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Surface Interval June 2016 FAIRFIELD COUNTY DIVING ASSOCIATION June 2016 Volume 23 Issue 6 Inside this Issue The Presidents’ Corner The Presidents’ Corner by Mike Cassetta by Mike Cassetta page 1 Summer and dive season are in Our group stayed at the beautiful full swing in the Northeast. If you Bosque del Mar. It had wonderful FCDA Donor I page 2 are going away, safe travels . If not, views and a beautiful pool area there are plenty of opportunities to quipped with howler monkeys and a May Meeting DAN dive locally. splashing kid named Joseph. We Raffle Winners page 3 Recently, Matt, Lisa J and I did a also did some zip lining, horse riding wonderful 50+ minute dive off Fort a nd a wildlife cruise in the national Wetherill. Visibility was a nice 10-15 park. On our cruise we saw crocs, FCDA Member Ads feet and water temps were in the iguanas, monkeys (capuchin & page 3 low 60s with a low of 57 at 40 ft. We howler) and all sorts of awesome saw large schools of small fish, some birds including a rare “Green Duck”. rays and a halibut. Overall great Thanks to Don Brown of Ski & Wreck Diving with Sand dive. We have upcoming dives with Scuba for presenting at our May Tigers by Mike Gerken Orbit Marine (Capt Noel), the Thun- meeting on Maya Riviera “Reefs, pages 4, 5, 6. 7 derfish (Capt Bill) and the annual Wrecks, Sharks & Cenotes with a treks to Cape Anne. side of Guac”. Our June meeting will I was fortunate enough to spend be Friday June 24th and our fea- FCDA Donor II page 5 a recent week in Costa Rica. Thanks tured guest will be Capt Noel of Or- to Lisa Jarosik for organizing. a bit Marine speaking about his recent Astonishing Sonar group of us from the Aquarium in- trip to Bali. Congrats to the whole cluding FCDA members Mark Dexter Voroba clan as Noel’s daughter re- Image of the Bomb & Michelle Lapin. We had a fantastic cently graduated from medical Laden Wreck of SS week both above and below the sur- school and got married. Montgomery That is a face. The diving in Costa Rica was Look forward to seeing you all simply brilliant. We dove with Rocket soon and let’s get wet. Ticking Time Bomb Frog on the Pacific side. Although pages 7, 8, 9, 10 conditions were at times challenging, Mike the amount of sea life we saw was Explorers plan June well worth it. Most of our dives were between 70-90 ft with surge. Visibil- mission to Andrea ity could range from 100+ to 25 ft Doria shipwreck by dependent on current. We saw in- Associated Press page 11 credible large schools of fish, white tip reef sharks, octopuses (or octopi or however you say the plural), gui- Next FCDA Meeting tar fish, mantas and a bull shark. We page 12 hope to show off some of Michelle’s videos at an upcoming meeting. On the surface we also had a blast. We ran into Andy and Julie Cummings along with John Hill and wife at dinner in town before our whole crew was thrown out of a gift shop (ps - we did nothing wrong). Page 2 FCDA Donor The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association. UPCOMING TRIPS Bonaire 2016 Sat, Nov 12, 2016 - Sat, Nov 19, 2016 Divi Flamingo Truk Lagoon 2016 Sun, Nov 27, 2016 - Sun, Dec 04, 2016 Truk Odyssey Red Sea (Egypt) 2017 Sat, Nov 25, 2017 - Sat, Dec 02, 2017 Red Sea Aggressor Page 3 May Meeting DAN Raffle Winners After an exciting presentation Dive Center and Orbit Remember, you can't win if you don't by Don Brown on “Reefs, Marine Dive Center for buy tickets and you can't buy tickets if you Wrecks, Sharks & Cenotes donating tonight’s raffle don't get up and come out to FCDA With a Side of Guac” the club prizes for our DAN raffle. events and meetings! hels its raffle to support our DAN Sponsorship. Winners were: $10 Gift Card donated by New England Dive Center - Charlie Blanchette; Jelly Fish Sting Relief donated by New England Dive Center - Charlie Blanchette; $10 Gift Card donated by New England Dive Center - Kelsey Smith; Intova Neoprene Camera Case donated by New England Dive Center - Maciej Wroblewski; $10 Gift Card donated by New England Dive Center - Kelsey Smith; Spin Chill Drink Cooler donated by New England Dive Center - Jeff Susa and a New England Diving Guide donated by Orbit Marine Dive Center - Tom Thomes. Thanks to New England FCDA Member Ads Hey - have you got a non retail-diving business that you’d like to share with fellow members of FCDA? Get your business card size ad in the FCDA monthly newsletter “Surface Interval” for only $50.00 for one year. Give your business a boost and help