Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

Eric Keibler

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Dave &Eric’s Adventure to Florida

Here we are in the middle of the cold weather season, Dave’s favorite time to escape New York.  Dave tries to tell Martha that he has been bad and that she should banish him to Texas for a few months.  It never really works.  However, I was able to arrange for a few weeks off to spend some time in sunny Florida.  Of course, winter seems to have followed us as it was cold in Florida.

 

We had an ambitions schedule planned.  We contacted Tom Mount to help us accomplish a few goals for the year.  Dave needed to finish his Meg Instructor course so I volunteered to be his student and I needed to complete my OC/CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer Certification so Dave volunteered to be my candidate for the session.

 

Tom set up two weeks worth of training and diving for us.  We planned to do a lot of wreck diving while we were in the area as part of our course.  Our plans called for dives on a variety of wrecks at various depths.

 

During the next few days the winds built and came from the wrong direction.  What this meant for us was more time at Tom’s house in lectures and in pools.  In fact it meant a lot of extra lecture time and discussions about new training materials.

 

During our dive on the Speigel Grove, my training dive on the Meg, I had two instructors, Dave and another instructor candidate along wit Tom.  Since I was the student, I was anticipating a lot of drills with my instructors.  What happened was not at all what I expected.  During the descent it became apparent that the other instructor candidate was having problems with buoyancy and we found that his jacket was having trouble holding air.  Of course while Dave was helping him sort it out, Tom, who had grown impatient with the lack of attention to me, the student quickly appeased himself by giving me a “boom scenario” to deal with.  Having successfully accomplished the procedure for dealing with the “problem” our other instructor candidate signaled he was ok and ready to continue.  Tom started on the dive. 

 

Dave soon realized  that this other person was not in the proper space for the dive and was having trouble maintaining buoyancy.  So rather than focus on me “the student” he decided that he needed to watch the other candidate.  As Tom approached a wide opening that traverses the wreck, everyone apparently signaled ok and in he went.  I have to admit I was really laughing at myself in the passageway.  I kept getting stuck.  This was not my normal configuration!  Imagine a Wreck Instructor getting stuck on a simple dive.  I soon realigned myself and pulled my way out into the opening, under Tom’s watchful eyes.  As I turned around there was no one behind me.  Tom and I waited and still there were no divers behind us.  I looked back down the passage and there was no one there.  I communicated this to Tom and then after a little more of a delay the other candidate entered the passage creating a cloud of silt for Dave to swim through.  Dave later told us that he had a difficult time getting the other person to follow.

 

It was at this point, we all noticed how poor his buoyancy was and that he appeared to be struggling to stay afloat in the water column.  Further, Dave was signaling Tom that the diver was low on dil.  Tom, immediately terminated the dive leading us to the mooring line.  After our safety stop, we exited the water to a surprised crew.  We were supposed to be go for 2 hours and we were surfacing before the other recreational divers.

 

Tom started to talk to Dave about the lack of drills for his “student” during the dive but quickly changed his focus when the entire situation became known.  Then his attention switched to the other diver/candidate. 

 

In the end, Dave and I did accomplish our goals.  Dave received his Meg Instructor and his CCR Normoxic Trimix Instructor credentials and I received my OC/CCR Trimix Instructor credentials.  We also decided that January was not the best time to travel to Florida for diving.  The winds are unpredictable and the diving is likely to get blown out.  Something Tom knew and tried to tell us but who said we ever listen.

 

Oh well, live and learn…

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Cool New Stuff


Platinium Pro Winners - Jess Stark, Eric Keibler, Gary Taylor
Platinium Pro Winners - Jess Stark, Eric Keibler, Gary Taylor

Several members of the Oceanic Ventures Staff have just returned from DEMA, the diving industry trade show.  The purpose of the show is for retailers to preview equipment, training products and travel locations so they can bring new things back to their clients at home.  The training agencies host parties and meetings to showcase their offerings and to thank members for their support in the previous year and in the upcoming year.

 

 

 

SSI is no different, hosting its annual dealer social at the Rivera hotel.  It was great to see friends from all over the country – many of whom we only see at these events.  Julie Footman was on hand to shake her head but to also offer her support to Ann for her 2009 Cold Water Diving Program to help her Antarctica divers gain some diving experience.  We will be joining Julie in Maine after the group completes their Ice Diving Course, at Lake Winipasakui, New Hampshire in February (there is still room for interested people).  Julie is the owner of Aqua Diving Academy in Portland Maine and has been a great source of information for a number of things including dry suits and repairs.  She is also a good friend. 

