Club meeting notes 2-Sep-2016

These are the dive club meeting notes from our regular meeting on 2-Sep-2016. Please let us know if you have any questions. Hope to see you at our upcoming events!

Club underwater Pumpkin carving

Our annual underwater pumpkin carving will be Oct 8th, 12:30pm at Haigh Quarry.  The Quarry provides the pumpkins you just need to bring your carving tools and ideas.  Prizes will be awarded.

September meeting

Our next club meeting will be Sept 2nd, 6:30pm at the Below H2O dive shop in Naperville.  Anyone interested in joining club feel free to attend.

Monthly meeting notes – 12-Aug-2016

We had a good turnout for our August meeting. It was great to see everyone since we missed the July meeting! We also had a new member come by – welcome Laura!

Here are the topics we covered in this meeting.

Upcoming events as of July 17, 2016

A quick update to mention the next two whole-club upcoming events:

1. August 12, 2016 – 6:30pm – Dive club meeting at Below H2O
2. August 13, 2016 – Haigh Quarry – Dive Club BBQ at the quarry! Email info@bottombreathers.org to RSVP.

Hope to see all of you at these events!

Also, very soon, the Bottom Breathers Liveaboard trip to Turks & Caicos is about to begin! We’ll have 20 divers (a full boat charter) on the trip starting this Friday, July 22. I’m sure we’ll be talking about the trip when we meet in August!

Club meeting notes 3-Jun-2016

We had a nice turnout for our meeting last night. It also turned into an impromptu pizza party! Our topic for discussion wasn’t really a topic, but rather some random dive tips we’ve collected. Several members also chimed in with some additional tips and tricks too.

May Meeting

Our May meeting will be May 13th at 6:30pm.  We meet at Below H20, anyone interested in joining club please feel free to attend.

Bottom Breathers Liveaboard – 11-June-*2018* – Socorro

Updated: 2-Aug-2016, 5 spots remaining!

Our next Bottom Breathers Liveaboard is going to … SOCORRO!! We’ll see mantas, sharks, sharks, sharks, maybe dolphins, mantas, sharks, puffers, octopus, and lots more (did I say sharks?)! This trip will be on board the Nautilus Belle Amie for 9 days. The trip departs from Cabo San Lucas (airport: SJD) on 11-June-2018 and returns on 19-June-2018.

Found some great videos from other folks who have been on this boat and itinerary:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG84Qkua6qQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Xr8lQ8jME
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsty2RDyrRo

Where: Socorro Islands (Mexico), departing from and returning to Cabo San Lucas
When: Depart Cabo San Lucas on 11-June-2018, return 19-June-2018
Who: Bottom Breathers Dive Club has the whole boat reserved for now – up to 30 divers!!
Boat: Nautilus Belle Amie (video about the boat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZD04hwxtg)

Cost (per person – availability as of 30-Aug-2016):

• Premium Suite – $4,295 – main deck, 1 spot for a single male remains
• Superior Suite – $3,695 – upper deck, 2 berths available
• Stateroom – $3,195 – lower deck, SOLD OUT
• Single Stateroom – $3,993 – lower deck rooms for single diver, 2 berths available
• We will not use the quad occupancy stateroom shown in boat layout.

Every room has a private bathroom in the room. Each room has two bunks (except for single rooms). The Superior Suite rooms can be rearranged so that the two bunks are pushed together into a queen sized bed.

Since this trip is a little more expensive than our past trips (but it’s worth the money), we’re starting even earlier to give everyone time to save and budget for this great opportunity to dive a spectacular site.

Payment:

• $100 deposit to reserve a spot (per diver, non-refundable)
• 10% due 11-Dec-2016 (18 months from trip)
• 10% due 11-Sep-2017 (9 months from trip)
• 20% due 11-Dec-2017 (6 months from trip)
• balance due (about 60%) 11-Apr-2018 (2 months from trip)

Cancelation policy:

• $100 deposit is non-refundable
• 18-9 months prior to departure, 10% of the trip price is forfeit
• 9-6 months prior to departure, 20% of the trip price is forfeit
• 6-2 months prior to departure, 40% of the trip price is forfeit
• 2 months or less prior to departure, 100% of the trip price is forfeit

Of course, we will likely stay in Cabo San Lucas for a day or two before and after the trip and would love for more to join us. You can’t book flights this far in advance, but a quick look at flights from ORD (to SJD) shows airfares less than $400 per person (rt).

First come, first served! We will only take Bottom Breathers Dive Club member reservations until the end of May. After that, if we still have spots available, we’ll open the trip to other interested divers too!

Look forward to another great trip with Bottom Breathers!

Contact info@bottombreathers.org for more information or to reserve a spot on the trip!

Dan & Anne

Club meeting – April 1, 2016

Here are the notes from our club meeting on April 1, 2016. Thanks to everyone that attended and a special welcome to our 4 new members!

Bottom Breathers Florida Keys Trip Info – June 15-20, 2016

Overview

The dive club’s annual Florida Keys trip will be June 15-20, 2016. We will have a 5 night stay at the Ocean Pointe condos and 4 full days of diving with Florida Keys Dive Center (aka “Flakeys”). The costs included here are tentative depending on how many divers join the trip. These costs are based on 8 divers and 4 people per room.

This trip is so much fun. A typical day starts with breakfast at the condo, pack lunches to eat between dives and go out for dinners. Last year we had cocktail hour in the pool every late afternoon. Sometimes before dinner and sometimes after. We go grocery shopping the day we get there. Dan and I stop at Costco on drive down to the Keys sometimes.

The condos are 2 bedroom, full kitchen, 2 bathrooms. We can fit 4-5 people in a room, there is a pull out for the 5th person. We have stayed at Ocean Pointe condos every year we have been going and they’ve been great, clean, and well furnished. Very nice pool and small beach also.

Costs

Room and reef dives only for $595 (8 dives = 2 afternoon dives each day)

Room and all dives for $919 (16 dives = 2 morning wreck/deep dives, 2 afternoon reef dives).

Night dive not included in the costs above as we don’t always get to offer a night dive.

Optional costs

Night dive $76
Nitrox (8 tanks for wrecks, typically not needed for afternoon reef dives) $64 total

Itinerary

• June 15 – fly to Floirda (MIA or FLL), rent car(s) and drive to Key Largo/Islamorada. Everyone is responsible for booking their own flights. We often work out flights together so we can share car rentals.
• June 16-19 – each day: 2 wreck dives in am 2 reef dives in afternoon
• June 20 – Fly home, book late afternoon flight so you can do all dives on the 19th

If anyone is bringing a spouse or significant that does not dive, the room cost is $315pp if we have 4 in a room.

Dan and I have already booked flights on Southwest MDW to FLL:
June 15: flight 1426 departs 6am
June 20: flight 3513 departs 6pm

Please email us if you are interested in going. Deposit is $150, final payment due May 1st. Deposit is refundable up to May 1st. Please let us know:

• What dives you will doing
• if you will be using nitrox
• if you are interested in doing the night dive.

The larger the group, the more fun we have! Send us an email at info@bottombreathers.org ASAP if you would like to join us!
Anne & Dan