DA ANCHORLINE

NEWSLETTER June 4, 2002

Members may submit articles for future editions. This is issue no. 16

Visit club web site at https://www.angelfire.com/nj4/divers/

Editor: Tom Gormley

Contents

Shark River Inlet Dive, June 8

Peggy’s News

DA Dive Log

DA Dive Plan

Scuba Too Report

Large Marine Animal Story

May DA Meeting Minutes, Unapproved

DA Calendar

Editor’s Comment: Some of the world and national news has been alarming lately. Our local and national news regarding our environment for diving has us concerned. I have received messages about investigating scuba divers as potential terrorists. This is serious news, no doubt, and some is included in this issue, but please don’t let these reports keep you from enjoying the positive information in this issue. We have so much to be thankful for and we can still go diving! Please don’t let the dive season pass you by.
Happy Fathers Day to all who qualify! You earned it. I hope some of my Father’s Day time will be spent underwater! Hope to see you there too!

Shark River Inlet Dive, June 8

Here’s your chance to dive the Inlet on a daylight dive. Later in the season we will do a night dive. See the changes that occur between early season marine life and late season when the tropicals arrive.

Arrival time 5:30PM, dive time 7PM give or take 15 minutes. More details are included in the Dive Plan section.

Directions: Take the Garden State Parkway South to Exit 100B. Go east on Rt. 33. After crossing under Rt. 18 take the "easy right" onto West Sylvan Ave (no street sign last year). Continue into Avon by going a few miles and turn right onto Rt. 35. Follow the sign for Avon and take the left exit off Rt. 35. Continue on West Sylvan. Proceed across Main St and go straight to the ocean and boardwalk, turn right onto Ocean Ave. (This same road comes along the beach from Ocean Grove) Look for the Avon-Belmar Bridge, and park.

Peggy’s News

Peggy Bowen, Director, NJ Council of Diving Clubs

1) Warning about dioxin contamination in blue crabs found in the Newark Bay.

Warning on dioxin: Don't eat the crabs
Cancer alert is issued for Newark Bay area
Friday, May 24, 2002

BY ANTHONY S. TWYMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

Dioxin contamination in blue claw crabs taken from Newark Bay poses a serious risk of cancer, according to a report state officials will release today as they mount a campaign to warn residents against catching and eating the crabs.

See NJCDC site for further details

2) Rockland Aquanauts Open House

The Rockland Aquanauts Organization
Presents their Annual Open House Dinner Party
June 11 (Tuesday) - 7:00 pm
at the Hard Wok Buffet, 732 Rt 304, New City, NY

Join us at our Open House for an evening full of fun & food Chinese Style Buffet Dinner
Highlighting the meeting will be our guest speaker, the colorful Captain Steve Bielenda and his auspicious crew of the Research Vessel, The Wahoo

Admission is free for Rockland Aquanaut Members
Non members $15.00 Donation

RSVP, additional information and/or directions
Allen Block    allandive@worldnet.att.net
http://rocklandaquanauts.org

3) Radioactive material to be released into Delaware

Attention Fishermen and Boaters!

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water....the US EPA, the Camden Municipal Utility Authority and the Gems Landfill Trust ( representing the polluters at the Gems Superfund Site) have agreed to ship radioactive contaminated wastewater from the Gems Superfund Landfill in Gloucester Township through the sewer pipelines of five municipalities to the CCMUA treatment plant in Camden City, for ultimate discharge to the Delaware River. By the time the radioactive radium and uranium is mixed with 50 million gallons of wastewater, "it will meet drinking water standards" as it goes into the river. A new fishing pier has just been
built next to the sewage treatment plant. No calculations have been made about the accumulation of radiation in the river fish or sediments, but the CCMUA consultant’s report suggests, "exposure due to recreational boating activities (in the Delaware River) be limited to 44 hours per year". It estimates the "immersion dose" to be 0.06 millirems per year, "acceptable low" compared to the public exposure

Limit of 100 millirems per year.

The point is, why should the river be the recipient of contaminated
effluent from a Superfund site? Why should the public be exposed to any more
radiation than necessary? There are better ways to remove radiation
right at the GEMS site, through ion exchange or reverse osmosis filtration.
The GEMS Landfill Trust is taking the cheapest way out, using the sewer
system as it's direct pipeline to the river, and thus avoiding having to remove
radium and uranium contamination at the GEMS site to the drinking water
standard.

