Greetings from DEMA and Welcome to the 2011 DEMA Show!

DEMA Show brings together vendors, training agencies, suppliers, professional organizers, and professional divers from around the world for 4 days of learning about our industry and sharing ideas.

Greetings from PADI!

For PADI Professionals, DEMA gives an opportunity to meet with other instructors and divemasters, as well as a chance to meet with PADI officials to discuss issues, learn new techniques, and learn about new courses. It also provides an opportunity for us to sharpen our skills by attending seminar about the latest in diving education.

For new Surface Interval Training staff members, Jackson Nicholson and Hayden Cadwalader, it gave them a unique opportunity to see what the larger dive industry is about, and to meet other professionals. Over the course of several days, our new divemaster candidates met with friends of Surface Interval for happy hour, attended vendor training sessions, gathered information about travel, attended clinics/seminars, and tried out new equipment.

The Surface Interval Staff at DEMA Show 2011

Following an eventful DEMA Show, PADI hosted a new event called Tec Xplor Day at the YMCA Aquatic Center on International Drive. This new event gives the curious an opportunity to get up close and personal with technical diving equipment and professionals, allowing them to get a taste of that technical diving is all about, in a safe, informative setting.

The Tec Xplor Day event brought together rebreather vendors like Titan and Poseidon, and traditional technical diving gear vendors like Halcyon and Hollis to get divers in the water and demonstrate their best wares.

Surface Interval instructor Kevin Green and divemaster candidate Jackson Nicholson attended the event and spent nearly 20 minutes in the diving well trying out the latest recreational rebreather from Titan CCR. Thanks to Randy and Elaine for the opportunity and the guidence. It was a truly unique opportunity!

Kevin B. takes the Titan CCR for a spin.

Following the rebreather demo, both Kevin and Jackson attended a presentation by PADI President and COO Dr. Drew Richardson about his participation on two expeditions to Antarctica. Thanks to Drew for a facinating and humorous presentation, ending a fantastic week of with the PADI Staff and DEMA Show attendees.

Surface Interval’s team works hard to stay on top of the latest trends in scuba diving. If you would like to learn more about this year’s show, or about upcoming trends, e-mail us!

Surface Interval Training is pleased to welcome two new Divemaster Candidates to the Surface Interval Staff: Hayden Cadwalader and Jackson Nicholson.

Hayden Cadwalader joins us from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a PADI Rescue Diver and Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care Provider. Hayden will be interning with Surface Interval and training to become a PADI Divemaster. Those of you who are frequent Surface Interval Divers will also recognize a familiar last name. That’s because Hayden’s brother Henry has been a long time member of our team. We look forward to having Hayden along with us as he becomes a professional Divemaster in his own right.

Jackson Nicholson, a native of New York state, holds an A.B. in Critical Media from Rollins College. He also a PADI Rescue Diver and Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care Provider. Jackson is employed in the golf industry in the Metro Orlando area and will be training to become a PADI Divemaster. Jackson is a long time Surface Interval diver who has decided to take the next step in his diving career, becoming a professional diver.

Please join me in welcoming Hayden and Jackson to our team!

And today, I am pleased to celebrate the addition of two more. It is the season of graduations, and this year is no exception. On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8th, our own Jake Steward (PADI OW Scuba Instructor) graduated from Rollins with his A.B. in International Relations. And today, Sunday, May 15th, Ryan Antisdel (PADI Assistant Instructor), graduated from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach with his Masters of Business Administration.

I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication that both of these guys have put in to get where they are today, and we want to take a moment to salute both of them for their achievements. And for those who don’t know, Jake and Ryan have another unique connection between them; they were paired together for their PADI Divemaster course.

Congratulations and Fiat Lux to both of you!

I stand corrected.

