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NEWSLETTER OF THE MONTEREY BAY SEA OTTERS DIVE CLUB

The Otter Limits

WWW.MONTEREYBAYSEAOTTERS.ORG

Volume 19 Issue #11 November/December, 2019

It’s Not Too Late To RSVP!

There is not a regular MBSO meeting in November or December

January 10th, Friday, 5:00 p.m.* After-Work Dive, Wharf II, Monterey

January 18th, Saturday 8:00 a.m.* Clean-Up Dive, San Carlos Beach, Monterey

January 25th, Saturday, 8:00 a.m.* Club Dive, Otter Cove, Pacific Grove

January 29th, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Club Meeting, Crazy Horse Restaurant, Monterey

RED indicates change from original calendar

* all times are for SHOW times, to assess conditions – mandatory briefing 30 minutes later Please RSVP for dives to dive coordinator or on MBSO Facebook page!!

President’s Corner

Party’s at Matt’s place! Come on over!

NEWS FLASH!! Menu has been changed! Tri-tip to replace turkey….

Sunday, December 1 is the day. We will start the festivities at 1 and wrap up at 5 or so. The club will provide a tri-tip and ham and some drinks, and we can all bring some appetizers, side dishes, and desserts, pot-luck style. Alcoholic beverages will be BYOB and we usually share.

The Otter Limits Page 1 As per tradition, we will do a white-elephant gift exchange. If you want to participate, bring a wrapped gift of $15-$20 value. It doesn’t have to be new, regifting is encouraged. We will draw numbers and select gifts in that order. During your turn, if you like a previously opened gift, you can "steal" it. A gift can change hands a maximum of two times, then it stays with the third and final owner. We will also be holding a raffle for cool stuff like a gift certificate, wine, and much more.

Should you come? Yes! There are a lot of you out there that we don’t see regularly at the dives or meetings, but we still would like to hang out with you. This is always a great time of sharing food and laughs – please join us! Don’t celebrate Christmas? This is a holiday party in the most secular sense, overlain with the trappings of the season. We will be focusing on the traditions of companionship, good food, and gift-giving (and stealing!)

Email Activities Director Scott at [email protected] and let him know how many people, and what dish you will bring to share. You can click that link right now! The address is 50 Street, Pacific Grove. We are at the corner with Del Monte Blvd. and the parking is easiest on Del Monte (look for the lighted ).

Mark Holman, President

Treasurer’s Two Cents

Our last meeting of 2019 has come and gone, but there’s still our annual holiday party to look forward to! The Denecours have opened their home again, and we encourage you to join us for the potluck and white elephant gift exchange! Sign up with Activities Director Scott at [email protected].

At our annual Members Night meeting, we enjoyed a variety of images from all over the world and look forward to next year’s batch of photos! We drew two names to win gift certificates to our local business members, and the winners were Newsletter Editor Matt and Stefanie Flax.

Business member Aquarius Dive Shop renewed its membership with the club. 2

See you at the holiday party!

Walan Chang, Treasurer

Minute to Minute

A MBSO Board meeting was held on November 20th, 2019. In attendance were President – Mark Holman, Treasurer – Walan Chang, Safety Officer – Randy Phares, Newsletter Editor – Matt Denecour, Vice President - Tom Hubbard, Secretary – Caleb Lawrence, and Dive Coordinator – Corey Penrose.

We talked about the upcoming newsletter and holiday party. We talked about a new dive calendar for 2020, and possible new officers as well. We also spent a lot of time looking at the CDIP forecasts for the Butterfly House dive.

Our next meeting will be December 18th, at 7 p.m. Everyone is invited to dial-in at 563-999- 2090 (365378# access code) and follow along.

Vast……….

“How inappropriate to call this planet, Earth when it is clearly Ocean” – Arthur C. Clarke

The Pacific Ocean is an incredibly large thing. It’s more than 60 million square miles. That is larger than all the continents combined. There are places in the Pacific where, if you dug straight down to the other side of Earth, you’d still be in the Pacific Ocean. There is another place where, at times, the nearest human being is in the International Space Station.

And it is deep too. The average depth is 13,000 feet. It holds half of the world’s open water, and twice as much as the Atlantic Ocean.

Matt Denecour, Editor

Sources: California Sun, oceanexplorer.noaa.gov

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January Meeting (no November or December meetings)

Join us in January as we welcome Patrick Webster, social media content creator for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Patrick is an entertaining speaker and an incredible photographer.

Photo by Monterey County Weekly.

