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

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

Scuba Diving Equipment

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Scuba Diver's Garage Sale

Garage Sale Sign
November 19-20
Have you ever found that you just have too much stuff? Do you trip over things and wonder what can you do to clear-up a path?  Well, we have been having the same issues here and we have decided it is time to make some changes.  So, we are cleaning out the back-room, the storage lockers and any place else we have things stored and pricing it to move on.  This is your chance to get some great deals on diving equipment.
We have new equipment that we is one-of-a kind, last year’s models as well as trade-ins, exchanges and demo equipment.  There are books, travel guides and who knows what else (we are still looking through things).  We will have a bin of FREE items and things that benefit the Oceanic Ventures Foundation.

Don’t Wait Come See What Shows Up!

Since we are already looking through the storage facilities, some of the items we have found are showing up in he store.  Right now you will find a collection of wet suits on the  veranda for $25.00 – $50.00 so come by and see what we’ve found.  Dive Mom has two bins of equipment beneath her desk full of deals! You just need to come by and see what has shown up during our excavations.

 

  • WHEN:   Saturday, November 19 10:00 – 4:00
  •                      Sunday, November 20,   2:00 – 5:00
  • WHERE: Right here at 2715 Bissonnet, suite 302

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The Making of a Scuba Diver

Scuba Diver Susan Long Relaxing in Fiji
Susan Long Relaxing in Fiji

I have been scuba diving for over two years – since December 2012. Not only that, I had 100 dives within 10 months, and I had another 100 dives within another 10 months. I LOVE it! I am 59 years old, a retired IT professional, not athletic or mechanical in the slightest. How did I get here?

When we got married in 1992, my husband and I made a deal. He would not buy a Harley, and I would not go scuba diving. That way, we thought we could keep each other alive for a good long time. I have always had friends who scuba dived, and I have long been intrigued by it.

I swam for exercise in college – or more precisely, struggled through maybe 10 lengths a session. It was awful and so difficult, but for some reason, I did it. I did not enjoy it at all. Fast forward 25 years, and we went with some diving friends to the Yucatan for vacation. They did some diving, and we all snorkeled one day. I was terrified! I did not understand how I was supposed to breathe underwater. But I made myself jump in and try it, and within a minute or two, I was having a great time! There were lots of glamorous fish! Who knew? And I really enjoyed being in the water – which was also a surprise, after my college swimming experiences.

Scuba Divers Susan & Larry on a motorcycle trip
Susan and her husband, Larry on their last motorcycle trip.

After I retired in 2005, I decided to go to graduate school in Spanish Linguistics at the University of Houston. The parking is horrible! (The classes were great!) I soon realized if I had a motorcycle or scooter, I could park in the designated areas much more easily. So I bought a Vespa scooter! When my husband got over the shock, he got himself a Harley! So now I had permission to scuba dive! (We now both really enjoy our motorcycle trips together!)

I had permission to scuba dive, but on the other hand, I knew it was an expensive habit. I was reluctant to get a lot more “stuff”. We already had plenty of stuff. Being overweight, I didn’t think there would be enough weight available to keep me down (seriously). I also knew myself it could be dangerous – I had looked at some books detailing scuba diving “incidents” and they are pretty scary. You wonder why anyone comes back alive!

In the fall of 2012, my friend Donna Collins (another scuba diver, and Oceanic Ventures, Inc. denizen) and I were planning to go on a cruise to Costa Rica and Panama. She suggested that we could go snorkeling, and she might try to go diving. I was enthusiastic – I had not had a chance to go snorkeling in years! She took me to Oceanic Ventures to look into getting my own mask, snorkel, fins to take on the trip.

My First Trip the the Dive Store

Ann, Alex and David Morris were in the shop, and I will never forget the warm welcome. David took me under his wing and explained everything I wanted to know about masks, snorkels, fins. I could not believe how expensive they were! But I was sold on the part of getting good equipment so I could really enjoy the experience. I left with the mask, snorkel, fins, a bag, a skin, and maybe a few other goodies. David offered to give me a snorkeling class for free, which I gladly took him up on, since I was certainly not an expert snorkeler, having only done it once.

