12/28/2011

Adventures with Southern Skin Divers Supply




Happy New Year Divers!

This time of year we all get cabin fever at The SCUBA School so we start booking lots of trips for the upcoming dive season. We already have about a dozen picked out for the next seven months and are accepting deposits now. We will set up others as well but this is what is available so far. Sign up quick so you can get the trips that you want!

Upcoming Trips


Feb 17-19, 2012 Manatee Trip - Crystal River, FL

The water is a constant 72 degrees here year round. This means that in the winter it is considerably warmer than the ocean, so there will be a larger congregation of Manatee in this area. We have chosen a holiday weekend to enable kids to participate in this encounter with these giant mammals. This should give us plenty of time to have two long days of snorkeling and diving in Crystal River, King Spring and the Rainbow River.

March 17-24, Cayman Islands Liveaboard
We have just five spaces left for this Spring Break vacation in 2012 on the Cayman Aggressor. These diving yachts are set up perfect for maximum diving & we have had group trips on this vessel one or two times a year for the past few years. The diving in Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac is spectacular and if the conditions are good, we will dive all three Islands. The flight times are also easy from Birmingham through Miami to Grand Cayman, or direct from Atlanta. Also, being most local schools Spring Break, it will enable families to dive together.

April 13-15, South Carolina River Trip
We have had some great trips recently finding fossilized shark's teeth and other artifacts with some new spots and diving from our new boat! We generally do three or four dives a day on this swift/blackwater diving adventure.

May 5-6, Wreck Diving, Panama City
Mark will be leading a group to dive some of the wrecks off Panama City, Florida. This is the next step for all of you newly certified divers that are ready to experience boat diving in the Gulf of Mexico. This is one of the nicest dive boats in the Florida Panhandle and we have it chartered privately.

Orange Beach, AL Spearfishing

May 19-20 / June 2-3 & 9-10 & 23-24 / July 21-22
Once spearfishing season starts it seems like we have trips most weekends because we do. These trips are selling out FAST! Some of these will be during Red Snapper season and also during one of the Spearfishing tournaments with the Alabama Spearfishing Association. Now is the time to start looking at your schedule and see if you can go.


June 2-9, Hawaii, The Big Island on a Live-Aboard !
A couple of divers in a Lava Tube in Hawaii
We are about half sold out for a week of diving along the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. As with all of our Live-aboard trips, you will get the same great service, diving, food and accommodations. Unlike other places in the Pacific and Caribbean, many underwater animals that are found in Hawaii are only found in Hawaii. It has been several years since we have taken a group here and this trip will sell out quick so let us know if you are interested.

Gear Service
Many of you are aware that our service rates on repairs have not changed in over 12 years and I'm sure all of you are aware that our costs of almost everything have gone up. We have tried to maintain fair prices for our service and are going to maintain the same prices for labor on Regulators and Buoyancy Compensators to all Passport Members! That's right. The labor for all Passport Members Regulators and Buoyancy Compensators is the same and you will still get free parts for life if you maintain your membership. The way to become a member is to purchase your Regulator, Buoyancy Compensator and Computer from SSDS. The way to stay a member is to have it serviced by us once a year and for you to be the original owner. If we did not sell the equipment to you, it does not have a warranty with Southern Skin Divers Supply. Unfortunately, due to excessive costs, we have to increase our rates on gear that does not have a warranty. The good news is that most of you are members and should not notice this change at all. Thank you so much for doing business with us.