Tuesday 23 February 2016

Quick Update!

Well this past week has been busy to say the least! I have a feeling it's going to be a fantastic year. We kicked off the week with a meeting with James from Scubapro! We have lots of new stock now, so if you're thinking of upgrading before the start of the season then pop down and see one of us! If we don't have what you need, we'll help you find someone who does!


We also had two very busy pool nights! Tuesday was full of DSD's and lots of different courses starting. The Seal Team did very well on Thursday learning some new skills. We also had DM's practicing their swims and even a few friendly faces popped down to say hello!


We then had a lot of prep to do for the weekend where we had 12 men & women from the US Air force who were at Nemes doing their Open Water dives! A huge thank you to all of the staff that helped out, it was a very challenging but enjoyable weekend. All of the students did very well considering it was extremely cold. We hope to continue our work with the force over the coming years.



We still have two spaces left on the Nemo 33 trip due to cancellations, if anyone would like to book onto the trip then please contact Janie or Gary immediately.






Friday 12 February 2016

Dive Show 2016!

"After parking in the Excel London car park, we started walking up towards the ticket sales and found that we were at the wrong side of the building! So we carried on walking to the other side & bought our tickets. We happened to over-hear a very annoyed man telling somebody that he'd pre-booked tickets but left them at home! So he ended up paying an extra £20. Couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy but it was quite amusing.

Entering the Dive show, we went to see Emma, Matt and Terry at the PADI stand! We always like to catch up with PADI and ask a few questions. Shortly afterwards, we took a look around what must've been about 20 stalls at most. One of which was The Manta Trust. They do a fantastic amount of work and have now helped put a law into place in Peru to save our beloved Mantas! It's lovely knowing that one of our Dive Masters, Kanina, contributed to the project! We're very proud. We then went to see Scuba Travel, Lee is a star and took a bit of time helping us plan a few last bits for the Egypt trip this April. Next, we turned around a saw a giant inflatable whale! Without a question, myself an Gary darted towards it! Inside the land stall, we found about 20 more inflatable whales and a few mermaids! This was the Whale Fest! Unfortunately, they won't be hosting an event this year but hopefully with the help of new volunteers, there will be one next year! After this, there wasn't really much that we took an interest in. There was a few travel companies, a couple of dive centre's but the rest was mainly for the outdoor show. To be completely honest, most of the divers that attended the show probably spent more money in the outdoor department.

We did however, meet Luke from Basking Shark Scotland. We're looking into having a trip there this August so keep your eye's out! We have a lot of trips on the cards so it's going to be a fantastic year.

Overall, it was great to network with a few people and even see a few old friends but the Dive Show seems to be getting even more disappointing! My advice would be to focus on the Bristol Dive Show. It seems to have a lot more coverage and a lot more merchants attending.