Brian Schmidt and Don Dapkus are announcing the formation of a Master Diver Class. In our opinions, the Master Diver Class is the pinnacle of recreational diving.

NAUI Master Diver is $200 and consists of:

*textbook with accompanying DVD

*approx 6 classroom sessions

*8 open water dives

Prerequisites: Advanced Diver (either PADI or NAUI) and a desire to become the best diver you can be.

For more information, please email Don at don@mainlinescuba.com

Issue: 5

May /2008

Texins Dive Club Membership Meeting

6 PM, Tuesday, May 13th
Joe's Crab Shack
(East side 75/Central between Springcreek Pkwy and Parker)

"Raja Ampat Indonesia!"

a Pictorial Tour

presented by E.L. Dunn

President's Dive Log by Lary Harrington

The 2008 dive season is getting closer and closer. (YEA!) We are now underway with our first Open Water training session with Training Director Larry Dickinson and his training staff. Gerry Padgett continues his recovery from surgery but will miss this year's training classes. However, he is going to help where ever he can - in whatever capacity. I urge you to read Gerry's communication to the club members. I want to thank Gerry for everything he has done for the club, and I join him in looking forward to his complete recovery as soon as possible.

As I mentioned previously, several club members brought their personal tanks in to have a hydrostatic test completed and those tests have all been successfully finished. All that is remaining is the VIP inspection and filling the tanks with air. I anticipate an announcement at our May Club meeting that your tanks are ready to be picked up from the equipment room. If you only need a VIP inspection, please bring your tanks in as soon as possible.

The Board approved the purchase of a Club banner at our April meeting and it has been picked up. Please look for the new banner at our first lake dive in May.

It also looks as though Larry and Bobette Brasfield have finally settled on a date to leave Texas and go to San Francisco. It is my understanding that they will be leaving April28th, 2008 and expect to be gone for a year. We will miss them and that puts added emphasis on finding a replacement Program Director. Please, if you are interested in taking this important position, let me know. If not, I guess I will have to assume those duties as well. Fortunately, Larry has several programs already lined up for the immediate future. Thanks so much for all you have done, Larry.

I am looking forward to seeing you at our May 13th club meeting. Our May Board meeting will be held Thursday May 1^st (note the early date as the first Thursday is May 1^st) - members are always welcome at that meeting as well. If you need to reach me for any reason, my email address is LRH666@aol.com and my cell phone number is 972-989-9809.

Club Room Open - Dive Equipment Rental

TDC Club Room located at Texins Activity Center Dallas

will be open every Wednesday beginning May 14 - Oct 22

Wednesday's 5:30pm - 6:45pm

Training New & Notes by Larry Dickinson

Dive season is upon us!! Our first Open Water class started on April 23 and the check-out weekend will be on May 18 and 19 at Lake Murray, OK. We encourage all dive club members to join us at the lake and to be available Saturday afternoon to meet and greet our students. This is a great opportunity to mingle with our new divers and share your sea stories and dive adventures.

With the start of the training season we will no longer offer regular Discover Scuba sessions as our staff will be busy with scheduled classes. Depending on instructor availability we may try to schedule some additional times during the summer. If you know anyone interested in trying scuba have them contact our Training Registrar, Jimmy Dominguez, to get on our waiting list. We can't guarantee anything at this point but we will try to work with prospective students and members to get them underwater and blowing some bubbles.

Summer hopefully brings many exciting blue water trips for our members. If you need to jump in the pool for that last minute gear check then let us know and we will try to work you into our busy schedule. Contact the Training Registrar (preferably at least a week before you want some pool time) and we will see how our schedule looks. Hopefully we will be able to work you in.

Reviews of the February Buoyancy Workshop are in and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Unfortunately we had some last minute drop-outs so the class was a bit smaller than expected. If there is enough interest in the club we will try to schedule a second session later in the year. Please contact me at training@texinsdiveclub.com if you are interested in taking this valuable class. Note that we will probably charge a nominal fee - maybe $10-$20 - to help our club's bank account.

That's about it for this assortment of training news and notes. As always please feel free to contact me about any training related topic. And we continue to ask all club members to help us recruit students, so help us by referring everyone you know so that they can join you in your underwater adventures!

Happy and Safe diving to all!

Treasure Chest is a publication of TDC,

Andrea Zittel
Texins Dive Club Newsletter Editor