Spectre
Contributor
I looked at a number of different reels. The Mantas were #1 until I was wondering around late today and checked out the reels from another place [I forgot the name... I have the info in my bag]. They are out of Canada, and I _really_ liked the design.
I managed to refrain from the Rum Reggee shirts, and from the dry glove systems. But I ended up with two new books and another magazine subscription.
I spent almost all of today in sessions. Bielanda's talk about the San Diego was really good, and man; some of his footage would make you cringe... a guy banging the heck out of the warhead on a 3 inch shell with a hammer to get it off to dump the gunpowder!
Saw a talk on the wreck of the Arctic [if I remember correctly] in the great lakes, and Bernie Chowdhury's talk on diving on some wrecks within the Arctic Circle of Norway [I love his speaking style, it's like hearing a story in a bar... but with coffee instead of beer]. Saw another one on the Tarpoon.
I also caught Hal Watts talk on safety procedures. Good talk, but I definately would have loved to have had one of the gang sitting next to me. "I don't like to use the term 'limits', I prefer the term 'comfort zone'. Stay in your comfort zone". Ok.. fine. Later "Yes, 400' is well within my comfort zone on air. I do all my trimix teaching dives on air"... Although some of his comments were overly disturbing, he was an entertaining speaker [I don't think he ever actually used the words "Oxygen Toxicity". He referred to it as "doing the funky chicken".]
Overall I had a great time. Met a lot of great people, ran into some old friends and my north carolina dive buddy. Got to see lots of cool stuff [like the MP3 player rated to 200' :bang:] And lined up a speaker for my club's Wrecks conference.
I saw those hookups...Those are quite cool.
I managed to refrain from the Rum Reggee shirts, and from the dry glove systems. But I ended up with two new books and another magazine subscription.
I spent almost all of today in sessions. Bielanda's talk about the San Diego was really good, and man; some of his footage would make you cringe... a guy banging the heck out of the warhead on a 3 inch shell with a hammer to get it off to dump the gunpowder!
Saw a talk on the wreck of the Arctic [if I remember correctly] in the great lakes, and Bernie Chowdhury's talk on diving on some wrecks within the Arctic Circle of Norway [I love his speaking style, it's like hearing a story in a bar... but with coffee instead of beer]. Saw another one on the Tarpoon.
I also caught Hal Watts talk on safety procedures. Good talk, but I definately would have loved to have had one of the gang sitting next to me. "I don't like to use the term 'limits', I prefer the term 'comfort zone'. Stay in your comfort zone". Ok.. fine. Later "Yes, 400' is well within my comfort zone on air. I do all my trimix teaching dives on air"... Although some of his comments were overly disturbing, he was an entertaining speaker [I don't think he ever actually used the words "Oxygen Toxicity". He referred to it as "doing the funky chicken".]
Overall I had a great time. Met a lot of great people, ran into some old friends and my north carolina dive buddy. Got to see lots of cool stuff [like the MP3 player rated to 200' :bang:] And lined up a speaker for my club's Wrecks conference.
I saw those hookups...Those are quite cool.