Previous Meeting Recap

Member’s Night Still and Video Photography

We had a number of members present different photos from dive trips they had taken. This included:

Scott - in Brian - Diving in Europe - This included lakes, Malta, Croatia, and Corsica Ardell - First video from her trip to the - lots of fish and nudities Stefanie - Stills from Southern and Northern California. Great shots. One shot won her a prize trip in the Backscatter Monterey Shootout. * Ardell - Second video was from Fiji - lots of fish and nudis. Walan - Photos from Philippines

It was a lot of fun and it was great to see the creativity of our members.

Scott McReynolds, Activities Coordinator

*Definitely take a peek at the Shootout results at www.montereyshootout.com. You will see some really awesome work and recognize a lot of the names from the MBSO membership and speakers’ list. You can also browse previous years’ winners…

Safety First

Heavy Diver No Match for Heavy Seas (from )

Heavy seas create problems for an overweight, diabetic diver who nearly drowns after a ladder hits his head. (2012,USA)

Reported Story I took part in a wreck-diving excursion on a charter boat in the Atlantic. Waves were 5-6 feet, and the captain said there was a half-knot . Several divers, including myself, were seasick and decided not to dive. Some divers entered the water but cut their dives short. Several other overweight divers, however, completed their dives. I felt if they could, I could do

4 it, too. Someone advised that I'd feel better as soon as I was in the water, so I decided to try it. I used a drysuit and double 108s with wing.

I entered the water last, just as the boat was calling off a second dive. I was advised to "get below the current immediately," so I had no air in the drysuit or wing. The current was strong enough that divers went in holding a rope, and the first mate pulled them to the hang bar. I believe the current was closer to 3 or 4 knots at that time.

After a giant-stride entry, I was pulled to the hang bar but could not swim into the current and realized I was in trouble. My inflator (on the wing) had gone over my back, and I could not reach it. I did not think about using the drysuit inflator. I was kicking toward the surface and telling the mate I needed help. He wanted to pull me back to the hang bar. Finally, the boat captain heard me and entered the water to assist me to the ladder. I could not make him understand that I needed my inflator.

The seas seemed huge; I was seeing the starboard side prop from the port side of the boat. I have no recollection of the journey to the ladder, but I must have missed it because I was on the current rope, on my back and "zooming" to the end of it. Something was tugging my regulator, and I was inhaling a mist of water and air.

After a tremendous effort by the operator and my dive buddy, I had the ladder. However, the boat took a large wave, turned me sideways, and the ladder hit me on the temple. I saw my vision narrow to a yellow-tinged tunnel; I remember only my loss of the current line, sinking, a mighty push on my feet and reacquisition of the line. I remember hearing shouts to get ropes on me, continued struggling and finally I was on the rear platform. I was exhausted and could not move to help myself onto the boat. Somehow others got me onto the boat, removed my drysuit and gave me immediately and for the duration of the return trip.

A Coast Guard craft intercepted us on the way and put medics on board; we continued to the USCG station to a waiting ambulance. At the hospital I was diagnosed as a saltwater "partial" and given continuous . Later, I was transferred to another hospital, where treatment continued; medical personnel noted I had numbers indicating a kidney issue. They adjusted my existing medications — I am an insulin-dependent diabetic taking Humulin R500 as well as Naproxin for joint pain. I was released the next day, went home to my own doctor and was immediately admitted to the local hospital, where they continued treatment for drowning, then renal failure and finally atrial fibrillation. I was in the hospital for about 10 days and continued to convalesce for nearly a month.

This incident was my fault entirely, as I made poor decisions at each point. I was seasick, dehydrated, overheated, diving with the wrong gear, determined to dive simply to avoid wasting the money, ignoring the experience of other divers who chose not to dive, accepting the notion that I'd feel better in the water and finally diving with no . I have recovered completely, have made some dives since then and plan to continue diving, using this experience as a guide for future decisions.

Comments Bad judgments, both on 's side and the dive operator's side, contributed to this accident. If the sea was so heavy and the current so strong, the operator should have raised a yellow flag, which would warn divers to abstain from diving if they are not healthy and fit for the occasion (e.g., overweight divers, older divers, diabetics, unfit divers and beginners). 5

Unfortunately, there is no established system in diving similar to the one used on public beaches or on the ski slopes that could help divers make proper decisions.

In this case, the diver was aware of all the issues yet still used bad judgment. He is a 67-year- old, experienced diver with 18 years of diving, completely able to make responsible calls. Severe seasickness may have affected his judgment. That is another reason for dive operators to assist divers with their decisions.

