Reward offered for Barbie Pirate

This spy photo has been obtained by scubabyjoe.com that shows that Barbie's home on the bow of the one of the wrecks in Union Lake is becoming jeopardized!

This yet-to-be-identified diver is the leading prospective criminal! Yielding a knife in his right hand and a strong grip on the victim in his left, he's not to be trifled with!

Join the effort by emailing savebarbie@scubabyjoe.com!

How do you map a dive site?

It takes some planning and team effort to map a dive site, but it can also be done on your own! Some critical materials to have on hand: Blank dive slates for notes, graph paper, compass, etc., etc., etc....

Nonetheless, the more knowledge you accumulate or that you have available, the more safe your diving will be!

We're all confident now that we have a navigable map that we can pass along to our students;, value to us and value to new divers!

[Click for more pics]

Looking in the Library

In a recent visit to the local library I decided to investigate the scuba-related resources available...

I found a sufficient shelf of introductory books, but with a little picking I also came across these great DVD videos that are directed at kids! Perfect way for them to start their learning!



It's nice to have these titles in mind when teaching DISCOVER classes which often include younger divers! not to mention the convenience of the availability at the library!

Instructors Converge in Class

It wasn't just PADI course backpack's loaded full of study materials, dive slates and a boring old-school teaching environment...

It was a whole weekend of concentrated pool sessions focused on refinement of teaching scuba skills; and it was a huge success!

Instructor students from Adventure Scuba Center and Great Lakes Dive Center built camaraderie through entire days of practice in the pool. We're all excited from our successes and are looking forward to our long futures as dive professionals!

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I think I speak for all of us (students) when I give an emphatic "Thank You!" to the professional staffs at these two great dive shops for such a well run weekend!

Videos for Viewing

For the curious "fan" of everything diving, here's a nice collection of videos that show all the details behind various scuba equipment...

Ever wondered how your first-stage hardware was machined??

The answer lies here...


For more videos, see these.

Can't Stop this New Class!

Austin, Swap (nickname), Jason, Dave, Nick, Coty, and Brandon gave spirited stories this morning about their passions for learning to dive. In our breaks I was privy to find out that Jason has had some interesting adventures in military diving, Dave is really dedicated to a long-time future as a scuba student, and Swap already has half of his equipment purchased! These guys were ready to dive now!

Step one in the pool is to start with the first few skills tests. The skill seemed routine for everyone during the 10 minute treading water exercise... but "hands-up and "feet-only" suggestions showed that everyone was prepared and ready for the challenge today!

DISCOVER Scuba Galore!

"Equalization" was the popular skill of the afternoon with a visit from a local Boy Scout troupe this afternoon! Equalization is the skill of taking pressure off of your air spaces (primarily your ears). The boys and friends and family stopped by and everyone who was water-worthy and adventurous was dunked in the pool and many new scuba enthusiasts were born!


Speaking of new enthusiasts, newly immersed scuba diver Stephanie happened to be quite intimidated by the "equalization" challenge of the deep end of the pool so she stayed happily behind to watch... for now!


Before I could join Stephanie in her 2nd DISCOVER tour this afternoon, I found her already diving and a new master of scuba diving equalization skills! I'm not completely sure, but given that she's already associating with one of our Open Water Diver classes in session, I have a feeling we'll be seeing her in the water again soon!

[For more class pics, click here]