Feature Archives | Extreme Sports Scuba

Lost Gorilla and a Cat…

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Dan La Due Posted in Extreme Sports Events Leave a comment

The Safari Hunt, known to some of us “experienced divers, as the Gorilla Hunt,” is approaching very quickly………. You need to make sure you get your tanks filled BEFORE you head to the lake, Wednesday or Thursday is the best options to get this done.

As most of you know, your friends at Extreme Sports Scuba, put on a wonderful event every June, now known as “The Safari Hunt”. Your favorite Instructors, Assistant Instructors, and Dive Masters go to hide various stuffed animal in Beaver Lake for you to find. There are marvelous prizes for those lucky divers that find one of these animals. Sadly, however, not all of the stuffed animals are found, well, not found that day.

And so the story begins….

Continue reading→

Safari Hunt 2018 Official Rules

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Extreme Sports Events Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again… No, I’m not talking about Father’s Day, although don’t forget that June 17, 2018, is Father’s Day. This time though I’m talking about The Annual Safari Hunt!

Yes, it’s time for the Annual Safari Hunt. Make sure your calendars are marked for June 23, 2018.

Details:

Start time: 1:30
Location: Indian Creek Campground on Beaver Lake in Arkansas.
Entry fee: None, but please bring proof of SCUBA certification and you’ll sign a waiver
Other details: There will be a fishbowl drawing. Chances are $1 a piece. Proceeds benefit Newton County Rescue and Recovery.

So… what exactly is the Safari Hunt?

You and your dive buddy go SCUBA hunting for animals no deeper than 30 feet. Once you find an animal, you come up and register your number. Then you win a prize. Continue reading→

Tank Talk 1

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Blogging

Good Wednesday to you! Today, we thought we might do something a little different here on the ol’ blog. Be sure to let us know if you like it!!

We’re going to have a Gab session. Basically, it’s like we’re sitting down here having a coffee date or something, except this morning I’m not drinking coffee. I’m drinking a Diet Limeade with Cranberry. I blame Drake for this… last summer he got us liking Cranberry Limeades. I figured if I went diet, I could cut a few calories, right? Haha. So grab your drink of choice and let’s chat!

First things first, I want to remind you that tomorrow, Thursday, June 7, is Dive club meeting. The weather is going to be perfect! As of right now, because you know in Missouri the weather can change at the drop of a hat, we’re looking at a high of 92˚F with a low of 70˚F. Perfect evening for the Extreme Dive Club Meeting held at Deb and Grady’s house. The cuisine will be Hamburgers and Hot dogs, bring a side or dessert or come as you are. We just want you there!

I’m currently working on cooking something here at the dive shop for tomorrow’s meeting. I may or may not have had a boilover and it might smell a little like burnt marshmallow here. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have anything to do with Marshmallows. By the way, saying that, hold on, I need to go stir it!

Okay, back! By the way, I’m in the process of making Dulce de Leche for a dessert. I introduced those of you who were able to join us at the lake over Memorial Day Weekend to this indulgent stuff. I had a lot of people ask me what Dulce de Leche is. So, googled it… It’s an Argentinian dessert that is a lot like caramel. It is sugar that has been caramelized in milk. If you can’t buy store bought, there are 2 ways to make it. Check out this blog post, she goes into details about how to make this beautiful stuff! Continue reading→

#BlogMay 2018

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Blogging

As you’ve seen, we’ve been watching posts like crazy over here. We even report it to you on a monthly basis. I’m sure you’ve heard numerous times through these posts as well as at Dive Club Meetings that the top blog post for the last umpteen months has been the 2016 Hydros Pro Review I wrote. But I wanted to share that the month of May, it took that post 9 days to be tied for first. It was tied with the May 2, 2018 blog post on Trails for Kids 2018.

The next interesting thing I’ve noticed is a lot of people want to know about the Mantis M2 Personal Dive Computer. On day 27 of the month of May, this 2017 blog post finally took over the #2 spot from our Trails for Kids Post.