If you think this deal stinks, join us at the public hearing on the
permit on Wednesday, June 19, noon - 4 p.m. and 7 -- 9 p.m. at the CCMUA
administration building, 1645 Ferry Avenue, Camden --- right next to the
new fishing pier.
Or call Freeholder Jeffrey Nash at 856-225-5468, and tell him that
removal, not dilution, is the solution to pollution.
As a recreational fishing and boating person, do you really want radium
and uranium in your river?

Jane Nogaki, NJ Environmental Federation  janogaki@eticomm.net
223 Park Ave, Marlton NJ 08053
856-767-1110    856-768-6662 fax

E-mail: mailto:pegdiver@monmouth.com

http://www.scubanj.org/

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DA Dive Log

Shore Dive Log

Shore Dives:

Our Annual Pre-Memorial Picnic/Dive at Bay Head was cancelled on Sat May 18 due to rain and wind conditions. Instead, we met at Sandy Hook on Sunday May 19. Tom & Norva, Leo & Connie, Ben, Mike, Ian, Al and Rich all showed up for our annual event. We drove Horseshoe Cove by the old pilings looking for artifacts, but this time we only saw horseshoe crabs and other small fish. After the dive, we had a tailgate picnic followed by a food-fight with drive-by watering from Ben & Mike who departed rapidly to avoid flying fruits.

Sunday June 2, Al, Tom, and Nyazi from In Too Deep went to the Bluffs wreck in Bay Head. The sea was fairly flat past the breakers, but the 3-foot and occasional 4- foot rollers breaking on the beach caused visibility to be poor. The trio found the wreck and did a short tour. Norva was knitting dry suits for the divers on shore, but didn’t complete the project due to the short dive. A nice breakfast at Duffy’s completed the morning, and a good time was had by all.

Boat Dive Log

Boat Dives:

Four DA members went aboard Lakeland Scuba Shop’s Sea Lion on Sunday May 26 to dive the popular Mohawk wreck. It was a cool overcast day with 3-4 foot seas with occasional 5 foot rolling waves. Ben and Jamie formed one dive team, while Mike and Rich formed the other dive team. Jamie was continuing to gain her advanced wreck diving experience, while Mike and Rich were trying out their new drysuit. We wanted to dive the stern portion of the wreck as that area has cargo hatch and some dishes are still being found there, but we had to anchor in at the bow area as a fishing boat had already tied in at the stern. At the wreck bottom, the temp was around 46F, 15-foot visibility, rather dark and saw lots of fish about. Due to the rough sea conditions, Rich was throwing up before, during and after the first dive. Ben was throwing up after the first dive. Mike, who never gets sick, was feeling a little green after the first dive. And Jamie was a champ and was the only one in our dive party who did not get seasick. Other divers aboard the boat, including 2 dive boat mates, got seasick. Considering the ocean conditions, our dive party all decided not to do a second dive. Upon returning back to port, we were welcomed to clearing skies, sun and calmer ocean conditions. We will give the Sea Lion another chance next Sunday and hope for calmer seas.

Sunday June 2, Mike and Rich returned to the Sea Lion for a good day of diving. It started out as cloudy with 1-foot seas and ended as sunny with 2 to 3-feet rolling waves. For the first dive, they dove the Vega wreck with water temp at 55F and vis at 5 feet. This is a small steel hulled ferryboat located upside down and known to be a good spot for spear fishing. The first dive was cut short as Mike’s new mask had a defect, which resulted in one lens actually popping out while Mike managed to do a

controlled ascend in spite of a flooding mask. The second dive was at the Spring Lake Sailor wreck with improved vis up to 10 feet. This was a large sailing ship and is now a very low-lying wreck with remains of three sets of wood walls and decking with deep holes for lobsters. Mike and Rich found some brass spites and another diver came up with a handful of brass spikes and a beautiful green glass double ink well with brass caps. Rich and Mike both agree this would be a good spot to return with scooters to do some more digging for artifacts.

DA Dive Plan

Shore Dive: June 8 at 7PM, Shark River Inlet, Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ

Plan to arrive early so you can set up and gear up for the slack high tide entry around 7PM give or take 15 minutes. Bring your gear set up for a 30-foot dive in 60-degree salt water. You should have a dive knife and dive light for this dive due to underwater lines and low light. The marine life is already inshore and the critters will be stirring for all of us to see. Bring an underwater camera and an above water camera for all sorts of pictures. The group may be interested in going out after the dive as well, so be prepared.

