Saturday, March 27, 2010

Beneath the Sea 2010

I had the opportunity to attend Beneath the Sea 2010 (BTS) this weekend for the first time.  I was actually quite surprised at how big of event it was and the volume of attendees!  Friday night was kind of sparsely attended but Saturday as the day wore on, it was absolutely packed.

It was fun catching up with some old friends and acquaintances - Tom Mount, Joe Radomski, Steve Lewis, Ted Greene, Mark Nix, Corey Mearns.  I was fortunate to get a free pass from Dona at South Pacific Island Travel, so even better, it didn't cost me anything!  Seeing all of the cool travel locations, I've got the itch to get out on a dive trip!

Didn't really see anything that was earth shattering new, but there was lots of cool stuff to check out.  The new Silent Submersion Magnus scooter looks pretty cool!  The speed controls on the handle are way cool!

The North Eastern diving community is certainly a hardy bunch.  It was interesting to note that the average age of attendee appeared to be in the late 40s.  There were very few young people there.  I'm not exactly sure what that tells us - Does it mean that young people are not be attracted to diving or that they just can't afford it?  I don't know the answer to this, but I intend to do a little more research into it!