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Upcoming Meetings
For the next few months we are encouraging everyone to practice social distancing and will be holding the general meeting lectures remotely. If you want to watch any of the lectures live, visit our registration page.

October 20, 2021, 6:30 pm.
Nancy McGee - Unique Encounters
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Diving with elephants and inside a wearable submarine are a couple of the unusual underwater experiences Nancy McGee has had in her 40+ year career as a diver. Join us as she shares those experiences, and perhaps others, and explain how she came to be in such remarkable places.

Explorer and filmmaker Nancy McGee has lived a life of adventure and diversity. An Explorers Club Fellow, she is the first female Exosuit pilot and has dived and filmed on 7 continents. She has been the first to explore several archipelagos and opened tourism in the Andaman and Forgotten Islands. She is an inductee into the Women Divers Hall of Fame, working as an explorer, filmmaker, author, emcee and passionate educator. Visit her website http://www.nancymcgee.com/

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November 17, 2021, 6:30 pm.
Rick Simon and Jennifer Sellitti - Lusitania 2021
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In August of 2021, a team including Sea Rovers Joe Mazraani and Rick Simon, dove the wreck of the Lusitania. The team of four American and four British divers spent two weeks exploring and documenting this iconic shipwreck. The expedition was also a part of a larger effort to raise awareness for the new Lusitania Museum, which was the vision of Lusitania's longtime owner Gregg Bemis.

Lusitania fell victim to U-20's torpedo in 1915, prior to America entering WW1. She sank in approximately 20 minutes. 1198 died, including 128 Americans. So many men, women and children died the disaster it caused many Americans to pressure the U.S. government to enter WW1. Although we will discuss the wreck's history, we will also explore Lusitania's historical connection Kinsale and to the tradition of Irish wreck diving. Much like the Andrea Doria in the U.S., the Lusitania is a rite of passage for Irish technical divers. Divers in the 1990s pioneered new techniques to be capable of reaching the wreck's 300 ft depth.

Richard M. Simon grew up diving and crewing on New England dive boats. Rick is a Boston Sea Rover & Frank Scalli Intern (2005) and a TDI dive instructor holding both recreational and technical ratings. Rick is also the president of Manta Industries- a dive equipment manufacturing company; and is the vice president of Shoreline Diving Services, INC.- a commercial diving company specializing in inspection, salvage and construction. Rick is an avid diver; especially enjoying cave and wreck diving mostly on the East Coast but really anywhere around the world. When he is not diving he enjoys spending time on his with- with his wife Erin and their many farm animals.

Jennifer Sellitti is a regular crew member of the dive boat Tenacious, managing a number of topside operations during dive trips. She also performs historical research on the ships and helps locate ships that are the subject of new projects for the team. Jennifer develops and delivers presentations on Tenacious projects with the goal of educating the public about the historical significance and importance of wreck diving in the North Atlantic.

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December 15, 2021, 6:30 pm.
Erick Higuera - TBA
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Erick Higuera is a multi-awarded ocean wildlife filmmaker, photographer, marine biologist and conservationist.

He has spent over 20 years exploring the waters of the Gulf of California, Guadalupe Island, the Archipelago of Revillagigedo (also known as the Socorro's Islands) and the Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula, filming and photographing great white sharks, whales, dolphins, sailfish and other spectacles in the deep blue off Mexico's shores. He's also a scientist and author.

His documentary photography informs and creates an emotional connection with marine wildlife. His work delivers audiences to an underwater realm witnessed by few. Erick's striking imagery has garnered worldwide recognition including numerous underwater film awards. Some of his work has appeared in several documentaries, also in Discovery Channel, Shark Week, BBC, Shark BBC, BBC Blue Planet II, National Geographic, Canal Once as well in the award-winning documentary feature México Pelágico available on Netflix. He has also been a presenter at Boston Sea Rovers.

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General Meetings are normally held the third Wednesday of each month. Until further notice, they will take place online via ZOOM. Register online for each meeting by visiting the registration page.

