SCUBA Show 2006
a preview look at THE Diving Event of the Year!™
Any California diving enthusiast will tell you that the annual SCUBA Show has earned its reputation as “THE Diving Event of the Year™.” And this year the show producers are pulling out the stops to assure that the largest consumer dive expo west of the Mississippi will leave its attendees astounded and excited about upcoming dive equipment, locations, and everything else under the sea.

SCUBA Show 2006, now in its 19th year, will bring together a broad spectrum of dive equipment manufacturers, travel experts and locations, educational authorities and some of the most spectacular underwater films ever beheld by man. And lest we forget the most important component, we expect to see YOU the avid underwater enthusiast. You know, the diver who can’t wait to get his hands on the latest and greatest in underwater equipment. The diver who can’t wait to explore the newest exotic resort so you can say that you saw it first. All of these components will be brought together, to create the most exciting and successful SCUBA Show in history.

EXHIBITS
Over 200 exhibitors will cover the 57,000 square foot exhibit hall. Exhibitors will represent dive equipment manufacturers, underwater photography experts, underwater scooters, local and exotic dive destinations, and even your local dive store. They will be waiting to answer all your questions and even offer you a chance at free prizes.

Headlining the exhibits are major gear manufacturers, introducing revolutionary new dive gear for the first time to the public. There is no better place to learn full details about dive gear than from the designers themselves! And they want your input, too. You will get direct, hands-on advice on how to buy dive gear and experience for yourself—touching, feeling, smelling, interacting with the equipment so essential to our sport.

Planning on dive travel in the next year? Dive locales all over the world will be represented, as well as some of your favorite California dive boats and locations. Big and small dive resorts, major chains of luxury live-aboard dive boats are all there to answer your every detailed questions and give you the best value for your dive travel dollar. Several companies are giving big specials only offered at the show. Many are also having free drawings.

The world's first SCUBA unit will be on display at the show.

Filling out the exhibit hall are a host of dive educational and safety experts, as well as publishers, gifts, jewelry, and clothing. Concerned about the ocean environment? Several non-profit organizations will be on hand to let you know how you can get involved. You can even purchase every divers favorite snack, beef jerky. This is the place to get informed, get dressed and get involved in your dive passions.

There will be several very special exhibits of note. Famous diving historian Nick Icorn will have on hand many pieces of antique, historical dive gear key to the evolution of our scuba adventures. Nick’s stories about this antique gear are informative, sometimes tragic, and occasionally funny but all tell a tale on how we got to this point in our relatively young but safe pastime. Of particular note this year is Nick’s display of the first fully automatic SCUBA unit developed by Georges Commeinhes of France in 1937, six years before the introduction of the Cousteau/Gagnan device.

The many sunken ships along the California coastline are prime diving and have fascinating histories. No group in California is better versed in these treasures than the California Wreck Divers. No group is also better informed on how and where to dive these wrecks. The California Wreck Divers will be displaying artifacts recovered from some of wrecks along with historical photos and dishing up expert advice.

Whatever your dive interests are, you will find them represented amongst the hundreds of exhibitors at SCUBA Show 2006.

For complete list of exhibitors visit www.saintbrendan.com.

Underwater digital photo experts Sue and Jack Drafahl will be giving several seminars.

SEMINARS
Your SCUBA Show experience is incomplete without attending some highly informative seminars. This year a wide-array of topics will be presented to better enlighten you of the who, what, where and how of today’s dive world. As most attendees know, the world of diving is an ever evolving sport, and attendance at one of these seminars is the best way to stay on top of the happenings in diving.

SCUBA Show 2006 will be welcoming marine life specialist Mark Strickland for the first time, as he will be giving two informative talks on Sunday. Jack and Sue Drafahl, noted underwater digital imaging authorities, will be on hand both days to offer you their expertise in this rapidly growing field. Regulars Bruce Watkins and Ken Kurtis will give you some informative talks on a variety of topics.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office will be giving a fascinating seminar dissecting three diver deaths, and what caused them. It’s like listening to a three different crime scene dramas unfold before you.

Most notably, Patrick Smith will be giving three distinct talks about some fascinating wrecks and remnants of above-sea life that found its final resting place on the bottom of the sea floor. His key seminar will be about what his experiences were like diving the USS Arizona which found its self at the bottom of Pearl Harbor after being bombed during World War II.

Registration is required and you do so in advance at www.saintbrendan.com or on the day of the event. For complete schedule and details, visit the website.

Behemoths like California's giant black sea bass, manta rays and more will grace the huge screen at the continuous film festival.

FILM FESTIVAL
Always cutting edge, the SCUBA Show broke ground with a film festival that ran continuously, all weekend long allowing you, the attendee, the opportunity to see more films on a flexible schedule making it easier to schedule in a full perusal of the exhibit hall and attend several seminars. The SCUBA Show will once again change the look of underwater film festivals by bringing the images actually into the exhibit hall onto a two-story tall screen.

But what makes the film festival truly special as always is the content, and 2006 is no different. Digital video films from around the globe will grace the screen—California to Malaysia, Hawaii to the Caribbean. Most are awe inspiring and inspirational, but all are entertaining and colorful. Highly recommended films include Sea-lings by Stephen Clarke (Sunday only) with incredibly colorful images western pacific macro, Underwater Wonders of Wakatobi (Saturday only) with fantastic footage of pygmy seahorses giving birth and mating, and giant manta rays wing their way in Yap-Be Prepared for Anything by Bill Macdonald (Saturday only).

