The meeting began around 7:15 when our President (whose hand is now out of the hard cast) called the meeting to order.
Barb and Rich gave their rendition of their dive before the Christmas Party. Little did they realize that everyone who read their newsletter already knew the outcome.
Tom Meisenholder (I like bicycle Tom better) did a boat dive out in front of the Aquarium the day after the Christmas Party.
Stu and Karen also repeated the story of their dive to the Metridium Fields the morning before the Christmas Party. Details are in last month's newsletter.
Russ, as we all know, is not able to dive due to his hand; however, that did not prevent him form relating information about his friend Phil's FREE diving trips to Tahiti and the Philippines. How do we get his job?
We had several guests at this meeting. From Peninsula Dive Center we had Tony (who works with Doug) and Nancy Corvelata (not sure if that is the correct spelling) and Lee Page who is a novice diver and works with Nancy. In addition, Michael and Ruth Chofre joined us especially to hear Dr. Newman. Believe it or not, Ruth has logged over 5,000 dives. They are members of the Underwater Photographic Dive Club as well as the Wildlife Club of Silicon Valley. Speaking of the WCSV, Monte and Laurie Smith we also guests (not presenters for a change) but interested in what Dr. Newman had to say.
Point Lobos reservations for March 13 were confirmed and final buddy arrangements were made.
Nitrox Course will be on Wednesday, March 24. Margaret Martin presented all the information. The cost is $115.00 and the class will be held at PDC from 6:00pm until approximately 10:30pm.
April Meeting: No official entertainment was scheduled at the time of the meeting; however, I was able to get Chrs Humphreys to share with us her underwater images taken on a trip she won to Wakatobi.
Stillwater Cove Ranch: April 23-25
At the time of the meeting, there was only one cottage still available and that was the King's Room. There is still space on the lawn for the Dairy Barn as well as inside. A check is now needed to reserve your spot. The cost is $30.00 per person for the weekend.
May 1: Point Lobos/May Day Dive
Russ is chairing this event. So far Barb, Rich and Steve have a ticket. Anyone else who has a ticket should contact Russ.
May 1 and 2: Trip to Catalina with PDC
Tony, one of our guests from Peninsula Dive Center is coordinating a trip to Catalina. The trip includes two days of boat diving (3 boat dives each day) on the King Neptune, the Ferry to and from the Island, and your hotel. It does not include your transportation to and from Southern California or your food and drink while on the island. The diving is being arranged through Scuba Love Dive Shop. If you are interested in joining their group, you can call PDC at (650)965-2241.
Barb Kindall stated that Mark from Paradise Villas on Little Cayman was offering a 20% discount for returning divers. In addition to the significant savings, a big plus this year is that they are no longer using Island Air and you can get a direct flight (same airline) to the Island.
As he has in the past, Dr. Newman provided us all with an interesting and educational evening. There is no way that I can reiterate all that he shared with us, or all the questions that he answered. His main topic centered on ear and sinus related problems and what we can do as divers (or even non-divers) to correct them.
He encouraged all divers to speak with their MD regarding what is available in nasal sprays and allergy medicine to facilitate sinus and ear clearing.
Instead of using Swim Ear after a dive he advised simply drying ears with a rolled tissue. At the end of the day, Cortisporin (a prescription ear drop) was recommended.
Patch vs. Pills— the patch overall is the best. If you are taking other medication you need to use caution; perhaps, you may need to cut the patch in half.
Make sure your regulator has a custom fitted mouth piece which facilitates jaw positioning which aids in clearing your ears and sinus.
Always descend feet first and ascend on a level plane in a slow swimming spiral motion.
Dr. Newman mentioned that he has a web site: www.newmanmd.org. It's far from finished, which is not surprising given all the areas in which Dr. Newman is active.
He spoke about a drug interaction program which was called ePocrates which allows you to check on your palm pilot to see if any drug that you are taking has interaction problems. The basic version 6.51 for Palm handhelds is free, but takes up a large 3MB chunk of memory. www.epocrates.com Palmgear has version 6 still listed and that takes 1.5MB of memory, still quite large.
There were so many other suggestions— if you missed this meeting you really missed an opportunity to better your health. Our meetings normally end by 9:30; however, when I left it was almost 10:00 and he was still answering questions.
The Club gave a donation to his Ocean Medicine Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health outcomes of island residents around the world. If you are interested in what it is all about, you can go to www.Oceanmedicine.org.
The meeting ended with a promise from Dr. Newman to return next year. His only request was that I remind him of what his topic was this year so he can speak on something different. No problem.
Kathy Zuber— Secretary CSD 2004