 

During the dealer social, I was awarded my Platinum Pro 5000 Instructor Award.  This means that I am old and have been teaching a long time.  The award is based on points made up of a number of things from Instructor Ratings to Number of years diving; but, primarily, it the points are the number of students I have taught over the eighteen years (see what I mean about being old).  [Find out more about Eric and this award by pressing here or going to www.oceanicventures.net].

 

Jess Stark and Gary Taylor (a member of our adjunct faculty) were both honoured during DEMA this year.  Both of these men have been diving a long time and have accumulated in excess of 5000 dives (Gary has in excess of 10,000 dives).  They were among this year’s recipients of the Platinum Pro 500 divers award, given by SSI.  They join a very exclusive club of divers representing the who’s who of divng.  We were fortunate to have been able to nominate both of these people as well as two other designees – Lamar Hires, CEO of Dive Rite and Ron Carlo, manufacturer’s representative for a number of lines including Dive Rite.  Congratulations to all of you!

 

Another party we attended was hosted by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.  They always throw great parties!  Of course it is even more fun since the Houston office is full of our students!  It was quite an evening full of free drinks, horśderves and good company.  Carl Griffing joined us at the party as did Robert Hew and Ian McKnight.  Of course, Carl and Ashton seemed to have a better time than most of us – at least their evening lasted longer.  I guess I’m getting too old!

 

Of course we did much more than party.  The group attended Risk Management seminars hosted by IANTD and another by SSI.  There were seminars on selling & teaching technical diving, recruiting, marketing, new camera systems, imprneung your client’s photographs, dealer product updates and new course offerings.  We all had meetings with manufacturers and manufacturers representatives, destination representatives and a host of other meetings.  Through it all, we also had some goals of things we needed to accomplish and some new products we needed to find.

 

And we did come back with some really cool things.  Here are a few of the things we brought back to Oceanic Ventures:

 

  • Komodo, Indonesia live aboard – The crew of the Archipelago Explorer II are excited about the potential of rebreather diving and with the help of Oceanic Ventures and Silent Diving Systems they are hosting the first live-aboard, all rebreather dive adventure in Indonesia!  This trip promises to be and extra special experience and a real treat for rebreather divers!  The trip will be 22 July 2009 to 2 August 2009, give or take a few days (Dive Mom is finalizing the air schedule)
  • Cool New Lights – We found some really cool new LED lights that are more affordable than anything we have had in the past.  These new lights, which come in a flood versin and a spot version use Lithium batteries and are rated to 400 ft.
  • Inexpensive back-up Light – When you need an inexpensive back-up light that fits in your pocket or on your BCD, we have a suggestion.  A 5 LED light for $9.95.  Pretty cool find!
  • Camera Spotting Light – This light is different from anything we have seen before.  It is a spotting light with an sensor that shuts-off the light when your electronic strobe fires, keeping the different temperature lights out of your photograph.
  • 8 megapixel Camera & Housing for $199.95 – What a find!  As Dave said when he was telling us abut this at one of our morning staff meetings during the show, this makes photography affordable for everyone.  New divers and experienced divers can start taking underwater photographs almost from the start.  And, you can always add an external strobe later to improve your photography even more.  We are so excited about this new starter camera that we have put one in the pool for our students to try during dive class!
  • New Training Options – The new buzzword in dive training is on-line training.  Ann, Dave and I have been watching this for several years and we believe that now there is a good product that will meet the needs of some divers.  Beginning in 2009, Oceanic Ventures will begin offering On-line education as a part of its training program.  Keep an eye out for more details on this program.

 

We believe that DEMA was very successful for us this season.  We appreciate all of the staff’s help during the show (Ashton, Dave, Barney & Barbara at the show and Zaide in the office).  I hope you will come by and let me show you these way cool things!  If you can’t make it by, send me an message and I’ll tell you more about them.

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DIVAS, Diving, Rum and Wine

 

Dive Divas in Grand Cayman, photo courtsey of Dora Valdez
Dive Divas in Grand Cayman, photo courtsey of Dora Valdez

As the hurricane becomes more of a past event, a group of ladies joined Ann in Grand Cayman.  Affectionately known as the Dive Diva group, these ladies left Houston in recovery and escaped the usual Houstonian question “so did you have any damage?”  The plan was 5 days of diving with other activities including massages, reflexology, a rum tasting featuring Grand Cayman’s own Seven Fathoms Rum and of course one of Arie’s  famous wine and cheese parties.  Word from Grand Cayman is that the island will never be the same again!

 

 

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2 matches, 4 Chukkers Each with Wine

Polo anyone?  Did you know that Houston has one of the oldest Polo clubs in the South?  The Houston Polo Club is celebrating its 80th Anniversary this year and has been voted as one of the top polo clubs in the United States according to the Robb Report.  

