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M E E T I N G S |
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M E E T I N G S |
Our Club meets the first Tuesday of each month ( check dates below) at 7:30 PM. These meetings include guest speakers, slide and video presentations, and educational programs, in addition to regular club business.
Due to Covid 19, most of our 2020 meetings were held by Zoom. For the forseable future our 2021 meetings will also be via Zoom. When possible we will move back to our regular location in St Catharines, Ontario.
Meetings are open to all for both the busines and presentation portions of the meeting.
For our August 3, 2021 meeting Alessandra Figari will be our guest speaker. The topic will be "The Cenotes and Caves of The Riviera Maya".
Biograohy
Alessandra Figari
I was always in love with the ocean since I was a child and used toread books about the ocean and particularly about dolphins. My dream was to studyoceanography or marine biology to be able to work (not in a park) with dolphins andstudy their way of communication. It didn't happen, and I ended up studying languages and working as Project Manager and Manager of medical researchers for many years.However, I also started diving and dived for 10 years as a Discover Scuba Diver. Every summer I took the short one-day course and enjoyedone dive per day to 12m / 40ft at all the places we were on holidays.
In 1999 I became certified as an open water diver. I started diving more and more since I moved to Mexico and was working in a store diving to have the option to fulfill my dream of making diving my job. I ended up reaching my level of PADI Course Director in 2004. I was 40 years old and had worked as a manager for many years in a non-profit organization profit. So, I entered the world of diving professionals trying to build there the career that I was leaving behind and finally entering the world that I dreamed so much of.
I did all my training only interrupted by the need to acquire more experience in the field. I became a cave technical instructor in 2007 and CCR trainer in 2015 for the Poseidon MKVII. In the following years I dived and learned to teach other CCR units that I believe represent a future for technical diving. In 2013 I was nominated as an Associate Member of the EXPLORER CLUB in New York for my work teaching (my students and divers) the conservation of the cave environment, ocean conservation, and land conservation and the importance of exploration.
We come to 2021, where I still enjoy teaching people to dive, to respect the ocean and the cenote, to be interested in conservation and to be sure we are fish and we need a regulator in our mouths to stay alive. My love for the ocean is now deeply shared with my love for caves and their amazing world. Once in a cave I feel in the perfect habitat, where all my senses are active and alert but my soul is enriched every minute I spend there.
My most challenging cave dive was at Eagle Nest in Florida, which is considered the Hymalaya of Cave Diving: A Dive You Just Need to Do This highly trained for it and with someone who knows the place and can guide you.
Alessandra"s Web site: https://www.cavetrainingmexico.com/
The Cenotes and Caves of The Riviera Maya
Have you been diving in a place where the visibility will be around 200ft/60m and you will think to be floating in the air. Isn't that amazing?
By diving the cenotes and caverns in Mexico you will see rock formations (stalactites, stalagmites, columns) old millions of years and immersed in clear water inside in the jungle. How many people can say to have been able to do this? But yes you can tell about this adventure to your friends and yes you can do it!
Zoom
Title: Niagara Divers - March Club Meeting Location: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86419191757?pwd=VDJXdUMrYUdLcy9tQnpiZEkramZGUT09 When: August 3, 2021 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Organizer: Durrell Martin <dmartin@ctmmedia.com> Meeting ID: 864 1919 1757 Passcode: 387360
2021 Meeting Dates
EVERYONE always WELCOME
