Thoughts in motion

I have been working on my presentation for the 4/5 year olds again and think it might be time to start contacting media types. As such, I have thrown out an email to a number of people that I am hoping might have some "in" on a journo.

If any of you out there know a journalist or someone otherwise connected to the media industry, please, feel free to let me know who they are. I'd like to try and get some positive publicity for the kindergarten, for the sport of scuba diving and, sure, for the Toronto Scuba Club.

In the meantime, I continue to work on a number of other ideas that we're currently thinking of. All of them would be awesome for the Toronto Scuba Club and perhaps hopefully propel the sport a little further forward, at least in the educational side of things.

Refreshers and Open Water class and pool sessions continue to be attracting a lot of attention. Perhaps it is because we are offering the Advanced course for free as part of the special for people taking their OW. On the Refresher side though, it's a little odd.....we're planning on making a Refresher special, but we're not there yet!! Lots of Refresher interest!!

Oy.

Don't forget to grab your ears when you see a sea snake!

Busy end of Week

Phew. Lots going on over the last five days.......

We had the first Club Night last Thursday and also ran a refresher course the same evening. Congratulations, Virginia on smacking that refresher course out of the ballpark. And have an awesome time on your Cyprus hols!

And thanks to our members for coming out. We hope you had fun in the pool and got a good chance to practice your skills. Although the lights out portion of the session was a little short, we'll be working on how to make it as calming and relaxing as possible.

After the Club Night, a few drinks were had as well, a perfect ending to a fun night.

Keep your eyes on future Club Nights, for next month's sessions, I am looking into finding a few "toys" to throw in the pool that will also help you improve your skills. For instance, we'll be making a hoop for you to practice your buoyancy and swim-through skills.

So that was Thursday. Friday, I received a very cool request. The Toronto Scuba Club has been asked to give a presentation to a group of four and five year olds with physical challenges. I'll be talking to them about scuba divers, coral reef conservation and what scuba divers can do to help. Of course, they want to hear all about clownfish and stingrays, so I of course will oblige, but I am also definitely going to be throwing in some boxfish and puffer fish references....at the very least!!

I mean, how can you not find these guys cute????

Saturday....well, another two refresher courses and our first quick-stop session at the Bishop Strachan School. Very cool of the school to let us use the facilities in this fashion. We are so damn lucky to have found the school and it's been such a positive relationship.

And congrats to both Robert and DJ on also easily waltzing through the refresher course. You both recalled your skills very well....sure, a little nudging in the right direction ;) but then why would else would you be thinking of the refresher course is you didn't need the nudges?

And so on to this week already....lots of behind the scenes stuff today, but what was very cool was the effects of the rain storm this morning down at the Lake. I was out walking my puppy and letting her play in the surge and I couldn't help but have an unbelievable urge to go diving. When the waves are that high at the shore and the wind is howling, it always makes me think of how calm it might be 30 feet down below.....I need a warm water dive soon!

Don't kneel on the spiny urchins.......

Club Night is here....

My, oh my, how the days fly by.....I swear that the Autumn Equinox started earlier than yesterday afternoon at 5:18 p.m.

I've just now had a chance to sit down to write the blog for today and I have to rush off already....tonight is our inauguaral Club Night at Ryerson, so lots to get sorted before I head down to the pool. Must try and remember the camera to get some shots of the pool for posting tomorrow.

Thought for today: If a Fry is a baby fish, I am left thinking it's a tad ghoulish that when you enter "Haddock Fry" in a search engine all you get is recipes!

Week Long Absence

My apologies for the absence of a blog for the last week, your writer was in Scotland and unable to get a decent wireless signal except twice. And, unfortunately, I was in a bit of a rush those two times. Scotland may be stunningly beautiful, full of friendly people and some great dive spots, but it still seems a wee bit behind on the old technological front!

Not that I actually got to dive, I was driving around all over the place for the full week. If you are heading to Scotland, however, and you have a little more time, I'd recommend looking into St. Abbs for easily accessible dive sites, but also Skye and the Scapa Flow if you want some seriously cool dive spots .... both literally and figuratively. The water is likely to be a bit nippy around the top of the Scottish mainland and decidedly more so around Orkney, but some of the images that have been snapped up in those parts promises some exceptional diving. If you are looking for a little more info, a good resource can be found at http://www.divesitedirectory.co.uk/uk.html

During my brief period of silence (yes, it was Golden wasn't it?), another batch of our Open Water Divers completed their Open Water training. Congratulations go out to Andrew, Amparo, Armando, Lewis and Jeff. Well done all!! Unfortunately, the camera was left behind, so no photos this time.

Coming up this week, we have our inaugural Club Night at Ryerson University, it should be fun. On top of one person completing a scuba review, a few of our new Open Water Divers will be buffing up their skills and for the first half an hour, there will be a lights out session in the pool to chill everyone out. I've been advised that the interior pool lights must remain on by provincial requirement, but we'll still create a cool and relaxing start to our dive time. If you haven't let us know you want to go to the Club Night and you do, email me as soon as possible.

Keep smiling at the boxfish, they like it......

Pray for sunshine!

The Toronto Scuba Club is gearing up for another weekend of course and we're seriously praying for some nice weather for our students. Come rain or shine though, Peter will be out there helping our fledgling divers earn their wings. Maybe it is better to think of it this way.....if you're wearing a wetsuit and you know you are going to get wet, it won't make much difference if you get a little rain on you anyway, right?

I, on the other hand, will be heading off to far-flung fields....well, Scotland to be precise. Unfortunately for me I won't have a chance to get any diving in this time, but c'est la vie. I would, however, love to have a chance to dive St. Abbs, off the east coast of Scotland...apparently there is some awesome marine life there. Ah well, perhaps that'll have to be a dedicated Toronto Scuba Club trip...hmmmm, diving, rugged beautiful country, stodgy good old fashioned British food, Cadburys and decent beer!! Sounds good.

Anyway, here's to our open water students for this weekend and hoping they have a blast. Peter, keep it real....

Ever wonder who'd win if a tiger and a lion went at it?

Well, in the aquatic version, I know who my money is on:

Tiger Shark:

Lion Fish:

A tired post

It's been a busy week for the Toronto Scuba Club, with a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on (can't wait to see our final tank stickers!!) and a potpourri of courses smattered in-between.

Yesterday was an all-day event for myself, simply due to traffic, timing and the difficulty in locating and securing a drysuit for our student. Despite the long day and difficulties we faced before we even reached the water, Scott successfully completed both his dry suit and nitrox (well, technically his Enriched Air Diver) certifications. Well done, Scott. You certainly earned it!! Now just remember 75 and 38 is 113, not 103 and you'll do fine calculating your new bottom times, oxygen exposure, etc., etc.

Here's Scott hard at work with his new Nitrox RDP tables:

And I finally managed to secure a photo of Christina, who completed her certification dives last week to achieve her Open Water Diver certification. Congratulations, Christina!! Here's Christina excited about going underwater exploring:

My apologies for a short blog tonight, but it's been a long day today too with a lot of activity pouring through our website. Not only are we receiving a lot of emails, but stay tuned for some website changes to occur in the next few weeks.....

Two brand new divers and a Rescue diver to boot!

Well, a lot of fun was had this weekend, as two of our Open Water students completed their certification dives and became fully certified Open Water divers!! Unfortunately for us, the photo's taken of us in the water were a little blurry (our camera-lady needs to work a little on her focusing skills). Here's a blurry photo of me and our new Open Water Divers, Joe and Mitalie completing a dive:
And here's Joe happy to be a newly certified diver:


Mitalie, my apologies, but your solo-portrait was blurry beyond belief!

Regardless of the photo-clarity, CONGRATULATIONS Joe and Mitalie!!!

And on top of helping these two complete their certification dives, we also had a boat-load of fun completing the certification dives for Donna, our most recent Rescue Diver candidate, now a fully certified Rescue Diver!! Thanks also to Danielle for helping out and playing victim during the rescue scenarios. A great victim and an awesome display of in-water rescue breaths and equipment removal by Donna. Again, CONGRATULATIONS Donna on becoming an exceptional Rescue Diver!!

Here's Donna absolutely tuckered out from a long time in the water:



This week, well, we have a dive fanatic taking his Enriched Air specialty diver course, as well as his Drysuit Diver specialty certification. Oodles of fun. This weekend coming up, we have more students completing their Open Water certification dives and I am off to Scotland. Don't worry, things will be left in the safe hands of Peter.

Dive safe, mi amigos and don't try kissing the Harlequin Sweetlips!

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Ms. Dabrowski, our first student to successfully complete the Open Water Diver certification through the Toronto Scuba Club. While Peter and I have certified lots and lots of divers in our time, Christina is TSC's first certified Open Water Diver.

Whoo-hoo to us and double-whoo-hoo to you Christina!! You did excellent on your open water certification dives, so stop worrying about it.

And getting in the water with Christina gave me a chance to re-introduce myself to Scott, her boyfriend, who I had previously taught open water to at another institution. I see a great and promising dive future for Scott and look forward to seeing him next week to help him obtain his nitrox and drysuit specialties. I also have a sneaking suspicion that Peter and I will see Scott for rescue purposes later this year.

That's all for now and if you haven't seen a boxfish before, go google it.....they are undeniably cute and probably one of my most favourite fish!!

New Blog, Same Me, Different Reasons.....

Hello All:

Well, this is my first post on my new blog that is solely dedicated to my new business (well and Peter's!!), the Toronto Scuba Club!!

I am 99% sure that anyone who is getting notified of this blog will have already visited the business' website, but if you haven't , get over there now!!! Here's a link to make it even easier: http://www.torontoscubaclub.com/

Feel free to let me know if you have any comments on the website or spot any bugs!! I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a few gremlins at the moment, because our web techie (Lewis Robinovitch, a crazy young Ryerson grad who has an excellent artistic eye) is making some sweet and awesome changes for us.

I'm not going to fill this particular blog posting with how cool and different the Toronto Scuba Club is, first, I could go on for page after page after page and secondly, you can read all about our philosophy and principles on our website!!

The point of this blog generally will be to bring you up to date with what's going on at Toronto Scuba Club, to give shout-outs to people and organizations that have achieved something we consider noteworthy, to share some interesting anecdotes and tidbits and anything else I think is appropriate ;)

We're very happy to announce that interest in the Club started cascading last week, we have now started open water courses in earnest, as well as some rescue divers, drysuit lovers and nitrox addicts. Good times are a' rolling....

.....And hopefully this means that our web presence is hopefully starting to pick up speed!!

By the way, if you haven't made friends with us on facebook (love it or hate it, it's there and thus so are we), we also have the Toronto Scuba Club page, which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toronto-ON/Toronto-Scuba-Club/101942724255

Now listen ... I am not making a promise to blog daily, I am also not making a promise that every blog entry will split your sides with mirth, totally capture your attention or make you a scrumalicious dinner. But I will make every effort to give you a chuckle, occasionally teach you something you didn't know and let you know what's going on....regardless, every post will be one that I pour a little of our Toronto Scuba Club energy into, so read on, read on....

Peace out and don't excite the sea cucumbers....