Then I found Pascal Lecocq. The first time I saw his art was at the Dive Show in Houston 2 years ago. Full of breathtaking blues, with surreal scenes of Scuba Divers in various states of non-diving activities. It was breathtaking. It was mesmerizing. It was unforgettable. Pascal was easy to find at the Texas Dive Show in Dallas. A sea of blue, with people standing around, silent, gazing at his paintings. I had finally found art that I admired, that I could just stand in quiet wonder, imagining the scene if it were to come to life. It wasn’t that I didn’t like art after all, I had just never found any that I liked before.

I can imagine filling my house with his art. Pascal even has art on tiles, and I’m imagining when we finally get around to re-doing our bathroom, having several of his pieces right there in my shower, like this lucky person in Switzerland.

Pascal’s signature painting in a Diver with a flag, acting like a bullfighter with a shark.

There are many more that I like, such as the turtles piled on each other, and takes on popular culture, like the divers in the Hollywood Blvd scene.

My personal absolute favourite though, is the long thin painting of a free diver as she heads back to the surface. It evokes a silent calm to a room.

If you’re looking for something beautiful for your house, or even just a nice mug or mousepad, stop by and see Pascals work. He’s even got postcards. I might get a few of those till I can find  a place for the larger stuff…

While there are sites out there like Travelocity which give reviews on resorts, they don’t go into the specific Scuba detail that Underwater Advisor does. They’ll let you know what kind of air they provide, what size tanks, if breakfast is served early enough to eat before heading out to the boat and if there’s a deco chamber nearby.

People can post reviews on their local dive shop, letting you know if the staff is smart and helpful or just trying to get a bigger commission. They also list local instructors, manufacturers and the list is going.

I think it’s a great idea and a useful tool. I know I’ll be using them from now on!

Thankfully, as we got to Downtown Dallas, the roads were pretty clear and not too slick. We had waited till later in the day when it was a little warmer to get through Dallas. There’s nothing worse than icy overpasses. We headed through Dallas at peak hour, but being a snow day, traffic was almost non-existent. We made our way to our hotel in Plano/Frisco, dumped our stuff and headed over to check out the Texas Dive Show.

Walking in, the first person I saw was Dustin, a diver I had previously met in Houston at Camp CDE. He was on his way out and it was nice to see someone I knew right off the bat.

We went up to the registration desk, showed them our emails from when we had pre-registered online. They had a good deal going on where if you registered before Christmas, you could get in free. They gave us name tags, we entered into a raffle and then headed inside.

Friday night was only open from 5-8pm. We used that time to go around, see who all was there and introduce ourselves and make sure everyone was OK with being filmed.  We noticed that the Dallas show was a lot bigger than the previous ones in Houston. Matt and I then headed back to the hotel and caught some Zzzz’s after the long drive.

Next morning, we got up and headed back over to the show. I was glad we had gone over the night before, because today everyone was expecting us when we showed up with the camera. Some people were nervous, but everyone did a great job of explaining what they were there for. All the displays were nice and colourful and everyone was full of energy. It should make for a great episode. I should be done editing it this week and have it online by next.

Big thanks to Brad Nolan for letting us come up and film at his show. He did a great job on camera too! We really appreciate everyone letting us come to their booth and taking the time to talk to us. Hopefully, this will inspire people to come out to the next dive show and meet all the fabulous people we got to meet.

I will say though, I think the snow outside made the show inside even better. When you’re shivering walking in, there’s nothing better than seeing a backdrop of some tropical paradise and thinking of diving in those warm waters….

So far over 600 divers have already registered to attend. There’s a bunch of interesting people exhibiting this year. Everything from my friends and fellow expats at About Australia who will be showcasing all the great Scuba Diving  in Australia to Cochran Computers and Single Divers. There should be everything from Individual Dive Shops, Scuba Gear and Scuba Resorts represented.

I can’t wait to go up to the Texas Dive Show. It’s on Valentine’s weekend, so it’s a good excuse to get out of town. If you’re anywhere within a few hours drive, come on over. We’ll be driving up from San Antonio.  Maybe I’ll see you there!

The Texas Dive Show is being held at the

Embassy Suites Dallas – Frisco
February Friday the 12th & Saturday the 13th
Show Hours Friday 5 PM til 8 PM
Saturday from 9 AM til 5 PM

Signal Flag Alpha

Diver Down Flag

Turns out in countries like Australia, the Signal Flag Alpha is the more recognized flag. At least out in the open water. It’s a Universal Maritime flag that means that a vessel has limited maneuverability due to a diver in the water.  Of course, this probably doesn’t help a couple of British backpackers who have rented a jetski for the day. They probably wouldn’t have recognized either flag, since all one needs to rent a jetski is a land drivers license. Maybe when operators rent Jetskis, they  should be required to inform renters of Dive flags, to avoid potential accidents. Next time you go diving, check out which flags are being used locally. Even in Australia, it seems Dive Operators that cater to International Tourists use the Diver Down flag. It’s on their shop window, on their T-shirts, painted on their boats. But they may still fly the Signal Flag Alpha while out diving. In the US, most people only use the Diver Down flag.

There’s nothing that says you can’t use both. So next time you’re out diving, feel free to use both flags. Then, whether you’re dealing with locals or tourists, hopefully they’ll recognize one of them, and steer clear of you.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, I never did have to go to rehab. We never earned enough money on Australian television to afford any good drugs.

Ever heard of the Streamy Awards? It’s like the Oscars or Emmy’s but for web series. Sounds cool right? Well, if you’ve enjoyed the couple of video’s we have up so far, and would like to see us get even bigger and better, please nominate us. A nomination for Going Down could mean we get picked up by someone who can fund us to do some major filming. Then we can come to your town and go down with you.
Most of the categories are for scripted series, so Going Down would probably be in the Hosted Series category.
Thanks Heaps!

I’ll take it as a sign that I’m going to get a  lot of diving done this year! I sure hope so. I had meant to get a bunch of diving in last year, but taking a job at a SEO company and teaching acting on weekends ate up all my time, and I ended up not getting my feet wet at all. This year, I’m not going to let anything get in my way!

In February I’ll be headed up to the Texas Dive Show. The one in Houston 2 years ago is where I met so many fabulous people who helped get Going Down started. I hope to meet some new wonderful people this year. Double bonus that it’s also on Valentine’s weekend so Matt and I get to go somewhere out of town together!

We’re working on some new ways to get Going Down funded so we can go out and just get filming. As all you divers know, Scuba isn’t exactly cheap. It’s even more expensive when you’ve got a crew to feed! While the idea of Going Down is Scuba Diving locally on a budget, we’re not local to every location, so we’ve got more expenses that the average diver. So instead of looking for a financial sponsor for the entire series, we’re now thinking about partnering with people for individual episodes. This makes it much easier for companies to get their name out there. It also helps localized companies. It should be a win-win for everyone invloved. We can get out there and film each episode and the budget allows, and you don’t have to wait for us to have enough money for 13 episodes before we get out there!

Well, Happy New Year Everyone! May 2010 bring you many adventures, both in Diving and on land. Be Safe, Be Happy and Have Fun!

So make yourself at home and get to know your fellow dive enthusiasts!