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It's official - Diver's Dive 2003 Show will be a whopping 30% bigger than last year's, with some 330 exhibitors offering their wares for your delectation in two halls at the NEC. With the Image 2003 international photography and film festival and a parade of spectacular presentations from a star line-up of speakers, this Show promises to be unforgettable
You'll find the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham full of friendly faces on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 November.
Wandering round more than 330 stands in the main halls at the NEC, you're more than likely to bump into people you've dived with, either in the aisles or manning the stands.
The Show is, let's face it, all about temptation. You'll find yourself discussing training courses you'd always meant to do and trips to dive destinations you had only ever considered in passing. But the Show also provides a unique chance to find out what you'd be letting yourself in for before you sign up!
You'll find representatives of tourist boards, holiday companies and dive centres all around the hall, as well as concentrated in the ever-growing PADI Village and colourful Caribbean Village.
Most importantly, you can chat to the people who dive regularly in the places that interest you, or attend some of the many illustrated seminars.
Scrutinise all the latest equipment on display - almost every major brand is represented. You'll find manufacturers, distributors and of course retailers, so not only can you build a good picture of what's on the market but compare prices (usually very competitive) and, if you wish, make your purchase on the spot. So many visitors leave the Show laden down with goodies!
While many of you will be inspired by the display of outstanding diving photos from the Image 2003 festival - others will find inspiration at the popular Rebreather Pool, a great chance for open-circuit divers to be initiated into bubble-free diving.
Younger visitors can receive their own open-circuit initiation from the experts in the Try-Dive Pool while their seniors wallow in nostalgia at the Historical Diving Society's impressive history of diving exhibition.
Make sure to look in at the Diver stand, too, where you'll find us celebrating our 40th birthday.
When you're ready to take the weight off your feet (we suggest you buy that new cylinder towards the end of the day), head for where the guest speakers are doing their stuff.
If there's no-one among this year's varied line-up to flick your switches, we'll be very surprised.
Tanya Streeter is a phenomenon. Her recent 122m variable-weight record outdid the men as well as other female free-divers, finally clinching her status as one of the few divers whose name and face are familiar to the general public - if only as "that blonde woman who holds her breath and goes really deep".
The hall is bound to be packed when Tanya appears, so get there early. She is now a multi-record-breaker and far from finished yet, though she isn't obsessive about free-diving.
Read next month's Diver to learn what Tanya considers her best and worst moments under water. Clue: They feature wildlife heavily - as indeed does Dive 2003.
Zoologist, writer, photographer and BBC radio broadcaster Mark Carwardine spends more than half of each year globe-trotting in search of wildlife and wild places. Sales of his 40 books on travel, wildlife and conservation run into the millions worldwide.
These include The Shark-Watcher's Handbook (voted Publication of the Year in 2003 by Diver readers); and now a companion book for whale-watchers.
Mark also leads his own whale-watching and shark-diving holidays to destinations from Antarctica to South Africa. His talk will be on "The Trials and Tribulations of an Underwater Zoologist".
Another wildlife expedition leader is photographer Amos Nachoum, who has dedicated his career to increasing public awareness of the world's wildlife. He was team leader for National Geographic's Red Sea, Great White Shark and Killer Whale film expeditions.
Flying the flag for British wildlife at the Show is writer/photographer Paul Naylor |
In the '70s and '80s he was a pioneer of sport-diving trips to places such as the Red Sea, PNG and the Maldives. His organised trips grow ever more spectacular, such as his upcoming Antarctic package.
In "In The Company of Big Animals" he focuses on his encounters with great white sharks, humpback, blue and killer whales and other formidable creatures.
Smaller animals are not forgotten at the Show. Cuttlefish courting, lampreys grasping, starfish spawning, wrasse cleaning and crabs stalking fascinate Paul Naylor, a marine biologist who has been observing the underwater world around Britain for nearly 30 years.
His often unusual photographs throw light on animals' private lives, as in his book Great British Marine Animals.
Paul will talk about the stories behind getting some of these photographs, and the intriguing behaviour they portray.
top film-make John Boyle has advice on getting started in underwater video |
Cornish-based John Boyle is a film-maker who has won acclaim - and awards - for TV series such as Ocean Oases and The Shark Feeders. And two of his films, Critters and Night Critters, which chronicle the miniscule marine life in Indonesia's Lembeh Strait, won a double first prize at the Palme d'Or festival, a feat no other producer had achieved before.
John's theme will be "Getting Started in Underwater Video", and he promises that his talk will be "non-technical".
It ties in with his forthcoming book on that subject, so don't miss him if you're thinking of investing in video gear or have already taken the plunge.
Kevin Gurr (second from left), Leigh Bishop (third from left) and Carl Spencer (right) will be talking about the Titanic
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Kevin Gurr, Carl Spencer and Leigh Bishop are technical, and they're having an extraordinary year, even by their standards. Among other trips, these deep-wreck divers visited none other than the Titanic in summer (in a sub, of course - it's 2.5 miles down). In September, if all goes to plan, they embark on stage one of an unprecedented sat-diving exploration of the next best wreck - the Titanic 's younger sister the Britannic, a mere 120m deep in the Aegean.
Using custom-built rebreathers, decompressing in a special chamber on the mother ship and going up and down by diving bell will allow the divers to spend hours at a time on the wreck. Kevin, Carl and Leigh are likely to be a tough act to follow as they describe their adventures and those still to come.
They are joined at the NEC by inveterate crowd-pleaser Innes McCartney, talking about some of the 121 Channel submarine wrecks featured in his book The Last Patrol.
In 14 years of diving Innes has discovered, researched and identified a number of lost submarines in the English Channel, including the lost British vessel M1. He was also the first person to dive all three liners, the Andrea Doria, Lusitania and Britannic and led Operation Deadlight and expeditions to explore the Battle of Jutland wrecks. He too has exciting plans for next year.
Jack Ingle talks about equipment configurations today |
Yet another deep wreck diver is Jack Ingle, who is a Show stalwart with his popular workshops on technical dive gear configurations.
and Jacquie Cozens covers equipment from 500 years ago |
And underwater film-maker Jacquie Cozens has been trying out equipment designed by a real Renaissance man. Jacquie was the tester of the diving suit recreated from the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci for a recent BBC TV series.
Yes, almost 500 years ago Leonardo designed the first documented scuba gear, complete with its own air supply and buoyancy control, to equip an underwater commando team to sabotage the boats of Turkish marauders. Jacquie tells all - it's all part of the rich mix atDive 2003.
The main prize on offer at this year's Dive Show is a fantastic free diving holiday for two to the Caribbean. Your ticket to the Show (£7 in advance or £9.50 on the door) could be the one destined to take you and a partner on to the Bahamas for a fortnight!
Enjoy world-class diving at Stuart Cove shark-feeding dive centre for the first week, and luxuriate on the Aquacat liveaboard and experience some choice reef-diving for the second. What a prospect!
If you book ahead for the Show, and take advantage of the 26% saving that affords you on the ticket price, why not go all the way and order tickets for seven or more buddies?
You'll go into a special draw, the prize a holiday for eight in the Egyptian Red Sea, enjoying the facilities on liveaboard Excel through tour operator Tony Backhurst. Once part of the Aggressor fleet, Excel offers spacious air-conditioned twin cabins, and can reach remote sites fast and comfortably. What an opportunity!
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