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

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

Megalodon

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Scuba Divers Make Donation to Bonaventure Boys' Home in Grand Cayman

Eric Keibler Presents CheckEric Keibler, Managing Director of Oceanic Ventures presented a check for $3,630 to Jennifer Leach-Tippetts, Facility Manager for the Bonaventure Boys Home in Grand Cayman.  This donation was made possible by the generous donations from our friends, sponsors and staff at a weekend of rebreather diving in Houston.  During the presentation, Eric explained that Oceanic Ventures and the Oceanic Ventures Foundation wanted to give back to the communities that they travel to for diving.  Ann Keibler started encouraging clients and staff to bring school supplies with them in their luggage to donate to local schools.  She said, “It was a fun way to meet people and give back to the community!  It also helps you to leave a little room to buy some things to help support the local economy where you are visiting.”  Over the years this simple idea morphed into a program to help support schools and communities in diving locations like the Philippines or Grand Cayman.

To help the Bonaventure Boys’ Home, Oceanic Ventures and Innerspace Systems hosted a weekend of rebreather diving events March 29 – April 3, 2012 in Houston, Texas. The program included lectures, pool demos of a new recreational rebreather the Pathfinder plus a benefit dinner with keynote speaker Leon Scamerhorn, CEO and founder of Innerspace Systems.  While the organizations wanted to introduce the new Pathfinder Rebreather System to the diving community in Houston, they also wanted to use the event to raise funds for the Bonaventure Boys’ home. Grand Cayman has been the leading destination for rebreather divers with the first Inner Space Rebreather event hosted by Divetech in 2004 and now its ninth year in 2012.

Eric says, “Rebreathers are the latest trend in diving enabling divers to discover the underwater world in relative silence without disturbing the fish. This allows you to get closer to the fish and other creatures. Photographers find them to be a wonderful tool and a enjoyable way to go diving.” According to Ann Keibler, “this was a fun event that will allow divers to experience what it is like to dive silently underwater with no bubbles while helping out children. We chose the Bonaventure Boys Home as our charity due to the fantastic work they do and our continued visits to Grand Cayman and Divetech.”

The Bonaventure Boys’ Home is a not for profit government funded Foundation that is a part of The CAYS Foundation (Children and Youth Services) in Grand Cayman. The Boy’s Home serves at risks boys and families that need help to achieve their full potential. Jennifer Leach-Tippetts, Bonaventure Boys’ Home Facility Manager commented “We appreciate donation to help fund extra programmes and supplies for our residents and we greatly appreciate the donation Oceanic Venture Foundation is able to give to The Bonaventure Boys’ Home. The monies raised will be used to purchase recreational equipment, resident outings, summer camp fees, clothing and shoes, rewards for incentive programmes and/or bedroom furniture for parents’ homes in preparation for transition.”

We especially want to thak all of the people who made this possible.  Were it not for their generous support, nothing would have happened.  Those people we would like to specifically thank are:

We are also in the news at:

Bonaventure Boys Home in Grand Cayman
Here is a look at the weekend’s event:

 
 
 
 

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Dinner and Rebreather Diving with Leon Scamahorn

Christa Landowski On a Pathfiner Rebreather
Christa Landowski On a Pathfiner Rebreather

Last week was a busy week at Oceanic Ventures.  Leon Scamahorn, CEO of Innerspace Systems Corporation, was on town on a whirlwind tour.  He was in town to help us introduce the new Pathfinder Rebreather.  This new diving rebreather was designed with a recreational diver in mind.  It is small and compact and features a radial scrubber and their new ISCan electronics.

Dave and I got to try the new pathfinder rebreather during Eric’s Megalodon crossover training program with Leon and both Dave and I also did the Pathfinder Instructor Crossover program.  Diving this new rebreather is awesome!  It is light weight, simple to use and the electronics are state of the art.  Additionally, the ISCan electronics is based on the CAN bus technology invented by BOSH for the auto and aerospace industries.  This technology allows for dimple additions of optional devises like depth transducers and computers as well as allowing for in-field changing of components. 

The technology behind the unit is cool but it retains the breathing characteristics of the Megalodon rebreathers including their water trapping capabilities and set-point tracking.  But the Pathfinder, with its smaller packaging is ideal for a traveling, recreational diver or even a more advanced diver doing some light technical diving.

Of course, Dave and I were not the only people to get to try this new unit; twenty-four divers contributed $50.00 to the Oceanic Ventures Foundation to try the Pathfinder as well as the Megalodon rebreathers.  They were treated to an introduction and orientation from the man of the hour, Leon Scamahorn who explained his diving and manufacturing philosophy and the thinking that went into these rebreathers.  In talking to these divers afterwards, the $5,500 Pathfinder was of real interest and a few are even considering purchasing one of the rebreathers in the next few months.  It looks like Dave and I will be busy!

