It was a busy weekend! It was an open water weekend with great results!
Saturday was Stress & Rescue day with Bubba Alex being found all over the lake without his buddy. He seemed to find himself, stuck in the boat, laying on the bottom, panicking on the surface, running out of air numerous time. Throughout it all, Bill, John, Mike and Chris kept dragging him back to shore and helping him get ready for his next dive. I think they were ready to tie him up and leave him on the bottom by the time it was done. At one point Bill turned to John and asked, isn’t this the same fool we just rescued from the boat? Where is his buddy? I am thinking that his buddy knew what kind of diver he was and left for the day.
Congratulations guys for putting up with us and finishing your Rescue course.
After it was all said and done, Bill and Steve survived leading these wonderful divers around and in the process completed their Dive Guide and Dive Master programs. And, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome Bill Fuqua and Steve Soulen to the Oceanic Ventures staff as our newest Dive Masters! Welcome to the team!!!
Training
Dry Suit Scuba Diving and DUI DOG Rally and Demo Days in Texas
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)
Discovering the Why's of Diving…Science of Diving Course Scheduled
Who is Archimedes and why should we care? Is Dalton really important to divers? What do penguins have to do with diving? What is Martini’s Law? Do tides really effect diving?
The answers to these questions and others that you didn’t even know to ask will be answered in the fun, interesting Science of Diving course taught by our staff of fun and exciting Dive Leaders!
While this course is required for anyone thinking about entering our Dive Leader programs, it is an interesting program designed to answer some of those Why questions behind the diving rules and procedures. If you are interested in learning more about diving, sign-up for this program today and continue your diving education.
Course Dates: October 13 (Saturday), 16, with Scuba Steve Brennan
Scuba Diver Stress & Rescue Course Scheduled
First Aid and CPR training is also a part of the overall program. You can sign-up for the whole program or just the portions you need (Stress Rescue, First Aid, CPR or Oxygen Prneuder).
Don’t miss this opportunity, we only have a few spaces left! Call or email Dive Mom today!
- Classroom & Pool sessions: October 2,4 9,11
- First Aid/CPR/O2: October16,18
- Diving Days: October 20-21at the Beautiful Blue Lagoon
Dinner and Rebreather Diving with Leon Scamahorn
- 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.
Need a reason to take that Trimix Course?
300ft down.. perfect reason for me to get hypoxic & expedition trimix certified. Such were the words of one of our clients, John Mittendorf. What was John talking about you ask? Well it seems a group of Swedish treasure hunters discovered a perfectly round object at the bottom of the Sea of Bethena off the coast of Sweden. According to the team, it is unusual because it is perfectly round and appears to have a “drag” clearing leading up to it.
Of course there are other reasons to take a Trimix course. Imagine being able to swim with huge sponges reaching out and up from the depths along the walls in Grand Cayman. Visit a turn of the century sailing ship in the Dry Tortugas or a WW II submarine from the United States and another from Germany; these await deep divers in the Dry Tortugas. There are some incredible sites waiting for Trimix divers around the world including, caves, wrecks and walls. Dave and I have been fortunate to have visited a number of them over the past few years and we are always looking for some other adventurous souls to join us.
John, may be right. This might just be the reason to continue his rebreather training to include Hypoxic and Expedition Trimix. Of course you will also need some practice in a dry suit.
Here is what CNN reported about the find:
