Hello Members,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for a wonderful 2012 diving season.  Because of all our members making this club so special, the Chicago Scuba Meetup Group was recognized by the Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Divers as the 2012 Dive Club of the Year.  We owe it to you and your enthusiasm for making our events a success.

Even though it's cold out now - another dive season is coming upon us and the Chicago Scuba Meetup Group has LOTS to offer in the up coming year!. Not only will we have our regular meetings with informative and interesting presentations to increase your dive knowledge, but we will continue to sponsor charters diving the best fresh water diving in the world, the Great Lakes.  We will also have many picnics at our favorite local quarry, Haigh quarry, as well as numerous other events such as our annual Bonne Terre Mine dive trip, the Underwater Competition, Hyperbaric Chamber Dives, and several other trips and activities.

We expect to have a good year and look forward to all of you joining us in the fun.  As always, membership is free.  However, we do give members a chance to help support our club by becoming Sustaining Members.  For $20 a year, you can become one and help sustain the future success of our club.  You do this by helping us pay our Meetup fees, provide speakers at meetings and support our other activities. Sustaining Memberships are good for one year and are always due at the first of the year.

There are benefits to being a Sustaining Member.  This year for instance, the first 10 people who become Sustaining Members will receive a free one day pass to the exhibit hall of Our World Underwater (OWU). OWU is the Midwest's largest scuba expo and it takes place every year at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont.  This is a $15 value and nearly pays for the cost of your membership.  We will be awarding these passes at our next meeting on January 21st, but if you can't make it and want to join to receive your pass, please let me know.  Payments must be received before or during the January meeting and will be passed out as payments are received on a first come first serve basis. The Expo takes place February 15-17.  If you want to pay before the meeting, contact me through Meetup.com for instructions.

Also, on certain events that have limited participation, such as charters and chamber dives, this year we will not charge a premium to non-sustaining members.  However, we will will give preference for the first two weeks after opening the event to sustaining members to sign up, first come, first serve.  After that, the events will be open to all, again on a first come first serve basis.

Again, we will have plenty to offer everyone this year, so we hope to see you soon.  Keep your eye on our calendar and message board, for it is always changing with new events that come up during the year.

We look forward to seeing all of you in the water!
-Dean Nolan