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Ho, ho, ho… Thanksgiving seems like a distant memory although it was
only a few weeks back and most of the organized Christmas shoppers have
not only completed their Christmas shopping but have the gifts wrapped
and ready to be placed under the tree. Then there are those less
organized shoppers who are just getting around to making up a shopping
list and discovering that the shelves in the shops not brimming with
goodies. Like all good procrastinators they are realizing that tomorrow
has finally arrived and is on it’s way to becoming yesterday. What to do
…. what to do?
First, take a deep breath. Once again the local Scuba businesses come to
the rescue with ideas and gifts for the underwater enthusiast’s
Christmas stocking. In fact, even the Caloosa Dive Club has something
for your special diver. The Underwater Photography committee has
produced a beautiful calendar that holds many of the winning photos from
the 2002-2003 Underwater Photo Competition. The calendar also shows all
of the planned activities for the coming year. It is available in
limited supply at dive club meetings and is a great gift for family and
friends who want to know why divers keep doing what they do.
Speaking of Underwater Photography, divers in Southwest Florida are so
lucky to have a world class underwater video housing manufacturer right
in their backyard. Ocean Images & Co., Inc. is a family business that
has been producing state-of-the-art, underwater video housings since
1992. The most popular series are for the Sony Digital Camcorders but
Ocean Images carries many other stock models and also designs custom
models for photographers with special requirements. It’s defintely worth
a visit to their sales & production facility in Cape Coral. Visit their
website at www.oceanimagesinc.com or give Mike Johnson a call at (239)
458-7155.
Brent Argabright at Deans Dive Center in south Fort Myers has been an
important part of the local diving scene for 12 years. His locally owned
dive shop is the only PADI facility in the area. The busy shop carries
major brands of dive equipment such as Scubapro, Mares, Oceanic, Akona &
Genesis and also has lots to offer in small accessories items, scuba
tanks & wetsuits. Deans Dive Center features scuba classes at all
levels, trips to the Florida Keys and Gulf diving opportunities. Brent
specializes in spearfishing equipment and can help with finding the
right gear to get the job done. We were so happy with his wetsuit
selections and his willingness to find the right solution for our dive
style, that we ended up with the latest Henderson Goldcore 5-mil
jumpsuits that will keep us toasty in the cooler Gulf waters this
winter. He also carries underwater photography equipment along with a
nice inventory of the popular Citizen dive watches. His idea this year
for the ultimate stocking stuffer – a dynamite Princeton Tec Impact
Light with 150 hours burn time and ultra bright white LED light. We got
a demo of this product and there is a high possibility it may show up
under our own tree this year. Visit the website at
www.deansdivecenter.com for more information or call Brent at (239)
489-0500.
Kevin Alves from Underwater Specialists (www.fladive.com), (239)
656-3483 has been at the North Fort Myers location since 1986 – wow,
that’s 17 years. They love to dive, dive, dive and do local trips
offshore almost every weekend when the weather permits. From April to
November, they do monthly trips to Key Largo for diving & classes. Add
some trips to the Florida Springs to the Bahamas & Bonaire mix and
you’ll have a complete calendar for the year. Equipment lines include
Dacor, Mares, Halcyon, A B Biller spearguns & others. What exciting
Christmas ideas do they have? Underwater cameras starting around $75.00
and the popular dry bags for around $20. Some really popular gifts this
year include the “Dive-Alert” and “Safety Sausage” for around $23.00.
Todd Johnson, Manager of Scuba Quest in Fort Myers, (239) 936-7106,
tells us they have been there since 1995. Peter Williamson manages Scuba
Quest in Cape Coral, (239) 458-1999. (www.scubaquestusa.com). Todd gave
us a heads up on their big Tent Sale that will be held at the Fort Myers
location on December 12, 13 & 14th. The Tent Sales are known for some
terrific deals on all kinds of Scuba gear. Scuba Quest is a NAUI
training organization and they carry several major lines of equipment
including Oceanic, Sherwood, Cressi Sub and body Glove. Both Todd and
Charles South, who was manning the shop in Cape Coral when we called,
thought an exciting Christmas gift would be a SeaLife Reefmaster camera
– either the 35 mm model which is quite inexpensive or the new digital
3.3 megapixel model that is great on land or under water.