 We were the guests of the Elizabeth Himes with the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, sponsors for the club this year.  After a little white wine the first match started.  Who would have thought Ashton was such polo fan – he kept an active score sheet and was familiar with some of the players.  In looking through the guide, we found that several of our clients actively played polo at the club and others were supporters.  It is always fun to find out what other activities your clients are involved in outside of Scuba.

Ann & Cindy Thompson Enjoying a Glass of Wine
Ann & Cindy Thompson Enjoying a Glass of Wine

Between the two matches, we were treated to wine from a small California winery, a tour of two Jaguar convertibles and a Rang Rover all mid-field.  The wine was nice and the cars were beautiful.  Ann really wants a Jaguar convertible so this did not really help squash that desire…

 We followed the Polo match with dinner and drinks (mostly Iced Tea).  It was a fun day and definitely different from what we normally do – Polo anyone?

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Fish Tales

Tonight our monthly Club Aquarius meeting was a little different, the guests were also the speakers because we held a “Fish Tale” open mike event.  Everyone was encouraged to tell a “fish tale” about diving or travel.  It was also a little different because we had the meeting over at the Fedora Lounge because the store was still in disarray after the storm, flood and the subsequent drying efforts.

 Kelly, the bartender took great care of our group and kept the tabs for twenty-five people straight.  Ann was drinking Martinis all evening as were a number of other guests.  All the while we had a series of tales being told both about the storm – When did you get your power back?  Did you have any damage? Are you alright?, and of course the Fish Tales.  Ann and I had a hard time deciding who had the best tale so we had a drawing for the grand prize, a Fish in My Heart Book, featuring the work of Rogest.

 It was a fun evening and it was great to see everyone.  One thing I heard a lot from everyone was that they had read one of my email messages and had been thinking about their last dive trip; it was nice to hear people read the email and applied its message as a way to cope with the aftermath of the storm.  It was also nice to hear that everyone was alright and that their damage was limited.  We know that some were not so lucky and our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

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The Saga Continues

Looking at the store right now it seems like a bad dream.  Only two weeks ago we had everything in its place and operations were normal.  A week ago, a little weather caused havoc and disrupted our little world.  But, we are luckier than a lot of people.

Yesterday I spoke with a gentleman from Surfside, a small town on the coast, and he said that his roof was gone and everything was wet but he was lucky – he still had a house.  Many of his neighbors were not so fortunate.  There were pilings (homes in this area are built on stilts) where houses used to sit and piles of debris that represented years of hard work sitting in the road.  These people had truly lost everything they had.

When you hear stories like these, I feel guilty about the depression I feel when looking at the store.  For our part, the majority of what we had is still there and only a little of it is totally lost.  And we have insurance to help replace what was lost.  More than anything, we are all fine. 

Our staff seemed to have weathered the storm and are coping with the changes the storm has brought.  Wade has no power and is maintaining his freezers and sanity with two generators.  Their hurricane plans called for the installation of two small window units to help keep the moisture down in their home for the month or two it takes to get power restored in their neighborhood.  Steve  still has no power and is using a generator to keep the food, beer, and wine cold while using fans to keep cool.  Vernon is getting more help from his Mother-in-Law since her home is in Galveston which is only open during daylight hours.  Fortunately, here home came through the storm in reasonably good condition.  Chuck finally got power back as did Mike. 

Barney suffered some damage at his home but found his boat safely tied in its slip.  For his part, procrastination paid off since their plans were to move the boat to the cannal behind their new home, but he had gotten around to adding the pylon he needed t secure it properly.  This probably kept his boat from being one of those that greets you on the highway on the way into Galveston.

Some of the staff are still feeling like vagabonds or summer campers.  They are still waiting for power to be restored.  According to the news, Centerpoint Energy has restored power to 66% of their customers (thankfully we are one of the ones with power both at the store and at home).

 The piles of drywall in front of the store have been removed.  The dehumidifiers were silenced yesterday and the few remaining fans noisily running throughout the morning were cut-off and pulled front he store.  The Steam Team, our flood recovery specialists, ended their siege of our space and removed the last vestiges of their encampment.  Our space has been pronounced “dry.”

 While the specialists were crawling around the office, Oceanic Ventures restarted business in full swing, with classes resuming last evening.  Ann and Ashton are still staged at the western office (our house) and I am manning the store while working with the building management and our insurance carrier to resolve the situation and revamp the piles back into an operational facility.  We have a lot of work to do but we also have a lot of support from our friends, staff and clients.  The hard part is deciding where to start and what needs to be done next.

 As I suggested in an email message, when things get too rough, remember your last dive trip and focus on the underwater beauty.  I for one have been spending a lot of time in Cayman and the Pacific.  These images continue to remind me of why I do what I do; and they serve as a catalyst to move on so I can continue to introduce others to the wonders that await them underwater.