Leon was also the keynote speaker at our Club Aquarius meeting at the Black Labrador.  While his presentations at the demonstration were more technical, his evening presentation was centered more on people using their rebreathers.  Leon is passionate about diving and he focuses on having fun while diving.  Of course you cannot talk about InnerSpace Systems without a little technical history and product development, his presentation was mainly centered on people having fun while diving on his Company’s rebreathers.  As he said “look at those smiling faces, they are all having fun!”   For him that is the ultimate goal but he wants the fun to be done safely using the best life support equipment available – the Pathfinder and the Megalodon family of rebreathers.

Leon, the staff from Oceanic Ventures and our clients and friends donated their time and resources to help with the Oceanic Ventures Foundation and our goal of raising money for the Bonaventure Home For Boys in Grand Cayman.  We are still tabulating the results but it appears we raised over $2,500 for the home.  Thank you to everyone who helped with the event, donated items for the Sealed Bid Auction, bid on the items or paid to try the rebreathers in the pool  I know the group in Cayman will appreciate the gift!

Over the next few weeks we will be setting up schedules to get the new rebreather divers diving on their new rebreathers.  It will be a lot of fun.  As always, we have room for more divers…

Here are some of the highlights from the event.

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Eric Keibler is in the News

cayman newspaperEric Keibler and Oceanic Ventures made the newspaper in Grand Cayman this morning!
The Cayman Compass publised Eric’s photograph and a note about the upcoming Rebreather Scuba Diving Event in Houston on March 29-April 1, 2012.
See the post here.
We hope everyone in the Houston area will join us for a unique evnt which featuers rebreather trials in the pool, presentations by Leon Scamahorn, CEO of Inner Space Systems and dinner with Leon on Saturday evening.
Form more information, please email Eric.

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Diving Rebreather Event Planned for Houston

Press Release

Oceanic Ventures and InnerSpace Systems are hosting a weekend of rebreather events March 29 – April 3, 2012. The program will include lectures, pool demos of a new recreational rebreather, the Pathfinder, and a benefit dinner with keynote speaker Leon Scamahorn, CEO and founder of InnerSpace Systems.

The rebreather demonstrations are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The benefit dinner will include a raffle, door prizes, and photo program of rebreather diving around the world. All proceeds of the event will benefit Oceanic Ventures Foundation. The focus of the event will be to help the Bonaventure Boys’ home in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman has been the leading destination for rebreather divers with the first rebreather only event, Zero Gravity in 2000 and was later replaced by Inner Space with Dive Tech, which is celebrating its ninth year in 2012.

Eric Keibler, Managing Director and Director of Education for Oceanic Ventures says, ‘rebreathers are the latest trend in diving enabling divers to discover the underwater world in relative silence without disturbing the fish. This allows you to get closer to the fish and other creatures. Photographers find them to be a wonderful tool and a enjoyable way to go diving.” According to Ann Keibler, President of Oceanic Ventures, “this is a fun event that will allow divers to experience what it is like to dive silently underwater with no bubbles while helping out children.”

The Bonaventure Boys’ Home is a not for profit government funded Foundation that is a part of The CAYS Foundation (Children and Youth Services) in Grand Cayman. The Boy’s Home serves at risks boys and families that need help to achieve their full potential. Jennifer Leach-Tippetts, Bonaventure Boys’ Home Facility Manager commented “We appreciate donations to help fund extra programmes and supplies for our resident and we greatly appreciate any donations Oceanic Venture Foundation is able to give to The Bonaventure Boys’ Home. The monies raised will be used to purchase recreational equipment, resident outings, summer camp fees, clothing and shoes, rewards for incentive programmes and/or bedroom furniture for parents’ homes in preparation for transition.

Eric and his wife Ann have developed Oceanic Ventures into the premiere dive operation in Texas. As the first full service IANTD Technical Training Facility in Texas, Oceanic Ventures was the first Nitrox training facility, and the first Nitrox and Trimix blending facility in the area. Oceanic Ventures remains the only IANTD Platinum Technical Training Facility in Texas and was awarded a Diamond Facility award from IANTD. It is also an SSI Platinum Instructor Training Facility, a SDI/TDI Professional Development Center, and a PSAI Training Facility. Oceanic Ventures is the only facility in the area with rebreather instructors on staff. The Company’s staff remains the most qualified instructional staff in the industry with most of its instructors and dive coordinators having advanced certifications in Rebreather Diving, Cavern, Cave, Wreck, Technical and Trimix Training.

InnerSpace Systems Corp. (ISC) is a United States based company located in Centralia Washington. It was founded in 1999 and is known internationally as a top competitor in the manufacturing and development is of highly innovative customized closed circuit rebreathing systems. ISC is comprised of dedicated real world experienced engineering and support personnel. InnerSpace Systems Corporation is able to conduct rapid engineering and prototyping of new ideas and quickly turn them into a final product that can meet customer specifications and regulatory requirements. The Company manufactures a full line of diving rebreathers for both technical and recreational divers. Their newest model, the Pathfinder, is designed for recreational divers.