Divescapes - October 21-23, 2016 - Calgary, AB, Canada

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The Alberta Underwater Council is proud to once again present the Divescapes Conference and Exhibition. Divescapes has had some outstanding shows including 2012 and 2014 shows in Edmonton, well we are working hard to bring you an even bigger and better show in 2016! New speakers and new exhibitors in a great new venue. 2016 is shaping up to be the best Divescapes yet! This is a show you won’t want to miss so book early as there are a limited number of tickets available!

Divescapes Conference mandate includes striving to promote safe & environmentally responsible diving and provide all participants with the opportunity to partner with other industry organizations like participating local dive centres, government agencies, tourism, travel, clubs, service groups, etc., to develop a network of resources for underwater sports & scuba diving in Alberta & around the world.

Speaker announcements to begin next week!

 

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Fist Divescapes Speaker Announcement!!!

I am proud to announce Becky Kagan Schott will be speaking at Divescapes.



Becky is a multiple Emmy Award-winning underwater cameraman, photographer, and accomplished technical diving Instructor whose work can be seen on major networks including National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel. She is co-owner of Liquid Productions, Inc, specializing in capturing quality imagery in challenging environments. Her projects hav...e taken her all over the globe from exploring virgin wrecks in over 300 feet of water in the Great Lakes, rappelling into caves in the jungle, filming under ice in the Arctic to diving cage-less with great white sharks.

Becky has dived in 4 of the Great Lakes and participated in projects helping to document shipwrecks in 3D for the National Park Service in Isle Royale National Park. She has also participated in several exploration projects searching for new wrecks in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. In 2011 she was worked with NOAA on a documentary called “Project Shiphunt” searching for shipwrecks with a group of high school students. They found the Schooner M.F. MERRICK lost in 1889 and ETURA in over 300 feet of icy cold water off of Presque Isle Michigan. Becky was one of the first divers on both wrecks to film the exploration. The dives were cold, deep and very challenging. The use of Closed Circuit Rebreathers, mixed gases and experienced safety team were used to conduct the dives. In June of 2015 Becky was invited to assist in the exploration of the Alice E. Wilds found by Shipwreck Explorers off of Milwaukee Michigan. The wreck also sits in over 300 feet of water and was extremely intact. Becky’s passion for the Great Lakes has only grown fiercer in the past few years and visiting more incredible sites and learning the history of these wrecks.

Becky is extremely passionate about sharing the underwater world with others both through her imagery or teaching someone to dive. She's been teaching scuba since 2000 and is an active technical diving instructor and rebreather instructor. In her spare time she’s participated in several exploration projects around the world that have earned her a place as a Fellow in the Explorers Club and in 2013 she was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

www.LiquidProductions.com

 

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Another Divescapes Speaker Announcement!

I am pleased to announce Howie Robins will be speaking at Divescapes about the work of the Artificial Reef Society of BC, including their latest project, the sinking of the Anapolis.



Howie Robins is the President and one of the founding members the Artificial Reef Society of BC. He has been an active community diver for over 30 years and has extensive wreck diving experience throughout the world and assisted on the underwater video capture of the sinking of the USS Oriskany a distinguished WWII aircraft carrier sunk in Pensacola Florida in 2006.

The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC) is delighted to take part in the 2016 Divescapes show in Calgary. As a guest speaker Howie is excited to present a retrospective about the unique fleet of man-made reefs leading up to the most recent project, the former HMCS Annapolis sunk on April 4, 2015. The ARSBC have some fascinating images captured by video showing the moments leading up to the sinking as well as spectacular images during the sinking process. The presentation will also include the myriad of challenges that occur in the preparation of large ships for ocean disposal particularly with the Annapolis, our most successful project to date.

This year the ARSBC celebrates its 27st year when it began in 1989 as a BC registered non-profit volunteer society dedicated to the enhancement of British Columbia's marine environment. The group been successful in sinking (1) coastal freighter, (5) decommissioned Canadian built destroyers, (1) WW-II Victory ship and (1) Boeing 737 passenger jet resting on a specially designed cradle system. We also talk about how the ARSBC pioneered the work of ship recycling.

