Scuba Shack Weekly – Volume 4, Number 15

Wow! We are halfway through April 2021. Is it me or is the year really accelerating? Only two weeks until we are at Dutch Springs.

This past week has been all about tanks on the service side. Lots of tanks getting inspected and ready to go for the dive season.

Over this past weekend we had an awesome pool session with our Divemasters in training. We spent three hours going over skills, watermanship, and teaching. With this session complete, they are on their way toward gaining their rating later in May. Great job, guys.

Our Discover Scuba Diving date at the Greenknoll Branch YMCA in Brookfield is set. It will be on Sunday, June 13 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Registration will be coordinated by the YMCA in Brookfield. When we have the details on how to register I will let you all know in case you know anyone who wants to experience scuba diving.

Last week I let you all know that we have booked Little Cayman Beach Resort for October 2022. Well you can now reserve your spot by giving us a call. We’ve added some additional rooms given the initial response. The base price for a double diver is $2,145. The single diver rate is $2,535 and a non-diver can join for $1,875. Pricing does not include airfare, and we will have that as an add on later this year. You can reserve your spot now for $250. This is refundable up until Jan. 2022. At that time a total $500 non-refundable deposit will be due. CALL NOW to reserve your spot or to get more information. Our website does have more details and information.

Have a good week everyone,
Jeff

Scuba Shack Weekly – Volume 4, Number 14

It is very refreshing to see things starting to turn green and getting some of the colors of spring out there. The goldfinch at the feeder have gotten their bright yellow feathers back.

Normally the week before Easter is usually pretty slow but we continue to keep rolling. After another great Divemaster session, the crew was out back working on full face mask units for one of our public safety teams as well as their 24 tanks. They’ll be ready for the season.

We also have some exciting news. We have been working with the Brookfield YMCA to offer open water courses as well as other scuba training at their pool. We are calling this initiative Scuba Shack West. We are very pumped up about this opportunity. Our plan is to start with a Discover Scuba event in June and then run a couple of classes in July and August. I’ll keep you informed of the progress. If you know anyone in Fairfield county and vicinity who are looking to learn to dive, please pass this along and have them contact us.

And here is a BIG ONE! We are going back to Little Cayman Beach Resort in 2022! We have booked a week of diving on Little Cayman for October 15 – 22, 2022. We are not able to book airfare yet, and will add that on later. This trip is guaranteed to sell out. Give us a call and don’t miss out.

I can not believe we are only three weeks away from Dutch Springs!

That’s it for this week.
Jeff

Scuba Shack Weekly – Volume 4, Number 12

Hooray – we made it to Spring 2021. This promises to be a whole lot better spring this year than 2020. What a fantastic change in the weather. To think that just 10 days ago we were ice diving. Only in New England.

Here it is – the FINAL call for Nassau. We need to close out the Memorial Day trip to Nassau in the next week. If you are ready to get away soon – diving with Stuart Cove is the way to go. Check out the details and then call us by April 1.

Well we continued our Divemaster class this week with one night of lecture (thanks Peter) followed by a night at the pool. Ron and I were able to take Bill, Zach, Dave and Jay through their first set of skills. They had an awesome night at the pool and are really off and running with their DM rating later this spring.

The AIR Flow Bench and HP Manager are operational. There are still a few tweaks to the set up but on Saturday Tom and Jay completed the hook up of the high pressure lines. Bill was able to get the flow meter to work properly and we tested our first regulator. A great step forward for our service department.

It was quite busy at the shop on Saturday. Good to see folks getting ready to dive. Ahh, it is amazing what some nice weather will do.

Matt and Joel also started the March Open Water class this week. Our future divers completed their virtual session on dive physics and dive planning and are now set for their practical work at the shop and pool.

Until next week,
Jeff

Scuba Shack Weekly – Volume 4, Number 10

Wow – only in New England can you get both the dead of winter and late spring in a single week. I’ll take the 60 degree weather any day.

It would be a serious understatement to say we had a very, very busy week here at Scuba Shack.

We started our Divemaster class with Bill, Dave, Zach and Jay. They are off and running. Orientation and our first lecture is complete. Thanks to Peter, Tom, and Ron for helping us as they make their way into the PADI Professional ranks.

Then on Thursday night Monty and Matt hosted our second drysuit seminar with Pete and Tor from DUI. If you live in New England you will certainly want to consider a drysuit and DUI is most certainly a superior brand.

On Friday night Mike and Ron started a Core Principles class with Nancy and Jill. It continued over Saturday and Sunday at the pool and finished up with a video review on Tuesday.

We made our way up to Mohawk Pond on both Saturday and Sunday to conduct the Ice Diver course with the Region 5 Dive Team. It was COLD with over 14 inches of ice. Congrats to Ray, Mike, Eric, Bob and Pete on becoming certified ice divers. And thanks to the whole crew including Monty, Matt, Chris, Tom, Bill, Jay, and Zach for braving the elements and allowing us to deliver an incredible experience. You can check out some of the pictures on the Scuba Shack Facebook page. Also – take a look at the video.

And if that is not busy enough, Matt and Monty presented their 2018 Tobermory video to SECONN on Tuesday night. The wrecks in Tobermory are spectacular and the video captures the cold and deep diving. Scuba Shack plans on going back in 2022 – stay tuned.

There is more ice diving on tap along with more Divemaster training and we hope to start work on the flow bench this weekend. Stay tuned. What a week!

Jeff

Scuba Shack Weekly – Volume 4, Number 8

I didn’t think it would ever stop snowing last week. Every time I cleaned off my car or deck, it seemed there was more of the white stuff to move. Does anyone have a prediction on when the last of the snow will happen this year?

Last weekend we were able to get back to the pool in New Britain and complete several refresher sessions. We will continue to try to work these sessions into the schedule. Also, Penny completed her confined open water training and is now off to a warmer climate to do her open water certification dives.

Monty and the gang were in the repair shop all day Saturday getting the equipment ready for an upcoming Ice Diver course. Welding, cutting and grinding metal made for quite the experience in the service bay. Stay tuned for an update in early March on the training. Even though we are looking forward to spring, we want the ice to last just a little bit longer.

Last week I sat in on a presentation by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute that centered on how to save the North Atlantic Right Whale. The presentation talked about the numbers, threats and efforts to protect them. One of the major issues for this species is entanglement. Entanglement can come from the lines tied to the buoys on lobster traps. There is some new technology out there that supports ropeless lobster traps. Interestingly there was a story on NPR that talked about this approach.

The North Atlantic Right Whale is one of the most endangered species on the planet. Every effort to save them is needed.

Time to say goodbye to February 2021.

Take care,
Jeff