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

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

Staff

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Red Hat Day 2023

NOAA’s Marine Sanctuaries established Red Hat day as a way to celebrate our oceans and one of the people who introduced many of us to the “hidden world.” According to the Marine Sanctuaries personnel, “on June 25, 1997, the ocean lost a great advocate—Jacques Yves Cousteau. Rather than mourn the loss, we choose to celebrate the inspiration he provided to many of us in the field of ocean conservation today. Red Hat Day is now a National Marine Sanctuaries tradition. It’s a day to remember the wonderful films that gave us our first glimpses beneath the waves; the hypnotic, French-accented narrations that described the beauty of the underwater world; the new technology that made the ocean that much more accessible to future generations.“

So, like our friends at the Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary, the staff at Oceanic Ventures celebrates our oceans and the awareness Jacques Cousteau helped create through his televison shows, movies and articles.

Here is our tribute for 2023…

Thank you to everyone who participated!

It is hot in Houston and getting people to pull out their watch caps in the summer takes some special persuading. We want to thank everyone who participated. We have a great staff and a lot of friends. You will notice a photo from Carla Durand from the El Presidente Intercontinental Hotel in Cozumel, Jona Dabocol from Master Liveaboards in the Philippines, Jesse Cancelmo, a professional photographer from Houston and Andrew Trent a sailor from Florida and the Bahamas.

Remember, if you want to participate, please send me your red had photo and I will add it…

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Oceanic Ventures Staff Party – March 2022

By tradition, we host our staff Christmas party in January, We found that the holiday season was so busy that propel just could not make it to the party so about ten years ago we moved it to January. Of course that was until COVID. Last year, we finally held it in July. This year we tried for January but if you will remember, it rained most of January which made an outdoor party a little messy. That meant our fall back was February which turned out to be in the middle of the Omicron outbreak in Houston. So, once more we moved it…March became the time for the holiday party.

Unfortunately, by moving the party, some of the staff had other plans that interfered and prevented them from attending. However, for the staff members that were able to come, we had a fabulous time! A potluck of sorts, we smoked 40 pounds of chicken and had a variety of appetizers and side dishes. We had the inaugural fire in the fire pit that Joe Henry built and had s’mores with dark chocolate disks and homemade graham cracker cookies and marshmallows provided by the El Presidente Intercontinental Hotel in Cozumel (thanks Carla)!

Our Holiday party features a blind gift game. It is so fun seeing what others brought and what becomes the popular item to steal (Coad’s Fourth Element changing mat is always the first thing to be stolen and then there were some really nice liquor kits that were passed around).

Remember, if you want to come to this party, you have to be on staff! We have another Dive Guide class starting in May so you have time before the next party.

The Group
40 Pounds of Smoked Chicken
Jeff, Mike and Zaide
Alex, Rick, Joel and Travis
Nick, Jessica, David, Cora, Nicole, Coad and Barney
Alex, the Gift MC
Around the Fire Pit

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Congratulations – Madison

During our recent Technical Trip to Grand Cayman, Madison Lee completed his 1,000th logged scuba dive!

Dive Mom verified his log entry.

“I didn’t really want to do it at Blue Lagoon so I was glad I could make this trip!”

This is an awesome accomplishment Madison. Congratulations!

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New Video – Who We Are

Ann’s round table had an assignment for each of their members — at the meeting you are hosting, you need to tell the group more about what it is you do. In true executive fashion, Ann assembled a team (ok, a team of one additional person) to develop a summary of what Oceanic Ventures does. The following video resulted from that team meeting.

Please shoot over to YouTube and tell us what you think. And, while you are there, please subscribe to the channel.

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Nollaig Shona agus Athbhlian faoi Mhaise Duit,

The staff of Oceanic Ventures wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

2018 is your year to go diving more!

 

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Holiday Hours

 

  • December 24, Christmas Eve                                          Closed
  • December 25, Christmas Day                                          Closed
  • December 26, St Stephen’s Day                                      Closed
  • December 27-29 Acquire what you didn’t get week    12:00 – 6:00
  • December 30   Last shopping day of 2017                     10:00 – 4:00
  • December 31, New Year’s Eve                                          Closed
  • January 1,       New Year’s Day                                          Closed
  • January 2,        First Day of 2018                                      12:00 – 6:00

 

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OVI Staff Party

It was a very busy holiday season this year.  Several years ago, we decided to quit competing with all of the other holiday parties and scheduled our Staff Holiday Party in January.  Well, the tradition has remained and like in those previous years, we had our Annual holiday staff party in January.  Since it is a modified pot-luck too, we get to find out how our staff cook (or don’t) and we get to have fun as a family (yes, family members are invited).  Part of the evening included a gift exchange that becomes a little competitive because you can steal gifts already opened.
It is also a time to reconnect with staff members who you may not get to see very often.  Alex Witishey and Scuba Steve Soulen came over to join in the festivities.  In fact we st around later with Zaide Scheib and Ann and talked, smoked cigars remembering the fun we had and the things that are coming up this year.
I want to thank all of our staff for their help and commitment this past year.  We are hear because of them (as well as our clients).  Here are some photographs from the staff party…