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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Santa Blowing Bubbles

Eric With SantaHo, Ho, Ho! 

Nollaig Shona or Happy Christmas!

 
Hey kids, did you know Santa was a diver?  Well, on December 7 at the West University pool Santa made an appearance in his scuba equipment and posed for photographs.  It was amazing to see Mr. Clause swim around the pool, his beard flowing, a red wetsuit complete with fur trimming and a Zeagle BCD!  It is not everyday you get to see such a site.
To keep Santa company on this visit, several members of the Oceanic Ventures family, Barney Corbin, Barbara Corbin, Zaide Scheib and yours truly, helped to take photographs and hand out diving magazines prneuded by Mark Young at Dive Training magazine.  The pool prneuded hot chocolate, which was not in high demand on the 72 degree day and life-guards to make sure that everyone had a good time.
Funny as it may sound, there were more adult visitors than there were children.  Of course, they say we are all children inside and the difference between men and boys are the price of their toys.  All-in-all we had about 30 people come by and visit and have their photographs made with the dear old man. 
It was fun working with the children.  It is amazing how long some people could hold their breath.  During the day we even had a visit from a reporter from the Examiner Newspapers.  It seems Santa and his elf made it onto the front page of the West university Examiner.   To see samples of the photographs taken, please visit www.oceanicventures.net. 
In talking with Santa and Brittany Baakes, the manager of the City of West University Place athletic acilities, this is a fun event that both would like to make an annual event.  I for one will be back next year – it was a lot of fun and hopefully the weather will be as wonderful as it was this year.
Slán

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Finals…is it really that time again?

UST LogoAhhh!  I never seem to have enough time to study for my Irish language class and here it is time for the final.  It is a good thing that I am only auditing the course or my GPA would be in danger of bottoming out something I worried more about when I was in school in Lubbock.  It would never be acceptable for a Cum Laude graduate to make the grades I am making in this class. 

I am not sure how people work full time jobs and go to school at the same time.  My guess is they do not own their own small businesses and teach in the evenings.  At least that is my story and I am sticking to it! 

Maeve is certainly patient for putting up with my attempt to learn Irish and for actually grading my tests.  Of course I was quite pleased to have made simply a passing grade on my mid-term exam. 

Looking at the exam this evening, I am always surprised that I can read much of it, translate some of it, write a little and always find some of it that looks like new material.  That is the scariest thing, since I should have at least seen everything before I got there. 

This final was fair, the course was very interesting and despite what my grades seem to reflect, I did learn a lot and had fun doing it.  Thank you Maeve; we all appreciateyour valiant efforts in teaching us to speak and read Irish. 

Following the exam it was an Irish student and friend get together at the Center for Irish studies.  Our group planned on a pot luck format and Lori had enough food to feed 30 more people.  the real students had plenty to eat and for those who stayed to clean up there were left-over’s. 

Like any Irish gathering, there was a little singing, some fiddle playing, a little guitar music and a lot of good conversation.  It was a fine way to end the semester and get ready for the remainder of the holiday season. 

Slán and Nollaig Shona duit!

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Tradition!

On the beach in CozumelYou can just hear Tevia singing Tradition in the background.   

Tradition you ask?  Well this trip has reoccurred for over 10 years and many of the participants have span>been going on it for most of those years.  We celebrate two birthdays – Steven Hann and Anu Baji, and an anniversary, mine. 

The only reason I get to go is because our wedding anniversary usually falls over the trip.  But don’t get too sentimental, I am a working diver who gets to take sixteen of his close, warm personal friends diving each year. 

This year, like the last, I had two rebreather students silently plying the waters off the coast of Cozumel with a tremendous amount of problems, albeit simulated problems.  You would think people would rather just dive than take a course on their vacation.  Matt, on of my students even made the comment “Here I am again, taking a class in Cozumel – I can’t remember what it is like to just dive here.”  Of course, I reminded him we could have done the eight dives and eight hours of diving in beautiful Lake Travis!

This trip had a number of firsts – 500 dives for Jean Jansen, now an SSI Gold Diver, rebreather divers Matt Booth and Wayne Cooper, Dale Keyworth and Cecilia Chipman finished their Deep Diver course and as such, finished their Advanced Diver certifications and Ann put up with me for another year! 

We had some great dives and ate some fun meals at some of our favorite restaurants.  Anu is another year younger and Stephen feels another year older (especially since he moved just before leaving for this trip).  Traditions are so much fun!

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Wine and Diving, they do go together on occasion…

This marked the second anniversary of our Oceanic Ventures Shopping for Charity wine party hosted by none other than Pam Radford from Legal Media and Oceanic Ventures, Inc.  Who would have ever thought of a little dive shop in Houston Texas having their name on a wall at a local school in the Philippines?  Ann’s mother certainly could not have imagined it and yet that is precisely what happened in Puerta Galera where our diving friends helped us bring water and restrooms into a school, hire additional teachers, electrify the classrooms, introduce computers and computerized educational software, and beautify the grounds to make the entire school experience better for the students.   

