Living the Good Life…

DEMA Show 2009 – Thursday Update

November 6th, 2009

True, it’s Friday morning, but we had a busy day at the show yesterday and I wasn’t able to get online last night to update things. So as I prepare to head out to the show this morning, here are some updates from Thursday.

Thursday was the first day that members of our dive staff were able to make it out to the show. Most of our team consists of Rollins College students and with classes in full swing, it is a little challenging for them to get out to the show. But 2009 Intern Jeff Pansiera and PADI Instructor Jake Steward managed to join us at the show as seen below.

Jeff and Jake at the DEMA Show Entrance

We continue to visit and network with old friends and colleagues, spending some time this morning with South Florida/Carribbean dive legends Neal Watson and Walt DeMartini. We even had a chance to visit with our friend Bill Keefe, of Bill and Nowdla Keefe’s Bimini Undersea, seen below with yours truly!

Bill Keefe and Kevin B.

Oh yeah, and at the end of our day we stopped at a booth with really cool t-shirts, hoodies, and other clothes for divers and underwater enthusiasts, called SquidInk. We spent some time with the owners Gabriel and Sarah Beyrent, and their shirts are a real hit with our dive staff! Their clothing feature really cool designs on super comfortable textiles. Here’s a link to their website so you can check them out at www.squidinkorporated.com .

As we move into Friday we will be hitting up some of the programs and short courses from both PADI and Divers Alert Network. Jeff, our intern, has an manufacturer’s equipment repair course that he will be attending today (more on that this evening), and I will be meeting with several of our training agencies today.

We’ll have more this evening from the DEMA Show!

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DEMA Show 2009 – Opening Day

November 4th, 2009

Spencer and I have just returned from Opening Day at DEMA Show 2009. The show provides, not just a forum for the industry to share products and services, but also an opportunity for industry partners to get together to socialize and network.

Within a few hours of the show opening, we were fortunate enough to run in to a couple of our favorite boat captains, Capt. Pat Green of Panama City Dive Charters and Capt. Craig Smart of the Starfish Enterprise (Lantana/West Palm Beach). Apparently, charter captains abide by a strict dress code as seen below.

Before and After....

We also spent a lot of time today reconnecting with other friends in the industry such as PADI Course Director and Dive Center Business Columnist Donna Askew, world renowned deep diver and instructor Hal Watts (President of PSAI), and NACD Board Member and Technical Diving Instuctor Richard Dreher.

In addition, we met with several of our vendor representatives, which we will continue to do in the coming days, including Erin Mutchler, who is the office manager for several of our vendors. She is seen below with Kevin B..

Kevin B. and Erin Mutchler

We look forward to bringing you more from the floor of the DEMA Show as the week progresses! We’re off to a great start!

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Cool New Product from XS Scuba!

November 4th, 2009

New scuba tool for traveling divers

So we know that the DEMA Show doesn’t start until 10:00am this morning, but I wanted to take a minute to pass along a cool new product that one of our vendors, XS Scuba, is offering as a special this year. This new tool gives the traveling diver all the tools he or she needs to deal with repair issues on the boat or at the springs. For once, a vendor has put all the hard to find tools together on one compact tool.

If this is something you are interested in, let us know and we can pre-order one for you. Our price will be $26.95.

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DEMA Show 2009 – Orlando, Florida!

November 3rd, 2009

Well, it’s that time again.

Time for Surface Interval to join nearly 12,000 of our colleagues at the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association’s annual DEMA Show, this year at the Orange County Convention Center! As we speak, Spencer is out at the Rosen Centre Hotel attending the PADI Believe! program and member social (while I am sitting at home blogging about the show!). But he was nice enough to send in a brief video from the event, which I including in this post!

Video from PADI’s Believe! Program and Member Social

We look forward to the opening of the DEMA Show tomorrow morning and we will be blogging periodically from the show telling you about all the great new programs and products that are coming to the scuba industry in 2010!

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Friday from DEMA

October 25th, 2008

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Thursday from DEMA

October 24th, 2008

So, I know I didn’t get logged in Thursday to update you on our progress at the DEMA Show, but things were very busy. So, as the rest of the Surface Interval Team catches up on their beauty rest this morning (it’s a little after 7:00am here), I figured I would blog in and send out an update.

Yesterday was a busy day at the show. Spencer and I attended the Cressi-Sub USA Repair Seminar. The session focused on the repair of Cressi regulators. This was our first opportunity as Cressi dealers to get repair training for the product line. Over the course of several hours, we disassembled and reassembled three first stages and two second stages. So, we are proud to announce that Spencer and I are certified Cressi-Sub repair technicians.

We also spoke with several vendors today about the possibility of picking up some new equipment lines. It’s a little too early to discuss those, but hopefully, by the end of the show we will have some announcements for you.

We also awaited the triumphant arrival of Divemaster Candidate and Surface Interval Intern Henry Cadwalader. Henry, on fall break from Rollins College, flew out to meet us yesterday. he arrived late in the day so, he only had the opportunity to get his show credentials and spend about an hour on the show floor. But during that hour he did manage to drag Spencer and I all over the place looking at new equipment and speaking with vendors.

Before the end of the show yesterday, we did have the opportunity to introduce Henry to diving legend Hal Watts. If you have ever heard of the phrase “plan your dive, dive your plan” or heard someone refer to their alternate air source as an “octopus” you have Hal Watts to thank for that. A world famous deep diver, Hal is also the President of PSAI, Professional Scuba Association International, a technical diving training organization. Hal was based out of Orlando for many years, and was one of Spencer’s instructors….many years ago.

