May 15th and 16th mark the return of the SCUBA Show, America’s largest consumer dive expo, to the Long Beach Convention Center. This event features over 200 different exhibitors in 76,000 square feet, where you can find new and revolutionary dive gear, travel specials, and get face time with dive experts in almost every field.
Notable items for this year include:
* Wyland Paints with Kids
* Special Guest Speaker Stan Waterman
* $38,000 in Door Prizes
* Over 60 Scuba Manufacturers
* Over 100 Scuba Travel Locations
EXHIBITS
The SCUBA Show features the largest exhibit hall for a consumer dive show in the Unites States. Any type of diver, from casual to expert, will find a multitude of interesting exhibits. Whether you are an openwater diver, a tech diver, a photographer, a hunter, a divemaster or a foreign location diver, there is something for you at the show.
This year has more exhibits on photography, rebreathers, foreign locales, freediving and spearfishing, and dive gear than has ever been featured before. Check out revolutionary fins, innovative dive computers, camera designs and more. You will see new styles of wetsuits, dry suits, innovative regulators and BCDs. Allow for two days as it may take you that long to see it all. Almost every major scuba manufacturer is represented at this show.
There is no better place to plan dive travel than at the SCUBA Show. Dive destinations representatives from nearly every place imaginable around the world will be there. Scores of destinations and live-aboard dive boats are represented, most offering show specials, saving you hundreds, even thousands of dollars. And many are presenting free drawings for special dive trips. Here you can talk to the destination experts directly and find out every detail of the resort or live-aboard of your interest. Pick up brochures, coupons and, better yet, book your next trip at the show itself for substantial savings. Bring your calendar to plan and save!
Rounding out the exhibits are a myriad of local dive centers (many offering specials and drawings) and dive boats, certification agencies, and companies of interest to any diver. You can even find quite a few non-profit agencies if you are looking to get more involved.
Returning special exhibits include superb photos from local chapters of the Underwater Photographic Society, as well as expanded displays from the California Wreck Divers and Nick Icorn’s Museum of Diving History.
SPECIAL GUEST: WORLD FAMOUS MARINE ARTIST WYLAND
World famous marine artist Wyland will be appearing in person to do a live painting at the show and exhibit a large portion of his artwork. Saturday afternoon Wyland will be receiving the 2010 California Scuba Service Award at his booth. This award was established in 1989 to recognize those who have made significant and long lasting contributions to the California diving community.
Wyland Paints with Children (Sunday Noon – 3pm):
Don’t miss this unique opportunity for your child to help Wyland create a unique mural of an underwater scene. In 15-minute intervals, Wyland will bring up a group of children and guide them in creating their own masterpiece to be incorporated into the larger mural. This is a once in a lifetime chance for your child to paint with one of the most widely recognized marine artists, Wyland.
SPECIAL GUEST: LEGENDARY FILMMAKER STAN WATERMAN
Legendary filmmaker Stan Waterman will be presenting four unique seminars throughout the weekend. Mr. Waterman is one of the true pioneers in today’s diving community. Over the years he has produced over 50 documentary films and videos. He received five Emmy awards and was a cameraman for two feature films, The Deep and Blue Water, White Death. Stan is a seminal inductee into the International Scuba Divers Hall of Fame and a winner of DEMA’s Reaching Out Award.
On Saturday Mr. Waterman will present:
White Sharks of Guadalupe & Night of the Tiger; and The Macro World of Indonesia & The Night of the Mantas
On Sunday Mr. Waterman will present:
Shark Sex, Eel Madness and Gay Turtles & Blue Water White Death Excerpt; and Call of the Running Tide.
SEMINARS
A big part of the SCUBA Show is its extensive seminar programs; 33 seminars will be presented throughout the weekend. Subject material is quite diverse, with seminars ranging from underwater video and photography to dive travel smarts to local diving to marine life.
Featured speakers for this year’s show include photography experts Jack and Sue Drahafl, who will tell you how to get the most out of your underwater photography in and out of the water. Always popular speakers, Ken Knezick, Ken Kurtis, Dale Sheckler and Bruce Watkins will be on hand to give you some expert opinions on a variety of topics.
One low price covers admission to all the seminars for that day. See the insert in this issue for specific schedule, subject material and advanced registration information. Advanced registration is highly recommended for time and money savings.
$38,000 IN DOOR PRIZES
All paid admissions will be given a door prize entry that will be eligible to win prizes for that specific day. Winner need not be present to win, but the sooner you get to the exhibit hall the more prizes you are eligible for. All door prize entries are eligible to win the weekend grand prize.
Prizes from * AERIS * Atlantis Dive Resort / Continental Airlines * Beqa Lagoon Resort * Bigblue Dive Lights * Catalina Island * Dive Paradise * Dive Tech * Divi Resorts * DUI * Fourth Element * Kona Honu Divers * Lahaina Divers * Lissenung Island * Mares Diving * Matava * Miss Scuba * Ocean Reef * Oceanic * Palau Pacific Resort * Paradise Taveuni * Princeton Tec * Raptor Dive Charter * Rodenberry Dive Team * Scuba.com * Sherwood/Akona * Subgear * TDI/SDI/ERDI * Truth Aquatics * Utila Dive Ventures * Volovi Beach * World of Diving
Saturday Early Bird Prize:
Awarded Saturday at 11 a.m.
Oceanic: Delta 4.1 Regulator (Approximate value: $599)
Saturday Premium Prize:
Awarded Saturday at 6 p.m.
Truth Aquatics: Two passages on five-day limited load trip to Southern Islands. 8/22/2010 – 8/26/2010. (Approximate value: $2,150)
Sunday Early Bird Prize:
Awarded Sunday at 11 a.m.
Beqa Lagoon Resort, Fiji & Air Pacific: Package for two; Roundtrip air travel from LAX-FIJI; Roundtrip ground and boat transfers from Nadi airport to Beta Island; Seven nights stay in a deluxe, air-conditioned private Fijian style villa; Three gourmet meals a day; Five two-tank boat dive days and unlimited shore diving; kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, Fijian culture and entertainment daily; hotel tax. (Approximate value: $5,200)
Sunday Premium Prize:
Awarded Sunday at 4:45 p.m.
Ocean Reef: Neptune Space Mask. (Approximate value: $881)
Weekend Grand Prize:
Awarded Sunday at 5 p.m.
Atlantis Dive Resort/Continental Airlines: Seven-day dive package at Atlantis Dive Resort, Philippines including airfare from LAX to Manila provided by Continental Airlines. (Approximate value: $2,000)
CONTINUOUS UNDERWATER FILM FESTIVAL
Using a mega-sized screen actually in the exhibit hall, the continuous underwater film festival is always a popular draw. Excellent and several premier video films from around the world will be screened. A different schedule of films will be screened each day. Most are screened twice each day so that you can schedule your SCUBA Show experience to see films and the exhibit hall as well as take in some seminars.
ADVANCED REGISTRATION, HOTEL, PARKING, ETC.
To save time and money, register in advance online at www.scubashow.com or see the insert in this issue. Deadline is May 15th. 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 C, 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 online advanced registration, visit www.scubashow.com.
May 15-16, Long Beach Convention Center — THE Diving Event of the Year!™, SCUBA Show 2010 — Be there!
