ScubaRadio Widget

New ScubaRadio Widget makes online listening even easier!

Posted by: "gregthedivemaster" list@scubaradio.com gregthedivemaster

Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:33 pm (PDT)

We have been received numerous requests over the years from listeners
that have wanted to incorporate ScubaRadio into their company/personal
websites. The new ScubaRadio Widget does just that!...Click on the link
below and just follow the simple instructions. You will now be able to
offer the latest edition of ScubaRadio to all your friends and
constantly have fresh content for visitors to your website. The
ScubaRadio Widget works with just about every website our there...from
MySpace to Facebook....

you can even place the ScubaRadio Widget on your
computers desktop and automatically know when a new edition of
ScubaRadio is ready for listening online!

Click here to get the new ScubaRadio Widget!
<http://www.springwidgets.com/widgets/view/33094/?param_param=http%3A%2F\
%2Fwww.scubaradio.com%2Fsrpodcast.xml&param_compactView=false&param_styl\
e_borderColor=0x000000&param_style_brandUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdownloads.thesp\
ringbox.com%2Fhosted_content%2Fimages%2F4518c65e6f36ca49facdc270db04de3f\
.jpg&width=300&height=275> ....and pass it on!

%2Fwww.scubaradio.com%2Fsrpodcast.xml¶m_compactView=false¶m_styl\
e_borderColor=0x000000¶m_style_brandUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdownloads.thesp\
ringbox.com%2Fhosted_content%2Fimages%2F4518c65e6f36ca49facdc270db04de3f\
.jpg&width=300&height=275>

I'd rather be diving,
Greg The Divemaster
www.scubaradio.com

SSI Announces New Ownership

Congratulations to Doug McNeese and Robert Stoss on the acquisition of SSI. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Gary and Linda Clark and the rest of the family well as they depart the dive industry.

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DOUG MCNEESE AND ROBERT STOSS TAKE THE HELM OF SSI WORLDWIDE AND ANNOUNCE AN EXCITING FUTURE FOR THE DIVING INDUSTRY.

Fort Collins, Colorado – Scuba Schools International, the premier education and business support organization, announces a change in ownership. March 26, 2008 marked the official changing of the guard – Doug McNeese and Robert Stoss, two recognized industry experts, have joined forces to provide the company with a wealth of experience in all facets of the diving industry: Training, Retail, Manufacturing and International Business.

Doug McNeese (President and CEO) has been involved in the diving industry since the age of 10 when his family opened up their first dive store. In 1982 he purchased ‘The Dive Shop’ from his father and began the expansion of the company.

In 1993 Doug purchased NASDS and in late 1998 merged with SSI. Nine years following the merger, Doug is and will continue to be a driving force in the promotion of SSI Worldwide and strengthening its growth through retailers and manufacturers. Doug strongly believes that the “doorway to diving” is the retailer. His passion is to go beyond what has been done, bring more people into the sport and to make scuba diving a lifetime activity.

“In Europe, Asia and Australia, SSI Regional Centers are growing and gaining market share. In the USA successful retailers continue to join SSI based on a proven business model of creating divers and selling scuba equipment. Resorts in the Caribbean, Red Sea and Pacific are also joining the SSI Network so they can access the hundreds of thousands of SSI Divers around the world,” stated McNeese.

Robert Stoss (Chairman) has been actively involved in diving since 1977 as an avid diver, instructor and retail store owner. For 10 years, from 1987 to 1997, Robert had a successful career with Scubapro® with the final position of Vice President and Business Unit Manger of the North American Diving Division of Johnson Worldwide Associates in Racine, WI from 1993 – 1997.

A new opportunity led Robert back to Germany in 1997 where he purchased Seemann Sub®, a leading German manufacturer and importer for a full line of scuba diving equipment. Over the last 10 years, under Robert’s guidance, Seemann® has earned the reputation as the innovative leader in the price to value dive gear segment. In 2007, Seemann Sub was acquired by Johnson Outdoors.

“I joined the SSI Network in February of 2003 as the licensee of the newly formed SSI European Service Center. SSI Germany has since taken a leadership position in the European professional dive market and today is head to head with the leading agency in Dive Center membership,” says Stoss. “I am confident that this new partnership with Doug will create unique opportunities for SSI retailers, instructors and resorts worldwide.

The Clark family is leaving Scuba Schools International on a high note. From a worldwide perspective, the SSI brand is more widely recognized now than ever before. The company is in peak financial shape and beat its all time high sales and profit goals in 2007. Although there will be a change in ownership SSI will remain focused on the success of the retailer and instructor. SSI understands that dive centers are the gateway to our sport and the backbone of the industry.

“We are very excited about the huge opportunities in the diving industry,” McNeese and Stoss continued. “All we can say is - prepare to be amazed.”

