Halcyon has a recall for OPV springs

Halcyon has posted a recall for their OPV springs

From Halcyon's website:

The following steps will assist the customer in identifying the serial number on their Eclipse, Evolve, Explorer, Pioneer or CCR35 buoyancy compensators (BCDs) manufactured between January, 2006 and September, 2008.

If the serial number begins with the following sequence, the OPV spring in the BCD should be inspected:
16, 26, 36, 46, 56, 66, 76, 86, 96, A6, B6, C6, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 67, 77, 87, 97, A7, B7, C7, 18, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68, 78, or 88

Halcyon apologized for the inconvenience and encourage Halcyon BCD and Inflatable owners with questions to contact their local Halcyon dealer, regional Halcyon distributor or Halcyon Tech Services directly.

I have an Eclipse (which is the coolest BC to dive) and I had one of the less-then-perfect springs. My spring looked just like defective one pictured on Halcyon's website.  The recall replacement was a quick and easy change out at Virginia Scuba. My 80 lbs lift bag OPV spring was fine.

Check your kit serial numbers, get the recall done.

A new Divemaster is ready.

Success! Not that it was ever an issue but my DiveMaster Candidate  Stephen completed his finial requirement for Divemaster course.  Stephen started the Divemaster course back in March and with the weekend schedule we establish he finished the class room and pool requirementsby May.

Stephen when on to do well beyond he requierd internship classes, over the summer he managed to intern with several different instructors in classes from Discover Scuba to Rescue. Great exposure and experience for him.

We finished up yesterday with one finial skills review and going over the paper work he needs to submit to PADI.

Congratulations Stephen. Great Job.

For me it is time to think about the next Divemaster Class. Who's up for the challenge?

Do you want to enter the ranks of professional diving. Click here for the course requirements http://tinyurl.com/Padi-Divemaster . If you’re ready, lets get started.

Missed the opprotunity to hear Slyvia Earle speak!

Wondering around the web this afternoon, between weekend task and football games I notice that National Geographic had a National Geographic LIVE! event this morning in DC.  World famous diver,  author, renowned oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence (how cool would it be to have that title) Sylvia Earle was speaking about her new book  The World Is Blue: Why Saving the Oceans Will Also Save Us at the National Cathedral. It was a free event too. If I had found this out earlier I would have been there.

I am now signed up for the Nat Geo LIVE! newletter, so I won't miss out again.

If anyone else had the chance to see it post your comments and thoughts about it.

DC Dive Show Opens Tonight.

Tonight at 5 PM is the opening of the 2nd annual DC Dive Show.

This year it will be held September 25th and 26th at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center on the Potomac in Maryland.

Great chance to see a lot of the local dive shops, dive equipment manufactures, representatives from dive destinations and live aboard operations.  Go check it out.

I am planning to go Friday evening.

Connect2Mason.com covered the Discover Scuba event.

Connect2Mason.com is a student run news source for the George Mason University community.
They covered Virginia Scuba's Discover Scuba event at Freedom Center this past weekend.

And hey look I'm in the video!

DC DIVE Show and Millbrook Demo Day

This week Fall starts so it must be time for the 2nd annual DC Dive Show.

This year it will be held September 25th and 26th at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center on the Potomac in Maryland. I am planning to go Friday evening.

Then on September 27 Demo Day will be held at Lake Millbrook in Throughfare Virginia.

Two great events in one weekend. See all of the latest dive gear and cool places for dive travel at the show on Friday evening and Saturday, then come to Lake Millbrook on Sunday to try your favorite gear from the manufactures who where at the show.

I hear Virginia Scuba is going to have thier famous pulled pork again, hot off the smoked barbaque.

Day 2 of the FREE Discover SCUBA is done and it was a lot of fun!

Yep it's over.  Sundays Discover Scuba event was just as great as Saturdays.  The neat part was everybody  did different task from what they did on Saturday and it went just as smoothly.

Lots of people showed up and took their turn at discovering what scuba diving is like. Several folks again are signing up to take the open water class.

Rumor has it we might try this Free Discover Scuba thing again in the spring, stay tune.

Day 1 of the FREE Discover SCUBA weekend was a BLAST!

We had a GREAT time this morning. What where we doing?

We held a FREE Discover SCUBA at the Freedom Center.  The turn-out was excellent. Rachel and Kristen had develop the plan and flow for the large crowd of folks that participated.  Everyone had a great time and a number of the participants are signing up for the next step: the Open Water class. 

