PADI Approaches 20 Million Scuba Diving Certifications Issued

PADI officials believe the organization will breach the milestone in the third quarter of this year.

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the world's largest scuba diving training and certification organization, announced Friday that the organization will soon issue its 20 millionth scuba diver certification. To celebrate the occasion, the organization will be presenting a “Countdown to 20 Million” campaign. which will award the diver who earns the 20 millionth certification AND the instructor who issues the winning certification a trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The PADI organization was started 35 years ago and has more than 135,000 active professional members worldwide and more than 6,000 affiliated retail outlets and resorts worldwide, according to the organization. The 20 million certification milestone easily makes PADI the most recognized name in the recreational scuba diving industry.

“In 1966, Ralph Erickson and John Cronin had an idea about a better way that people to learn to dive. That the PADI organization has grown from the two of them to more than 20 million testifies to the power and wisdom of their vision” says PADI Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Brian Cronin. “It also shows how a mutual passion for diving unites the PADI family around the world. Twenty million certifications only happens because PADI professionals lead diving. I salute their achievement.”

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Let the ongoing 'quality over quantity' debate ensue...

Phone Interview with Mobile Divers

Talking Scuba host Bob Shoemaker speaks with Mike Bernard, owner of Mobile Divers LLC, about his mobile dive shop, divers d/lyte sport drink, upcoming dive trips, and rebreathers.


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Sunset Divers Makes a Splash at Catalina Island

Our hottest scuba diving t-shirt was donned by our buddy (and US Marine) Jonattan over the weekend, as he headed to Catalina Island for his open water certification dives with Malibu Divers.

Here are just a few photos from his first ever scuba adventure...














Think it's safe to say he's hooked?

Aren't we all?

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Teenage SCUBAnauts Dive Deep into Marine Science

Here's a cool article about a terrific organization.

Growing up near the beach sparked an interest in the underwater world for teenager Morgan Liston.

"I'd look at the little fish. I'd dig in the sand and look at the shells and all the little clams and stuff like that," said Liston, who recently graduated from Palm Harbor University High School.

Her childhood fascination led to her becoming certified in scuba diving, and now she's among the many teens in Scubanauts International, a volunteer youth organization that works with marine scientists.

Members scuba dive and use specialized equipment to perform underwater surveys, fish counts, coral observations and marine archeology.

...

Scubanauts International was founded in 2001 by U.S. Navy Capt. David Olsen, of Palm Harbor, with Walter Jaap, a marine scientist with Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Jaap has worked for in coral reef research more than 30 years.

Olsen, who is assigned to U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, "wanted to be able to provide kids 12 to 18 an experience using scuba diving doing underwater sciences," Hayes said.

There are chapters St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs, Key West and Lake Hitchcock, Mass. Parents volunteer and run each chapter, and all of the scientists who assist are volunteers.

Mary Silk, a member of Scubanauts for five years and a junior at Northeast High School, said meeting and working with the leaders in the marine science field is one of her favorite parts of the program.

"I actually do think I would be interested in pursuing a career in marine science, mostly because of this program," she said. "It's definitely opened my eyes to this wonderful career."

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You can learn more about SCUBAnauts International online at: www.scubanautsintl.org

University of Ulster Divers Granted Rare Access to Egyptian Ruins, Great Lighthouse of Pharos

What an honor.

University of Ulster divers have been passing on their expertise to maritime archaeologists in the historic Egyptian port of Alexandria.

Staff from the UU's maritime archaeology centre conducted a 10-day training workshop for 15 archaeologists from north and east Africa who wanted an insight into the challenges of working underwater.

During their stay the UU divers were granted a rare opportunity to explore the underwater remains of the famous Pharos lighthouse - one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Work on the great lighthouse began in 290 BC and when it was completed 20 years later, it was the first lighthouse in the world and the tallest building in existence with the exception of the Great Pyramid.

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40 Sites That Will Help You Become A Scuba Diver

Just wanted to say TANKS to the folks over at Online Certificate Programs for listing Neutral Dive Gear not once, but twice on their roll-up of 40 Sites That Will Help You Become A Scuba Diver.

