Scuba Squad

 Dive Club

Scuba Squad Club Dives News

​​(831) 431-6824

SCUBA SQUAD MEETING  
Join us for our Nov. 2019 Club meeting on Tuesday Nov. 19th at 7pm. We meet in the Classroom at Pro Scuba Dive Center in Scotts Valley. Our club meetings are free, however we ask that you bring a small snack to share with the group. PSDC provides utensils and non-alcoholic drinks. No Children under age 10.

Date is Tuesday Nov. 19th at 7pm

 Club Boat dives on the The Monterey dive boat Escapade:

 Nov. 23 Sat.

We are currently taking reservations for these dives. The cost is $95 and PSDC provides free tanks while the supply lasts or a free air refill if you use your own tanks. Only 14 dive spots are available on each trip. These dives are open to all cold water divers. Call the shop to reserve your place on the boat. 

All divers planning on attending need to be experienced divers in our area and should have dove in the last year. Club dives are not intro to cold water events or scuba refreshers. If you want to join our dives but need a refresher or you need an intro to cold water diving please call the shop and we will arrange it for you.

Divers are encouraged to bring their own dive buddies. If you don't have a buddy come anyway and we will buddy you up with another single diver. 

​​Our Nov. (Tues. the 19th) Guest Speaker:          

Keith Rootsaert

​Keith Rootsaert has been a SCUBA diver in Monterey since 1984 and is very active in the local diving community.  Rootsaert is a past president and dive coordinator of the Monterey Bay Sea Otters Dive Club, holds a diving seat on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, is a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, works as a Dive Master for local dive boats and shops, is an instructor for Reef Environmental Education Foundation, and is a contract trainer for Reef Check California.  He has enjoyed over 1000 dives in his 35 years of diving in places such as Mexico, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Florida, Hawaii, and Washington state, but most of his diving is logged in the cold waters along the California coast.

Rootsaert will speak about his extensive experience with Reef Check California and the “Urchin Experiment” in the Pacific Grove Gardens Marine Conservation Area.  The experiment is attempting to determine the threshold density when an urchin barren will return to a kelp forest state.  He will discuss the origins of the urchin barrens and the scientific efforts to determine kelp restoration strategies.  The first year of the urchin project has answered some questions but raised some more along the way.  

The presentation will be of interest to divers who have witnessed the transformation of the Monterey and Carmel Bay kelp forests and provides an avenue to participate in group efforts to remove large urchin barrens and restore the kelp forest ecosystem they enjoy.

 
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