Our monthly eNewsletter keeps you up-to-date on training programs, products, services and dive travel opportunities offered by Central Connecticut’s premiere dive center.
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Thank you for taking the time to complete Scuba Shack’s Quality Assurance feedback form. The feedback you provide is reviewed by the training director and Training Council to help improve our programs and ensure a great experience for all Scuba Shack divers.
Overall, combined results are shared with instructors, but we generally do not provide results with student names to instructors unless you specify you want us to do that in your feedback.
Effective Jan. 1, 2011, Scuba Shack’s Drysuit Diver program has been replaced by the GUE Drysuit Diver class. Scuba Shack’s instructional staff worked closely with the GUE team to develop and implement the new course.
Class Fee: $275
Check out the new Scuba Shack radio spot! Click on the “Play” button to hear, and listen for the commercial on your favorite radio station.
Are you ready to move forward with your Scuba Education? Coming off the heels of another very successful and enjoyable early season trip to Dutch Springs for Advanced Open Water, Divemaster training and a Drive & Dive, we have decided to schedule two more trips to Dutch Springs this summer!
Both trips will provide opportunities for completing Advanced Open Water certifications in one weekend! Our optimal class size for the Dutch Springs AOW is three students, so sign up is limited.
The five dives consist of Buoyancy, Navigation, and Wreck dives on Saturday, followed by Deep and Search & Recovery on Sunday.
The Dutch Springs AOW Class is a great experience – dive the Comet, find the row boat and trolley, see the Pit of Misery (Dilly-Dilly) and learn to deploy a lift bag!
For those of you who just want to get out and DIVE –
Come join us at Dutch Springs! For the weekend, or just for the day. Located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Dutch Springs is about 200 miles from Scuba Shack. Gates open at 8 a.m. each morning but lines form as early as 7 a.m.
Give us a call for more info or to sign up for some awesome training and fun!
As part of our commitment to improving our training, Scuba Shack has invested in a fleet of Aqua Lung computers. Our main training computer is the Aqua Lung i100. We also added an i300C. Both computers are an outstanding value for the functionality.
I thought I’d take a minute to tell you about my recent experience with the i300C while at Dutch Springs earlier this month. The i100 and i300C have pretty much an identical menu structure, display and model. The i300C provides a backlight (which I rarely use, but is nice to have). The i300C also has two buttons versus one on the i100. Two buttons made cycling through the menus a little easier.
Setting up for 32 percent Enriched Air Nitrox was simple. The underwater display is big enough and readable even at 85 feet in 43 degree water. The buttons are easy to manipulate with 5 mm gloves. I left deep stops on, and at 42 feet I got a two minute hold. The safety stop starts at 20 feet with a nice count down timer showing minutes and seconds remaining – for the impatient bunch!
Both computers can be downloaded to your computer with an interface cable and placed into the DiverLog application. Pretty neat.
The i300C has an additional really cool feature – Bluetooth. With the DiverLog+ app on my iPhone, I was able to synch the dives into my phone and update my gas usage, weights, gear bag and other dive info. The app then calculated my SAC. Way cool. But there is more. I can actually set the computer from the phone.
We’re impressed with the Aqua Lung line of affordable, reliable and safe dive computers. Stop by and check them out. The i100 is a great deal for either a primary or backup, while the i300C provides that added technology that a lot of folks like.
And hey – you can replace your own battery!
Do you own tanks manufactured by Luxfer, US Divers, or Walter Kidde before 1988? It is time to consider replacing them. These tanks were made with 6351 Alloy Aluminum, which is susceptible to sustained load cracking (SLC), a weakness occurring with age that can potentially lead to catastrophic failures.
In recent months these tanks have been failing Visual Eddy testing at a increased rate than in the past. Due to the marked increase in the failure rates we are phasing out service on tanks manufactured with 6351 Aluminum.
Effective January 1, 2019, Scuba Shack will no longer fill or service 6351 Aluminum tanks due to the potential safety issues. Be aware that these used tanks often end up for sale online, know before you buy.
Wondering if your old tank is part of this service advisory? Bring your tank to Scuba Shack and we’ll let you know.
Scuba Shack is now open in the Shunpike Business Center, 1275 Cromwell Ave A-6 in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. We are located around the back of the first building on your right. Directions are available right here, and we are located less than three minutes off I-91’s Exit 23.
We made the move over the weekend of April 14 & 15 with a lot of help from our friends! We could not have done it without their help – a heartfelt thanks go out to all.
After a couple of very long days, the showroom is now ready and open for business.
With an eye to expanding education, repair, service and fulfillment, Scuba Shack now has a more extensive service area and a streamlined showroom. We have dedicated areas to Recreational Divers and Public Safety Teams.
More info coming soon!
Do you keep a scuba diving logbook? I do, and I think it’s a great idea for you to do the same.
It is an incredibly cold day here in New England. This morning it was about 5 degrees F NOT C with a brutal wind chill. We are still a couple of weeks away from heading to Grand Cayman and I need some way to warm up or at least think about some warm water diving.
So, I started to think about my very first real dive (after finishing my scuba diving certified). I knew it was in Key Largo and the old disposable underwater film prints have long been lost. But hey, I could pull out my dive logbook and it would help me relive that dive. It was the wreck of the City of Washington on Elbow Reef. How cool is that – to get your first dive on a real wreck? A wreck of a ship that once docked in Havana Harbor near the USS Maine when it exploded.
The logbook told me all about the dive – the water temperature, my exposure protection, weight, bottom time, depth and what we experienced on the dive and much more. By the way, the water temperature on Elbow Reef in Key Largo that day was 86 degrees.
Keeping your logbook up-to-date is a perfect way to document your dive experience with a lot of great and relevant information to make your future diving more fun and perhaps to remind you of some fantastic warm weather destinations or other interesting dives when it is too cold to scuba in Connecticut or when you just want to remember why we dive.
Photo courtesy NOAA – In 25 feet of water east of Key Largo, the remains of the City of Washington lie on Elbow Reef. On July 10, 1917, while being towed by a tug, the City of Washington ran aground on and was a total loss within minutes.