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

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

Club Aquarius

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Club Aquarius Social Club Is Back in August

Greg Such

Guest Speaker – Greg Such

After a short hiatus, the Club Aquarius Social Club is back! We have a special guest speaker joining us for the event. Greg Such has agreed to talk about diving in the Great Lakes as well as some other dives he has been on recently in Europe. He is a fascinating speaker with a number of fun and entertaining stories.

The Great Lake region is in his backyard (yes he is one of those people who lives above the Mason-Dixon Line by choice). He actually has a commercial dive vessel and takes divers out regularly. The cool thing is that the boat can be moved from one location to the other, so the dives can be quite varied.

I first met Greg in 2008 when we were both in the Red Sea for the new Sentinel Rebreather training with Kevin Gurr and Phil Short. We were the American contingent in a group that had instructors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Malta, and Egypt. It turned out to be a fun week full of learning opportunities and sorting out issues with the first generation of the Sentinal rebreather.

When he is not diving, he is talking about diving. Greg is also a Sales Representative for Huish Outdoors the parent company of Atomic Aquatics, Zeagle Systems, Bare Sportswear, Stahlsac, Oceanic, and Hollis. Fortunately, Texas is in his territory.

And, if you are wondering, the meeting will be inside the store — it is too hot in Texas to be outside for long. So, this is your opportunity to come by and talk about diving, watch some diving, and hear about diving in other places.

We look forward to talking to everyone!

Tell me More and let me RSVP

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The Master Liveaboard BBQ Nothing but Fun!

If you watched the email or checked the calendar we has a really fun event. Mark and Alex, from Master Liveaboards, came into Houston for a visit and we all thought it would be fun to have a BBQ party in the backyard! And, that is exactly what we did.

The Menu for the evening included:

  • Indonesian Sambal Chicken,
  • Philippine BBQ Pork,
  • Sambal Tempe
  • fragrant rice,
  • grilled vegetables,
  • Green Beans steamed with with Thai chilies and lemon grass, and
  • Treebeard’s Butter Cake

Steve Jurbala, our own distiller, provided us with dome Boquerón Rum cocktails to go with the dinner menu.

Mark and Alex got the opportunity to tell some stories, talk about diving and invite people to go diving on one of their awesome dive vessels.

Want to see how the party went? Click on the video below…

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SeaLife at Oceanic Ventures

“Freeze Frame…strike a pose…” It was photo night at #OceanicVentures with the crew from #SeaLife Cameras and Lighting dropping in for a backyard BarBQ to meet divers, discuss underwater photography and to help create better underwater images. Oh hand were Karl Schuster and Eric Peterson as well as two bags of photo equipment!

Karl and Eric ran around answering questions and showing how adding a light or a lens might improve your photo experiences. Meanwhile, Eric and the staff made sure everyone was fed with grilled chicken tacos and grilled vegetables along with the usual adult and night diving beverages.

Thanks Karl and Eric for a fun evening and helping everyone get ready for the #OceanicVenturesPhotographyContest!. Now it is time for more #OVIDiving to capture those moments….

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Club Aquarius Update

Guest Speaker Staci Willis, PhD

If you missed the January Club Aquarius Social Club meeting, you missed a fun and entertaining discussion of underwater archaeology using the Bajo de la Campana shipwreck as the backdrop. Dr. Staci Willis talked about her first experiences as an underwater research assistant and the adventures and mis-adventures she had while on the project. She laughed with everyone when she talked about her instruction on operating the air lift “…you open this valve to start the lift and you close it when you want to stop it; do you have any questions?” She had fun reliving her adventures while elucidating everyone on how a typical excavation works.

I am sure some of the forty or so divers would like to participate on a project for fun. Of course, she said that the volunteer spaces were small becasue of the need to utilize graduate students on the excavations but jokingly said “…if you donated a large sum to help fund the project, you can be assured of a position.”

Dive Mom also had fun giving out the $30.00 gift cards (in celebration of our 30th anniversary). Of course, the cards had a tight time limit — use them by January 31st!

We really want to thank Sean Beck and the staff at the Backstreet Cafe for making it a fun evening — and did I mention that the food was wonderful! And we also need to give a special thank you to Barbara and Steve Jurbala for helping us remember how much we love the Backstreet Cafe and for calling Sean to help arrange for the meetings. And no Club Meeting is complete without the help of Zaide, Coad, Meagan and the other staff members that help make these evenings a success.

Be sure to join us for future Club Aquarius Social Club Meetings. You can find a complete schedule of the meetings here.

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Archaeologist Staci Willis, PhD to Speak At Social Club Meeting

Staci Willis, PhD Diving in Albania

Are you interested in unexplored shipwrecks lying hidden on the ocean’s bottom just waiting to be discovered?  This is Dr. Staci Willis’ passion and this past summer she and a team of investigators explored a portion of the coast of Albania looking for some potential excavation sites.  For more than six days she and her fellow researched dove on various sites from 15 meters to 24 meters (50 feet to 80 feet) in an area around Corfu Chanel.
Their investigatory dives were successful and they will be returning next summer to start an archaeological dig on one or two of the sites.
Dr. Staci Willis is currently a Professor of Anthropology at Houston Community College and the Co-Principal Investigator of the Albania Ancient Shipwreck Project. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a Ph.D. in Anthropology, specializing in Nautical Archaeology, in 2016. In addition to her most recent work in Albania, Dr. Willis has also participated in a number of other underwater excavations, including a 7th-century BC Phoenician shipwreck off the coast of Spain, a 1st-century wreck in a river of northern Italy, and and 1st-century wreck in the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of Sri Lanka.
Staci will be discussing her work and these dives at the January 17, 2019 Club Aquarius Social Club meeting.
 
 

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Diving the Philippines – A Teaser

philippinesThe Philippines is a country with over 186,000 square miles and over 7600 islands.  There are over fifteen primary areas for diving, stretching from La Union in the north to Davao in the south.  All but Apo Reef and Tabathaha are just off island communities; these reefs must be reached by boat.
In her presentation at Club Aquarius on 22 March 2018, Ann Keibler will be   talking about diving in the Philippines and the differences between the various regions of the Country and where she thinks the most diverse diving areas are located.
Come find our more by attending the meeting at 7:00 PM at the Black Labrador Pub.