Club Aquarius

March 16, 2020 by Stefanie

Social Club Meeting Canceled for March 2020

Everything in life is always fluid and the Covid-19 pandemic is no different. This morning we had planned to go ahead and have the meeting even if it was only a small gathering. But as the day progressed so to did the situation. As such, we decided to cancel the meeting and shortly thereafter the restaurant also elected to switch from dine-in and carry out to carryout only.

We feel for the staff and their families because like us, we all need you, our clients to come in to keep us in business. Ann and I, as well as the entire Oceanic Ventures family, would like to encourage you to patronize our meeting partner, the Backstreet Cafe, by ordering at least one meal to take home and eat with your family. By doing so, you help to assure that your favorite businesses will be here when things improve. They have made it easier for you because they are offering a coupon for order over $50.00.

We are still planning on hosting next months meeting there.

January 20, 2020 by Eric Keibler

Club Aquarius Update

If you missed the January Club Aquarius Social Club meeting, you missed a fun and entertaining discussion of underwater archaeology using the Bajo de la Campana shipwreck as the backdrop. Dr. Staci Willis talked about her first experiences as an underwater research assistant and the adventures and mis-adventures she had while on the project. She laughed with everyone when she talked about her instruction on operating the air lift “…you open this valve to start the lift and you close it when you want to stop it; do you have any questions?” She had fun reliving her adventures while elucidating everyone on how a typical excavation works.

I am sure some of the forty or so divers would like to participate on a project for fun. Of course, she said that the volunteer spaces were small becasue of the need to utilize graduate students on the excavations but jokingly said “…if you donated a large sum to help fund the project, you can be assured of a position.”

Dive Mom also had fun giving out the $30.00 gift cards (in celebration of our 30th anniversary). Of course, the cards had a tight time limit — use them by January 31st!

We really want to thank Sean Beck and the staff at the Backstreet Cafe for making it a fun evening — and did I mention that the food was wonderful! And we also need to give a special thank you to Barbara and Steve Jurbala for helping us remember how much we love the Backstreet Cafe and for calling Sean to help arrange for the meetings. And no Club Meeting is complete without the help of Zaide, Coad, Meagan and the other staff members that help make these evenings a success.

Be sure to join us for future Club Aquarius Social Club Meetings. You can find a complete schedule of the meetings here.

January 8, 2019 by Eric Keibler

Archaeologist Staci Willis, PhD to Speak At Social Club Meeting

Are you interested in unexplored shipwrecks lying hidden on the ocean’s bottom just waiting to be discovered? This is Dr. Staci Willis’ passion and this past summer she and a team of investigators explored a portion of the coast of Albania looking for some potential excavation sites. For more than six days she and her fellow researched dove on various sites from 15 meters to 24 meters (50 feet to 80 feet) in an area around Corfu Chanel.
Their investigatory dives were successful and they will be returning next summer to start an archaeological dig on one or two of the sites.
Dr. Staci Willis is currently a Professor of Anthropology at Houston Community College and the Co-Principal Investigator of the Albania Ancient Shipwreck Project. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a Ph.D. in Anthropology, specializing in Nautical Archaeology, in 2016. In addition to her most recent work in Albania, Dr. Willis has also participated in a number of other underwater excavations, including a 7th-century BC Phoenician shipwreck off the coast of Spain, a 1st-century wreck in a river of northern Italy, and and 1st-century wreck in the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of Sri Lanka.
Staci will be discussing her work and these dives at the January 17, 2019 Club Aquarius Social Club meeting.

May 15, 2018 by Eric Keibler

Member Special on Big Green Eggs

This month, one of our Club Aquarius sponsors, Sweetwater Pool & Patio, has a fun special for the summer — Big Green Eggs!
This is your chance to own one of these fabulous ceramic cookers and prepare the juiciest ribs your family has ever tasted (ask Eric & Wade both owners of ceramic grills). The smaller units are perfect for your Dive Around Texas Scuba Diving cookout or a cookout at the lake. Remember, as Eric says, “Texas diving is a barbecue interrupted by diving.” And as a special offer, if you go in and ask Shelia or Kim to ring your egg up, they will even throw in a free bag of smoking chips to get you started. They also offer a full line of BGE accessories as well as other pool and spa accessories. Go by and visit and see what you have been missing!
Here are some of the specials (while supplies last):

February 19, 2018 by Eric Keibler

Getting started with Underwater Photography

Everyone like to have photographs of their experiences, and from their vacations and travels. Divers are no different. The only issue is that taking photographs and videos underwater requires a little bit of pre-planning and some different equipment — well sort of.
There are a number of ways to get started from jumping in with your GoPro to using your mobile phone in a case to take photographs. But, what is the best way? That is a difficult question to answer, It all depends on where you are in your land photography and where you want to go with your underwater photography. What so I mean by that? Let’s look at this further further.

IPhone Camera User

If your primary camera is your iPhone or Android phone even on vacation, then you will probably be happy starting with a simple underwater camera. These allow you to shoot video or still photographs and download them to your computer. Most of these cameras save files in a JPG format. However, some of the new models have a RAW file feature too. Not sure what these terms mean, check-out part 2 of this article about digital files and processing. Let’s just say that the JPG files are what you are used to seeing in your iPhone which means they have some processing done during the save function. Some examples of these camera are the SeaLife Micro 2.0 and a GoPro. You could also put your phone in a housing and take it with you. Kraken makes a new housing for phones.

IPhone and Point and Shoot Camera User

If you use both an iphone and anther camera during your trips, you are probably trying to get better images or different images that what you can get with your phone. For you, the SeaLife Micro 2.0 or the SeaLife DC 2000 might be good options. Both have basic functions but also expand to let you “tweek” your photos and your experience.

DSLR & Mirrorless Camera Users

Now this is a wide-ranging area of underwater photography. You could stick with the simpler camera from above or you can expand to take your land camera underwater in a housing. A lot of it depends on what you want to accomplish underwater and how much you are willing to invest. The housings for your underwater camera can cost more than your initial camera investment and then there are the strobes… So you could look at the SeaLife DC2000 or a housing from Nauticam or Aquatica.

How to get started

Our Club Aquarius meeting this month will be focusing on “How to get Started in Underwater Photography.” We will be discussing how to meet your various goals and what equipment you might consider. We will also be discussing some things you can do to improve your photographs once you start with a system.

Club Aquatrius Meeting:

Speaker: Zaide Scheib and Eric Keibler
When: 22 February 2018, 7:00 PM
Where: The Black Labrador, 4100 Montrose Blvd. Houston, TX