Hello Divers!
Since our last newsletter, we have enjoyed very good dive conditions on many trips, including an awesome vacation on board the Cayman Aggressor Liveaboard during Spring Break! Spencer had 17 of our divers on one of our best trips yet. Having good conditions enabled the divers to get all the diving they could handle on Grand Cayman and along the world famous Bloody Bay Wall of Little Cayman. These Liveaboard trips that we do several times each year really are the way to go if you want to see as much as you can under water (usually 5 dives a day).
Spencer and Mark have been very busy training many openwater students the past month or so and just certified a large group last weekend. Forrest has had his hands full teaching Enriched Air NITROX students and the Spearfishing Clinic that he does each month. The Artifact and Fossil South Carolina dives that Spence takes divers on every few weeks are going better than ever. On almost every trip, several of the divers will find a personal best Megalodon tooth in addition to prehistoric whale teeth and even Sabre Tooth Tiger bones.June 2-9 Hawaii, The Big Island on a Live-Aboard !
We only have 4 spaces left for a week of diving along the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. As with all of our Live-aboard trips, you will get the same great service, diving, gourmet dining and accommodations. Unlike other places in the Pacific and Caribbean, many underwater animals that are found in Hawaii are only found in Hawaii. This Island is also home to the best night dive in the world, The Manta Ray Night Dive!
Orange Beach, AL Spearfishing
These trips are selling out FAST! Some of these will be during Red Snapper season and also during the Alabama Spearfishing Association’s Red Neck Riviera Spearfishing Tournament. This is a great tournament and spearfishing off the Gulf Coast of Alabama is second to none. Now is the time to start getting ready for spearfishing season. To find out more about this and other ASA tournaments, visit their website.
August 4th & 5th Wreck Diving, Panama City
Mark will be leading this group to dive some of the wrecks off Panama City, Florida. This is the next step for all of you newly certified divers that are ready to experience boat diving in the Gulf of Mexico. This is one of the nicest dive boats in the Florida Panhandle and we have it chartered privately.
December 29/2012-January 5/2013, Utila Honduras
Our “Dive the New Year In” trip this year will be on the Honduran Island of Utila. We have taken a couple of really good Liveaboard trips to Utila the past two years but this year we have decided to privately rent the entire La Guna Beach Resort! Our package includes all meals, 3 boat dives each day, unlimited shore diving and snorkeling, horseback riding and kayak use, and Nitrox use for the week.
Continuing Education
We have always had a lot of new divers in our classes here at The SCUBA School, but this year is a very good time for a new diver to enroll in one of our Continuing Education programs.
May 12, 9:30 am at The SCUBA School, Enriched Air NITROX
Have you ever dreamed of having longer no-decompression limits to take pictures or explore a wreck? Did you ever want to be safer while diving concerning the potential risk of decompression sickness?
Nitrox is the key. Due to the reduced fraction of nitrogen in your breathing gas, your body will have less work and the de- saturation times will be reduced.
In your ENRICHED AIR NITROX program you will learn all the necessary rules for planning dives with Nitrox and using Nitrox in a safe way. An
important key point in the entire program is analyzing your own tank prior to any Nitrox dive.
June 23, 24 Stress and Rescue Course
Stress is a major contributor to rescue situations and diving accidents. Through this course you will learn accident prevention, as well as how
to handle problem situations if they occur.
Mark Tant will be teaching this program about avoiding, recognizing and solving problems on the surface and under water. The course runs two – four days in which you will participate in academic and in-water sessions in the pool and in the open water. As a prerequisite for certification you will also earn CPR & First Aid certificate during this course.
DIVER STRESS & RESCUE SPECIALTY COURSE Content:
* What Is Stress?
* Stress In Diving:Causes And Prevention
* Detecting And Dealing With Stress
* Accident Management
* Skills Needed To Deal With Panic And Rescues
* Conditions That Complicate Rescues
News
- The Alabama Spearfishing Association’s Tournaments start in a couple of weeks and it looks like the first one is going to be a good one. This is the eighth year for the Red Neck Riviera and this year in addition to the monetary awards and trophies there are almost $5000 worth of prizes to be one as well. Due to the over zealous restrictions on certain fish, this will be the only tournament where Amberjack and Red Snapper will be in season. If you like these fish, make arrangements to get down there some time between May 18 and June 9! For more info on this contest go to their website.
