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Houston, TX 77401

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Success to Significance Honoree — Ann Keibler

Ann Keibler to receive honourIn a place far, far away (i.e. Arizona) Ann was the youngest person to serve a a board member on the Arizona Cactus-Pine  Girl Scout Council Board.  She was also the recipient of the Girl Scout’s “Thanks” badge, the highest recognition that the Girl Scouts USA and the local council at the time it was given.
If you know Ann, this would not be a big surprise.  She was very active in scouting having started young as a Brownie and progressing through Senior Scouting and on into Leader training.  She even served a Trainer Trainer.  Not only was she involved in her local community, Ann was a counselor at several Girl Scout camps including Timbers in Michigan.  She spent nine summers working in Girl Scout camps.
Ann is the first person to tell you that all of this previous experience prepared her for her current occupation, running a successful Adventure and Dream company, known as Oceanic Ventures.  “Leading trips with adults and children is just like working with girls at camp, you want everyone to have some special memories and experience the adventure of a lifetime.”
Jean Janssen, one of our clients nominated Ann for as a San Jacinto Girl Scout Council’s Success to Significance Honoree.   As the Girl Scouts celebrates 100 years in 2012 the Success to Significance luncheon … honors successful women leaders who have made significant contributions in their communities. 

All proceeds from “Success to Significance” benefit the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. Research conducted by the nationally-recognized Girl Scout Research Institute demonstrates that only one in five girls believes she can lead the way for others and that the greatest barrier to leadership in girls is lack of confidence in their own abilities. Girl Scouts is the only organization addressing the significant female leadership gap by facilitating girl-led programs, advocacy and service projects, girl representation on high-level committees and the Board of Directors, and ample opportunities for older Girl Scouts to lead programs for younger girls.

 Dreaming big is what Girl Scouts does best! As the premier leadership organization for girls, Girl Scouts will usher tomorrow’s generation of women leaders while honoring those who have exemplified its mission and values today.

Jean, a member of the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council Board and her husband Steven Pate, an attorney with Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P, are sponsoring Ann for this honor.  They even invited Ann’s Senior Scout Leaders, Joyce and Bill O’Morrow from Arizona to come in for the event.
Want to find out more about Ann’s Girl Scout Career?  Here is a link to her Girl Scout Bio.
Here is another article about Ann.
 

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Travel Log – The March to Micronesia Begins

src=”https://oceanicventures.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120424-1637461.jpg” alt=”20120424-163746.jpg” />Monday 23 April The March Begins
Ahh, 2:00 in the morning comes early! The airport is quiet with only a skeleton crew of staff present to help us out. Of couse the ticket counters don’t open until 3:00 but we had our luggage stacked and ready for them when they did.
After checking in, it took us several tries to find a TSA security area open. Itis ironic that the early morning flights are United flights but the security for the early morning flights is 3 terminals away…government planning at its best! Cleared we head towards the gates and what do we stumble upon? A Starbucks that is open! Miracles do happen. On my previous runs through this airport, the businesses did not open until 30 minutes after the flight departed!
Time for our march across the Pacific, first stop Marjuro 6 hours away, then Kwajuline, another 2 hours from there and the Kosrae another hour in the air.

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Travel log – The Journey to Micronesia Begins

Here we are in sunny Hawaii, except that somwone forgot to tell the weather gods that Hawaii was supposed to be sunny. The skys are gray and full of water which the mountain god drops on us occassionally. Oh well no matter, we are only here for a short stop on our journey to Micronesia. In fact it seems really short since our flight to Kosrae leaves at 5:25 in the morning which means we need to be at the airport at 3:00 am to check all of the luggage. The driver today told us we needed to arrive early because the Micronesians really knew how to pack it in so there would be a lot of luggage — heavy luggage. Having done this before, I am sure the luggage of choice is still Igloo.
We are currently waiting on Susan and Ian to arrive from Philidelphia so we can head out to dinner and then home for a power nap before we leave for the airport. Such is the glamourous life of international travel.
Soon after Ian and Susan arrive, we ventured out to dinner ata the Chart House on Waikiki Beach. Thank Goodness for Open Table, an iPhone App that leys you make reservations easily.

