SCUBA Show Preview: 26 Years as THE Diving Even of the Year!

America’s largest consumer dive expo at the Long Beach Convention Center

The event features more than 300 exhibit booths in 76,000 square feet, where you can find new and revolutionary dive gear, worldwide travel destinations, and meet dive experts in almost every field.   

– Marine artist Rogest will paint four large canvases with audience participation

– California seafood cooking demonstrations

– Continuous film festival

– $22,000 in door prizes, including travel and gear

– Special drawings by exhibitors

– Nearly 50 fascinating, fun and educational seminars  

– Exhibits including scuba equipment, worldwide travel destinations, California charter boats, artists, training agencies, dive apparel & accessories, marine-related non-profit organizations & more.

– Saturday night party –Casablanca– admission is free to attendees and includes gaming, a fundraiser for California Ships 2 Reefs

The SCUBA Show features the largest exhibit hall for a consumer dive show in the United States. It’s packed with exhibits for any type of diver, from novice to expert. Whether you are a beginning diver, tech diver, photographer, hunter, and into local or foreign and exotic travel, the SCUBA Show has something for you.

This year has more exhibits of photography, rebreathers, foreign locales, and dive gear than ever. Check out revolutionary, fins, innovative dive computers, the latest in cameras and more. You will see new styles of wet suits, dry suits, innovative regulators, BCs and the latest developments in recreational rebreathers. Nearly every major manufacturer is represented at this show. 

Dive destination representatives and resort owners from nearly every place imaginable 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. This is the opportunity to meet the destination experts directly and book your dream vacation. Bring your calendar to plan and save!

You’ll also find local dive centers (many offering specials and drawings), local dive boats, dive clothing, dive art and novelties and companies of any interest to any diver. 

Allow for two days; it may take that long to see it all.

A big part of the SCUBA Show is an extensive seminar program. Nearly 50 in all will be presented throughout the weekend. The 2013 show will host brand new speakers, while the show’s favorites will present many new topics. The subject matter is quite diverse, ranging from different aspects of underwater still and video photography, dive travel, ecology, archeology, adventure, and unique diving skills. Learn about how to beach dive in California, a history of scuba that you’ve never heard, the latest on decompression theory, how to catch lobster and the latest info on the newest regulations, seafood cooking tips, why divers get into trouble and much, much more. This year the show will host a number of Friday workshops for dive professionals and public safety divers. Several of the seminars are free to the public and are product specific, or agency-related member updates.

One low price covers admission to all seminars for that day. To help you preplan, full seminar descriptions and speaker biographies can be found online in the “Attendees'” section of ScubaShow.com. Advance registration is highly recommended. You are guaranteed to find seminars and speakers that will interest you, and the SCUBA Show is pleased to present them.   

All paid admissions will be given a door prize entry that will be eligible to win prizes for that specific day. The winner need not be present to win. The drawings begin at 11am, so the sooner you get to the exhibit hall the more prizes you are eligible to win. Check out the door prizes and drawing times at ScubaShow.com and on the SCUBA Show app.

Along with the SCUBA Show door prizes, many of the exhibitors will have their own prizes and drawings. 

For many, diving becomes a life-changing event. The members of this industry love turning people into divers. We love to talk about our passion. Bring a non-diver to the show. Pick out the seminars you think they will enjoy. Diving is something to be shared.   

The deadline for advance registration to save time and money is May 27th, but you can order tickets and seminar passes on line for will-call until June 4th. Make a mini vacation out of SCUBA Show. Nearby is the Aquarium of the Pacific, Queen Mary, the Pike entertainment and shopping complex and dive charter boats. The Hyatt Regency is located next door to the convention center and for a limited time offers a special rate for SCUBA Show attendees. Call 800-233-1234 and mention the SCUBA Show, or visit the SCUBA Show website for a direct link to the special rate on the Hotel’s website.

SCUBA Show T-shirts & Prints 

A limited number of SCUBA Show T-shirts will be for sale at the show. The shirts sport a special print by marine artist Rogest, which he will be happy to sign.

  

A limited number of prints by Rogest and made exclusively for SCUBA Show will also be available.  

The Scuba Show app puts the show in your hands – use it to preplan your visit, as well as during the show to get the most out of your weekend. In the app you’ll find a complete list of seminars, door prizes, films and events – tag the ones you don’t want to miss to create a personalized schedule. See live updates of what’s going on before and during the show, view an Instagram feed, and have some fun with the social sharing section. Download the app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch from the iTunes App Store, and for Android devices from the Google Play store. Just search “Scuba Show” and look for the diver!

Sponsored by SCUBA Show, California Diving News and California Ships to Reefs (CS2R), join us for a full on blow out party that will take place In the Convention Center’s Beautiful Bogart Lounge on Saturday evening. Admission is free to all attendees. Come mingle with the owners and representatives of the diving industry, they would like to rub elbows with you. There will be music, gaming, raffles, auctions, food and drinks for purchase and the chance to win lots of fantastic prizes. 

The fun begins Saturday at 6 pm and participants can party on until 11 pm. This year will include the opportunity to win primo raffle and auction prizes. There will also be more gaming tables and streamlined auction bidding opportunities. 

The party will benefit California Ships to Reefs (CS2R), a non-profit organization working to create a network of artificial reefs along the California coastline by sinking decommissioned ships and other materials.

No preregistration for the party is required but you can purchase gaming chips in advance and save. To learn more about CS2R visit www.CaliforniaShipstoReefs.org. 

We hope to see you at the show. For complete information go to www.ScubaShow.com.