Ann started the school project to help schools and students in the areas we dive.  At least that was the stated reason.  The truth is Ann loves children and the has fun interacting with them and introducing them to new things (ask the little boys she taught to snorkel in the Solomon Islands).  One way of doing this is to bring school supplies to local schools.  She found that teachers are very appreciative and the students love meeting people from other places.  Over the years, our divers have contributed paper, pencils, calculators, maps, construction paper, office supplies, books  and other useful items to schools in Mexico, Little Cayman, Fiji, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Truk Lagoon, Kosrai and other diving destinations that we visit.  Each one of the school visits is a special event for both the teachers and students as well as the visitors.  

The school in the Philippines has been a true miracle in giving and Anne the administrator of the school has done wondrous things with the money and supplies donated.  Adding water and restroom to the school did more than improve hygiene; it prneuded a method to improve the appearance of the school and introduced school pride by allowing the students to add flower gardens to the school grounds.  If you visit the school, you will see students watering the plants with cans filled with the water that one of our clients paid to have brought in. But this event is more than asking for donations, it is really a way for people to experience the local cultures. 

Two years ago, Ann was negotiating with the local sales ladies in the Philippines who were selling hand woven baskets.  She turned to Pam and said, “I can’t say no.”  Pam just looked at her and said “um, what are you going to do with all of those baskets?”  Pam hen hatched the idea of an auction and she agreed to furnish the wine!  Shopping for Charity was born and the first year we raised $1500 in proceeds and donations (one of our teaching staff even donated his teaching revenues to the cause).  The owners of the Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera were impressed that we were able to raise the money for their community and they agreed to match the contribution. But that was last year. 

This year the resort once again agreed to match our contributions and thanks to the generous support of our clients, we raised more money than last year (we are still computing the final total).  We really appreciate all of the support we have received and the beneficiaries of it all are some very special children in countries far from Houston. 

Thank You!

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Finally, It is Down

Texas ClipperThey thought it would sink in the dock waiting for the right weather, which in Texas can be a tricky proposition, and probably the stars to align, before Texas’ newest artificial reef, The Texas Clipper, was reefed.  However, despite all the fears, it went down where it was supposed to on Sunday evening. 

According to Captain Frank Wasson of the M/V Spree it was a pretty awesome sight seeing it go down.  Of course Frank and Melanie had an interesting ride as they were hosting the Texas Parks & Wildlife crew who wanted to get close to the wreck as it went down.  That is the M/V Spree in the photograph with her engines in full reverse and the the Texas Clipper sank beneath the waves attempting to suck everything around it down with it.

 The new artificial reef site sits in about 130 feet of water and the top of the wheel house is in about 65 feet of water.  The site is due east out of South Padre Island.  The company sinking the vessel guaranteed that it would sit on an even keel but apparently it is listing (to port or starboard – who knows right now) –oops! 

 I am sure the Dive Clubs and Dive Shops that had booked charters for the sinking back in July (when it was supposed to be reefed) were very happy to finally get their trips to the new ship.  Keep looking out for photos of the ship as the sea starts to reclaim the wreck.

 Thanks for the Photo Captains Frank & Melanie!

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Cold Water & 101 Divers

Diver Exiting Water At Demo DaysDiver Exiting Water At Demo Days“45 minutes, too long, we need more staff in the water.”  These were not the words or a deep water recovery supervisor but the staff at DUI’s Demo Days in Terrill Texas.  With a 101 divers coming through the tent on Saturday, there are never enough instructors in the water to take in-experienced divers on a dry-suit demo and tour.   Pat Outfitting a DiverPat Outfitting a Diver
Pat Outfitting a DiverVernon, Wade Pat and I spent the day up at Clear Springs Scuba Park for the annual DUI Demo Days. What a great event.  As Ann likes to say, where else can you  try out over $3,000 in equipment, get a hat and eat a hamburger lunch all for $8.00.  For an additional $8.00 you can eat dinner and be eligible for numerous prizes from DUI, Diversatea and DAN. 
Mneung from tent duty to the water took all of 2 hours. and the call for more help trumped the schedule so carefully put together from “volunteers” early in the morning.  Wade and Pat, being Diver Coordinators add to the instructors numbers and soon they were headed out to show the new dry suit divers challenges of dry suit diving while searching perch and bass (elusive with all of the bubble noise emitted by the divers)  I entered the water a short time later and was not able to get out of the water until 5:00 pm a full 5 hours later.  Luckily I grabbed a burger before jumping in.
Vernon also completed a dry suit open water for Jerry Keiselwysky who plans on getting his own dry suit.  Welcome to the club Jerry!
Of course riding up and back with Pat awarded him the privilege of listening to me talk about the dive industry and prying questions.  To top all of this off, he shared a hotel room with me and found out what Dave already knew – snoring!  Pat was a good sport and didn’t complain at all. Of course the real key is whether he will ever share a room with me again. It was a great weekend and we had a good time.
small-wade-fitting-divers-2.jpgIf you see them, ask Wade and Vernon about their Boyle’s Law test…