Need a diving fix? Want to blow off some cobwebs? Get ready for a winter trip? Or check out some new gear? Our popular pool night is back

Wednesday, February 10 at the London Downtown YMCA 382 Waterloo Street.

IMPORTANT DETAILS—Please read carefully.

The door from the parking lot into the pool is only open for a brief window at 7:30. If you miss it you will have to lug your gear through the whole “Y”.

Free parking is available. Enter from Waterloo St and try and make your way to the lower level near to the exit ramp. The pool door is here and it will be open briefly at 7:30 and then again when we leave at 10. Pool time will be 8 until 10. Cost is $5 per participant.

Join us on this year's Winter Getaway to the Bay Islands in Honduras (March 1-8). For complete details, please see the flyer here --> http://swoda.ca/files/upload/doc/Honduras2010.pdf

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and getting many great dives under their belt. In case you aren't getting enough SCUBA pumped into you, get a fix of our summer editions of the SWODA Guidelines. Happy Diving!

View Newsletters Here.

Club SWODA is all about activity. We want to give our members as many chances to get out diving as possible. Although we host many dive trips all year round, we know that our members also want to dive on their own time. We also know that finding a buddy to go diving with can be difficult at times. Enter the SWODA Buddy List.

The Buddy List is a (e)mailing list available to all SWODA members, allowing them to keep in touch outside of club dives and activities. As a member, you are automatically signed up for this list and will be able to send/receive emails to/from other members. This is how it works:

1. You're itching to dive but need a buddy to share the experience with
2. Simply send an email to buddylist[a t]swoda[d o t]ca with details about your request (e.g. "I'm looking for a buddy to dive with this Wednesday night in Sarnia")
3. SWODA members subscribed to the list (all, by default) will receive your request and can respond by replying to your email
4. You and your new found buddy enjoy a fun and safe dive

It is our hope that this list allows our members to have a more enjoyable diving experience. Please remember that although SWODA is providing this contact service, any dives/events that arise from the list are outside of SWODA's responsibility. Dives organized by individuals through the list are viewed as regular, non-club dives.

At this time, the buddy list is available to SWODA members only. If you are a member and have not received your notification of subscription, please check your junk folder. If you still have any issues, feel free to contact us.

Happy Diving!

On Thursday, April 16 at 7:00pm, the Southwestern Ontario Divers Association will be hosting a free screening of the award-winning documentary Sharkwater. The event is open to the public in association with the Central Library's Enviro-Week programs. Please come on out, bring a friend, and enjoy an intriguing film on us. For more information, see the below pdf.

Event: Free Public Screening of Sharkwater
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Location: Wolf Performance Hall, London Central Public Library. 251 Dundas St. London, Ontario
More Details: Click Here

The main objective of SWODA is to bring divers together so they can share their scuba experiences. For this reason, we am very excited to introduce a new club feature: the ability for club members to upload and share their pictures on our website. It can sometimes be a hassle to orchestrate the collecting and posting of members' pictures from dive trips, especially with so many people having digital cameras and underwater housings. For this reason, we decided to put it to the people; share your favourites with the world!

How it works:

Rather than type out step-by-step instructions on how to upload your images, I have created a video tutorial to help guide you through the process. The video guides you through every step of the way, so you can see exactly where to click and what to do--you don't need to be a brain coral for this one.

You can view the tutorial HERE.

A short note on moderation: All pictures uploaded by members go into a private folder that is not visible by the public until the images are reviewed and released by our webmaster. This precaution should i) deter the uploading of any inappropriate images and ii) catch such images before they are released, should someone upload them anyway.

It looks like the snow is finally gone for the year, making it the perfect time for our annual Trip Sign Up Night and Club Meeting. The meeting will take place on Monday, March 30 at 8:00pm at Travel Sports Equipment. For directions, please click here.

This is usually our most well-attended meeting and a chance for everyone to get a first glance at this year's dive trips. Hope to see you there!

We had a great turnout this year at our annual New Year's/Polar Bear Dive under the Bluewater Bridge. To see pictures of the event, click HERE.

Greetings,

Just released is our 2008-2009 Holiday Issue of SWODA's newsletter, Guidelines. This issue contains 10 pages of great diving content including a Blackbeard's trip review, upcoming dives, and more! 2008 has been a very successful year for the club and we are excited to continue its growth in 2009. SWODA's strength lies in its membership and we hope you join us in the New Year for another great season of diving.

View Newsletter Here.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

SWODA is always looking to improve its members’ satisfaction. We strive to provide fun and safe diving experiences and decided that, this year, we would create a survey to gain feedback on how well we are fulfilling this mission. Our first-ever Member Satisfaction Survey was well-accepted by our members and we gathered a lot of information that can be used in the upcoming season to ensure SWODA continues to be a great dive club. Below are some of the key findings of the survey. You can find a complete copy of the survey results HERE.

Key Fidings:

• 96% of respondents said providing members with dive trips was either “Very Important” (73%) or “Important” (23%). [trips are obviously SWODA’s main focus!]
• 92% of respondents either read the SWODA Guidelines (our newsletter) “Every time it is emailed to me” (77%) or “Most of the time” (15%).
• 88% of respondents think we hold club meetings “Often enough.”
• Mondays (currently when we hold meetings) and Wednesdays tend to be the best days for respondents to attend meetings.
• 60% of respondents have made a payment through our website while 45% of the remaining respondents have not done so because they have not yet had the chance. This means that ~80% of respondents have or will make payments via our website.
• 65% of respondents are willing to go on more mid-week summer dives if SWODA provides them
• 92% of respondents have never felt that their safety was in danger while on a SWODA trip (see comments section of survey report for reports from the other 8% [2 people]).
• 83% of respondents are either “Very Satisfied” (31%) or “Satisfied” (52%) with Club SWODA overall.