Over the years, the work of the ARSBC has become a true success story and has been recognized worldwide as the “Canadian Model” for reefing. In British Columbia, you will understand the impact of these "man-made reefs" and how they have helped to enhance BC's marine ecology and provide for eco-adventure scuba dive tourism for the benefit to local coastal communities.

http://www.artificialreef.bc.ca/

 

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Another Divescapes Speaker Announcement!

I'm excited to announce Brian Kakuk from Bahamas Underground will be speaking at Divescapes 2016!



Brian is a former U.S. Navy Diver with over 30 years of professional diving experience. His work has taken him beneath nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, to jumping from helicopters into 10 foot seas to recover million dollar weapon systems, to record penetrations of underwater cave systems around the world. His research diving work with various governmental and scientific institutions has revealed new species of cave adapted marine life, as well as the discovery of fossils that are now repainting the picture of the Bahamas past environment.

His expertise in diving safety has been used widely in the feature film industry as a Diving Safety Officer and underwater stuntman. With more than 3000 exploration cave dives, Brian is considered one of the leading authorities on the underwater/underground environments of the Bahamas and is a veteran of multiple high profile underwater cave expeditions in the Bahamas, Mexico, Belize, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Australia, Christmas Island and the U.S.

Though a seasoned underwater photographer, writer, explorer, cave diving instructor and conservationist, Brian’s primary efforts are in the pursuit of the protection of underwater caves in the Bahamas, with a current focus on the Crystal Caves of Abaco. Brian is working hand in hand with the Bahamian Government and local NGOs to preserve the world’s most highly decorated and scientifically significant underwater cave systems.

On the side, Brian assists several equipment manufacturers with the development of new side mount diving equipment and is currently working to produce side mount systems of his own design.

Brian serves on the International Advisory Board of the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD), an advisor on the National Association of Cave Divers (NACD) Training Committee, Diving Consultant for the National Museum of the Bahamas (Antiquities Monuments and Museums Corporation) and is a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club of New York.

Cave Diving and Technical Diving Adventures

 

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Speaker Announcement Time!!!

I am proud to announce that Charles Dagneau, an Underwater Archaeologist from Parks Canada will be speaking at Divescapes about the HMS Erebus and the Franklin Expedition!



Charles was born in Québec City, Canada, where he studied archaeology at Université Laval (Québec), between 1996 and 1999. He completed a Master’s degree in archaeology at Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in 1999-2001 and then a PhD degree in anthropology at Université de Montréal in 2003-2009. Since his very beginnings in the field in 1996, Charles has worked both as a land and as an underwater archaeologist on a variety of sites in Canada, in the USA and in France. He specialized in 17-18th Century post-medieval maritime archaeology, naval architecture, material culture studies and wood analysis, including dendrochronology. Charles was involved in multiple excavation projects, such as those of the Cavalaire Wreck (France, 16th c.), the Elizabeth and Mary (Quebec, 1690), Fort Saint-Louis (Texas, 1685), Lapérouse shipwrecks (Salomo Islands, 1788), Aber Wrack 2 (France, 18th c.). Charles most notably worked with Adramar association and the French ministry of Culture (Drassm) on La Natière shipwrecks (Dauphine, 1704 and Aimable-Grenot, 1749) between 1999 and 2007. He joined Parks Canada in 2008 and participated on a number of research and survey projects across the country since then.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/culture/franklin/index.aspx

 

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Another Speaker Announcement!!!

I am proud to announce that Evan Kovacs will be speaking at Divescapes!



Evan works with the Advanced Imaging and Visualization Lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where he has been involved in and led numerous expeditions utilizing remotely operated vehicles (“ROVs”), submersibles and technical diving to survey and film everything from the R.M.S. Titanic to deep sea hydrothermal vents to underwater mountains off the New England coast.

