DECEMBER PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Wow! 2023 is nearly gone. Every year goes 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 nominations at the December meeting. All positions are open! If you feel someone should be nominated please nominate them. If you feel that you should be nominated then by all means nominate yourself or ask someone to nominate you. I encourage everyone to consider joining the E-Board. No experience is necessary however we do ask that E-Board members make an effort to attend meetings and actively participate and coordinate an event or two.

Our annual Holiday Party will be held on Saturday, December 2 at the VFW Yes, our usual venue is unavailable for us this year. We will hopefully be back there next year. This is our biggest event of the year and I hope to see many of you there. Please feel free to invite guests such as family and friends. They don’t have to be divers. They are pretty much guaranteed to have a fun evening. Great food, great live music, and great people are waiting for them. The more the merrier.

Our Holiday Party Christmas Tree will be sunk on Saturday, December 9th. We and the tree will board the Sea Experience at 8:30 am. We will place the tree on the deck of a ship wreck yet to be determined and proceed to decorate it with things that fish like to eat. When we are finished we will back off and watch the feeding frenzy. It makes a terrific photo and video opportunity. If you plan to join us, please bring something that fish will eat. What seems to work best is chunks of fish or squid rings. It should be something that you might put on a hook to catch a fish. Please use biodegradable string to attach it to the tree. Plain cotton string works fine. This is always a fun event.

Our Holiday Lights Cruise will be held on Sunday, December 17. Once again we will hold this 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 6 pm. The cost for this fun evening is $37 which includes tax and gratuity. We plan to be back on the dock before 9 pm.

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 and provide proof of insurance that will cover a dive injury. Please remember to update your information if you have moved, 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.

Live long and lobster.

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 second this year. Please feel free to bring as many guests as you like. The more the merrier! This year we were forced to change the venue to the VFW. Our usual venue is unavailable to us this year due to renovations. At the VFW we are unable to have open bar so it will be a cash bar. Please do not bring your own alcohol to the VFW.

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 9. 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 17. Please consider joining us. It’s always a fun time.

🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞

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 and flat seas for our dives on Saturday morning and we even managed to catch a few lobsters. Conch Republic Dive Center always treats us well.

Our sea food fest was a really good time despite the fact that we had a low turnout. As you know, I sent out an email asking if there was a reason people didn’t attend. So far the majority of the responses I have received tell me we aren’t doing something wrong. Many people were traveling and some had other commitments. I guess we all lead pretty busy lives. I hope that next year we will have a bigger turnout.

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 dive.

Our holiday party will be held at the VFW this year due to our usual venue being unavailable to us. It will be a little different this year as a result. Please check for details on the calendar and save the date, December 2.

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

Our summer is practically over! Where did it go? We patiently wait for its arrival all winter and dream about warm water, it comes, and then it’s gone. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the water is still warm and we still have a couple of months to enjoy it before it chills down.
Our annual seafood festival will be held at the VFW on September 23.To avoid the ire of Joe, make sure your seafood is defrosted. Don’t forget to bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert. We will provide the usual wine, beer, soft drinks and water. Please do not bring your own alcohol. I hope to see a lot of you there. Feel free to invite guests. Price for members $10 and for guests $15
On September 16 and 17 we are going to hopefully get a glimpse of the Goliath Groupers that use that wrecks as a romantic getaway. We will be on the Kyalami Two. Please see the calendar for all of the details.
Despite my somber opening, we still have lots of warm water dives on the schedule. Be sure to sign up and join us.

Live long and lobster!

Jeff Raffa

President SFDI