There were no details in the report about medical for this diver. Developing renal (kidney) failure may indicate that he already had end-organ damage, which comes with diabetes, including heart diseases. However, when explicitly asked, he said he had a cardiac physical including stress tests and an echocardiogram about six months prior to the incident and was cleared to dive. His blood was 115/75 without medication. Regardless of medical fitness, it is not very likely that a 5'9" tall diver weighing 275 pounds is physically fit for the challenges of the wreck diving in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

— Petar Denoble, M.D., D.Sc.

Randy Phares, Safety Officer

(Ed. Note: Don’t let this article deter you from enjoying yourselves at Thanksgiving or the MBSO holiday party – you can diet in January.)

Scheduled Club Dives

All times are for SHOW times, to assess conditions – divers must be geared up for the mandatory briefing 30 minute later.

Please RSVP for dives to dive coordinator or on MBSO Facebook page!!

After Work Dive, Friday, January 10th, 5:00 p.m. Wharf II, Monterey

Our after-work dive will be at the Municipal Wharf #2. We dive this location with the permission of the harbormaster, so we don’t do it often. If you have not dived this location before you should definitely check it out. We will meet at 5 p.m. at the parking in front of the London Bridge Pub near the intersection of Del Monte and Figueroa. It gets dark about 6:00 so this is considered to be a night dive. We will have a mandatory at 5:30.

This is generally an easy place to dive at night because it is very easy to navigate amongst all the pilings. The depth is a fairly consistent 20-25 feet deep. This is the only muck dive that we do in Monterey where we find both black-eyed gobies and bay gobies living amongst the oyster shells and discarded crab pots along the edge of the wharf. One spot fringeheads and the occasional sarcastic fringehead can be found in discarded bottles and timbers. This is a night dive, so please bring two dive lights and a marker light. After the dive we will probably eat something in a nearby pub or restaurant.

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Clean-Up Dive, Saturday, January 18th, San Carlos Beach, Monterey

In 2009, the Monterey Bay Sea Otter’s Dive Club adopted San Carlos Beach within the California Coastal Commission’s ‘Adopt a Beach’ program. We now organize quarterly beach clean-ups that are both fun for divers and helpful to our environment.

It’s that time once again Sea Otters! We will be picking up debris on the topside of San Carlos Beach as well as underwater along the Breakwater Wall. We want our adopted beach in tip- top shape. We will meet at 8:00 at the picnic tables that are close to the beach. Non-diver guests are always welcome to join us because who doesn’t love a trash-free beach!

Peet’s Coffee in Monterey will graciously donate their delicious coffee for this event and there will be perfectly paired doughnuts provided by the MBSO club. All we have to do is hope for sunshine and a calm sea, which would make this a perfect dive day.

Please bring a knife to cut and a goodie-bag to put your trashy collections in. If you don’t have a goodie-bag, the club has some that we will happily loan out.

We hope you will join us in cleaning our beautiful adopted beach!

See you on Saturday, January 18th!

Club Dive, Saturday, January 25th, 8:00 a.m. Otter Cove, Pacific Grove

This is a shallow site that doesn’t see 50 ft. until a long way out where the boulders give way to a sandy bottom with rocky pinnacles and some kelp. The pinnacles are covered in invertebrates and strawberry anemones and encrusting sponges are common. Small lingcod and cabezons are in the crevices waiting to ambush a tasty snack, such as one of the sculpins, gobies, or juvenile rockfish swimming around. While you are out there, look for bat rays on the sandy bottom.

The prime entry point is at the intersection of Ocean View Blvd. and Siren Street. There is a small parking lot and stone stairs lead down to a stony beach.

This is a site that often gets overlooked and one can often see more sea life than at other, more dived sites. (from A Diver’s Guide to Monterey County, California by Bruce Watkins)

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Previous Dives

After Work Dive, Friday, November 8th, 5:00 p.m. Wharf II, Monterey

MBSO divers Manuel Jimenez and Valerie Saidman, and guest divers DW Daniels and Jessica Altavilla were our divers. Manuel reported that his dive was 68 minutes long at depths of 22-30 feet with a water of 57° F. Visibility was 15 feet. Various creatures sighted included a giant spine sea star, sand dollars, anemones, , moon jelly fish, yellow crab, tube worms and sheep crab. When he took the picture of the sheep crab eating the bat sea star, the sheep crab paid no attention to the giant diver behind him.

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Photos by Manuel Jimenez and Valerie Saidman.