At the snorkeling class, I learned quite a bit, especially how to “duck dive!” David offered to give me a Try Scuba session, and I was, well, OK, sure! If he’s offering, I sure will try it. Within a few days, I was trying out the scuba equipment in the West U pool, and learning the first rule of scuba. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but the next inevitable step was signing up for Open Water Scuba classes so I could go on the Cozumel trip that December. And buying all my equipment. Oceanic Ventures made it so easy. I could not have chosen (and still can’t) between Buoyancy Compensaters, Air Delivery System’s or computers. I trusted their advice, and I really liked the idea that they had a lot of experience with the equipment they sold, and they believed in it for all levels of diving.

Open Water Scuba Training with Oceanic Ventures

I had a great time in the Open Water Scuba training with David and Alex. It was hard for me to clear my mask, but eventually I figured it out. It was hard remembering all the steps for sharing air, or the out-of-air ascent. But I did it! The Cozumel trip was fantastic. I did my open water dives there with Alex as my instructor, and it was so much fun! He was so calm, and knowledgeable, and encouraging. I could see it was going to take some time for me to get really comfortable with my buoyancy, and the breathing, but I was plenty comfortable enough to enjoy the diving, and the Oceanic Ventures group was so wonderful. All those experienced divers were so encouraging and helpful to the brand-new,” baby diver.”

Scuba Diving in the Solomon Islands Susan Long and Ann Keibler
Scuba Diving in the Solomon Islands with Susan Long and Ann Keibler

David had let me know in the  Open Water Scuba training that he was the first Oceanic Ventures student to get 100 dives in a year. That sounded like a challenge to me, and I like challenges! Also it was quite clear after the Cozumel trip that the more experience I had, the more fun I could have as a diver. So I set myself the informal goal of getting 100 dives in a year. In order to keep diving through the winter, I started drysuit training and bought a drysuit. I started Advanced Open Water Scuba training, if for no other reason that it was more diving experience! I went with Oceanic Ventures to St. Croix, Belize, Cozumel, and then to Grand Cayman in August! (Donna and I did get to do a few dives on our trip to Costa Rica.) By the time I got to Grand Cayman, I had achieved the 100 dives, between the trips, the training, and being a fun diver at Blue Lagoon and 288 Lake.

Where I Am Now…

So what about all the concerns I had, and my husband had? Well, first off, safety is obviously the first priority at Oceanic Ventures. Now that I am diving, I wonder how people got themselves into those situations in those scary dive books. Of course, mistakes can happen, but most of those incidents are inconceivable on an Oceanic Ventures trip. Yes, diving is expensive, and I have a LOT of stuff. I am still dealing with how to organize it and where it all needs to go between trips. Oh well! The experiences I have had as a diver, and the friends I have made, have been more than worth it.

Scuba Diver Susan Long Diving in Fiji
Susan in Fiji

I love being a part of the Oceanic Ventures “tribe.” It feels like home. I am very impressed with the emphasis on safety and professionalism at Oceanic Ventures. Ann and Eric Keibler run a tight ship, with little room for error, but lots of room for fun. It is easy to have fun when you have confidence in the trip leader, the dive location, the divemasters, and the choice of dive sites. And you get to go play with your dive peeps!

My husband has put up with all this graciously, taking me to the airport and kissing me goodbye as I go off on my next diving adventure. I am so happy to report that since his retirement last August he has become a certified scuba diver, and we are going on our second trip to Cozumel with Oceanic Ventures next month!