Large starfish under the Blue Heron Bridge

Surface Interval Diver Evan Hoffman, coaxed me into dropping into the water on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And why not, I had spent several days grazing on leftovers, and needed something to shake the tryptophan induced fog from my brain. He was going to be riding down to Jupiter to pickup a new trailer, and figured that since the high tide would be at 1:00pm that day, it would be a perfect time to drop by, get a dive, and pickup the trailer. So I packed up a tank and some gear, and threw my digital underwater camera in my backpack and joined him for the day.

Large spotted moray eel between the bridge piers.

We dropped in the water about an hour before high tide to take advantage of the clear water and slack tide that would precede the strong current of the retreating high tide. To our surprise, the Blue Heron Bridge Dive Club was having a potluck dinner at Phil Foster Park that day, so we were greeted with about 20 dive flags in the water.

In spite of the crowd, we found the water to be clear and warm (77 degrees), and lots of marine life to be seen, including several spotted moray eels, juvenile puffer fish, many parrotfish snacking on the coral that clads the bridge piers, and lots of small tropicals. We also saw many large starfish, the likes of which I have not seen before on deeper dives.

Not every wreck is a shipwreck....

As you can see in the photos, we enjoyed lots to see, and had the luxury of a 15′ dive for nearly an hour. What a joy not to have to worry about your tables, and just be able to shoot photos.

If you would like to see more photos from the trip, I have posted them to the Surface Interval photo gallery here.

The moral of the story, is that no matter how many dives you have done, how experienced a diver you are, or how many certifications you have….there is always a chance to stop and enjoy new dives in the least expected places!

Outside the Las Vegas Convention Center

I was fortunate enough to attend the 2010 DEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada last week, as I have annually since 2005.

As I am sure that everyone is aware, the recession has been disasterous to the dive community. As a result, attendance at this year’s show was down for both exhibitors and attendees. But the bright side is that things are starting to look up.

In his annual address on the state of the dive industry, PADI President and COO Dr. Drew Richardson pointed out that starting in 2010, we have begun to see certification numbers industry wide begin to return to normal. As well, the industry is beginning to return to growth, albeit a single digit growth.

Welcome to DEMA Show 2010

The moral of the story is that both PADI and DEMA believe that the worst is over, and we are looking to 2011 to be a return to diving for both divers and professionals.

On a more optomistic note, I attended a number of different presentations at this year’s show, including the annual PADI IDC Staff Instructor Update. The IDCS Update focused on the introduction of the new PADI Divemaster program, coming this month. This is the first revision of the PADI Divemaster program since 1999; that’s right….eleven years! Over the course of four hours, James Morgan (PADI’s VP of Training and Customer Service) and Johnny Wetzstein (PADI’s Director of Training) explained the upcoming changes to the program, as well as outlined changes to the instructional materials.

In a nutshell, the Divemaster program is becoming even more instructionally valid, incorporating recommendations from instructors and instructor trainers from around the world. Candidates will spend approximately twice as much time in the water performing workshops, including a new workshop on search and recovery. The number of prerequisite dives has increased from 20 to 40, while the completion point remains 60 dives. Candidates will also find that the number of examinations has come down from 8 short exams to 2 longer exams. All in all, the changes are welcomed and exciting. If you have any questions about the PADI Divemaster Course, feel free to visit our website at http://www.surfaceintervaltraining.com/divemaster.htm or shoot me an e-mail.

Also, I attended a number of programs from both PADI and DAN (Divers Alert Network) ranging from Risk Management for Instructors to Improving your Emergency Assistance Plan.

DEMA Show 2010

It was a good show, and I am back in Orlando and looking forward to diving with all of our Surface Interval friends soon!!

Even though the economy has left a lot to be desired this year, I will be on site to get a look at the latest in equipment and educational materials from the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

I’ll be looking for great new travel destinations, new dive equipment, and attending training courses put on by PADI, DAN, and our other industry partners.

And while the DEMA Show is for credentialed members of the dive industry, I’ll be your eyes and ears from the show, so if there is anything you are interested in or would like to know shoot me an e-mail or a Facebook post to let me know! More from Las Vegas in November!

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!

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!

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.

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!