Our online scuba diving clothing store is the first site listed under dive gear...

Neutral Dive Gear – NEUTRAL DIVE GEAR is the up and coming leader in unique designer scuba diving clothing and quality dive apparel. Neutral Dive Gear was founded by Mark Glesne and partners in 2008, and is located in sunny Southern California.

And our scuba diving blog is the first listed under dive blogs...

Scuba Diving Blog by Neutral Dive Gear – This blog by Neutral Dive Gear features photos, videos, and stories from artificial reef to diving careers. With the wealth of information this site has, I’m sure you will find something to enjoy.

We're honored!

Oscar-winning Director Gets Scuba Certified

Welcome to the underwater world, Mr. Lee.

Acclaimed contemporary filmmaker, Ang Lee arrived in Ambergris Caye, Belize for a few days of sun and left a certified SCUBA diver. Lee took his certification course with White Sands Dive Instructor, Samuel Lin. Lee was accompanied by his two sons, Mason and Haan who also took the course and became certified divers as well.

Lee, who has directed movies such as Brokeback Mountain and Hulk, is working on his latest movie – Life of Pi. According to movie insiders, quite a bit of the film takes place underwater and it was for this reason that Lee decided to get certified. What better place to receive the course than Ambergris Caye.

After receiving his full certification, Lee along with PADI staff instructor for White Sands, Elbert Greer, visited Hol Chan Marine Reserve for a night dive. During this dive, Lee observed Bio-illuminant creatures in Belizean waters.

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11-year-old Earns 'Master Diver' Certificate

Yes, you read that correctly. 11 years old.

Like many girls her age, 11-year-old Mee Rae Firkins will be taking part in a pumpkin carving contest this October. But unlike other girls, Mee Rae will be carving her pumpkin underwater, wearing 50 pounds of scuba equipment.

Firkins, a sixth grader at Burton Street Elementary, recently became a “master diver” at the age of 11. In doing so, she became the youngest scuba diver ever to achieve that distinction from National Aquatic Service, a Syracuse company that has taught about 36,000 students since it was founded 50 years ago.

To become a master diver, Mee Rae had to finish 50 dives and take classes in stress and rescue, night and low visibility diving, navigation, boat diving and dry suit diving. Since April, she has completed over 80 dives.

Last year, Sue Firkins wanted to get her entire family involved in a new activity. The entire Firkins family took classes in the fall, and waited until the weather was better to be certified. The family went to Little Cayman in the Caribbean for their certification, where Mee Rae dove with eagle rays, stingrays, barracuda and turtles.

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Our hats off to you, Mee Rae.

SSI Unveils New Snorkeling Program

From the Examiner:

Fort Collins, CO. August 2009. Scuba Schools International (SSI), a leading scuba diving and water sports education company announces the release of its newly developed Snorkeling Education System

Snorkeling is a great way for people to begin experiencing the amazing underwater world. It is an activity that anyone, young or old, can enjoy. To provide customers with the ultimate snorkeling experience, SSI has created a learning tool that approaches learning to snorkel by applying the 4 critical ingredients to safe and fun snorkeling adventures — proper knowledge, skills, equipment and experience. Snorkelers who learn and apply these ingredients will have what it takes to make the most of any snorkeling experience.

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Navy Deep Sea Diver Pool Week

One word: rad.


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PADI’s DSAT Technical Diving Arm Prepares for Course Overhaul

Definitely wondering your thoughts on this.

Heeding customer feedback and finally bowing to market pressures, PADI’s DSAT technical diving arm is preparing an overhaul of its TecRec Deep and Trimix courses that will lower the entry barriers to the course and give instructors more flexibility.

Although final course outlines have not been finalized, the Tec Deep course will be broken into three parts, tentatively called “Tec 40,” “Tec 45″ and “Tec 50,” signifying the depth in meters students will be certified to dive. The current Tec Trimix course will be similarly broken into two parts, dubbed “Trimix 65″ and “Trimix 75.” DSAT hopes to introduce the courses by the end of the year.