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Project LifeLine

LifeLine for Valentines DayRecently, Ann and I were sitting at a table with Mike Lever, from the Nautilus Explorer and Nautilus LifeLine as well as Karen Zammitti, from Bamboo Reef in California; and, we were talking about the LifeLine units.  Karen related a story about her father and a recent experience he had with the unit.  He was diving in the Maldives and he and his dive buddy were pushed by a current in a different direction from the other divers in the group.  When they surfaced, they found the boat picking up divers and looking for them in a totally different direction from where they were.  They were not far away and eventually the boat would have found them but by using the LifeLine, he was able to tell the boat where they were so they could be picked up sooner.

Mike had a similar story to tell which drove him to develop the units.  The diver had drifted away from the shore and could see the boat but the boat was looking for him in the wrong direction so he had to just wait until they expanded their search in his direction.   It was nothing like the mneues, both divers could see the boat they were just in a different location from where the boat expected them to be.  By using the LifeLine, Karen’s father was able to reduce the time on the surface by letting the boat crew know where he was in relation to the other divers.

Divers in the Galapagos are used to carrying radio direction finders, RDF units, which will help the boat locate you if you surface too far away.  Most people never use them but everyone carries them. The advantage of the LifeLine over the RDF is that it has GPS coordinates and you can talk directly to the boat.

For a lot of trips, especially the ones in “big water” like the Pacific, carrying a LifeLine makes a lot of sense.  It is a waterproof VHF radio with a GPS function included.  It is small and fits easily onto any diving configuration.  The goal of Project LifeLine is to outfit divers doing open ocean dives with the Nautilus units.  Mike uses them on all of his boats and a number of other operators are incorporating them into their operations as well.

They are an east to use device and easy to carry.  If you would like to see them and play with them, please come by Oceanic Ventures for a demo.

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A Short History of the Scuba Diving Mask!

Al with his mask and snorkel
Al with his mask and snorkel.

The mask is one of the most basic, yet essential pieces of equipment for our sport and has an interesting history. Since the human eye is not adjusted for seeing clearly without air in front of it, divers realized that thy needed some sort of air pocket in front of their eyes to see well underwater. With the beginning of diving divers fashioned goggles, similar to those which swimmers use today. These only covered divers’ eyes so I can imagine that it was pretty difficult to breathe comfortably underwater! With the growth of diving in the 1930s and after the World War II technological boom round masks that covered the eyes and nose became popular. Divers realized that they could increase peripheral vision by having an oval mask instead. These masks were usually homemade, as was most dive equipment, and were made of roughly cut glass and neuprene. As the sport really took off with Cousteau’s era dive masks were changed to have more specific eyepieces, separated the eyes chamber from the nose, and traded the neuprene skirt for silicone. These changes greatly improved the mask to give divers a greater visual field and make the masks more resistant to wear and tear, and are now the modern versions we know today.

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Shamless Advertising – Small Business Saturday for Scuba Divers!

This Saturday, November 24 is Small Business Saturday, a program sponsored by American Express to help encourage consumers to think and act locally by shopping at local small businesses.  And, in case you are wondering, Oceanic Ventures is a small business, conveniently located right here in Houston, Texas!
Like many small businesses, we try to offer outstanding customer service, adventures tailored to your needs and programs and equipment to help you get there.  I would encourage everyone to try and patronize local, small businesses as much as possible.  Remember these are owned and staffed by people from your community.  Who knows, they may even be your scuba diving buddies.
How about some really fun specials…

  • One Day Only! – purchase a hood, and a vest and receive a free pair of diving socks in the color of your choice!
  • One Day Only! – purchase a hooded vest and receive a free pair of diving socks in the color of your choice!
  • Holiday Special – buy an LED light and a marker light and receive a free halogen light while supplies last!
  • Holiday Special – Buy a Sea & Sea Camera and Strobe package and receive a Photoshop Elements Course for half-off
  • Holiday Special – Replace your tired air delivery system hoses with new MiFlex hoses and receive an Equipment Field Repair Class absolutely free

There are other holiday specials that you will not believe.  You just need to drop by and see them.  Remember that we will also have beverages and treats on both Friday and Saturday so stop by and see what is new in the store!

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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