need to do so quickly if
you are interested in attending. The Workshop, entitled "Deep Stops and Modern Decompression Strategies", is sure to be interesting
and informative, and will feature a panel of international experts. Leading
scientists, physiologists, and doctors from around the world will present their
findings and conclusions regarding modern decompression strategies. You can
view the presenters' abstracts and the Workshop schedule on the NAUI website,
www.nauiww.org.
To register for the Workshop, you may download the
registration form on-line or call NAUI at (813) 628-8284 to have a form faxed
to you. Fax the completed form to Kim Rutledge at (813) 628-8253.
The two-day workshop will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel
in Tampa. Registration is $300. For reservations at the Crowne Plaza hotel,
call (813) 623-6363 and tell them you are attending the workshop.
Continental Airlines is offering a reduced fare for Workshop
attendees. Call Continental Meeting Works at (800) 468-7022 and provide the
reservations agent with meeting Reference Number UZWEP8.
Don't miss this informative workshop!
________________________________________________________________________
Divers Anonymous Scuba Dive
Club
Mario’s Restaurant / 710 Van
Houten Avenue, Clifton, NJ / (973) 777-1559
January 27, 2003 - Monthly
Meeting Minutes
Members Present:
Jamie Cacciatore
Edith, Rick and Baby Luke Farmer
Ian Fryer
Norva & Tom Gormley
Ben Gualano
Mike Lacatena
Connie & Leo Mazur
Gary Mullen
Richard Mullen
Al Nesterok
Lara & Charlie Padula
Don Van Dyk
The meeting began at 7:30 p.m. - 15 of 35 active members
were present on the coldest night of 2003. Thanks for attending!
Executive Committee Reports
Treasurer Report / Lara Padula
Checks were to be issued tonight to reimburse Al for
his out-of-pocket expenses for Christmas Party and $50 for membership renewal
to NJ Council of Diving Clubs as well as some overdue reimbursements to Tom
going back to our DA Dutch Springs outing.
Secretary Report / Rich Mullen
Past month’s newsletter and meeting minutes were
made available to club members by email.
Members present accepted last months meeting minutes unread. It was noted collecting of money for food at
club meeting was coming up short. In the
future, all persons who drink soda or order food should pay $2 for soda and pay
cost of ordered food plus 25%. This is
to cover the restaurant’s automatic added 20% tip and sales tax. Connie, Leo and Ben will handle future
collecting of money for club meeting’s food bill.
Thank you letters were sent to Enrique Alvarez,
Vice President’s Report / Al Nesterok
Al reported on the results of the very successful
Christmas Party held at San Carlo. The
total bill came to $883.16. After
subtracting payments made by club members, guesses and prize monies, the club
paid the remaining balance of?
Jamie won Enrique Alvarez’s donated Andrea Doria
plate.
President’s
Report / Tom Gormley
Reported on January’s various club activities and
upcoming events. Members voted to accept
reserving table at Tom’s River Scuba Flea market for $75. Members can place scuba related items on
table for sale.
Contact Tom and Ben for signing up for diving aboard
Spring Tide this upcoming dive season.
Members are encouraged to get involved in this years
upcoming planning of diving and social activities.
Jan 29 NJ
Council of Diving Clubs Meeting –
Feb 2 Bottle Show in
Feb 5 Lakeland
Dive Group Meeting
Feb 8 4th Annual Ski Trip – contact Rick for details
Feb 23
Feb 24 DA Club Meeting
Mar 28 Beneath The Seas will be held Mar
28~30 in
Special Committees Reports
Local Dive Committee
/ Ben and Tom
Requirements for boat diving
with Ben or Tom include: Current DAN insurance, safety sausage, Dive Alert,
dive knife, redundant gas supply (pony tank or doubles), NE boat dive logged or
arrangement for wreck intro by Ben or Tom, signed NAUI waiver listing Tom, Ben,
and DA, pre-paid fee of $60.
Membership Committee / Tom Gormley
No new members to report.
T-Shirt Committee / Ian Fryer & Jamie Cacciatore
No new information to report.
Travel Committee / Norva Gormley
·
Ben is putting together another
·
Al is thinking about putting together a dive outing in summer of 2003
to visit
·
Plans are under consideration to dive Lake Hopatcong, Greenwood Lake,
Lake George and Havre DeGrace in upcoming dive season.
Web Site Committee / Tom Gormley
Visit club web site at https://www.angelfire.com/nj4/divers/
This web site offers Calendar of Events,
Newsletters, Photographs, Scuba Links and other cool stuff. If members want to post timely club or scuba
related activities they are encouraged to use email group mailing. If you have
any club related photographs you wish to have posted on the web, see Tom email electronic copies to him.
Old Business
·
Paul Ward, now a DA member, is again available this year to perform
professional and inexpensive annual and/or other required servicing on your
critical scuba equipment.
·
Dutch Springs 2003 Season Passes would be on sale November 1 thru
February 28 for Individual and Family rates of $110 and $275. After this date, cost will go up to $170 and
$425. Daily admission price for 2003
will be $22 for diver and $10 for non-diver. (www.dutchsprings.com)
New Business
No new business to report.
Guest Speakers
Our guest speaker was Lada, who has been a dive boat
captain, Beneath the Sea organizer, scuba diver, dive club member, shipwreck discoverer,
and marine history buff for the past 40 years.
We were treated to his vast recall and slide presentation about the
history of marine archeology. Lada had
some interesting display pieces and artifacts as well.
This was a very professional presentation and was
very enjoyable for our members on a very cold night in January.
Next club meeting is Monday, February 24, 2003. Guest speaker has not yet been determined.
Minutes submitted by Secretary, Richard Mullen
_____________________________________________________________
2003 Calendar
2003 Divers Anonymous
Calendar 2003
Updated 02-07-03
|
Jan
2003 ·
01/03: DA Planning
meeting 6 p.m. at
6 Bros Diner Rt. 46 ·
01/11: DA
Holiday Party 7:30 p.m. San Carlos
Rest 620
Stuyvesant Ave, Lyndhurst ·
01/27: DA Club Meeting 7:30
p.m. Marine History Presentation |
Feb
2003 ·
02/02: Bottle Show, South
River ·
02/15: 4th Annual
DA Ski Day ·
02/23: Toms
River Flea Market ·
02/24: DA Club Meeting 7:30
p.m. |
Mar
2003
|
|
Apr
2003 ·
04/06: Manasquan RR Bridge
Dive, 12 noon ·
04/07: Pool Dive for gear
check and warm-up 9:15 p.m. Clifton YMYWHA ·
04/28: DA Club Meeting 7:30
p.m. Annual Dues and Officer
Elections |
May
2003
|
June
2003
|
|
Jul
2003 ·
Local Shore Dives TBA ·
07/13 Ben Boat Dive on Spring
Tide ·
7/19 & 20 DA Weekend at Dutch Springs ·
07/28: DA Club Meeting 7:30
p.m. |
Aug
2003
|
Sep
2003 ·
Local Shore Dives TBA ·
09/14 Ben Boat Dive on Spring
Tide ·
09/28 Ben Boat Dive on Spring
Tide ·
09/29: DA Club Meeting 7:30
p.m. |
|
Oct
2003
|
Nov
2003 ·
Local Shore Dives TBA ·
Annual gear
maintenance workshop TBA ·
11/24: DA Club Meeting 7:30
p.m. |
Dec
2003 ·
12/15: DA Club
Meeting 7:30 p.m. 4th Annual Artifact
& Photo Contest ·
12/28: Winter Shore Dive |
Pink highlighted events are subsidized by DA dues