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Dinner and Rebreather Diving with Leon Scamahorn

Christa Landowski On a Pathfiner Rebreather
Christa Landowski On a Pathfiner Rebreather

Last week was a busy week at Oceanic Ventures.  Leon Scamahorn, CEO of Innerspace Systems Corporation, was on town on a whirlwind tour.  He was in town to help us introduce the new Pathfinder Rebreather.  This new diving rebreather was designed with a recreational diver in mind.  It is small and compact and features a radial scrubber and their new ISCan electronics.

Dave and I got to try the new pathfinder rebreather during Eric’s Megalodon crossover training program with Leon and both Dave and I also did the Pathfinder Instructor Crossover program.  Diving this new rebreather is awesome!  It is light weight, simple to use and the electronics are state of the art.  Additionally, the ISCan electronics is based on the CAN bus technology invented by BOSH for the auto and aerospace industries.  This technology allows for dimple additions of optional devises like depth transducers and computers as well as allowing for in-field changing of components. 

The technology behind the unit is cool but it retains the breathing characteristics of the Megalodon rebreathers including their water trapping capabilities and set-point tracking.  But the Pathfinder, with its smaller packaging is ideal for a traveling, recreational diver or even a more advanced diver doing some light technical diving.

Of course, Dave and I were not the only people to get to try this new unit; twenty-four divers contributed $50.00 to the Oceanic Ventures Foundation to try the Pathfinder as well as the Megalodon rebreathers.  They were treated to an introduction and orientation from the man of the hour, Leon Scamahorn who explained his diving and manufacturing philosophy and the thinking that went into these rebreathers.  In talking to these divers afterwards, the $5,500 Pathfinder was of real interest and a few are even considering purchasing one of the rebreathers in the next few months.  It looks like Dave and I will be busy!

Leon was also the keynote speaker at our Club Aquarius meeting at the Black Labrador.  While his presentations at the demonstration were more technical, his evening presentation was centered more on people using their rebreathers.  Leon is passionate about diving and he focuses on having fun while diving.  Of course you cannot talk about InnerSpace Systems without a little technical history and product development, his presentation was mainly centered on people having fun while diving on his Company’s rebreathers.  As he said “look at those smiling faces, they are all having fun!”   For him that is the ultimate goal but he wants the fun to be done safely using the best life support equipment available – the Pathfinder and the Megalodon family of rebreathers.

Leon, the staff from Oceanic Ventures and our clients and friends donated their time and resources to help with the Oceanic Ventures Foundation and our goal of raising money for the Bonaventure Home For Boys in Grand Cayman.  We are still tabulating the results but it appears we raised over $2,500 for the home.  Thank you to everyone who helped with the event, donated items for the Sealed Bid Auction, bid on the items or paid to try the rebreathers in the pool  I know the group in Cayman will appreciate the gift!

Over the next few weeks we will be setting up schedules to get the new rebreather divers diving on their new rebreathers.  It will be a lot of fun.  As always, we have room for more divers…

Here are some of the highlights from the event.

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Need a reason to take that Trimix Course?

Underwater Object Discovered300ft down.. perfect reason for me to get hypoxic & expedition trimix certified.  Such were the words of one of our clients, John Mittendorf.  What was John talking about you ask?  Well it seems a group of Swedish treasure hunters discovered a perfectly round object at the bottom of the Sea of Bethena off the coast of Sweden.  According to the team, it is unusual because it is perfectly round and appears to have a “drag” clearing leading up to it.

Of course there are other reasons to take a Trimix course.  Imagine being able to swim with huge sponges reaching out and up from the depths along the walls in Grand Cayman.  Visit a turn of the century sailing ship in the Dry Tortugas or a WW II submarine from the United States and another from Germany; these await deep divers in the Dry Tortugas.  There are some incredible sites waiting for Trimix divers around the world including, caves, wrecks and walls.  Dave and I have been fortunate to have visited a number of them over the past few years and we are always looking for some other adventurous souls to join us.

John, may be right.  This might just be the reason to continue his rebreather training to include Hypoxic and Expedition Trimix.  Of course you will also need some practice in a dry suit.

Here is what CNN reported about the find: