The process is simple:

Watch a Video, Listen to a Lecture, Practice Skills in the Pool.

Beginners Dive on the Reef

After going through the teaching, newbie divers were ready to take the plunge for real and go for a dive on a reef.

A Great Splash
More than 100 kids and adults took part in Discover Scuba in the pool. Forty participants went on to make a dive on the reef, experiencing Dominica's underwater beauty for the very firsrt time. Congratulations to all you new divers!

This year's event at the Anchorage Hotel had a very special feature: Hon. Ian Douglas, the Minister of Tourism, participated in 'Discover Scuba Diving' and saw first-hand the beauty of Dominica's underwater world.

Escorted on his dive by Dive Instructor Kian Benjamin, the Minister was amazed at the creatures and beauty he saw beneath the sea. Based on his post-dive enthusiasm, it won't be long until the Minister himself becomes a regular feature of Dominica's underwater world!

This year about 60 participants took the classroom instruction, followed by dive lessons in the pool.

[caption id="attachment_94" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Pool Lessons"][/caption] ]]> http://divefest.wordpress.com/?p=150 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:04:51 +0000 avirtualdominica http://divefest.wordpress.com/?p=150

Cabrits Dive Centre introduced 25 Dominicans and visitors to the underwater world at the annual Discover Scuba Day event at Purple Turtle.  Many of the new divers were nervous at the beginning but then we could not get them out of the water!!!!!!

A beautiful setting for this event, would-be divers received their instructions pool-side under the shade of palms, with occasional visits from wandering iguanas!

Then it was off to the pool to test out their new-found skills in a practice session.

There was a strong presence by the youth of Dominica, although many adults also tried their hand at this new sport.

After participating in a lecture and watching a video, attendees proceeded to the pool to put on their scuba gear and practice a few essential skills.

Next it was out to the reef for a real dive to get a glimpse of Dominica's beautiful underwater marine habitat.

Amidst all this excitement, Oceanic distributed it's new Heads-Up Display "DataMask" for eager divers to try out. This is brand new technology for divers, allowing them to read their gauge information right in their mask! No more dangling gauges getting in the way.

Adults and children alike marveled out how they could breath underwater and want to know when they can try it again!

Starting from aboard Arienne, the 2-diver teams descended in the sandy shallows near Champagne Reef to search for special coloured stones hidden on the sandy bottom. The team to return to the boat with coloured stones totalling the most number of points within the 30-minute time limit would be crowned the winner.

Prizes were awarded to first, second and third-place finishers.

• 1st Place: Two Dive Watches from Jewellers International
• 2nd Place: Two Cable & Wireless Bags with an MP3 Player, b-Mobile t-shirt & a Top-Up.
• 3rd place: Dinner for 2 at the Fort Young Hotel and b-Mobile t-shirts.

Wild Card prizes included breakfast at Cartwheel Cafe, lunch at Cornerhouse Cafe, dinner at Green Flash Grill, a Corona Cooler containing 2 six-packs of Corona & t-shirts, and 2 bottles of Soca Rum. What great treasure!
Congratulations to the First Place Winners: Karen & Vince!

And congrats to all the treasure hunters who participated this year.
We hope to hear from some of you in person, right here on this blog.

Of these, 11 took the next step and signed up for the beginners dive on Sunshine Reef. All participants agreed that it was a fabulous experience and they had no idea how beautiful it is underwater!