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Hi Guys.
First off, I've wanted to visit New Zealand for many years. I have friends
who have been there and by all accounts it's one of the most beautiful countries
on earth. That coupled with the friendly people in New Zealand and it sounds
like a trip well worth making.
On Florida, there are quite a few reasons to choose that area. We have a
few members there to help co-ordinate an outing there, the local infrastructure
is well developed for tourism so rooms are fairly inexpensive, and air travel is
affordable.
The places to dive are extremely varied ranging from the gulf side with
nice warm water, the ocean side with good visibility, to some of the freshwater
lakes fed by natural springs where the visibility is more or less unlimited.
There are sub manufacturing facilities to tour, a vibrant undersea industry with
many types of involvement in the things related to our sport, and several
university programs that could mesh well with a visit by us.
As for California, here too is a large number of facilities to consider
contacting, be it southern OR northern California.
The dive sites range from the many ocean harbors with lots of sea life to
be seen, to lakes both shallow and deep.
Accomodations are about average in price, and again there are several
organizations and institutions that would make a sub convention here very
interesting.
Michigan is a good place as well. One of the best things about Michigan is
the sheer number of members available locally so we would be assured of good
attendance by members who have subs available. There are a few new ones that
should be ready by then including Les, Jim, and Dean along with the
existing subs located there. The room rates are inexpensive and Michigan's
central location makes it easy for out-of-state members to get there.
Michigan has some new government programs that are promoting new industries
rather aggressively and with a little research it may be possible to garner some
help from them.
If Northern California was to be considered, I would be happy to
co-ordinate the affair, line up speakers, arrange for visits to some of the
great research organizations located close by, and research accomodations,
transportation etc.
I live in Santa Cruz, a nice beach town very close to Monterey where the
dive industry is second to none, and with access to Monterey Bay Aquarium and
Research Institute.
Moss Landing is the home of MBARI and the local University has another
great facility on the ocean where cutting edge research and education is being
conducted.
The three ocean harbors near by, Santa Cruz, Moss Landing, and Monterey
Harbor are all available for use, and there are several nice lakes we could use
too.
I know a guy who owns a crane company and he might give us a deal for a
crane for the day, or all three harbors have cranes available if we wanted to do
saltwater dives.
Frank D.
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