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

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

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Dry Suit Scuba Diving and DUI DOG Rally and Demo Days in Texas

Diving Drysuits is fun
Diving Dry Suits Is Fun and They Extend Your Diving Season!
If you did not already know, we dive all winter! Alex, David, Joel. Madison and Rich all dive year round locally. In fact we have diving almost every weekend already scheduled and you do not want to miss a single weekend!
 But despite our living in the South, the lakes tend to cool down a bit. Dry suits are the way to dive year round and laugh at the cold. And, to make it even more special, DUI’s DOG Rally and Demo Days is coming up November 10-1, 2012 at Clear Springs Scuba Park. This is your opportunity to get certified to dive a dry suit, try out the complete line of products from DUI and get fed lunch all for one price! And, if you want to, you can even camp with the rest of our divers!
 Sign-Up today and get ready for this winters diving marathon!

 Dive Mom, I hate being cold and I want to dive! (please sign me up or send me some more information)

 Tell Me More about the DUI DOG Ralley and Demo Event

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Discovering the Why's of Diving…Science of Diving Course Scheduled

Divers under the boatWho is Archimedes and why should we care?  Is Dalton really important to divers?  What do penguins have to do with diving?  What is Martini’s Law?  Do tides really effect diving?

The answers to these questions and others that you didn’t even know to ask will be answered in the fun, interesting Science of Diving course taught by our staff of fun and exciting Dive Leaders!

While this course is required for anyone thinking about entering our Dive Leader programs, it is an interesting program designed to answer some of those Why questions behind the diving rules and procedures.  If you are interested in learning more about diving, sign-up for this program today and continue your diving education.

Course Dates: October 13 (Saturday), 16, with Scuba Steve Brennan

 

Dive Mom, Sign Me Up (or send me more information)

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Scuba Diver Stress & Rescue Course Scheduled

Eric Keibler
Keep your divng stress free, enroll in a class today!
They say diving can be stressful at times. In this program you will learn how to better understand stress in divers, how to recognize it in yourself and your dive buddies and some effective ways to deal with these issues. This is a fun, hands-on course that will improve your overall diving.  Just think how helpful it will be to spot stressers effecting your dive buddy and helping him/her to deal with them before they escaltate into a more severe problem or even a dive accident.
First Aid and CPR training is also a part of the overall program. You can sign-up for the whole program or just the portions you need (Stress Rescue, First Aid, CPR or Oxygen Prneuder).
Don’t miss this opportunity, we only have a few spaces left! Call or email Dive Mom today!

  • Classroom & Pool sessions: October 2,4 9,11
  • First Aid/CPR/O2: October16,18
  • Diving Days: October 20-21at the Beautiful Blue Lagoon

Dive Mom, Sign Me Up (or send me more information)

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New Technical Divers

David & Steve
David & Steve Getting Ready for a Dive

Recently, I had the opportunity to teach a new group of Technical Divers.  They were excited to expand their diving knowledge and learn some new skills at the same time.  We spent the summer Side Mount diving, and learning the Principles of Technical Diving.  Needless to say, I spent a lot of time at the lake.

When it was time to go on the deeper dives required for their Advanced Recreational Trimix Class we were scheduled to go to Lake Travis.  However, they decided that it would be more fun and a better experience if we went diving in clear water.  Now, for people who know me, I don’t particularly like teaching technical diving in Lake Travis because the reduced visibility limits the swim distances and the entire diving experience is shackled.  So, when they decided that they would like a better experience, I immediately began putting something together for Cozumel.

Cozumel is an ideal choice because you can get there easily with almost daily flights direct to the island from Houston and because the diving there is spectacular.  Additionally, the infrastructure for technical diving is there with mixed gas, bottles and sorb readily available.  Additionally, the food and lodging costs are reasonable.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and were boat-diving that afternoon – a 130’ tune-up dive.  Over the next two days, we ended up doing five decompression dives to depths in excess of 145 feet and still had time to enjoy the sun and Pepe’s world famous guacamole.  Our dives were joined by turtles, large groupers, moray eels, schools of snapper, huge lobster, crabs and plenty of crystal clear blue water.
 

David, Eric & Steve
Finished & Celebrating!
David and Steve found out that technical diving is more than minimal visibility, slow swims and brown objects.  Here they had sunlight penetrating all the way down, enough room to swim while keeping track of the team and decompression in clear water, with a reef sliding by underneath.  They also got to experience how nice it is to have the boat pick you up at the end and deal with the equipment after the dive.  This was a whirlwind trip – arrive on Friday, Leave on Monday but it was a better experience than the dives in Lake Travis they had originally planned.
I feel they are now better equipped to deal with the diving environments most technical divers will face.  They have a lot of experience in low visibility locations but clear water is also important and these divers have experience in both environments.

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Help Save the Whales

Photograph of Beluga Whale
Photo courtesy of savebiogems.org
This post is courtsey of Amos Nachoum and the staff at biganimals.com

Pierce Brosnan has narrated a video to call attention to the plight of the last 284 beluga whales of Alaska’s Cook Inlet. According to Brosnan, the actor and ocean activist, and also NRDC, the Apache Alaska Corporation is about to launch a seismic airgun attack that could push the white whales over the brink, into extinction.

The explosive noise of airguns used to explore for oil and gas can deafen, injure and even kill whales.
-Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

According to NRDC, the oil exploration company is planning to launch an “acoustic onslaught in the beluga’s only home in the world” and apparently the Obama Administration has given Apache Alaska Oil the greenlight to go forward. The company, says Brosnan in the video, will use devices that create loud air blasts to explore for oil and gas – blasts that will occur every ten seconds, perhaps for months on end. At a distance, Brosnan says, the blasts can cause the whales to abandon their habitat and stop eating. At close range, they can cause deafness, even death.

“Don’t let the belugas go silent. Help protect them before time runs out.”
-Pierce Brosnan


Watch Pierce Brosnan’s video and then visit this NRDC website to tell the Obama Administration to stop the Apache Alaska Corporation from launching an airgun attack on belugas.  View the latest information from NRDC about this attack on belugas