For more info about all our meetings, visit our Club Meetings Page

Upcoming General Meetings

For the next few months, we are holding our general meeting lectures online. If you want to attend any of them live (same time as the normal meeting times), sign up on our registration page, and we will send you the connection info a few days before the meeting

View our upcoming meeting schedule

View our previous speakers

Fall 2021 Newsletter

Fall 2021 Newsletter

• Boston Sea Rovers 2021 Show
• Protecting the Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary's Historical Shipwrecks
• Camping on the Sea: Blackbeard's Live Aboard Cruises
• NEADC General Meetings
• REEF Partnership

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NEADC Photo Challenge

The NEADC is holding a monthly photo challenge, open to all club members!

A selection of images will be shown in a brief slide show during our monthly General Meeting. Deadline for submissions is the Monday before the General Meeting. See you on Zoom!

Challenge #8: Halloween Theme: Scary creepy or Orange

Share an underwater image that represents this month's theme.

The image must have been taken underwater by you.

A selection of images will be shown in a brief slide show during our October General Meeting. Deadline for submissions is October 18th. See you on Zoom!

Click here for the Submission form

Great Annual Fish Count

The Board of the New England Aquarium Dive Club has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2021 Great Annual Fish Count Event originally scheduled for Saturday, July 24, 2021 in order to keep all of our participants safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We will be hosting a GAFC/REEF-themed event during our July Dive Club General Meeting on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 with special guest Janna Nichols from REEF Reef Environmental Education Foundation! Stay tuned to our website for details and registration information!

Save the Date for the 2022 Great Annual Fish Count to be held on Saturday, July 23, 2022 at Stage Fort Park, Gloucester, MA.

Thank you to all of our participants and sponsors for your ongoing support. We look forward to seeing you at our event in 2022!

REEF Northeast US & Canada Critterwatchers Facebook Group

REEF Reef Environmental

Great Annual Fish Count Page

Sea Turtle links from the January Speaker

Roderic Mast, our guest speaker from February provided some links to his program, and organization:

Blue Habits:

https://www.bluehabits.org/

https://www.youtube.com/user/OceanicSociety

Tips from the September Speaker

Samantha Whitcraft, our guest speaker from September provided some links to her programs, and ways divers can help:

Aggressor Adventures' Green the Fleet Program

Sea of Change Foundation's Brochure, About Sea Of Change video (featuring Guy Harvey), and Leading through Conservation & Research Zoom presentation/video (Foundation overview)

Sea of Change Foundation's Reef Rescue and Rapid Response Program flyer (printable pdf) – our grant program that empowers divers as first responders to acute reef damage

Our three Sustainable Choices PSAs with Force Blue:

• Choose Safe and Sustainable Sun Protection
• Refuse, Reduce, Re-Use Single Use Plastics
• Choose Sustainable Seafood

Should you wish to follow Sea of Change and/or share from their Facebook page, they post regularly at https://www.facebook.com/SeaOfChange

Don't Let Your Membership Lapse

Even while they were closed, the New England Aquarium was still caring for animals and maintaining the facilities and exhibits. They were still keeping a crew at work, and running virtual programs.

Now that they are open with limited visitors, it's more important than ever to maintain your membership so they can continue to keep up with these expenses.

Your dive club membership ($15 add on to the Aquarium membership) allows us to have speakers every month throughout the year (which we will continue to do online).

The Aquarium launched an online advocacy tool as a way that people can show their support for the Aquarium. The tool helps visitors submit a letter to their elected officials asking Congress to support emergency relief funding for non-profit aquariums, zoos, and museums across the country. It takes less than 30 seconds and costs nothing to participate.

More Resources for supporting the NEAq:

• Emergency Relief Petition
• Mission Forward Fund
• Facebook Live Virtual Visits

Support Your Local Dive Shop!

The local dive shops across New England continue to need your business! Many are now open reduced hours or open by appointment, and still offering classes virtually or equipment servicing.