See the photos below of Huron Scuba Dive Team member Mike A. who brought his team-colors all the way to Nepal on his way up Mount Everest.
Bring your team-colors somewhere interesting and send us a photo with you in them and we’ll post it for everyone to see
See the link below for the April 2012 edition of the Huron Scuba News…
April 2012 Edition – Huron Scuba News
Here is the trip report from one of the Dirty Dozen Dive Leaders – Bob O.:
Dirty Dozen Mermet Springs Quarry Dive.
In keeping with the best interest of the divers at Huron Scuba the Dirty Dozen Dive program was designed to help provide a simple, fun and easy way to assist divers with the opportunity to dive every month year round. Just very friendly qualified divers who enjoy the sport and understand the difficulty in finding a dive buddy in cold weather. The intent was to stay as local and low cost as possible but provide fun new exciting places to enjoy the dive experience. After looking closely during the coldest winter months the options were limited. Not in eagerness but in finding safe open water.
We decided in March to find a place where all the most interesting features were available but more so a warm environment. In conversations with divers abroad between ( Michigan and Florida) and the Dirty Dozen Diver gang the recommended site was Mermet Springs Quarry in Metropolis IL. Now that’s just a stones throw away from Paducah KY. The concern was the drive time because this was about 8 hours away from us. As we researched the facility from afar it just became more and more attractive. I think what sold us on it was the 727 Commercial Aircraft on the bottom at 50ft. It really was more the draw of all the attributes ( safety, amenities, staff etc ) that lured us even more. The more than 40 attractions on the bottom to see was inviting. Depths to 110 for our advanced divers and less than 20 ft for our less aggressive divers was nice. The practice dive boat moored in the center for practicing boat dive entries. The multiple docks for various entries was awesome. Navigation by attached and signed ropes. Oh and get this, a hydrophone which plays music all day underwater for the divers. Now that was just plain COOL!. Its real purpose was for divers recall or storm evacuation of course but they played music the rest of the time.
You could see everything from a rail car to the petting zoo. Yes I know sounds weird but it’s true. We drove on Sat and arrived at the motel about 3pm. We checked in and headed straight for the Quarry. We found out we could have dove sat as well because they are open until 6pm. It’s about a 10 min drive from the motel but if you prefer there is on-site camping at the quarry with hot showers, flush toilets, changing rooms and electricity. We were met by Randy Ren the PADI instructor on site who had reserved a pavilion for us right next to one of the entry docks. He gave us the complete tour of the facility and made us feel right at home. You can rent any type of equipment there you need and it’s a full service facility with 3 compressor stations so no waiting for a fill. They also have Nitrox and Tri Mix. Just about everything you would possibly need for diving. We were all pretty stoked when we left on Sat. I myself had a hard time sleeping. I was excited about getting into the water and checking this dude out.
Sunday morning our crew consisted of 4 divers. Myself, Ryan M., Joe C., and Nicky S.. We arrived at the quarry, geared up and hit the water. Joe and I went straight for the 727 airplane. We dropped off the steps of the dock to the first platform at 20ft. I take that back,.. you know the interesting thing is once you step off the last step of the dock you’re not headed for the bottom. Below that is a platform and your still standing in about 4ft of water. Perfect place to reg up, fin up or just get that last minute adjustment in. I appreciated that. Once you do decide to go, the 20ft platform is just below you and its all white and clean. Easy to spot. Interesting process at Mermet. They clean everything before the season. A complete wash down of everything so you will see it all in a clean environment. We hit the platform at 20ft and headed down the line. Every rope has a sign on it telling you where you’re headed. The plane, semi, rail car, Motorcycle, Ambulance, Helicopter, just on and on! You always know where you’re headed to or from. Joe and I went to the plane. Ryan and Nicky went deeper on the wall at about 70 ft and checked out the quarry’s deeper side. The vis varied from bad to great depending on where you were at. At the plane it was 30ft. In the shallows it was about 10ft but still manageable. They say it gets better as the season settles in as the temperature varies and turns the water over until it settles. The temp at the surface of the water was 51 degrees. At 50ft it was about 43 degrees. Nothing uncomfortable for any of us as were we were all diving our DUI dry suits. One of the highlights was watching Joe bump into a suspended Cessna while were diving along the rope looking for it on the bottom. I almost flooded my mask laughing so hard. I also picked up a rubber alligator laying on one of the platforms and swam around and jabbed it in Joes face. 200 lbs of air lost right then! He acted like it was staged but if you could have seen his body language it spoke otherwise. Just great fun!!
