Our World Underwater - February 20th - 22nd

Our World Underwater is just around the corner. It will be held in Chicago at the Rosemount Convention Center February 20 - 22.

Please see the attached link (below) to the OWU website. There is a group from the shop going up Friday afternoon and I will be leaving early Friday morning to attend a couple of the optional workshops.

Our World Underwater is the largest consumer dive show in the Midwest. There will be numerous manufacturers as well as local travel information, Great Lake wreck diving information, authors, and exhibits.

In addition there are seminars (45 min. each) offered Saturday and Sunday. There are usually four seminars going on at the same time on subjects such as; dive travel, photography, wrecks, Tech diving, Ice diving, ecology, etc.

The highlight of the weekend are the film festivals that are shown on Friday and Saturday night.

They are awesome!

It's a great way to keep up on diving when the weather is so cold.

Check out the link and if you are interested contact the shop. Hope to see you there.

http://www.ourworldunderwater.com/

Terry

Digital Underwater Class on January 22, 2009

Gary Leach completed Digital Underwater class on January 22, 2009. Gary wrote the following about the class.

Bill,

Thanks for uploading the pics. I was able to download them and will look through them tonight while it is fresh in my head about the settings etc. My composition was not the greatest. Buoyancy! I had a great time at the class and picked up a lot of useful information from you. Thanks again.

Gary
Get off my fins

New Colors Coming From Atomic Aquatics

Coming in just a few days are new colors from Atomic Aquatics. Black w/ Purple (pictured) and Black w/ Pink are going to be available soon in the Splitfin, SV1 and SV2 snorkels and the Subframe Mask w/ Black Skirt.

We are currently taking pre-orders so be sure to be the first on your dive boat with the hotest new colors in town!

Atomic Aquatics produces the finest dive gear available today and is available exclusively at The Great American Diving Company.

Keeping Your Fins Wet During The Winter

Whether your a new diver or a seasoned salt, staying active during the winter months in the Midwest can be a daunting task. Staying active helps your buoyancy control skills stay sharp and keeps your comfort level high.

Fortunately there are a few ways to stay active. Being an active dive club member is probably the easiest of all. Not only do club members have a chance just about every month to get in the pool, the associated socials are also a great way to stay involved and find other divers that are interested in the same things you are. We've also got some great local diving that is open during the winter months which includes Mermet Springs in southern Illinois. Mermet will reopen from it's January hiatus in a few days and is a great way to stay wet. While the water's pretty chilly right now, you can take a Dry Suit course or if already certified, rent a dry suit and enjoy the great visibility that is common this time of year.

Whether it's in the pool or in open water, don't let those fins stay dry for too long. Get out and get wet....after all, that's what it's all about!

Open Water Class - January 24th, 2009

Thanks and congrats to the our PADI Open Water Course students in the Jan 24th & 25th weekend class. Have fun!

• Amanda Cannarozzi
• Dante Cannarozzi
• Clint Lindburg II
• Kate Meyer
• Zack Steinkuhler
• Art O'Leary (Instructor)
• Stan Frost (Assistant)

Oriskany dive trip

I'm trying to see if there is any interest in a recreational dive trip to the U.S.S. Oriskany. As you probably know, the Oriskany is the largest ship(a 911 ft. aircraft carrier) ever intentionaly sunk as an artificial reef. It is located off the coast of Pensacola Florida.

We did a trip last July and I'm thinking this August for another trip. Maybe dives on Aug. 3 & 4 or on Aug. 10 & 11. Travel on Sunday and return on Wednesday. It is a one daydrive, two days of diving, and a day back home.

The boat only carries six divers. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the dive site. If anyone is interested you can respond to this blog or call one of the shops and let them know.

Technical Diving - What Is It and How to Do It Right (Part 1)

Technical Diving. If you've been around diving for even a short amount of time you have probably heard that term. But what is it? The "Technical Diving" community would describe it as diving beyond the conventional limits of recreational diving (no decompression, no deeper than 130 feet, limited overhead environments) and / or using advanaced technology beyond the scope of the recreational diver. Put even more simply, technical diving encompases cave diving, deep diving (deeper than 130 feet), wreck penetration and closed circuit rebreathers.

But even more importantly, technical diving is a mind set and it's this aspect that I'm focusing on here in the first part of this series. The process of becoming a technical diver isnt just buying some gear or making it in your garage (I'll discuss that in a later part) and jumping in the water and going deep or swimming back into a cave. It's also not about finding the cheapest and most convenient instructor and going diving with them a couple of times.

Becoming a technical diver is learning why gear is configured in certain ways and why dives are planned the way they are. Becoming a technical diver is learning the deeper part of the process so that as your skills as a technical diver improve, evolve and expand, you can make intelligent decisions about your gear, your dive plans and your safety - something you are soley responsible for. Becoming a technical diver is learning that it's not about the money. Yes...your going to spend a lot of it and if you can't accept that then stick to the recreational reefs and enjoy yourself. Becoming a technical diver isn't about how fast you can do it. Training if it's done right takes time and energy on both your part and your instructors.

Becoming a technical diver is learning that technical diving can kill you if you let it and how to avoid that. We do that through properly configuring our gear and learning why we do it that way and how to do it ourselves. I teach all of my technical diving students and all the technical diving instructors I have trained to use your brain and not do a certain way just because that's how someone else does it. To paraphrase a well known proverb "Configure a technical divers gear for them and it's ok until they change it...teach them to configure it themselves and you teach them to adapt it and change it." I teach you my technical diving student to use your most important piece of gear - your brain. If that's too much work for you then you can "learn" from someone else.

As with learning anything new, learning technical diving from a competent instructor can help you avoid many of the pitfalls and problems your likely to encounter when trying something on your own the first time. If that's trying to fix a leaky faucet at home the only problem that might result is water on the floor. If it's trying to make a dive to 200 feet without the right instruction, the likely problem is that you can easily injure or kill yourself. If you're going to do it....do it right.

Henderson H2 Suits Are Here

The newest suits from Henderson USA are in - the H2 Titanium Hyperstretch. Available exclusively at The Great American Diving Company these suits offer super stretch material and modern stylish designs. Be sure to check them out.