Visit the SSI website at www.diveSSI.com

21st annual SCUBA Show, June 21st/22nd, Long Beach Convention Center

SCUBA Show exhibit space is 92% sold out

Don't be left out. Largest scuba event in the United States promises to be bigger than ever in 2008!

The 21^st annual SCUBA Show, taking place June 21^st and 22^nd at the Long Beach Convention Center, has already sold out 92% of its 76,000 square foot exhibit hall. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to connect with some of the most active divers in the nation.

Now the largest consumer dive expo in the United States, The SCUBA Show was created to give scuba businesses valuable face-to-face time with potential customers. Started by the publishers of California Diving News, the SCUBA Show has consistently brought in over 10,000 eager consumers from all parts of the west coast and the southwest.

Last years attendance was over 11,000, and the producers have begun a marketing campaign to capitalize on last year’s attendance. Next week, over 30,000 past attendees will receive brochures detailing the weekend’s activities and encouraging them to pre-register for the weekend. This will also coincide with the launching of a newly designed ScubaShow.com, which will include an interactive floor plan, links to exhibitor websites and complete details of the weekend.

In the coming months, consumers will read about the SCUBA Show in California Diving News, and begin to see advertisements in various scuba magazines throughout the country. Discount coupons will also be available through California, Arizona and Nevada dive stores and clubs. SCUBA Show has also purchased various billboards around Southern California’s busy freeways.

For more information about exhibiting please call 310-792-2333 or visit www.ScubaShow.com

DigitalDiver.net Trip Report: Beqa Lagoon Resort

DDNet Trip Report

Where: Beqa Lagoon Fiji When: 06/03/2006 - 06/11/2006 By: Waterboy

Type: Land based Accomodations: Beqa Lagoon Resort Dive operator: Beqa Lagoon Resort Overall photography friendliness: Good Camera tables/prep area: Not applicable Camera rinse tanks: Average Charging facilities: Not applicable Voltage: 220-240 AC

This was my 2nd trip to Fiji and Beqa Lagoon. The accomodations were very good and the food was great IMHO. The people who work at the resort and on the boats really make the trip special. We landed in Nadi and took the 3 hour bus ride to Pacific Harbor. After a 45 minute boat ride to the island we ate and took our check out dive on the house reef. The next morning we started the 2 dives a day boat diving trips. The diving is not intense if you don't want it to be. I was with a group of 24 other divers who were very experienced and dive masters allowed us to do our thing as long as we stayed within our computer limits.

After spending time on the bottom, long safety stops were the practice of the group. We spent 30-45 minutes on top of the bommies doing our safety stops and taking pictures. This made for some hour and a half to hour and 45 minute dives. There was as much to see on the top of the boomies as there was at depth. After diving in Hawaii day in and day out the change in critters is exciting. The are so many different critters and corals to see that it revs up the engines for getting out in the morning to go again.

One of the nice things about the trip was the resorts flexability in allowing us to do a house reef dive on our way in from the last dive site. They would bring extra tanks along in the morning and let us dive our way to shore. This caused them to have to serve lunch up to 2 hours late to those of us who took advantage of this perk. Our group extended lunch time already by making 45 minute dives last twice as long as scheduled. No one at the resort did anything but accomodate us in our dive style. For die hard divers this is really great.

There was unlimited shore diving at any time of the day. I did a couple of twilight dives without a light, while others did night dives from the shore. Only one organized night dive off the boat was offered, but if there where 5 or 6 people that wanted to go out, I bet the resort would have arranged it. They were that good at working with the divers.

The two boats that were used for diving were very spacious. Our group had lots of cameras and one thing that could have been better would be more fresh water tank space. There were a couple of rigs with huge domes and strobe arms and they took up a lot of space. It need not be a big deal if one rinses his camera and then wraps it in a wet towel in the cabin between and after dives.

The high light of the diving and of my personal diving experiences was the shark feed. I had done this dive as a single dive last year and they have extended it to a two dive experience (the 1st to 100 feet and the 2nd to 45 feet). It did not get real exciting until a 12 to 14 foot Tiger came calling on the 2nd dive. He spent 20-25 minutes swimming about the group, checking us out. It caused most of us to have to make a forced stop for 8-10 minutes, while he continued to buzz around the site. What a magnificant animal he was and the confidence, no arrogance, he demonstrated was like I have never seen in an animal. He was the king of this domain and he demonstrated that. All present agreed that this was one of their most memorable dive experiences and a number of these divers have 5,000 plus dives.

I have been to Beqa Lagoon twice and would return again. The price of the trip from Honolulu was $2800 all inclusive. The food was great and the diving extremely good. I do have a few pictures that I will try to post sometime in the future when I have time to photoshop them and learn how to do the posting on DDN. (If you like just gray stripes I have one of those)! Beqa Lagoon and it's people will always be a special for me. I plan on returning again next year if possible.


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