DECEMBER PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Wow! 2024 is nearly gone! Every year seems to go by more quickly than the previous one. 

As usual we held the nominations for the E-board at the November meeting. The nominations are still open. We will take additional nominations at the December meeting. All positions are open! At this time we do not have a nominee for VP of Calendar. This is a very important position and I’m hoping that someone will step forward and accept a nomination. No experience is necessary and I’m sure John will help the new candidate. 

As I think most of you know, our holiday party has been postponed until February 15 due to the unavailability of our venue. Instead we will celebrate Valentines Day on the fifteenth of February. It will be the same menu and open bar that we enjoy at the holiday party. Please mark the date on your calendar. 

Even though there will not be a holiday party there will still be a Christmas tree dive on Dec 14. The tree will be sunk onto the deck of the Merci Jesus and then decorated with fish food. It makes for a great photo opportunity of the feeding frenzy. Check the calendar for more details. 

Our annual holiday lights cruise will be Sunday December 15. Once again we will hold the event on the Sea Experience, docked at Bahia Mar. Please bring your beverage of choice and some finger food to share. Once again, feel free to bring guests. The boat will leave the dock promptly at 6pm. The cost for this event will be $37, the same as last year. That includes tax and gratuity. We plan to be back at the dock before 9pm. Please send a check to the club PO Box or pay by PayPal. 

As the year is coming to a close, please remember to renew your membership. Don’t forget that you must fill out a renewal form and sign the waivers. You must also provide proof of insurance that will cover a dive injury. Please remember to update your information if you have moved or changed phone numbers or email addresses. You can download the renewal form from the club website. 

I would like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a happy and healthy new year. 

Jeff

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NOVEMBER PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

We have some important business to take care of at our next two meetings. November will be the nominations of our executive board and December will be our elections. All positions are open and I encourage everyone to consider running for an office. You can nominate yourself or ask someone to nominate you. New blood is always welcome.

Our biggest social event of the year will be here before we know it. December is right around the corner and I am looking forward to having a great time at the Holiday Party which will be held on December 7th this year. Please feel free to bring as many guests as you like. The more the merrier! We are back at the I T Parker community center in Dania Beach so we will also be back to having an open bar. If you prefer to drink your favorite wine feel free to bring it.

The water will be cooling down a bit soon but it is still quite nice. Think about joining us for some diving. For a great time plan on joining us for the sinking of the Christmas tree on December 14. It’s always a lot of fun and of course the more the merrier. What we do is sink the Christmas tree from the holiday party on one of our wrecks. Once it is settled on the wreck, we descend in our holiday garb, and decorate the tree with things that fish like to eat, typically other fish. Once the decorating is done we back off and the feeding frenzy begins. It is always a great photo opportunity.

We had such a good time last year on the holiday lights cruise that we will be doing it again. We pretty much get the Sea Experience to ourselves and cruise the Intracoastal Waterway and admire the water front homes decorated for the holidays. We bring our own beverages and snacks and appetizers to share. This year it will be on December 15. Please consider joining us. It’s always a fun time.

Jeff

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OCTOBER PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Once again we had a really good time on the Keys weekend. We returned to the Ragged Edge and again had the whole resort to ourselves. That makes it really nice. We were blessed with good weather. Some of us elected not to dive  and some of us dived in the morning and some in the afternoon so it was a little different than previous years. All in all it was a fun weekend.  We returned to Lazy Days for dinner and it was terrific as usual.

Our sea food fest was a really good time despite the fact that we had a low turnout. Joe did a great job at the grill, thanks Joe.
Summer is officially over but our weather is still good and the water is still warm. Check out the calendar and join us for

A big thank you to Joe Smariga for coordinating the Keys weekend and for doing the cooking at the seafood fest.
I hope to see many of you soon on a dive, a meeting or any of the other events we have coming up.
Live long and lobster.
Jeff

SEPTEMBER PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

We have a very busy calendar for the rest of the summer and beyond. Lobster season opened August 6, as usual, which I guess will give the lion fish a reprieve for a while. There are lots of dives scheduled so get on the website and sign up. 

The Key’s weekend will be here before we know it. If you are not on the list and you wish to go you will have to make your own arrangements for a room. We always have a great time on this trip. 

We will have a very interesting speaker at the August meeting. Dr. Richard Coleman will talk to us about mesophotic coral ecosystems ( MCEs ). MCEs are the light dependent coral, sponge and algae communities that typically range from depths of 100 to 450 feet. Dr. Coleman has himself dived to depths as deep as 400 feet for his research. I’m really looking forward to this presentation. 

I hope to see many of you at the meeting on September 4th!

The water is quite warm and it won’t last long so let’s go diving. 


Live long and lobster.
Jeff Raffa
President, SFDI

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