1 Attachment(s)
2010 NACD Seminar - Saturday's events
Ok, after you finish a great evening at the NACD social on Friday night plan to attend the seminar at the Clarion Inn Conference Center in Gainesville Florida on Saturday the 6th. The current schedule is:
7AM to 9AM – Exhibitors will be setting up their booths but plan to join us for coffee and snacks.
8AM – Registration opens
9AM to noon – Presentations begin
Noon to 1PM – Lunch on your own
1 to 1:45PM – NACD General Membership Meeting/Awards
1:45 to 5PM – Presentations
5PM – Raffle drawings
Some of the sessions and presenters include:
National Geo Shoot - Blue Holes of the Bahamas by Brian Kakuk: Brian, Founder/Director of the Bahamas Caves Research Foundation, is a former US Navy Diver with 27 years of professional dive experience. His research diving work with the National Museum of the Bahamas and various governmental and scientific institutions has revealed new species of cave adapted marine life and new species of extinct terrestrial animal fossils that are now repainting the picture of the Bahamas past environment. With more than 3000 exploration dives, Brian is considered one of the leading authorities on the underground environments of the Bahamas and is a veteran of multiple high profile underwater cave expeditions in the Bahamas, Mexico, and US. Brian recently assisted National Geographic and the late Wes Skiles with their studies of the Blue Holes on Andros, Abaco, and other Bahamian islands. www.bahamasunderground.com and www.bahamascaves.com
Back to the Future by Michael Menduno: Michael will discuss some of the early days of technical diving and what it may suggest for the future. You may run into Michael at Eagles Nest or Diepolder, two of his favorite Florida caves. Michael has been diving since 1976 and cave diving since 1990.
Search for Bermudas Deep Water Caves: A NOAA Ocean Exploration Project by Tom Iliffe: Tom is a professor in the Department of Marine Biology at Texas A&M University. Tom’s research is centered on biodiversity of marine life in salt water caves which has helped identify 250 new species of marine life.
Ocean Exploration by Nic Alvarado: Nic is Proposal Manager for NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration & Research and helps determine where research moneys are distributed. Nic is also the Chairman of the NACD’s Science Committee.
Springs Exploration by Andrew Pitkin and Bob Schulte: Andrew will discuss exploration at Eagles Nest. He has been cave diving since 1994 and surveying caves since 1996. Joining Andrew will be Bob Schulte, an active NACD volunteer, to discuss exploration at Manatee Springs.
"Underwater Movie Making - The Making of Piranha 3D” by Gene Page and Joel Silverstein: This summer's blockbuster horror movie, Piranha 3D, was produced in 2010 in of all places, Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Billed as one of the largest "water movies" of the last 20 years, this campy, bloody, and sexy look at spring break was filmed almost entirely on location and in a custom created dive tank with caves. Veteran technical diving instructor Joel Silverstein was brought in as the Dive Operations Coordinator along with cave diver Gene Page as the set photographer. They will share with you some exciting behind the scenes images and just how much work goes into making a major motion picture.
Sump Diving in Slovenian Caves by Uros Ilic and Igor Vrhovec: Uros is an NACD instructor and is also the head of the Safety and Technical Commission for the Speleological Association of Slovenia. Igor is an NACD instructor and is the International Regional Coordinator for the IUCRR for Slovenia and Austria.
Shand’s Hyperbaric Chamber update: Hopefully none of us or our buddies will need these services but Patti Boyte will give us an update on the chamber.
In addition to the above presentations, there will be vendors and sponsors available to talk with, door prizes, and some nice raffle prizes. For more information, go to www.safecavediving.com or open the form below. If you cannot access the form, email me and I will forward one to you. The online registration should be up in a few days. Register by October20 to receive your tote bag, t-shirt, and door prize ticket. We hope to see you there. If you cannot attend but still want the t-shirt and tote bag, the fee is $20 US and $25 International.
We will draw tickets for door prizes such as spools, maps, books, t-shirts, lights, air cards, etc throughout the day. Also, we will be selling raffle tickets for more valuable prizes at the end of the presentations. We have door and raffle prizes valued at several thousand dollars that are available for you to take home.
Thank you again to our sponsors who help make this event possible: OMS (www.omsdive.com), Advanced Diver Magazine (www.advanceddivermagazine.com), Silent Diving (www.silentdiving.com), and Extreme Exposure (www.extreme-exposure.com).
In addition to our sponsors, booths at the seminar will be manned by the following companies and organizations:
Advanced Diver Magazine
Capital Regional Tallahassee Chamber
Cave Excursions
Extreme Exposure
Gamble Scuba
Ginnie Springs Outdoors
Hollis Gear
KISS Rebreather
NACD Store
NEDU – Navy Experimental Diving Unit
NFSA – North Florida Springs Alliance
OMS
Silent Diving Systems
Shands Hyperbaric Chamber
Submerge Scooters
TDI – Technical Diving International
Wakulla Dive Club
In a few days, I’ll update you on the 4th annual CCR Summit sponsored by Rebreather World and the Submerge Scooter Clinic.
Attachment 3159
Sandy Robinson
pr@safecavediving.com