support the production of our monthly newsletters. For more information, write to FCDA, P.O. Box 3005, Fairfield, CT 06824 or email to [email protected]. Page 4 Wreck Diving with Sand Tigers by Mike Gerken While most humans try to are the plentiful sand tiger sharks avoid sharks, the surge in popu- (Carcharias taurus). larity of shark diving in the past With small, piercing eyes that 10 years shows that divers are seem to stare at you from every enthusiastically traveling the direction and rows of ragged teeth world intentionally seeking them protruding from a cruel smile, the out. sand tiger's visage is reminiscent North Carolina's Outer Banks of a Hollywood villain's. But looks are a prime location for diving can be deceiving; these sharks are P.O. Box 3005, with sharks. Over the centuries, actually docile and sedate animals Fairfield, CT 06824 many ships met their demise that do not startle easily. Careful there due to war, weather or hu- divers who respect the animals' man error as well as by becoming space will be able to achieve prox- Internet mail: [email protected] artificial reefs. These wrecks have imity without needing bait or http://www.fcda.us morphed into prolific reef com- chum. Because of the sharks' mild munities with abundant marine disposition and the ease of finding 2016 Board life from every link in the food them, encounters are almost guar- Presidents Matt Rownin & chain, and sharks are the domi- anteed. nant predators. Geography plays an important Mike Cassetta Drawn in by the bountiful food role in producing the great diving Vice-President Mark Shannon supply, numerous species — in- opportunities off the North Caro- Secretary Vacant cluding blacktip, sandbar, bull lina coast. The Gulf Stream heads and occasionally hammerhead north along the Western Atlantic, Treasurer Paul J. Gacek sharks — can be found on these eventually colliding with the barrier wrecks. But the stars of the show (Continued on page 5) A sand tiger shark stretches its jaw while swimming through the wreck of the Aeolus 28 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Page 5 FCDA Donor Wreck Diving The business listed on this page has donated with Sand Tigers dive gear and dive services to help support the by Mike Gerken Fairfield County Diving Association. (continued) (Continued from page 4) beaches that are the Outer Banks. In the summer water temperatures can reach 80°F, with the average on the bottom hovering in the mid- 70s°F. Visibility can exceed 100 feet on a good day, and the norm is around 60 feet. The combination of warm, clear water, historic wrecks and plentiful sharks and other marine life makes for world- class diving. Even after spending hundreds of hours in the water with sand tigers, I still get a rush from being among these menacing-looking but gentle sharks. On a given dive only a handful may be on a wreck, while on another there may be too many to count. Each year in mid- down the East Coast, heading as July on the wreck of the Caribsea, far north as Maine in the summer east of Cape Lookout, sand tigers and south to central Florida in ascend from the bottom higher the winter. They detect the elec- into the water column, where the tromagnetic fields the wrecks water is clearer and warmer. On emit and use them as waypoints more than one occasion I have along their route, much like we seen nearly 75 sharks, all females, would use a GPS." gently swimming into the current Whatever inclinations sand in a schooling formation. It is un- tigers have for the wrecks, rec- known why they do this, but the reational divers are happy they sight of it is permanently etched in have them. Being surrounded by my mental logbook. a plethora of toothy sharks while The aggregation of sand tigers exploring a historic shipwreck on the wrecks is most likely due to makes the diving experience all the reliable source of food the the more fascinating and educa- shipwrecks provide. The wrecks tional. As Fessler added, "It's a may also serve as navigational aids history and biology lesson all in during the sharks' migrations. one." Dean Fessler, educational director Also known as ragged-tooth The Aeolus is a reliable site for div- of the Shark Research Institute, sharks or gray nurse sharks, sand ing with sand tigers; they are often explained it this way: "Sand tigers tigers are found worldwide, pre- seen swimming inside the wreck, and migrate long distances up and (Continued on page 6) diver presence does not disturb them.
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