We made 3 dives on Sunday and also met Glen Faith the owner of the Quarry. I can attest in all honesty folks no one has ever opened the doors and shown such hospitality as Glen and his staff. We are purely talking the red carpet here. It was nothing short of the perfect experience. The safety is unsurpassed. The facility is designed and operated by divers. You can most certainly tell this in the experience. The facility has a mechanical lift for those who need help getting into and out of the water. Many docks, assist buoys, ropes and just anything you may need to be comfortable and enjoy the experience. I can tell you although it was further than I wanted to go, and cost a little more than I wanted to pay, I will go back when I get the chance. The daily fee is 20 dollars. The motel had a Mermet rate of 60 a night with free wifi and continental breakfast. They have a hot tub and whirlpool. You can get a Mermet dvd at Huron Scuba or check the web site.
Glen just sent me a message this morning checking on our stay. He said to let everyone know at Huron Scuba he will give us all the same treatment any time we come visit them. Now that’s just worth taking him up on. I am going back there no doubt about it!! Join the Dirty Dozen Divers next month (April 2012) for the Gull Lake dive hosted by Frank Passack. He’s a Master diver who has offered to show us the best sights of the lake diving right from the park. Its Located in the Battle Creek area just a beautiful spot. Check the schedule at Huron Scuba. You can see we’re looking at some very interesting new sights to dive this year. Nothing but fun, comfort, enjoyment and safety. Become a Dirty Dozen Diver and see some new sites. We’re sexy and we know it!
Dive Safely, Dive Dirty
Bob O.
Please Help – Ann Arbor CIL Stolen Trailer
Greetings:
Several of you have met Bryan Wilkinson, a member of our group, and Director of Sales for MichiganGifts.org. Anyway, I’ll just share with you his email about what recently happened to the CIL, and really encourage you to make a donation.
Ann Arbor CIL Trailer Stolen With $30,000 Sports & Recreation Equipment
March 11th, the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living’s recreation program’s trailer was stolen. Apart from the loss of the trailer that is used for the IRide, it contained about $30,000 of sports and recreation equipment. Most of the hand-cycles and tricycles that are used with the recreation program are now gone along with gas grills for barbecues, all our tennis equipment, a basketball wheelchair, the canopy tents and all the IRide support equipment, and much more.
This theft has put many of the Ann Arbor CIL summer recreation programs on hold. Staff has been collecting the equipment for over ten years through a series of grants and donations, and it will be hard to replace.
Contact the Ann Arbor CIL
Please keep a lookout for any of the cycling equipment turning up on-line or in bike shops. If you see anything, please let Sports and Recreation Director, Glen Ashlock, know as soon as possible. Glen can be reached at Glen@aacil.org or (734) 971-0277 x 33.
Make a Donation to the Sports & Recreation Program
I’m taking part in the Bryan Wilkinson’s Fundraising Page to raise money for ANN ARBOR CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING – please make a donation by visiting my FirstGiving page: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/bryan-wilkinson/bryanwilkinsonsfundraisingpage?fge=ask
You can donate online with a credit card. All donations are secure and sent directly to ANN ARBOR CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING by FirstGiving, who will email you a printable record of your donation.
Please send my page on to anyone who might like to donate!
Bryan
Bryan D. Wilkinson
www.MichiganGifts.Org
Director of Operations & Sales
Ann Arbor CIL – Ann Arbor, MI
‘ voice: (734) 971-0277 x29
‘ fax: (734) 971-0826
Hello Huron Scuba Blog followers. Please see below the review of a dive operation in St. Maarten that a member of the Huron Scuba dive team wrote after a recent trip to St. Maarten.
