NW Dive Expo

[deep thought]

So what is a post about North West Dive Expo doing in Wisconsin???

Well I'm here in Tacoma helping Silent Scuba (my former students and good friends in the CCR community Mel Clark and Curt McNamee staff their booth promoting rEvo CCR's) and I see Larry Boucha here, and I see quite a few other familiar faces out here for a very well organized dive show.  If you are familiar with the North West / Midwest / North East Dive News, the show is put on by publicist and scuba promoter Rick Stratton. 

The show is a very well attended show by travel experts, equipment vendors, dive stores, charters, and rebreather instructors like myself.  What I thought was so unique about this show was that Curt McNamee volunteered to coordinate the rebreather pool demonstration by over 6 different rebreather manufactures ( rEvo, Megalodon, KISS, Titan, Ambient Pressure, Optima ) and as many independent or shop affiliated rebreather instructors in the market.  Everyone cooperated, and the only requirement was that each instructor had to show proof of insurance showing add on for NW Dive News as a secondary insured.  There were a number of Key Industry people speaking about rebreathers pros / cons, rebreather 101, etc.  humm, members of the dive community working together to support the fun and enjoyment of diving?

The pool was used for drysuit demos, discover scuba demos, rebreather demos and although it takes up a large section of show display area...it really draws the divers in.

As a supporter of rebreathers at shows in the Midwest for ten years now, I have not seen this kind of maturity and sensible cooperation at shows, but there is opportunity for changes in the future.  Yes, narrow minded politics... Until things change, we are faced with outsourcing our customers and not taking advantage of the local instructors who support the community.  If your dive center does not have an in-house rebreather instructor, email me and I can hook you up with a qualified instructor in your area, or happy to help any dive center become a rebreather training facility. 

And if you have not taken a trip to enjoy the incredible diversity of dive sites; wrecks, walls, & marine life...yowza - you gotta check it out.  link to North West Dive News


Maybe a new show coming to your area soon???

Good Diving

Deep Thought
Ron Benson
RebreatherRon@yahoo.com