Category: Meetings

Good morning all. Due to an unexpected cancellation of this month’s speaker, and the lateness of the cancellation, I was not able to find a speaker for this month. I have put together a short program titled “Oh, It’s only sand”, mainly for the new shell pile attendees. I have a lot of microscopic shells from the sand from the apertures of the shells found at Phipp’s Park. I will not take too long, maybe twenty to twenty five minutes, and there will be plenty of time to do a show and tell. Sorry for doing too many programs, but hopefully we will have real meetings again. If we have a real meeting in June, I will have a good program for that. 

 Here is a blurb,This month’s program will be presented by Carole Marshall. The title is “Oh, It’s only sand”. This program will explore the sand that came out of the recent dredge piles at Phipp’s Park. The micro shells found in that sand and how you can look for some of these tiny treasures. Most of us, consider the sand a nuisance, but there are a myriad of tiny treasures if we only look.
In addition, feel free to show some of your treasures, as we will have a show and tell. Your chance to tell something of a special shell or even a thrift store find.  The meeting is open to everyone, so feel free to join our ZOOM meeting.
  Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/832893 40441?pwd=Y05VNXNESEZVQ3o5 S2NEZk8xaGdBQT09  Meeting ID: 832 8934 0441 Passcode: 429109 One tap mobile +19292056099,,83289340441#,,,,*429109# US (New York) +13017158592,,83289340441#,,,,*429109# US (Washington DC) Dial by your location +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdb1KYuKAa

Our speaker will be Jessica Pate who has an undergraduate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a graduate degree from Florida Atlantic University.  She has studied sea turtles in Florida, Central America, and West Africa.  She has also taught marine biology on traditionally rigged schooners and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean by sail.  In 2016, Jessica started the Florida Manta Project to study the biology and ecology of manta rays in South Florida and has discovered a potential rare nursery habitat.
Jessica will be talking about manta ray biology and global manta ray conservation, as well what discoveries that she has made about Florida’s manta rays.  You will also find out how to become a citizen scientist and contribute to important manta ray research!

The Speaker will be Robert Myers. Here is the program:

Into the Heart of Diversiy, Ambon to West Papua A bit over a year ago we went on our last major dive trip, to Ambon and across the Banda Sea to West Papua. To you molluscophiles, Ambon is where all species bearing the name “amboinensis” come from, the Maluku Island where those named “molluccensis” come from, the Banda Islands where those named “bandanensis” come from. To naturalists, these are the islands just to the east of Wallace’s LIne, where the flora and fauna transitions from Asian to Australian lineages. While this was not a shelling trip (collecting is forbidden in preserves) and we saw few mollusks other than those without shells, it was a wonderful glimpse of the environment they inhabit.  Our first 5 nights were at Spice Island Divers in Ambon, on the shore of a bay that slopes steeply down to 1,000 m. The shallows offer a variety of  coastal coral community and soft sediment muck dive sites. The steep slopes are subject to seasonal upwelling and have a number of somewhat deeper-dwelling species that encroach into safe diving depths. The rest of the trip was on the Damai Dua, a luxurious fanisi-style live-aboard. Our 12-day excursion began with daily stops through a chain of isolated coral pinnacles and active volcanos including the historic island and city of Banda Niera. From there we travelled to the eastern end of Ceram, the largest of the Maluku Islands, then on to Misool, the largest of the Raja Ampat Islands. These isands sit on the West Papuan shelf and are home to the world’s most diverse coral reefs. Of special interest to us are species of carpet and epaulet (“walking”) sharks, found only on the Papuan-Australian continetal shelf. We finished the trip with a dive on a pinncale reef in the Fam Island group, a site we first dived 15 years earlier, during our first digital photo trip.

Our Program for this January is our own Tom Ball. Tom will be giving us a program on Musical Shells. Tom is a musician himself, playing piano, singing opera and appearing in at least two Florida Grand Opera productions a year. He has been in Barbershop Quartets, sings in Church Choirs and in many other choral groups. Tom also composes scores and writes music. 

It is no surprise then that Tom collects shells with musical connotations. Shells named for an instrument, a composer, a musician, a musical opera, score or anything musical. You will be surprised at all the shells he has encountered.

Tom gave us a similar program about 5 years ago but since we have so many new members, I thought it would be enjoyable for our new members and since he has much new material he has added, even those who have seen it once will enjoy seeing it again.