Whether this fascinates you or not, it sure fascinates me. So humor me please o, please! And now I present you the findings I’ve have found through the Month of May. Continue reading→

Work Hard! Play Harder! {Memorial Day 2018 Recap}

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Extreme Sports Events

Friday

Memorial Day Weekend always seems to be the “kick off” to the summer season. I guess that’s a good thing since Summer doesn’t officially start until the end of June. We get one month of summer prior to the actual summer solstice! But Memorial Day Weekend also tends to be the start of dive season.

As we learned last week, we’ve already had dive classes in the lake this year, but for the general run our dive season starts Memorial Day Weekend.

This year the top thermocline happened around 15 feet. On Sunday, Drake stuck his arm below the thermocline long enough for his dive computer to read. Then he stuck it above. There was a 9˚ difference. Wow! And you could definitely feel it when you dropped below the thermocline. The next thermocline happened around 28 feet or so. I want to say though, our divers were troopers! Especially our students! Continue reading→

Flashing Lights Aren’t so Scary Anymore

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Chuck Beaver Posted in Scuba Training Events

Picture this, you’re driving down the road. Minding your own business. Then… Red lights in your mirror. Oh-oh, what did I do wrong? Let’s face it, that’s the thought most of us have. After this past winter and spring though, I’m developing a new appreciation for the Firemen, Police, and Sheriff’s of Benton County Arkansas the more I work with them.

Benton County Dive Team

Late last year the Benton County departments signed up 40 students for open-water classes. Classes began as early as January of this year. Justin, Grady, Dan, Doug, and I have been working with 40 of these friends since then. We had to start with open-water classes – which are still going on. Continue reading→

National Boating Safety Awareness May 19-25, 2018

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Did You Know 1 Comment

National Boating Safety Awareness Week

Most people mark the beginning of summer as Memorial Day Weekend. Did you realize that we are just three short weekends away from that? Summer is quickly approaching and after the spring we had here in the Midwest, I’m not sure anyone thought it would ever come.

This last week though the sun has been shining and the temperatures have been on the upward rise. Now would be the perfect time to discuss National Boating Safety Awareness Week which just so happens to fall next week, May 19-25, 2018.

Things to consider when entering your vessel:

Safety Checks. What do they include?
- Fire extinguishers
- Backfire flame control
- Sound producing devices
- Visual distress signals
- Lifejackets Continue reading→

#BlogApril 2018

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Blogging

A turtle swimming in the ocean

Happy Monday! I hope the weekend treated you well. Normally I would do this post on Sunday, however, this was a busy weekend so Monday it is. Let’s recap last month’s blog posts! Who’s game? {raises hand} I am! I am! Okay, maybe that was a little too excited… Especially for a Monday morning when the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.

5 Reasons to Buy from a Dive Shop vs Online

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Deb Weston Posted in SCUBA Product Education

5 Reasons to buy from a Dive shop vs Online

Since the invention of the internet, everyone has the world at their fingertips these days. You can do anything from research to reviews to buying and anything in-between. With everyone buying on the internet these days, why not buy SCUBA equipment too? Here are Five reasons not to buy online. Continue reading→

20th Annual Underwater Pumpkin Carving

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Nicole Willoughby Posted in Extreme Sports Events

It was brought to my attention last week while searching for a blog post that we never did a recap of the Underwater Pumpkin Carving last year. Can someone please explain how this happened? The best explanation that we have come up with is… We had the Chili Cookoff, the next day the underwater pumpkin carving, and then it was off to DEMA. Plus we were gathering recipes/pictures/stories for the cookbook, followed by pictures for the calendar and whew… we just plum forgot.

The question is… why did no one point this out? Last week when we were working on the 2018 Spring Sale Post, I was on the hunt for this blog post, why I can’t remember, but I realized it wasn’t here. So… I figured today would be the perfect day to recap last fall’s underwater pumpkin carving. I mean the weather is similar, right?