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

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

Rebreathers

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DUI Demo Days

 


Chef Eric
Chef Eric
 

It is hard to believe it has been a year since we were last here for a rebreather confined water for Mark Conrad, Wade Sparks and Terry DeWolf.  But here we are again for the DUI Demo Days at Lake Travis and this year the water level is up to a reasonable level. 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

his year I was joined by a number of our staff including Dive Mom herself, Pat Croll, Vernon Dittrich, Bob Sloan and Wade Sparks.  Vernon and Pat were finishing a class, And I had scheduled this weekend as a practice session and a chance to get some skills out of the way for our Grand Cayman and Inner Space experiences.  Joining me for this session were CCR Normoxic Trimix students Harvey Sisco and Matt Booth.

 Saturday found most of us in the water except for Wade who became the cook for the day, keeping all of the


Chef Wade
Chef Wade

 participants well fed.  Vernon and Pat ran their students through their drills and mine were troopers as well, accomplishing most of the skills leaving only a few for our later dives.

Sunday found me with a plugged up head and students who had accomplished a lot the previous day.  Matt had to teach a class of his own, so Wade and Harvey went diving so Harvey could continue working on his trim.   This left me with Wade’s job from the previous day – that’s right Chef for a day.  Of course, during the night a storm blew in, dumped a lot of rain which continued the next morning.  This made cooking more ao a challenge although it had slowed to a slight drizzle.   The biggest challenge was sinking in the mud in front of the grill or walking around with 20 pounds of Texas Clay caked to my feet.
 

 

All-in-all we had a great time and the event was a success.  On top of that, we all had a good time.       

 

 

 

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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…