- Those of you that are in the market to upgrade your old dive computer can take advantage of a special we are offering at SSDS. From May 1 through July 31, you can trade in any dive computer to us for $100 to $175 off a new computer. Just bring us your old computer.
- For years we have trained and participated in heavy duty diving. Our Law Enforcement Dive Team students, Artifact Relic and Recovery Divers and our Gold Divers in the Bering Sea near Nome Alaska need certain equipment that is suitable for harsh conditions. One of these pieces of equipment needed is a well built, reliable headlight. For my Dad, Steve, this has been his primary type of diving for over 40 years. When he returned from his annual Alaska Gold Diving Trip last season, he let me know that his headlight had given him too much trouble. He was given permission to either build a new light himself or have it built to his specifications. Most divers do not dive the way that our black water/recovery divers do. We recover Fossils and Relics and mine for gold underwater in Alaska. Our previous lights are too fragile for the hard use that we put them through. They also have too many bells and whistles that are just something else to break. We just need our headlights to work when we go diving. Dad found a manufacturer that would do what he wanted for a change. We now have heavy duty head mounted lights that should be very tough and less trouble. They should withstand being dropped or hard use. They come not in a cardboard box but in a padded carrying bag with everything you need to operate and maintain your light. The manufacturer offers a 1 year warranty on their components but that is not what we want. Southern Skin Divers Supply is the oldest SCUBA School in the country and are now the largest dealer for this type of light.Since we are we have some clout with our suppliers. SSDS will double the manufacturers warranty for the lights that we sell. Since these lights are built to Steve’s requirements, we don’t expect much trouble anymore and we are willing to give this extended warranty. By the way, the new lights are less expensive than our previous lights. Thank you for your support of Southern Skin Divers Supply.
- We also now have a Facebook page for Southern Skin Divers Supply. This newsletter will continue to go out every month with all of the legislative issues, training, trips and equipment specials and everything else that we have always let you know about. The Facebook page will have a lot of the same info only coming in shorter statements more often. This should be particularly valuable to those wanting to know last minute availability on trips and training. Please Like us on Facebook!
- Steve Phillips is going to be speaking at the Bainbridge Georgia SuperShow, one of the largest artifact shows in the country, to help explain the struggle to preserve and restore diving rights and collection of isolated finds. Here is a post from Kevin Dowdy that is on his ArtifactsGuide website
I am VERY pleased to announce that Steve Phillips has agreed to come and speak to any and all collectors (civil war, Indian artifacts, metal detectorists, etc…) and relate his experiences and battles in Alabama to protect collector’s rights and preserve the past. For those of you who may not be familiar, Steve has led the charge to change anti-collecting legislation in the state of Alabama, and has done so with a fearless approach and “wont back down” mentality.
Steve may very well be the most knowledgeable and insightful champion for collectors, IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY! You do not want to miss this rare opportunity to hear “the rest of the story” – the story that the mass media always seems to leave out. I have never been more impressed with anyone so determined, not only to protect collectors in Alabama, but equally concerned about defending our hobby in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Steve will speak on Friday night, May 11th at the Kirbo Center at 7pm (E.S.T) and will open the floor for questions about his experiences with corrupt “Historical Societies”, wrongful prosecution, and illegal confiscation of artifacts by law enforcement. YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!!!
Depending on response, Steve has agreed to possibly speak again on Saturday afternoon (time to be determined and announced at the show). Steve is one of the MOST EXPERIENCED DIVERS IN HE ENTIRE COUNTRY and has rescued the finest and most complete civil war artifact collection in private hands.
Spread the word – this is a chance to hear it from someone that has fought the good fight for a long time and knows how to win!
Kirbo Center – Bainbridge College – 2500 E Shotwell Street, Bainbridge Ga 39817
~~
Forrest Phillips
Southern Skin Divers Supply
