The Scuba Show 2012
On May 5th and 6th the Scuba Show celebrated its 25th year hosting diving companies and resorts from around the world and boasting the largest consumer dive expo in America. This year brought more than 10,000 divers and over 250 exhibitors. Every year we visit The Show in Long Beach, CA to see the latest and greatest in gear and take the pulse of the dive industry in general. This year was special as it marked our first year anniversary testing gear and passing our findings on to you. To celebrate this landmark we decided to have our own booth and spend the weekend meeting divers, talking gear, making new friends and catching up with old buddies who stopped by to visit. The show seemed busy to us and many exhibitors commented they were busier than recent years, a good sign for the dive industry and divers alike.
To show readers our appreciation we brought along some of the coolest gear items that we reviewed over the past year on SGR. They had the chance to see, touch, try on and even win something each day. Apollo Sports provided us with a batch of their Bio Fin Pro’s in an assortment of colors and sizes. Garibaldi orange and bright yellow got the most attention but a couple of search and rescue divers where seriously checking out the stiffer XT version. We also had the Apollo Bio-Filter Moisture System on hand to show divers and offer as one of our giveaway items.
The Sieden Sports Game Bag was a hit with hunters and gatherers attending the show as we demonstrated the one hand operation of the bag and had divers itching for lobster season.
One of the hottest items at the booth was the Surf-Fur dive parka. Wind and waterproof, warm and reversible, the Surf-Fur had a full dance card. Just about everyone that came into the booth had to try it on and take it for a twirl.
Watershed’s waterproof iPad bags were a hit with divers and boater’s alike who use their iPads in the harshest environments. The Watershed Tramp Wheelie Mesh Duffle made of the same heavy-duty mesh used on catamaran trampolines were even being eyed by some other exhibitors for its large capacity and durability.
The Spectre Dive Boat gave us a couple of trips to giveaway and a majority of the divers we spoke to commented “That’s one of our favorite boats, we love the bar-b-que lunch and friendly crew” and “isn’t that the one with the hot tub?” as they rushed to fill our their tickets to win these giveaway items.
Positioned right next to Backscatter underwater video and photo, the SGR booth had a constant stream of divers checking in. Even we bought one of their custom GoPro housings by the end of the weekend! Werner with Ocean Enterprises came by early in the day checking out the show’s activities, and Bill Power dropped in from Power Scuba in San Diego. Diver Doug and his family came all the way from Santa Barbara to see the show.
But…not all of our time was spent at the SGR booth – we made sure to tour the aisles of the show and check out all the exhibitors and products on display. Travel companies galore – where do we want to go on our next trip? Lalati resort – Fiji? Little Cayman Beach Resort? Aggressor Live aboard? So many places to go.
We found Steve at the Mares booth, Oscar and the rest of the crew at the Oceanic, Aeris, Hollis booths, Don and Robin at H2Odyssey, and Dean and Michael at the Atomic Aquatics booth.
The Scubaboard team was on hand and we had the pleasure of finally meeting Howard, Elena, and Pete.
There were even exhibits for the non-divers. Dive into your Imagination had some really cool books and learning products for kids introducing the underwater world.We made sure to stop by and watch the marine artist Rogest paint with visitors a piece of art to be auctioned later that weekend.
What a busy, fun filled weekend we had at the 2012 Scuba Show. Mark Young and his team put on a well-organized event. There were divers and dive store owners from all over the USA. We had the good fortune of meeting Pete with Inland Water Divers from Phoenix, AZ and Jeff from Aquanautics Dive in Sylmar, CA. Bruce with Whalers Dive Club in West Hills and many others we hope to see again this summer on the dive boats and beaches. Lastly we couldn't have pulled it off without the help of our dedicated staff and some of our test team that came out to help man the booth. Thanks Jen, Clint, and Vahagn!
When the weekend finally wound down it was time to giveaway these cool items…and the winners are!
Apollo Bio Filter Moisture System
Priya T. from Westlake Village has been diving for 4 years and loves diving in Mexico.
Anna D. originally from Russia but now living in Los Angeles, she has been trying to drink more water to eliminate her dry mouth and can’t wait to try out the Bio Filter on her next dive.
John G. has been diving 35 years and one of his favorite activities is hunting lobster – this bag will come in handy for him!
R. Wilkey is heading to the Bahamas for his next trip but will be able to use his new bag in San Diego, CA when the season reopens this year.
Ray T. a dentist from Santa Maria has been diving 41 years heard about Scuba Gear Reports through a dive buddy will be enjoying his new Surf-Fur.
Val V. from Riverside is the other lucky winner and couldn’t believe he actually won something.
Pam M. all the way from Tennessee is a Advanced Open Water diver who heard about SGR online will make good use of her iPad bag when she takes it on her next trip to the Bahamas.
Ron N. a local from Mar Vista has been diving 45 years and enjoys diving the calm sandy kelp forests of California.
Samantha from Whittier loves Indonesia and Cayman but was stoked to win a trip aboard the Spectre.
Sandy another local diver from SoCal is the other lucky winner of a trip with Ted and his great crew!