Club Dive, Saturday, November 23rd, 8:00 a.m. Butterfly House, Carmel

The dive at Butterfly House was cancelled after V.P. Tom moseyed down there at 6:30 in the morning and reported 15 ft. surf at Carmel Point. Safety Officer Randy and Newsletter Editor Matt met at San Carlos Beach to assess conditions there. The surf was washing up to the third concrete step and there were sideways zipper waves ricocheting off the breakwater. At one point, the was crashing off the rip rap and forming a heading out to sea. It was amusing to watch a few foolhardy souls venturing in, but scary too as we saw one couple wash-machined, rescued, and wash-machined again. At that point, the Monterey Parking Enforcement Officers were exiting their coffins in search of fresh blood, so I decided to head home. Better luck next time…

Matt Denecour Other Dive Related Opportunities

Sometimes it’s nice to splash in a new, exciting destination.

Breakwater Scuba Bali November-December 2019 Bamboo Fiji December 5-14 Philippines April 18-25 Costa Rica June 6-13 July 18-25 Turks and Caicos November 7-14 Raja Ampat January 2020 9

Backscatter Komodo December 7-19 Cuba January 18-25, January 25-February 1 Wide-Angle Boot Camp Little Cayman January 18-25, January 25-February 1 Lightroom workshop Little Cayman February 1-8 Truk Lagoon April 1-11 , Philippines Macro workshop April 7-17 Wide-Angle Bootcamp Roatan April 11-18 Digital Shootout Bonaire June 6-20 Cocos Island August 31-September 11 Macro Workshop Lembeh September 16-26 Fiji November 14-24 Lightroom Immersion Workshop Little Cayman November 28-December 5, December 5-12 Solomon Islands September 7-21

See our business sponsors page for contact info!

Classes

Aquarius Dive Shop www.aquariusdivers.com We can arrange classes for practically any PADI specialty to suit your requirements. Please call (831) 375-1933 for more information.

Bamboo Reef www.bambooreef.com Open Water Class usually begins the third Tuesday of the month. Bamboo Reef welcomes arrangements for one-on-one instruction. In addition, any specialty or advanced course can be set up with a minimum of two divers. Please call (831) 372-1685 for more information. CSUMB – NAUI certification and classes.

Breakwater Scuba www.breakwaterscuba.com Instruction from beginner to advanced tech diving, including .

Membership

The MONTEREY BAY SEA OTTERS

• Promote diving for education and pleasure, under observation of the highest safety standards. • Provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information, education, and training. • Strongly encourage continuing education, environmental conservation, good sportsmanship, and cooperation with all other users of the marine environment. • Provide a network of dive buddies who believe in the ideals of this club.

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• Please follow link to the club website for more information or email: [email protected]

MBSO Club Dive Guidance

The Monterey Bay Sea Otters dive club welcomes all certified divers to join club dives. For the diving pleasure of all participants, divers shall follow the following recommendations set forth by the club:

A diver may participate as a guest for one dive, after which they are encouraged to officially join the club and pay the yearly dues. If a diver has not participated in a cold water dive during the past 6 months or exhibits irresponsible or unsafe behavior, the Beach Marshal may exclude them from the club dive and refer the diver to a local dive shop for an equipment check and refresher course.

Attendance at the dive briefing is mandatory for participants. All club dives will also be posted on our Facebook page and also a reminder email with more details will be sent out a few days before the dive. Please note that in order to better prepare for these dives, we kindly ask that if you are in fact planning on attending a club dive, let us know prior to the dive. We would like to encourage divers to bring along a mesh bag to club dives, in order to assist in collecting any trash found in the ocean.

If we have to change dive location or cancel a dive, the Dive Coordinator (Corey Penrose) will send out an email to all club members and the divers/guests, who already contacted him.

General Guidelines For After Work & Night Dives:

To participate in after work dives or night dives, divers must carry a minimum of two lights: one main light and a back-up light. In addition, divers should attach a colored marker light to their tank valve. Be sure to check your batteries before you arrive.

For everyone’s diving pleasure the club would like to thank all participants for adhering to these recommendations for club dives.

Editor’s Note

The Otter Limits arrives just in time to get you excited for our monthly meeting and remind you of our upcoming dives. In an attempt to provide a steady publication date, all material, and reports, need to be submitted to the editor no later than the 3rd Wednesday of each month for publication. Any SCUBA related articles are welcomed and appreciated and will be included as space allows. Any high-quality underwater pictures are appreciated. Please email to [email protected].

The newsletter has a section for member-led events. If you have an idea, please submit it to a board member for inclusion.

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Other Events

These events are not hosted or sponsored by the Monterey Bay Sea Otters.

Old neoprene Is your old or neoprene drysuit not doing its job anymore? Bring it to Adam at Bamboo Reef for recycling. You will keep it out of the landfill and your old neoprene will become a nice yoga mat.

Urchins!