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Good? Bad?

13-Year-Old Becomes One of the Youngest Rescue Divers the World Over

Wow! Most kids his age are too worried about World of Warcraft and Cheetos to spend this much time outside... let alone in the water.

Jonathan Whitehouse, 13, has just qualified after an intensive training course, alongside his father, Chris, and another teenager, Gemma Powell, 17.

Christ the King College pupil Jonathan took his Professional Association of Diving Instructors’ (PADI) open water certificate as soon as he reached the minimum age of 12 and then went on to do his advanced open water qualification.

Since then he has logged more than 70 dives and now has his rescue divers’ qualification through PADI diving instructor Jamie Sprake, of the Aquarius Diving Club.

The course involved several days of classroom-based training in emergency first response techniques, including cardiac pulmonary resuscitation, a day of skills training in the swimming pool at Wight Montrene Hotel and a final day diving in Totland Bay, putting the students’ rescue skills into practice in a number of emergency scenarios.

Jonathan said: "I am really thrilled to have achieved this qualification.

"It was a challenge to find an unresponsive diver on the seabed and bring him to the surface, practice delivering rescue breaths and get the victim ashore to safety so that emergency treatment could be continued.

"But these skills could mean that one day I am able to save the life of a fellow diver in distress," said Jonathan.

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Our masks off to you, Jonathan.

PADI Wreck Diver Course

This past weekend, Neutral Dive Gear Founder & CEO Mark Glesne and Co-Founder Heidi Glesne took part in the PADI Wreck Diver Course.

Along with a few friends, Mark and Heidi completed the course diving the Yukon and Ruby E in San Diego's famous wreck alley.

Here's an assortment of photos from the course.





















Have you taken the course? Did you enjoy it?

For more photos, check out Mark's public Wreck Diver Specialty Course photo album on Facebook.

Academy of Scuba Opens Training Facility

Late last week the Academy of Scuba officially announced the opening of a training facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Academy of Scuba’s Training Facility is unlike most Scuba shops. The focus is solely on training and the facility caters to unparallel classroom training and the administrative offices support our dive staff to ensure timely certification and materials delivery. The Academy of Scuba uses state of the art technology including eLearning, digital displays, the latest training multimedia, surround sound and GoToMeeting™ to assist in its training.

The new training facility will support the Academy of Scuba’s Complete Diver Program. The Complete Diver Program is the most comprehensive training program in the Scuba industry. For $360, participants can get certified in Advanced and Rescue Courses, over 40 different specialties and attend a series of workshops and clinics to help them become great recreational divers. These programs are offered in conjunction with SDI/TDI, PADI, NAUI, Divers Alert Network, Emergency First Response, and SeaSigns programs. For more information on the Complete Diver Program go to http://www.completediver.com

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Sharkys Pool Day

This past weekend a few of us from Neutral Dive Gear were able to help out with a pool day hosted by Sharkys Eco Diving out of La Verne, Calif.

The event featured gear demos with Mares and Aqua Lung equipment, as well as a complimentary PADI Discover SCUBA Diving class for some folks interested in the wonderful underwater world of SCUBA.

Here's a slick video from the event, courtesy of teamcasa...


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If you watch closely, at 6:00 you can spot Neutral Dive Gear Founder & CEO Mark Glesne frog kicking away from the camera, and at 6:28 you can see our Co-Founder and Divemaster Heidi Glesne giving a double OK!

=)

Here's a few photos...











Neutral Dive Gear hopes to continue working closely with Sharkys. If you're in the SoCal area, be sure to stop by the shop and say hello.

Store Location:

Sharkys Eco Diving
3836 Emerald Ave., #H
La Verne, CA 91750

Store Hours:

Monday - Friday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

phone: 909.596.2505 | fax: 909.596.2575 | toll free: 888.9ECODIVE

General Information:

staff@sharkysecodiving.com

http://sharkysecodiving.com/