Dive Fest 2008 is coming…

July 11th to 20th, 2008

Visit our website for the detailed schedule of events

Dive Fest’s Grand Finale Event was held in Soufriere Sunday, staged from the beach in front of Nature Island Dive.

Despite a rainy start to the day, the 2007 boat races were very well attended. Sixteen Corporata Teams and five Private Teams registered to take part in the competition.

The Race for the Trophy

Last year’s Corporate Team Champs Kubuli were eager to win another trophy, but the competition was fierce and they could not hang on in the home stretch, coming in second in the Final Round to the newly crowned champs for 2007: Team Cable & Wireless.

And the Winners are…

Team Cable & Wireless bMobile / NetSpeak

The final day of the week-long tour for Oceanic’s HUD Data Mask and Sealife Underwater Cameras was held at Cabrits Dive Center in Portsmouth.

Divers were enthusiastic about the new equipment and enjoyed taking underwater photographs.

As in previous years, the Whale Watch with Anchorage Hotel & Dive Center was a sold-out event.

Five whales were spotted during the morning’s excursion, to the delight of all.

Be sure to get your tickets early next year!

The Fort Young Hotel in Roseau hosted the DWA’s First Annual Photo Awards Dinner on Friday evening.

More than 70 people were in attendance for this delightful evening. An on-going Slide Show on the big screen displayed photographs taken during the week at the Sealife Photo Shoot events around the island.

Awards were presented for the winning photographs, as well as awards for the Divemaster Photo Fish ID Competition held on Thursday. (See post for details.)

Congratulations to all the winners!

Kids and adults living along the West Coast of Dominica had their chance to experience Scuba Diving on Wednesday at the Sunset Bay Club & Seaside Dive Resort in Coulibistrie.

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.

Thursday evening found many Dive Fest revelers at O’Byrnes Pub n’ Grub in Roseau.

In standard Pub Quiz format, five teams answered questions ranging from “How many Taxi Cabs are there in New York City” to “In what year was the first Dive Fest held?” The Quiz was conducted by Quiz Master Steve McCabe of Delphis Ltd.

Sponsored by Kubuli, this event also had the boys from ScubaRadio.com on hand, recording for their upcoming broadcast about Dive Fest. Be sure to listen on Saturday, July 14th & July 21st from 3 to 5 pm EST - you can hear it on the internet through their website ScubaRadio.com.

Oceanic’s Data Mask and Sealife’s Cameras were on tour at Dive Dominica at the Castle Comfort Dive Lodge on Thursday.

There was a huge turn-out to this event. All demo Data Masks and Sealife Cameras were signed out by divers - “that’s a first for Sealife” said Mr. Joe Ifi, Director of Sales & Marketing for Sealife Cameras.

Wednesday afternoon was a new event - a chance to learn some tips and tricks from professional photographers at a “Live” Shoot at Trafalgar Falls.

Barry Guimbellot - Photographer

After a breif talk on the viewing platform, the group of twenty climbed to the base of the Falls to try out their new-found skills.

Contestants
Representatives from Sunset Bay Club, Dive Dominica, Anchorage, Irie Safari, & Nature Island Dive all attended he Dive Fest’s First Annual Divemaster Photo Fish ID COmpetition. It was a good turn out and all participants enjoyed themselves.

Judges
Jerry Beaty - Associate Publisher, Dive Training Magazine
Barry & Ruth Guimbellot - Dive Training Magazine Staff Photographers
Joe Ifi - Manager SeaLife Cameras
Arun “Izzy” Madisetti - Sous Cook and associate bottle washer, Dive Fest

Contest Rules
Points were awarded for clarity of photo, number of identifiable species from the list provided and composition/artistic integrity. Most participants opted to chase species in the fish category, while the smarter photographers concentrated mainly on the coral and invertebrate species amassing points there before trying to chase down fish.

The Winners

1st Place
Woody Lawrence - 38 points
Wins a Sealife D600 Elite camera

2nd Place
Kian Benjamin - 35 points
Wins a Sealife Reefmaster Mini underwater camera

3rd Place
Sherman Julien - 33 pts
Wins an Oceanic Manta wrist computer

Two other categories were awarded Best Photo and Honourable mention, both selected by the judges (except Izzy).

Best Photo
Kian Benjamin - Social Feather duster Worms
Wins Dinner for 2 at La Robe Creole
Honourable Mention

Jamie - Golden zoanthids
Wins Lunch or dinner for two at Corner House Cafe

Kian - Turtle portrait
Wins $200 clothing voucher at Pennywise, sponsored by Best Buy