Boat Dives 2002 are filling fast: Tom has 1 or 2 openings left for 2002 dives on The Scuba Too for the select dates. These are all Sunday dates and the planned dives will be inshore wrecks. The cost is $60 per dive and giving Tom a check for any trip you plan to make can reserve spots. The June 16 trip is planned for the Elberon Wreck and the Dual Wrecks.

Ben has 2 dates for the Scuba Too going out to the Mohawk. There are 1 or 2 spots left for June 30 and September 8, 2002. Please make payment to Ben who will be organizing these two trips.

Ben may be arranging some trips on the Sea Lion. Please contact him so he can give you more details.

Rick Farmer can provide the schedule for the 2002 season aboard the Ol Salty 2. Since Capt Ted and Capt Nick visited us in January, we have their schedule and are in the process of selecting our favorite dates and trips. Let Rick know which dates you are interested in and he can work out the schedule for our benefit.

We will try to coordinate dives with In Too Deep for 2002 as well. Paul Ward has always made his trips available to other dive organizations in the spirit of club cooperation. We will do the same for In Too Deep members. Gary Mullen often dives with Paul and you can contact Gary about his dives as well. Lastly any DA member who plans to dive any boat this coming year can ask other DA members if they are interested in joining the dive. Contact Tom, Rich, Ben, or Rick with your plans and we will see that others in the club are made aware of the opportunity. Rich Mullen has expressed interest in diving with Dan Berg on his boat sometime in 2002. If other members would like to join him, please see Rich and plan a date that we can post.

Check our DA Calendar for dates of dives listed so far. Some dates have already been planned. Some dates are full so please act fast. Please bring your comments to any meeting or contact any of our officers concerning dives or any other activities you would like to do in the coming year.

Scuba Too Report

John Allen from Northeast Scuba Supply reports that the Scuba Too has been refitted for better service this year. It is faster, has more storage, a better head, and more storage. A Loran has been added to the GPS bottom and bottom scanner. Captain Tom and Captain Manny will be piloting the dive boat this season. Later in July hopes are to have scooters for use by divers and maybe a dredge for artifact finding as well. He reconfirmed all of our dive dates for this season, and as usual will try to contact us if weather conditions call for a cancellation before we drive to the boat.

His shop will be moving to a new location in 2 weeks. He will email everyone when that happens.

Everyone be advised that the following are required by Tom and Ben to dive the Scuba Too:

1) Standard NAUI Waiver and Release signed before boarding naming Tom Gormley and Ben Gualano as Instructors and Divemasters.

2) Logbook indicating northeast boat diving experience or arrangements to do guided dive with Tom or Ben.

3) Pony bottle and regulator with pressure gauge or other suitable redundant gear.

4) Compass, wreck reel, surface audible signaling device, and cutting device as well as other mandatory scuba gear.

5) DAN or equivalent insurance.

6) The boat leaves at 7AM, don’t miss it. Plan to return by 3PM.

Directions to the Scuba Too are as follows:

Take the Garden State Parkway to exit 98. Take Rt. 34 south, which connects to Rt. 35 south. Continue on Rt. 35 south and cross the Manasquan River into Point Pleasant Beach. Take the first left turn after the bridge, which puts you on Rt. 35 north. Turn right onto Broadway almost immediately. Drive east until you go over the boat basin bridge on Broadway and turn right onto Randal Ave. Make a quick right into the parking lot and look for the Scuba Too. Parking is limited so carpool if available.

Large Marine Animal Story

"Fire In the Turtle House" Examines Fate of Green Turtles

In 1936, Dr. Christopher Coates of the New York Aquarium noticed several
small warts on one of the green sea turtles in his exhibit. On closer
examination, he and colleagues realized they were in fact small tumors. The
tumors were removed and assigned the moniker "fibropapillomas." For the best
part of forty years, little more was thought of the discovery; but in the
1970s, green turtles began washing ashore -- in Hawaii, Mexico, Grand Cayman
Island, Florida -- covered with the same tumors. Over the ensuing years, the
phenomenon became more common, and by 1985, 35 percent of the green turtles
, which washed ashore in Hawaii, were victims of the same disease. The
prevalence continued to increase throughout the 1980s, and incidences were
recorded across the globe. In recent years, it has appeared in five of the
other six species of sea turtles.

Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean
documents the discovery of fibropapillomas in turtles and the disease's
apparent spread. It reviews the efforts of researchers to uncover the cause,
and looks at the different theories -- diet, viruses, toxic phytoplankton,
environmental stresses, immunosuppression -- which have been advanced,
independently or in tandem -- to explain the phenomenon. Ultimately
suggesting it is but one symbol of the damage being done by human activities
to the ocean, author Osha Gray Davidson posits that: "We could stop treating
the ocean as if it were the world's largest garbage dump and start treating
it like the sacred source for all life that it is. We could end our mindless
plundering of the sea, a process that plays havoc with complex marine
ecology, unweaving millennia of evolutionary relationships. We could balance
growth and development with habitat preservation. We could, finally, get
serious about stopping global warming. We could, we could, we could -- but
will we?"

Source: Davidson, Osha Gray. 2001. Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea
Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean. New York: Public Affairs, 220 pp.

Contact: Kara Masciangelo, Public Affairs. Tel: (212) 397 6666, ex. 238

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May Meeting Minutes, (unapproved)

Divers Anonymous Meeting Minutes

Next Meeting Note: Our next meeting will be held on Monday June 24 at 7:30PM at Mario’s Restaurant.

DA Secretary, Richard Mullen, respectfully submits May Divers Anonymous Monthly Meeting Minutes.

Divers Anonymous Scuba Dive Club

Mario’s Restaurant / 710 Van Houten Avenue, Clifton, NJ / (973) 777-1559

May 20, 2002 - Monthly Meeting Minutes

Members Present:

Jamie Cacciatore

Edith Farmer

Ian Fryer

Norva & Tom Gormley

Ben Gualano

Mick Lacatena

Fredrick Marcus

Connie & Leo Mazur

Richard Mullen

Al Nesterok

Lara Padula

Erica & Imre Papdi

Guests Present:

Laura Menville

Chris Rollins

The meeting began at 7:30 p.m. / 15 active members were present.

Executive Committee Reports

Treasurer Report / Lara Padula

Members who have not yet paid their $25 annual dues should contact Lara.

Secretary Report / Rich Mullen

Past month’s newsletter and meeting minutes were made available to club members by web site, sent by email and hardcopy mailed to non-email members. Members present accepted filed meeting minutes unread. NJCDC meeting minutes are available to interested members upon request. Pizza and soda was available for $5+$2.

Vice President’s Report / Al Nesterok

Al is looking into getting club banner and prices for club hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts. Al suggested, and Connie seconded, proposal for club to authorize him to spend up to $500 to place advanced orders for club supplies. Club voted yes to accept proposal. Al is now collecting orders for hats, T-shirts, and sweatshirts.

President’s Report / Tom Gormley

Annual Pre-Memorial Picnic/Dive at Bay Head was cancelled on Sat May 18 due to rain and wind conditions. Instead, we met at Sandy Hook on Sunday May 19. Tom & Norva, Leo & Connie, Ben, Mike, Ian, Al and Rich showed up for our annual event. We dove Horseshoe Cove and after the dive, we had a tailgate picnic followed by food-fight with drive-by watering from Ben & Mike.

June shore dive is planned for Shark River on Sat, June 8 at 7 PM. Plan to arrive by 5:30 p.m.

June boat dives are planned aboard the Scuba Too on Sun, June 16 and 30.

July Dutch Spring’s campout and diving is planned for Sat-Sun, July 27-28.

Tom will be offering private CPR course for any interested parties on Sat, June 22, and rescue course on July 27 and 28. Contact Tom for details.

We are looking for new subjects and guest speakers for future club meetings – suggestions are invited.

Members are encouraged to become more actively involved with club activities and consider joining committees. There are still committee openings for the Membership, Safety & Training and Dive/Picnic Committees.

Special Committees Reports

Legislative Committee / Richard Mullen

Last month Al suggested the club’s Constitution be amended to reflect definition of current year for election of club officer eligibility and relax wording for allowing guests to attend more than one meeting. Rich gave presentation of proposed changes during meeting. Also, he emailed proposal to all email members and mailed hard copy to non-email members. These minor changes will be voted on at the June meeting.

Local Dive Committee / Ben, Tom, Rick and Rich

The dive season is well underway in NJ - contact any of the committee members for updated dive info. Our calendar includes shore and boat dives.

Scuba Too dive boat has been reserved by Tom and Ben for Sunday 7:00 a.m. departures. Tom is running the Jun 16, Jul 14, Aug 4 & 18 trips intended for 2 or 3 local inshore dives. The June 16 trip will be to the Elberon Wreck and the Dual Wrecks. Ben is running the Jun 30 and Sep 8 trips intended for dives at the Mohawk and Emerald at 80 feet for digging and artifact finding. Cost is $60 per trip. The only remaining openings are Jun 16 & 30 have 1 opening and Aug 18 has 2 openings.

