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

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

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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…

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Feeding the CHUM

Chum MeetingDry suits in Texas – what are we crazy? 
When we introduced drysuit diving to Houston (ok, on a retail basis) who would have thought that we would actually have sold some, much less have two regular demo events in the state and make the DUI Hot Sheet for the most dry suit sales in a month? Ann & I certainly planned for the eventuality and Faith Ortins, our friend at DUI had faith in us but to see it happen has been exciting. It is hard to really introduce someone to the concept of Dry Suit diving, especially in Houston which is the gateway to warm Caribbean and Pacific diving but it is fun to help people extend there diving horizons and their diving seasons. 
This evening we had the opportunity to introduce some diving divers to the fun of being warm while underwater.  The City of Houston Underwater Mariners invited us to talk about dry suit diving  and tempt their club members into attending one of the upcoming DUI Demo events, the first of which is in two days and the other in the spring.  DUI helped us by donating a DUI jacket to the event for us to give away and we of course threw in some t-shirts and other give away items. 
This was a special meeting so according to Ryan, there were not as many people as in previous meetings.  Still there were 30 brave souls (lots of rain just before the meeting screwed-up traffic in Houston) who came out to hear me espouse the virtues of drysuit diving.  To entertain them, I obtained a number of slides from friends around the industry showing divers diving dry and some of the places they could dive.  Faith sent me some fun photographs including a photo of divers having martinis on an ice flow in British Columbia (posed of course – you can’t drink and dive!) 
While we were not successful in getting some members of the group interested in joining us that weekend, we did garner some support for the spring event. And, who knows, we may have sent a few of them group thinking there was diving in the winter…

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Remember your glass of milk?

Life is like a child drinking cold milk, there is nothing like blowing bubbles.  Of course with diving, your Mother is not there telling you to quit playing and drink your milk.

 Of course, I find those bubbles a little annoying these days; diving without them has become my preferred way of diving! It is amazing how close you can get to the fish and how curious the marine creatures are when they notice you.  Imagine being four feet away from a twelve foot hammer head or running head on into a spotted eagle ray coming around the corner.

Grand CaymanLet’s hope I convince more of you to become rebreather divers in the near future.  In the mean time, let’s have some fun and play in our milk!