Please remember that you are always welcome to email over your reviews from recent trips to be posted on the blog for others to see.
Any help is always appreciated.
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REVIEW BELOW
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I want to pass along a review of a dive shop in St. Maarten. The shop does business as Aqua Mania and is located on the resort of Simpson Bay Resort and Marina (Formerly Pelican Bay Resort). The shop was recommended by a friend who spends quite a bit of time on St. Maarten.
We found the dive staff to be excellent. They were just as good as any dive staff we encountered on trips to the Cayman’s. They were extremely safety conscious. Nitrox was available, which I took advantage of.
The weather was poor, with heavy rain, so the dive wasn’t quite up to par. We did manage to see lobster, rays morays, crab , etc.
The only bad thing about this shop was the office staff. they were not very helpful. Unfortunately, none of the natives we encountered seemed to care much about tourists. We spoke with Vinnie (see below) about the staff. He apologized profusely. It sounded as if it was out of his control as to who worked in the office.
We were impressed to to receive the follow-up synopsis of our dives upon returning home.
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Dear Dive Buddy, It was great to have you diving with us this last week, we hope you had a good experience and have returned home safe and refreshed. We have included some info you might want to add to your log book.
Dive sites:
Monday : Gregory (55 ft), Long Bay Reef (50 ft)·
Tuesday : Porpoise (90 ft), Gregory (55 ft)·
Wednesday : Gregory (55 ft), Long Bay Reef (50 ft)·
Thursday : Carib Cargo (65 ft), Bridge (49 ft)·
Sunday : Tiegland (75 ft), Maze (52 ft)
In the afternoons we went to Creole Rock or Little Bay for a single shallow dive for our Open Water students, our Discover Scuba participants and for those divers who didn’t dive for a long time and wanted to refresh their skills in an easy dive. This week we had rough sea conditions with strong winds and big waves. Therefor our choice of dive sites was limited. But: safety first, better safe than sorry !!
Water Temp Average: 78 F
Air Temp Average: 82 F
First of all:
Congratulations to Chris. He completed the eLearning portion of the PADI Open Water Course at home and finished the fun part (diving!) with us. Good job, now keep on diving for more experience, fun and adventure! We all here would like to say a special thank you to Chris, Pam & Laurie for your support over the years and the positive attitudes you guys bring along. It’s truly a pleasure to have you here. Loren and Liz are back! Great to see you again, I’m glad you’ll be with us for another week for some more diving.Ken, thanks for choosing Dive Adventures – hope you enjoyed the diving. Never a dull moment with you on board J , and you know, we’ll always find you a buddy! We had some good photographers this week – if you have some great pictures and you’d like to share them with us, please send them to our email
address: diveaquamania@sintmaarten.net We’re always interested in some good shots!! You can also attach them to your Trip Advisor review, and share them with loads of people! For all of you who have been with us for so long I hope you enjoyed the new crew. I also hope the changes in the shop meet your expectations.Thank you for coming back. For all of you, who were on your first visit, thank you for choosing Dive Adventures. It was a pleasure to have you here. If you think anything needs to be addressed please let me know. We work each day on improving your next visit. Thank you Sandra, Irene, Seyf, Gill and Soinet (Frogman) for a great week, you guys are the best!
Below we have included a link to Trip Advisor. We are hoping you might have a few seconds to post a review for us. We learn daily from our customer feedback.Click here to write a review on Trip Advisor Dive Adventures on Trip Advisor Don’t forget to attach those wonderful pictures!! We hope to see you back on Sunny St Maarten, diving warm and inviting tropical waters!
Regards,
Vinny Agosta
& The Dive Adventures Team Dive Adventures Located on the Marina of the Simpson Bay Resort (previously Pelican Resort)
Simpson Bay, St. Maarten
T: (599) 544 – 2640
F: (599) 544 – 2476
See the article below about the Coral Restoration Foundation.
This is the organization that we had come in to present to the Ann Arbor Bubble Blowers (A2B2) Scuba Social Club late last year.