Contact Ben for possible dive outings aboard the Sea Lion.

Contact Rick for putting together dive dates aboard the OL’ Salty II.

Membership Committee / Tom Gormley

Welcome to guests Laura Menville and Chris Rollins. We encourage members to invite friends and dive buddies to become members.

Newsletter Committee / Tom Gormley

Report all newsworthy articles and events to Tom before the tenth of each month for possible inclusion into the newsletter.

Safety & Training Committee / Ian Fryer

Nothing knew to report.

Special Event Committee / Rick Farmer

Nothing knew to report.

Travel Committee / Norva Gormley

Ben is still considering putting together another St. Thomas trip for September. This is a great opportunity to dive with an experienced diver who knows his way around the island.

Web Site Committee / Rick Farmer

Visit club web site at https://www.angelfire.com/nj4/divers/

This web site offers Calendar of Events, Newsletters, 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.

Old Business

The following members have not yet signed our 2002 Release of Liability Form: Richard Bertoldi, Michael Gaynor, Joe Giannetto, Emilio Grugnale, Fredrick Marcus, Ramon Medina, Gary Mullen, Christine Nesterok, Charles Nunez, Erica and Imre Papdi, Kevin Stoltz, Meredith and Pat Tierney, Henry Van Ginneken, Don Wilson, Joseph Youncofski and John Young.

New Business

Club voted to accept Imre Papdi’s son Michael as our first honorary club member in special thanks for his preparing of our 2002 Dive Club Membership Cards. Congratulations Michael!

Guest Speaker

Rich, Tom, Ben and Al gave presentations regarding suggested dive gear to use when doing boat dives off New Jersey. Rich showed his dive gear setup; Tom showed his preferred setup and reasons why; Ben gave details about his technical setup suitable for deep and deco dives; and Al gave details how to pack and unpack for dive boat outings.

Next club meeting is Monday, June 24, 2002.

Secretary, Richard Mullen, submits club minutes.

2002 Calendar

2002 Divers Anonymous Calendar 2002

January 2002 · 1/12 - DA Holiday Party, 8:00 pm, San Carlo Rest., 620 Stuyvesant Ave, Lyndhurst · 1/14 – DA Planning Meeting, 7PM, 6 Bros Diner, Rt 46 · 1/28 - Dive Club Meeting, Featured Speaker: Capt Ted Massotti, How to become rebreather certified	February 2002 § 2/16 Third Annual DA Ski Day § 2/17 Tom’s River Flea Market § 2/25 - Dive Club Meeting	March 2002 · 3/3 NYC Aquarium Trip · 3/20 Pool Check Out Dive, Clifton Y, 9PM · Beneath the Sea 3/22, 23, 24 · Dive Club Meeting 3/25
April 2002 · April 14 Manasquan River Dive 10AM · 4/29 - Dive Club Meeting Annual Dues & Officer Elections	May 2002 · 5/18 - Memorial Day Picnic and Dive · 5/20 - Dive Club Meeting · Boat Diving	June 2002 · 6/8 Shark River Inlet Dive · 6/16 Boat Diving Scuba Too, Elberon & Dual Wrecks Trip · 6/24 - Dive Club Meeting · 6/30 Boat diving Scuba Too, Mohawk Trip
July 2002 · 7/7 Dual Wrecks, Long Branch Shore Dive, 7:30AM · 7/14 Boat Dive Scuba Too · 7/27 & 28 Dutch Springs Camping and Dive Weekend · 7/29 - Dive Club Meeting · Boat Diving	August 2002 · 8/4 , 8/18 Scuba Too Boat Dives · 8/24 Night Dive at Shark River Inlet & Sat Night Out · DA Day at Great Adventure · 8/26 - Dive Club Meeting · Boat Diving	September 2002 · Labor Day Picnic & Dive, Sun, 9/1, 8AM · 9/8 Boat Diving Scuba Too Mohawk Trip · 9/22-23 Long Island Diving · 9/30 - Dive Club Meeting · Boat Diving
October 2002 · 10/27 Halloween Dive · Boat Diving · 10/28 Dive Club Meeting	November 2002 · 11/17 Fifth Annual Equipment Maintenance Workshop · 11/25 Dive Club Meeting	December 2002 · 12/16 – Dive Club Meeting 2^nd Annual Artifact & Photo Exhibit and Dive Story Contest · Happy Holidays

Pink Highlighted Events are supported by DA dues: food, prizes, subsidized admission etc.