Do you want to find out what is being done about the urchin infestation? Sign-up with the Giant Kelp Restoration project for the newsletter at G2kr.com. You can sign up as a volunteer diver as well.

This from Walan and CSUMB…

Hello everyone!

Our school invites you, your colleagues and your students to attend next week's seminar on Monday, December 2, 2019 from 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. on the first floor of Chapman Science Academic Center in Room E-104.

Last two seminars for this semester:

December 2nd: Ms. Simone Mortan, Manager of Guide Programs, Monterey Bay Aquarium Topic: Make Climate Change conversations, positive, productive, and oriented

December 9th: Stefanie Lozano, Program Manager, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County Topic: Agriculture and Conservation

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Board of Directors - 2019

PRESIDENT Mark Holman [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT Tom Hubbard [email protected] ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR Scott McReynolds [email protected] DIVE COORDINATOR Corey Penrose [email protected] SECRETARY Caleb Lawrence [email protected] TREASURER Walan Chang [email protected] SAFETY OFFICER Randy Phares [email protected] NEWSLETTER EDITOR Matthew Denecour [email protected]

http://montereybayseaotters.org/ Webmaster – Corey Penrose Facebook

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Local Sponsors

Free air fills to club members. Limit 2 per day. 10% discount on merchandise

Phone: (831) 375-1933 Dive Conditions Line: (831) 657-1020 Free air fills to club members. 20% discount on gear servicing

Kindly donating coffee for the MBSO beach clean-ups Call for special MBSO pricing

225 Cannery Row Monterey, CA 93940 831.717.4546 www.breakwaterscuba.com

See you next month, Sea Otters!

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Underwater Topside Holidays 2020 MBSO ACTIVITIES CALENDAR Changes

JANUARY 1 New Year's Day 4 Independence Day New Year's DayJUL Y S M T W T F S 10 After Work Dive: 10 After Work Dive: AfterS WorkM T Dive W: T F S 1 2 3 4 Fisherman’s Wharf 2 Lovers Cove Fisherman ’s Wha1 rf 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 18 Clean Up Dive: San 18 Clean Up Dive: San Cle5an Up6 D7ive : 8San 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Carlos Beach Carlos Beach Carlos12 Beach13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 20 MLK Day 25 Club Dive: Copper King19 Day 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 31 25 Club Dive: Otter Cove Roof Club2 6 D i2ve:7 Otter2 8 2 9Cove 3 0 31 29 General Meeting 29 General Meeting General Meeting

FEBRUARY AUGUST S M T W T F S 12 After Work Dive: S M T W T F S 1 Lovers Cove 12 After Work Dive: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 14 Valentine's Day Metridium Field 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 President’s Day 26 General Meeting 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 2 0 21 2 2 26 General Meeting 29 Club Boat Dive: TBD 16 17 18 19 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 29 Club Dive: San Carlos 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 Beach 3 0 31

MARCH 7 Labor Day SEPTEMBER MAS M T WR T CF SH 11 After Work Dive: Otter S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 After Work Dive: Cove 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 McAbee Beach 19 Clean Up Dive: San 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 25 General Meeting Carlos Beach

15 16 17 18 19 2 0 21 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Club Dive: Butterfly 26 Membership 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 28 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 House Appreciation BBQ and 2 9 3 0 31 Dive: Lovers Point 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 30 General Meeting

APRIL 12 Columbus Day OCTOBER 8 After Work Dive: S M T W T F S Metridium Fields 14 After Work Dive: S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 12 Easter Sunday Fisherman’s Wharf 2 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 18 Clean Up Dive: San 24 Club Dive: Monastery 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 Carlos Beach South 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 25 Club Dive: Stewart’s 28 General Meeting 18 19 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 2 4

Halloween 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 Cove 31 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 31 Pumpkin Carving 29 General Meeting

Contest

MAY 8 After Work Dive: Coral NOVEMBER S M T W T F S Street 11 Veterans Day S M T W T F S

1 2 10 Mother’s Day 13 After Work Dive: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 23 Club Dive: Monastery McAbee Beach 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 15 16 17 18 19 2 0 21 North 26 Thanksgiving 17 18 19 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 25 Memorial Day 28 Club Dive: Butterfly 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 27 General Meeting House 2 9 3 0 31 30 Club Boat Dive: TBD

JUNE DECEMBER

S M T W T F S 10 After Work Dive: San S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carlos Beach TBD Annual Holiday Party 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 21 Father’s Day 9 After Work Dive: Coral 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 2 0 24 General Meeting Street 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 27 Club Dive: Stillwater 25 Christmas 2 0 21 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 8 2 9 3 0 Cove 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 31

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