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 Coral Street, Pacific Grove. We are at the corner with Del Monte Blvd. and the parking is easiest on Del Monte (look for the lighted octopus). 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 3 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 - Wreck diving in North Carolina Brian - Diving in Europe - This included lakes, Malta, Croatia, and Corsica Ardell - First video from her trip to the Philippines - 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 Divers Alert Network) 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 current. 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 oxygen 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" drowning and given continuous oxygen therapy. 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.