Time Is Slipping Away

The clock is counting down and we are nearing the last chance to renew at a reduced rate.Renew before March 31, 2016 and your membership fee is only $35 for a calendar year of discounts and diving news. After March 31, your annual membership renewal fee is $45.

Your membership includes periodic eNews emails about club activities as well as electronic access to The Mouthpiece monthly newsletter. You may pay by check or online. Go to http://activedivers.org/Membership-Renewal.html to renew your membership online. To pay by check, mail a check made out to "Active Divers Association" with the appropriate amount to:

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Cayman Brac Selling Out! One Slot Left

--by Daryl Johnson

There is not much time to book the July 9 through July 16 InternationallADA trip to Cayman Brac

The ADA trip package includes the following:

There is a non-stop flight from Miami with fares around $350 on Cayman Airways currently available (not included, you must book your own airfare) making this an easy destination to reach. The price is $1465 per person, double occupancy and includes your diving, lodging, and all meals. If you have priced out a Cayman trip lately, you know what a bargain this is.Just click the link http://activedivers.org/CaymanBrac2016.html to put your deposit of $100 down now, with the final balance due April 15, 2016 (checks only accepted for final payment).

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Navy Seal Museum

Does anyone know that this museum is right here in South Florida? It’s a great place to visit. It is located at: St. Lucie County, just outside Fort Pierce, Florida.: 3300 N Hwy A1A, Fort Pierce, FL 34949 It opened its doors in 1985

It's open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. It's c;osed on Monday. Phone: (772) 595-5845

The museum collection includes a number of rare artifacts dating from the founding of the SEALs, from the days of Scouts and Raiders, through the Underwater Demolition Teams, to recent present-day activities of US Navy SEALs. Original World War II–era obstacles used for demolition training prior to the Normandy landings ("D-Day"). Some of the exhibits you will see are:

• LCPL "the Shark Tooth Boat" used by the UDT in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II and during the Korean War.
• Patrol Boat River PBR, used during the Vietnam era. These boats had a shallow draft and jet drive making them ideal for insertion and extraction in the rivers and canals of the region.
navy_
• Apollo space craft—the actual training devices used by the UDT "frogmen" recovery Teams during the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury space missions.
• SEAL Delivery Vehicles or SDVs, specifically the MK XII MOD 0, the MARK IX (9), and the MARK VII (7) MOD 0, which are mini-subs that flood inside (the operators wear compressed air tanks). These SDVs are used to clandestinely enter enemy harbors.

MV Maersk Alabama lifeboat exhibit:

• Various SEAL vehicles from operations in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
• The Alabama Maersk lifeboat aboard which Somali pirates held Captain Richard Phillips hostage.
• A wall honoring Medal of Honor recipients, with the citations for each one.
• Rare artifacts, equipment and weapons from the founding years during WWII through current engagements in Afghanistan.

Hint: Arrive the last hour and the tour is free. You can go through it in an hour if you don't read placard. I didn't. I like the pictures. At right is a photo of ADA member Blaze piloting some pretty impressive hardware.

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Soft Corals, also known as Octocorallia, do not produce a rigid calcium carbonate skeleton and do not form reefs, though they may be present in a reef ecosystem. Although they are animals, soft corals have a flexible appearance that resemble plants or shrubs.

Essentially, soft corals are colonies of living polyps. The polyps have eight “plant like” tentacles, which is why they are also known as octocorals. One way to differentiate hard corals and soft corals is that hard coral polyps have six tentacles (branches), while soft corals have eight.

Gorgonia, more commonly known as sea fans, are found mostly in the tropics and subtropics around the world. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect, flatted, and branching, resembling a fan. Gorgonians include sea whips, sea plumes and sea rods. A colony can be a few inches thick but can extend several feet high.

http://www.sabahnow.com/files/2012/06/Gorgonian-Forest.jpg http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org/images/coral/sea_plumes.jpg

Toadstool corals are found in various shades of brown, tan or green, with white or gold polyps. Toadstools look like toadstools (the classic red with white dot mushroom) with a distinct stalk and cap. As they age their caps fold.

http://freethumbs.dreamstime.com/1772/big/free_17724504.jpg

Unlike the gorgonians, tree corals have a stalk with no polyps. Only the braches have polyps. Tree corals are slow growing and are found in waters with a lot of movement and current. Tree corals often provide habitats for juvenile fish.

Octocorals look like strange trees and shrubs. Unlike the hard corals, octocorals are unable to build thick limestone skeletons. They are not reef builders, but they are found on reefs and on the ocean floor. The most common octocorals in Florida are sea fans and sea whips.

Source: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov, www.reefs2go.com

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In January, I along with fellow ADA divers Daryl Johnson and Shel Seidman, visited the island of Cuba as part of a government sanctioned program. One of the cities we visited was Maria la Gorda (translation: Fat Mary), a seaside town tucked into a lagoon in the southwest corner of the island. There is a dive operation at Maria la Gorda, so we planned to use the ship’s excursion service to dive it.

But first, let me talk a little bit about the tour. Celestyal Cruise line has created a People-to-People educational exchange program that allows U.S. citizens to visit the island. We flew to Montego Bay, Jamaica and boarded the Celestyal Crystal, a 521 foot, ten deck cruise ship. In addition to visiting Maria la Gorda, the itinerary included two days in Havana, a day in Santiago, and a day in Cienfuegos. Also included were numerous lectures on Cuban culture, economics, and politics, as well as dance lessons, cooking demonstrations, and drink mixology as practiced on the island. Although the ship, built in 1980, was a little dated, it had been recently refurbished and had all the amenities of a modern cruise ship.

Cuba was amazing. We got a real kick out of seeing the vintage cars parade down the street. The vintage cars are used mainly as tourist taxis. The Cuban people were delighted to engage in conversation.

Now, on to the diving. Because we were unfamiliar with the dive operation, we opted to use the ship’s sanctioned excursion rather than book one on our own. The cost was $135 for what we later found out was a one-tank dive. A bit pricey, but included all the equipment. The equipment consisted of Scubapro BCDs and regulators, Mares foot pocket fins, and various and sundry shorty wetsuits and console gauges. The equipment worked as expected, although the regulators breathed a little hard.

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