What's that, you're bummed because you miss all the fun today?!
It's not too late; we are doing it all again tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. Come join us!

We have another large group signed up and would enjoy adding you to our list of fun!

Here is the link to Virginia Scuba's Free Discover Scuba sign up page.

If you have been thinking about checking out SCUBA diving, this is a great introduction to see if SCUBA diving is for you.

With diving there is always paperwork, you can down load the Discover Scuba Diving form here.

Read it and fill it out ahead of time. Then you will be all set to come join us and DIVE IN.

Update: I have add a picture below as well I have added a folder to my photo gallery. Enjoy.

FREE Discover Scuba!! THIS WEEKEND!

It's here, this weekend!!

Virginia Scuba and the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center are teaming up to offer a FREE Discover Scuba the weekend of September 19 and 20, 2009. How can you go wrong!

From the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Centers website:

DISCOVER SCUBA - FREE to Freedom Members!
Saturday, September 19th 10:30am - 1:00pm
Sunday, September 20th 9:00am - 1:00pm
Discover Scuba is an introduction to diving and gives you an opportunity to jump in the water with scuba gear under instructor supervision. The Virginia Scuba instructors will be on hand and in the water to introduce diving to anyone interested. Experience the excitement and adventure of the underwater world for FREE!
For complete details visit www.virginiascuba.com.

Here is the link to Virginia Scuba's Free Discover Scuba sign up page.

If you have been toying with the idea to check out SCUBA diving, this is a great introduction to see if SCUBA diving is for you.

With diving there is always paperwork, you can down load the Discover Scuba Diving form here.

Read it and fill it out ahead of time. Then you will be all set to come join us and DIVE IN.

One Week to go until FREE Discover Scuba!

Only one week to go until the Free Discover Scuba Weekend.

Virginia Scuba and the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center are teaming up to offer a FREE Discover Scuba the weekend of September 19 and 20, 2009. How can you go wrong!

From the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Centers website:

DISCOVER SCUBA - FREE to Freedom Members!
Saturday, September 19th 10:30am - 1:00pm
Sunday, September 20th 9:00am - 1:00pm
Discover Scuba is an introduction to diving and gives you an opportunity to jump in the water with scuba gear under instructor supervision. The Virginia Scuba instructors will be on hand and in the water to introduce diving to anyone interested. Experience the excitement and adventure of the underwater world for FREE!
For complete details visit www.virginiascuba.com.

Here is the link to Virginia Scuba's Free Discover Scuba sign up page.

If you have been toying with the idea to check out SCUBA diving, this is a great introduction to see if SCUBA diving is for you.

With diving there is always paperwork, you can down load the Discover Scuba Diving form here.

Read it and fill it out ahead of time. Then you will be all set to come join us and DIVE IN.

FREE Discover Scuba!!

Virginia Scuba and the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center are teaming up to offer a FREE Discover Scuba the weekend of September 19 and 20, 2009. How can you go wrong!

From the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Centers website:

DISCOVER SCUBA - FREE to Freedom Members!
Saturday, September 19th 10:30am - 1:00pm
Sunday, September 20th 9:00am - 1:00pm
Discover Scuba is an introduction to diving and gives you an opportunity to jump in the water with scuba gear under instructor supervision. The Virginia Scuba instructors will be on hand and in the water to introduce diving to anyone interested. Experience the excitement and adventure of the underwater world for FREE!
For complete details visit www.virginiascuba.com.

Here is the link to Virginia Scuba's Free Discover Scuba sign up page.

If you have been toying with the idea to check out SCUBA diving, this is a great introduction to see if SCUBA diving is for you.

With diving there is always paperwork, you can down load the Discover Scuba Diving form here.

Read it and fill it out ahead of time. Then you will be all set to come join us and DIVE IN.

DC Dive Show and Lake Millbrook Demo Day

Fall is just about a month a way so it must be time for the 2nd annual DC Dive Show.
This year it will be held September 25th and 26th at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center on the Potomac in Maryland

Then on September 27 Demo Days will be held at Lake Millbrook in Throughfare Virginia.

Two great events in one weekend. See all of the latest dive gear and cool places for dive travel at the show on Friday and Saturday, then come to Lake Millbrook on Sunday to try your favorite gear from the manufactures who where at the show.

Scuba Tune Up - Sunday

Want a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning! How about signing up for a Scuba Tune up class?

That is what Certified Diver Scott and Gerry did. Scott will be an adult leader for a local Boy Scout Troop Going to Sea Base in Flordia in July.  Gerry had recently went diving after a being out the of water for a while and through a Scuba refresher of the basic skills would make him feel more comfortable in the water.