Mike Matco, who is a NAUI, PADI, TDI & IANTD instructor told us about
some fantastic things going on at Underwater Explorers (www.underwaterexplorers.com)
(239) 481-5005, on McGregor Blvd. in Fort Myers. Underwater Explorers,
owned by Shane Wauszewski has been here for 35 years and is celebrating
with a huge sale that runs until the end of December. They carry major
lines of equipment such as DiveRite, Mares, Dacor, Tusa & Henderson.
They have several trips each month going to the Keys, Riviera Beach and
other locations – one very popular dive trip is planned to Disney’s
Epcot Center. Mike’s recommendations for super Christmas gifts included
their new line of really great dive watches by St. Moritz, a new Darwin
Air integrated air computer using the new RGBM algorithm or a NEMO full
function dive computer that is the size of a watch.
We stopped in at Coral Scuba in Cape Coral (www.coralscuba.com), (239)
574-5100 and asked Skip Lawrence if he realized that “Christmas is
Coming!?” Skip has been teaching Scuba for 10 years and caters to all
levels of divers – Open Water through Instructor and specializes in
Nitrox and rebreather training. Coral Scuba, going into their 5th year
of operation, has something for everyone, from the newest in designer
fins to sets of colorful skins that can make you the best dressed diver
around. One tempting item in the Coral Scuba showcase was the complete
set of marine creature identification books by Paul Humann & Ned DeLoach.
The series of 3 books covers the Caribbean and Bahamian waters and
features full color photos of sea life from juvenile to adult stages.
They also have some inexpensive Reef Fish ID books and the new
Fish-in-A-Pocket waterproof book that can go on your dive with you. In
addition to scuba instruction, this NAUI facility also runs several dive
excursions to the Keys during the year. Watches, dive flags, fins &
masks – and equipment lines including Zeagle, Akona, Aeris, OceanMaster,
SeaVision and Pelican Products give you a fine selection for gifts or
something just for yourself.
Divers in the Port Charlotte area have been shopping with Julie & Jim
Joseph at Fantasea Scuba since 1993. (www.fantaseascuba.com), (941)
627-3888. You can see from their website that the yearly calendar is
loaded with diving opportunities including local Gulf trips, east coast
trips to Pompano, Miami and the upper Keys. They even have an instructor
who specializes in underwater photography courses and others that
specialize in spearfishing. Their line of equipment includes AquaLung,
Oceanic, SeaQuest, Cressi Sub, SeaLife, AB Biller, Freestyle & more.
They are also a dealer for Aqua Sphere, a highly designed swim line from
Aqua Lung catering to swimmers. Julie says that spearguns and cameras
are popular gifts as well as dive trips and specialty courses and that
if you aren’t sure what to get, a gift certificate is a great idea.
Don Winter can be found at Scuba Dragons International Dive School on
lower Del Prado in Cape Coral (239) 541-0053 (www.scubadragons.com). His
instructors offer all levels of NAUI training and Full Cave
certification through NSS-CDS. The lines of equipment include Drager
Dolphin SCR Rebreathers, Ocean Reef Full Face Mask w/comm as well as
OMS, Tusa, Atomic, Cochran, Akona & Dive Rite. Looking for a dry suit?
Scuba Dragons carries suits from 3 different manufacturers. Don says
they dive every weekend all over Florida including 40 Fathoms Grotto. If
you are looking for a super Christmas gift, they have lots of small
items for stocking stuffers and also offer gift certificates in case you
just can’t decide which gift to buy.
You can see from the selections available that it isn’t necessary to
write to the Pennsylvania Coal Mine Administration to locate some nasty,
black coal to put in the Christmas stockings that are hanging on the
pool cage. There is so much available right here in southwest Florida
that we’ll have to shop until July just to get a sample of all the
goodies that we found in our local shops.
The Caloosa Dive Club wants to give special recognition to our local
dive organizations. We appreciate the excellent support we receive all
of them during the year and for their sponsorship of special events that
benefit club members. We encourage everyone to support our local dive
shops – stop in to say hello and meet the staff. Buy locally and reap
the rewards of knowing who you are dealing with and where to go when you
need support and that ever important item – air!
From the Caloosa Dive Club, we wish everyone a happy holiday season and
a prosperous new year. |