One other item of merit that you all might be interested in the the rollout of a brand new PADI.com. After a lot of input from the dive community, PADI has rolled out a complete rewrite of their flagship website. Please take a look when you have time.

And of course yesterday ended with us out on the strip, taking in the sights and experiencing the casinos.

Today (Friday) we have a number of things scheduled. The Surface Interval Team will be meeting with PADI Regional Manager Mike Kurczewski at the beginning of the show today. We will be discussing the conditions in our Central Florida marketplace, as well as introducing our intern Henry to Mike. Spencer and Henry are also scheduled to attend the Zeagle equipment repair seminar today. I attended the same seminar last year with Surface Interval Divemaster Jake Steward and Assistant Instructor Ryan Antisdel and was blown away at the quality and detail of the course.

We will also continue to meet with vendors and look at new products on the floor today. While Spencer and Henry are learning all about Zeagle products, I will be taking in a couple of PADI Mini-Seminars today including one on Risk Management.

So, that’s your daily update from here in the high desert. More to come as we move through the DEMA Show.

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Opening Day at DEMA Show 2008

October 23rd, 2008

Well, it’s late, but I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the events of the day. The South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center is home to DEMA from today through Saturday afternoon, and almost 12,000 industry professionals were waiting in the wings to pickup badge holders and credentials. The show is open to credentialed industry professionals only, and security checks badges at the door.

Spencer and I spent most of today meeting with our existing vendors, such as XS Scuba, Cressi Sub, Intova/SnapSights, PADI, Aquatec, and our training agencies PADI and Divers Alert Network. Several of our vendors have new products that we are excited to be able to bring to you! Intova has several new digital underwater cameras and a new underwater light that is super-bright. XS has several new offerings including a few new cylinder sizes and some new technical diving gear. Aquatec has a couple of new regulator offerings that we are going to be discussing with them tomorrow.

After the show today, we spent some of the day touring the Las Vegas Strip, including a couple of casino stops. Hey…we’re on vacation too…

Tomorrow, we will be attending the Cressi-Sub equipment repair seminar in the morning and meeting with vendors in the afternoon. Surface Interval Intern and Divemaster Candidate Henry Cadwalader will be joining us here at the DEMA Show tomorrow afternoon. It should prove a unique opportunity for him!

We’ll have more from the DEMA Show tomorrow. Until then, keep living “the Good Life.”

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First Night in Las Vegas!

October 22nd, 2008

So, as many of you know, we are blogging from the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association’s DEMA Show 2008 in Las Vegas this week. The show officially starts this morning at the Las Vegas Convention Center, however we arrived yesterday afternoon in order to attend the annual PADI Member Social here at the Riviera Hotel (the PADI and DEMA host hotel). We arrived fashionably late for the social and were more than a bit surprised to see a large photo of me on the projection screens as well as the Member Social souvenier booklets! I was selected as one of the “Faces of PADI” and was included in their Member Social marketing campaign! So, that was pretty exciting for our first day here at the DEMA Show.

We had the opportunity to spend abour 15 minutes chatting with Dr. Drew Richardson, the President and COO of PADI Worldwide. We shared some of our concerns about the state of the scuba industry in Central Florida, and were generally, very well received. Dr. Richardson pointed out that our online business model is on the “cutting edge of the scuba industry.” The bottom line, is that we would be nothing without our customers, so thanks for making sure that Surface Interval is on the cutting edge!

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Surface Interval at DEMA Show 2008

October 1st, 2008

So, you might ask, what is the DEMA Show? Well, it’s only the largest scuba diving trade show in the world. Hosted by the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association, our industry trade organization, the DEMA Show brings together more than 650 exhibitors, and nearly 12,000 attendees annually for a week of new product showings, demonstrations, educational seminars….and parties.

Surface Interval has been a member of DEMA since our establishment in 2006, and we make a habit of attending the show to keep up-to-date with the latest in diving industry trends. This year is no exception! And while this event is only open to diving industry professionals, we’ll be blogging about the show everyday from Las Vegas, Nevada.

We’ll be telling you more about the DEMA Show in the next few weeks as we prepare to leave. We’ll be looking for new products, techniques, and destinations to make Surface Interval even better for you….our divers! It’s just another how Surface Interval brings you “The Good Life!”

So tune in as Surface Interval heads off to Sin City for a week of eating, breathing, and sleeping SCUBA! Viva Las Vegas!

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Surviving (and diving) the Economy…

September 26th, 2008

The economy sucks. There, I said it out loud. It’s not really news to anyone, but over the past few months, we’ve seen fuel prices skyrocket, the cost of groceries increase, and the cost of living climb. And we know that it is taking a toll on our divers and customers, because it is affecting us all.

And just because the economy is so bad doesn’t mean that people don’t need recreation….it just makes it hard to afford the avocations that we all enjoy. We hear you; we’re there too.

Over the next few weeks, the staff at Surface Interval will be evaluating opportunities to dive that are affordable, as well as researching specials that might ease the pinch on budgets. Because…we all still want to dive.

If you’ve got ideas on cost effective diving or dive sites you would like to try out, shoot your ideas over to your favorite Surface Interval staff member.

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Living the Good Life…

DEMA Show 2009 – Thursday Update

DEMA Show 2009 – Opening Day

Cool New Product from XS Scuba!

DEMA Show 2009 – Orlando, Florida!

Friday from DEMA

Thursday from DEMA

Opening Day at DEMA Show 2008

First Night in Las Vegas!

Surface Interval at DEMA Show 2008

Surviving (and diving) the Economy…

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