We took a few hours to refresh thier skills, which from watching them I could tell they where already good divers. We swam around the pool for a while to make sure they where comfortable with their gear and in the water.

Discover Scuba - Saturday

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!

Thinking about it, ever wondered what it’s like to breath underwater?

If you want to find out but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into a certification course, Discover Scuba Diving will let you try scuba to see if you like it.

That is what Emily did this morning. She wanted to take the Discover Scuba course before her family when to to the Florida Keys later this summer. Part of her trip will be to get Open Water Certified.  Emily had a great time and did well with this introduction to the underwater world. She is now really looking forward to her family trip to the Keys.

Another one on the bottom ready to explore!

Just finished reading the Dixie Divers Newsletter, their project of sinking a ship for an artificial reef is complete and ready to dive.

From their news letter:

"Come dive the Miracle Of Life, a 170' ft vessel, sunk on June 6 right off of our very own Deerfield Beach. The ship sits upright in 140 feet of water, with the main deck at 125 feet and the wheelhouse roof at 100 feet. This is an interesting time for this wreck because it is new and hasn't had the time to develop growth yet. You'll be able track the wreck's development and watch the miracle of life unfold."

Dixie Divers is located in Deerfield Beach Florida, when I am in the area I dive with them and their dive boat Lady GO Diver. Good folks.

Search and Recovery Class

Spent the mornings this past weekend with two wonderful ladies teaching them how to do Search and Recovery. The was a particularly good weekend to be in Millbrook Quarry because it has been raining for the last week or so and the water was pretty stirred up. You could not see more then twelve inches away from you.

The Search and Recovery Diver Specialty course teaches you effective ways to find objects (usually lost) underwater and bring them to the surface. I had the ladies conducted search patterns to find various "lost" items.  One of them we actually lost on Saturday, I couldn't even find it.  Jen and Sherece where determined to locate it and did so first thing Sunday morning. They handed it to me and while we were talking about how their exercise went, I dropped it, truly it was an accident. Honest.

We went out to the platform and practice deploying a lift bag, tying knots and bringing our "lost" item to the surface. As a measure of testing their new skills, the ladies where determined to find the item I had drop. They develop a new search plan and pattern then executed it perfectly. Needless to say once they surface with our "recovered" item they would not let me hold on to it until we where well on shore.  Smart decision ladies! :-)

Thanks for a great class, lots of fun and laughs! Congratulations Jen and Sherece on completing your Search and Recovery Diver Specialty as well as earning your Master Scuba Diver Certifications! Hope to see your names on the shops Master Scuba Diver plaque soon.

Just finished watching the sinking

Just finished watching the Vandenberg go down.  It took some time to get a connection to feed. I will have to check back with the site to see what the actual time was. It appeared to go off as planned it was about two minutes from the first sign of a blast to no longer seeing the ship on the surface.   Waiting to see if all went well on the bottom. Then it will be time to plan a trip.

May 27th is the date.

Earlier this week it was reported May 27, 2009 is the date to scuttle the Vandenberg.

The Key West Citizen continues its great coverage of the progress and events surrounding the Vandenberg. Their Sunday May 11th edition had several pages of articles surrounding the ship. The Citizens on-line site KeysNews.com now has a Vandenberg link to the articles they have published on the project.

Another great blog on the process of clearing the ship for divers is from Seaduction. Seaduction will be the team of public safety and tech divers clearing the wreck after it settles on the bottom, in their blog article Sinking the Vandenberg they give details of the events between the sinking and allowing the public to dive the wreck.

Vandenberg sinking between May 26 and June1.

The Miami Herald has reported today the Vandenberg will be sent to the bottom between May 26 and June 1. The exact date will be dependant on weather and ship traffic.  

Should be exciting. My guess would be Wednesday or Thursday. Then it would be ready to dive for the weekend!

Keep the government off the North Carolina wrecks!

Just finished reading though the discussions where NOAA is proposing to take ALL of the submarines and allied wrecks (some of the best diving, on the planet) in the waters known as the "Shipwreck Graveyard of the Atlantic" off of North Carolina and incorporating them into the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

If approved divers would either be denied access to these wrecks or would need to file for a permit (a process that currently takes weeks to dive the Monitor) There is NO need for this! See Bobby and Renate's of Atlantis Charters web site a call for action for all divers.

Help keep the government off the NC wrecks!