Most of the films are being premiered at the SCUBA Show, shown here for the first time. Each day of the show has a different schedule of films. For a complete schedule and details, visit www.saintbrendan.com.

DOOR PRIZES
This year’s door prize drawings will draw attention to the luxury of diving on a live-aboard. As you know that there’s nothing a diver likes more than a free trip to an exotic location, and this year is no exception.

Saturday’s door prize comes courtesy Solmar V (www.solmarV.com), who will be offering a trip aboard their premier vessel as it serves the Sea of Cortez and Soccorro Island.

Sunday’s prize and the Grand Prize for the weekend is a trip aboard the Palau Aggressor II (www.aggressor.com) with airfare provided by Continental Airlines (www.continental.com).

CASINO NIGHT
Everybody loves a party and the social climax of the weekend is the Saturday Night Casino Party Benefit. Party-goers will gamble the night away with Las Vegas-style gaming to benefit the non-profit Catalina Conservancy Divers, an all-volunteer group of divers working to protect and restore the Catalina Island marine environment. Make sure to hit the craps and poker tables hard because those chips will be turned into raffle tickets for a chance to win thousands of dollars in prizes. Local dive clubs can also compete in a no-limit Texas Hold-em tournament. The silent auction will also offer attendees the chance to bid on great dive travel and equipment with all proceeds benefiting CCD. Sponsorship and prize as well as silent auction donations come from California Diving News, Pacific Wilderness, Scuba.com, Pelican Products, DIVI Resorts Cayman Brac, Amy Slate’s Amoray Dive Resort, Sea Cure, Underwater Phototech, Beverly Factor Photography, Oceanic, Chammyz, J. W. Fishers Manufacturing, Blackbeard Cruises and many more.

2006 California Scuba Service Award winner Dave Bunch.

CA SCUBA SERVICE AWARD
The California Scuba Service Award will be presented at the close of the Saturday night party. This award comes from Saint Brendan Corporation (California Diving News and the SCUBA Show) to recognize those who have made positive, long-term contributions to the California diving community. This year’s recipient is long-time L. A. County Instructor Dave Bunch.

The first agency in the world to formally train and certify scuba divers was Los Angeles County. That was over 50 years ago. Most of the forefathers of modern recreational diving came from the early L.A. County programs. The rich tradition of high diver educational standards and a passion for what California diving is all about is embodied in the small group of scuba instructors belonging to the L.A. County Underwater Instructor’s Association. The programs that they stage annually—the Underwater Instructor Certification Course (UICC), Advanced Diver Program, and “3Rs” are world renown for the quality of diver and instructors they produce.

Yet the L.A. County Instructors Association is staffed entirely by volunteers with a passion for doing California diving right. Many of these dedicated instructors have been at it for decades with hundreds, even thousands of students as graduates of their fine programs.

At age 75, Dave Bunch is the oldest active instructor from the Los Angeles County Underwater Instructor’s Association. Dave is the epitome of L.A. County instructors, their superb high quality, dedication to California diving, and love, joy and passion for the sport.

Dave began skin diving in 1947 at the age of 16 and a certified scuba diver in 1962. Two years later he became an L.A. County instructor.

In July of 1964 the world famous L.A. County Advanced Diver program was initiated and Dave participated. He has been a dive master or participant in each ADP since. And he has been a dive master for two dozen UICC’s.

He is still active in teaching scuba classes and works two days a week leading three snorkel tours per day at Catalina Island.

Dave’s awards form LA County includes among others: Outstanding Service Award–1967, Outstanding Instructor award–1972, Presidents Award –1988 and Conrad Limbaugh Memorial Award-1993.

Other diving high lights include; Teaching /certifying crew members on Princes Cruises (The Love Boat) for ten years which took him to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. As a technician for Garrett-AiResearch Mfg. Co, trained and certified key personnel, set up and participated in zero gravity studies. As an aerospace engineer for Rocketdyne and the Boeing Company working with and teaching Astronauts at the Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy test Facility in Houston to support space station EVA’s.

Dave is now retired after working 15 years at Garrett-AiResearch and 23 years at Boeing-Rocketdyne. But not yet retired from diving. He has 42 years (and counting) as an active underwater instructor teaching over 350 basic, intermediate and advanced classes with 3500 logged dives.

ADVANCED REGISTRATION, HOTEL, PARKING, ETC.
To save time an money, register in advance online at www.saintbrendan.com or see the insert in this issue. Deadline is June 8th. Make a mini-vacation of your show visit. Nearby is the Aquarium of the Pacific, the new Pike entertainment and shopping complex, and dive-charter boats. The Hyatt Regency is next door to the Long Beach Convention Center and is offering a special rate for SCUBA Show attendees. Call 1-800-233-1234 and mention the SCUBA Show for the convention rate.

To reach the Long Beach Convention Center, Hall B, take the Long Beach Freeway South and follow the signs. You will be directed to abundant parking.

For complete details on the SCUBA Show, including advanced registration information, visit www.saintbrendan.com.