Evan also owns and operates Marine Imaging Technologies, LLC, a company that specializes in imaging the underwater world for documentary, science, and survey purposes and he has worked in the marine environment for nearly two decades as an underwater director of photography, camera engineer and technical diver. Evan not only builds camera and lighting systems for these jobs, he is one of the few professional cinematographers qualified to use these systems at depths to 500 feet using scuba equipment and even deeper using manned submersibles, ROVs and AUV’s.

During the past 15 years, Evan has helped build and operate numerous imaging systems to film both above and below the water for broadcast television, museums, scientists and institutions across the world. His underwater and topside work can be seen on National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS, CBC, BBC, NHK and elsewhere.

Evan Kovacs Production - Underwater & On the ground filming for TV and Movies

 

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Another Speaker Announcement!

I am pleased to announce that Steve Lewis, also known as Doppler here on Scubaboard, will be speaking at Divescapes.



Steve Lewis has been an active technical diver, instructor and expedition leader since the early 1990s when diving was an antidote to a career in marketing adventure tourism, and brand management. In 2002 he retired from the corporate world and became a dive bum full-time, and is currently a Dive Industry and Adventure Tourism consultant for clients in the private and public sectors.

Steve runs a blog concerned with dive safety, is a regular contributor of articles and essays for several online publications, and has written and co-authored several diving textbooks including the best-selling Staying Alive, and Six Skills and Other Discussions.

As a speaker, educator, and writer he is best known for promoting safe diving practices to technical divers using both open and closed-circuit kit, in caves, on wrecks and in open water environments. Among other awards, he is a recipient of the NSS-CDS Sheck Exley International Safety Award for 1000 logged cave dives, and was recently elected as a member of the college of fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Welcome

Doppler's Tech Diving Blog

 

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Another Speaker Announcement!

I am pleased to announce that Faith Ortins will be presenting at Divescapes.



Faith has spent most of her adult life in the ocean. Starting as a scientific diver and volunteering for public safety diving operations in the 1980’s, Faith became a technical diver and divemaster and has thousands of dives over her 37 year diving career. She worked with DUI to develop some of the first women’s drysuits and now leads DUI’s sales team worldwide. She created the DUI DEMOTOUR, which promotes local diving while allowing divers to test dive DUI products, and the DIVEOPS program which promotes education about the risks of diving in contaminated water. She has led expeditions around the world including many to the most remote places on Earth. A frequent presenter at dive shows and conferences, she is a 2010 inductee into the Women Divers Hall of Fame and a member of the Boston Sea Rovers.

Dive Chronicles highlights Faith Ortins

 

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Thanks for the information!!

 

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Another Divescapes Speaker Announcement!

Excited to announce that Christina Zenato will be speaking at Divescapes 2016.



Cristina is a shark expert and a professional in the field of work with these animals, an ocean explorer, an educator and a conservationist.

Her field of work with sharks is vast; she is best known for her capability to induce a relaxed state in sharks through a gentle touch and to keep them in her lap while removing hooks and parasites.

She has cooperated with numerous shark diving operations in the world where she has been able to observe and learn different methods of diving and interacting with sharks.

Sharks Savers and Wild Aid recognize her as Shark Ambassador.

At her home in the Bahamas, Cristina has explored and mapped several cave systems. She is the first woman to have connected an ocean blue hole with a land-based cave.

As a PADI Course Director, NSS-CDS Full cave diving instructor and TDI Technical diving instructor she is the educational programs manager for the Underwater Explorers Society with a team of twenty divers and she teaches diving at all levels from recreational to technical.

Cristina believes in the power of education and has dedicated countless time and energy in non-profit work. She supports several organizations with her time and skills, including Our World Underwater Scholarship Society and the Bahamas National Trust.

Cristina is a member of the Explorers Club, the Women Divers Hall of Fame, the Ocean Artists Society and the recipient of Platinum Pro 5000.

http://cristinazenato.com/