The were recognized as CNN Hero.
CRF’s Ken Nedimyer Named “CNN Hero” For Environmental Work |
| KEY LARGO, Florida Keys A Florida Keys coral restoration expert has been named a CNN Hero for his pioneering efforts to develop techniques to preserve coral reefs and motivate public assistance for the cause.
The honor for Ken Nedimyer, founder and president of the Key Largo-based Coral Restoration Foundation, was first broadcast on CNN Friday morning. According to CNN officials, CNN Heroes are everyday people changing the world, dedicating their lives to giving back to communities, defending the planet by protecting the environment, helping others overcome obstacles or solving problems in a unique way. More than 10,000 nominations are made each year from about 100 countries around the world, according to CNN spokesperson Shimrit Sheetrit. About 25 to 30 heroes are profiled, she said, and the top 10 are chosen at the end of the year by CNNs editorial board to appear in a special CNN presentation with each finalist receiving a $50,000 grant. One of the honorees, to be voted by fans across the globe in the fall, is to be named CNN Hero of the Year, and is to garner an additional $250,000 grant. Gary Yoss, a Wellington, Fla., diver who had seen Nedimyers coral plantings on Molasses Reef off Key Largo, nominated Nedimyer. I had to pinch myself; Im pretty excited,said Nedimyer, after learning about the honor. Its a huge endorsement not just for me, but for the foundation and this really puts us on the radar. We can be proud hearing Key Largoand Florida Keysare taking measures to protect resources here,added Nedimyer, 56, who began coral restoration research efforts about 10 years ago after being involved in tropical fish collecting and aquaculture careers. The goal of Nedimyer and his small yet impassioned staff of marine scientists is to restore, cultivate and plant staghorn and elkhorn corals, and hopefully reverse their endangered status. CRFs one-acre coral nursery in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo is possibly the worlds largest, Nedimyer said, with nearly 23,000 clippings that range from the length of a knuckle up to 15 inches. The clippings are eventually transplanted to nearby reefs to grow and become independent structures serving as habitat for a variety of tropical fish and to subsequently reproduce to add further reef growth on the ocean floor. Ours is a message of hope,said Nedimyer, who has leveraged common-sense techniques with scores of volunteers to succeed in an effort that some scientists thought was impossible. Im convinced this is the solution that can work. Beyond scientific aspects, Nedimyer has been successful in developing community and visitor volunteer involvement programs to create a workforcefor coral restoration. Several times a year, coral restoration workshops are based at Upper Keys lodging properties that attract visitors who learn about coral reefs and participate in working dives to assist at the nursery. Nedimyers work is likely to have positive impacts for coral reefs in other tropical destinations. We are developing a concept we can take to other countries as well,he said. Were putting Key Largo and the Keys on the map as a community that got together and did something about it (restoring coral). Coral Restoration Foundation: CNN Heros <http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/01/us/cnnheroes-nedimyer-coral-reefs/index.html> |
See the attached photos of the bravest of the brave.
Joe, Bob, Rory, Ryan and Aleks along with surface support Katherine all enjoyed some dives this past weekend at gilboa quarry.
They braved the cold (using 2 heated pop-ups) and dove their required dive(s) for February.
Not part of the DIRTY DOZEN crew yet? go to >”Dive the Dirty Dozen – LINK” for more information and join next month!
One dive per month, 12 months in a row. Go there, Dive that, get the T-Shirt.
Are you looking for a new group of dive buddies?
Are you new in town and looking to hang out with like minded underwater enthusiasts?
Are you looking to be part of the in crowd and want to hang out with the “cool kids?”
If you can answer yes to any of these things, you need to join the Ann Arbor Bubble Blowers Scuba Social club.
A2B2 is the newest dive club in Michigan and they are making a splash.
Super speakers, great food and a lot of laughs have been had by all so far, so jump in and see if it fits for you!
http://huronscuba.com/scubasocialclub.htm
Hope to see you there!
Huron Scuba | 
04 11th, 2012| 
