New and Exciting at Aqua Safaris—What an unbelievable summer it’s been. The out-of-the norm conditions have been absolutely fantastic and keeping divers wet and happy! It’s been clear and warm and it’s wonderful knowing that it’s only going to get better as we enter into the best season for diving: Fall.

Aqua Safaris is excited about a new line we’ve recently brought into the store. Ikelite offers some great dive lights as well as a large selection of underwater housings for both new film and digital cameras. We now offer a huge selection of cameras and housings. If you already own a camera, bring it in and we’ll check to see if one of the housings will work. If you don’t own a camera, we recommend you come in and see which cameras are compatible. There’s nothing worse than spending your hard earned money on a fancy camera that will only service you on land. Don’t make that mistake. Do your homework prior to making the purchase. Come in and we’ll help you find a combination that will fit your budget and allow you to purchase both at the same time. You could be sharing you’re underwater adventures soon.

Aqua Safaris welcomes Melvin Brodston and Lora Hollingsworth to our dive team. Attending college, being excited about their jobs, and spending as much time in the water as possible sums them both up very well. Both intend to be SCUBA instructors down the road. Next time you’re in please say hello to them as well as our other team members: Corey, Kat, Paul, Natalie, DeDe, David, Doug, Chelsey and “Ginger” the shop dog.

Advanced Classes Restructured—Whether you’re recently certified, an active California Diver, or a diver that needs to get refreshed our advanced class is a perfect class for you. It runs once a month and is the best way to get introduced (or re-introduced) to a number of dive sights in Monterey. Cost is only $149 and you’ll get 6 to 8 dives under the guidance of a NAUI instructor. Not only will you be learning the dive sights, we allow all graduates of the advanced class to join Aqua Safaris Club dives. This gives you an opportunity to dive up to 4 times a month whether you have a dive buddy or not. In addition, we’ve restructured the class so that students now have the chance to participate in boat diving. On the last day of class, we’ll offer two morning dives on board the Escapade in Monterey.

New Instructors Need Assistants—Congratulations to our newest NAUI instructors: Jon Collier, Nick Rose and Martin Stebbing, all of whom completed the NAUI Instructor Trainer Course in July. Do you want to share your love of diving? Our instructors need divers to help lead buddy teams during the check out weekends. Many of you already meet the requirements, we simply need to file the paperwork. If you aren’t advanced and rescue certified we offer these classes monthly and you can be a Training Assistant by the end of the next month. Give the shop a call if you’re interested or have questions. Next Instructor Training Course scheduled for July 2005. Get in touch with us today so that you’ll meet the requirements for enrollment. It’s a wonderful job and can literally take you to all corners of the globe!

Parking Lot SCUBA Sale—Come check us out on Sept 11th & 12th. Every item we have will be at least 10% to 75% OFF! We have a huge inventory of new and used gear and it ALL must go!!!

Escapade: Best of Monterey Boat Diving—We charter the Escapade once a month with an 8:30 departure for a fast comfortable ride to all the favorite sites of Carmel & Monterey Bay. Combine the friendly experienced crew with a group of friends and you have the makings for the ultimate local dive event. Join us September 18th for our next adventure. Can’t make it on one of our group trips? Book your reservations with us for dates that meet your schedule.Two tank dives are $80 (tanks, snacks and beverages provided).

Two Thumbs Up or Down for Open Water?—Open Water tells the story of a married couple who while on a dive trip in the Great Barrier Reef is left behind by a careless boat crew. Like most Hollywood films, the idea behind the story stemmed from a true incident to which they then added their creative touches and healthy imaginations to create an entertaining movie. Will it be entertaining or a flop? Come join us for a viewing and critiquing of the newly released Open Water film. We’d like to make an evening of it, film followed by dinner and drinks downtown. We’re meeting at Cinema 9 downtown on September 3rd for the 6:00 pm showing (good idea to purchase tickets early).

Why Buy From Aqua Safaris?— Aqua Safaris is an authorized dealer for all the equipment we sell. Why is being an authorized dealer important to you? It means you don’t have to worry that the equipment you purchase isn’t covered by warranty should you need it. In addition, because we have strong relationships with our dealers and personally know our representatives we can come to bat for you if you have a problem, even after your warranty has expired.

We have heard a nightmare of problems from people who have made purchases over the internet from non-authorized dealers. Some problems as big as regulators (your life support) being shipped without all the working parts! To add insult to injury, the purchaser learns that the warranty described on line was misleading. Due to the increase of situations like this many manufactures have created programs that offer more incentive to purchasers working with authorized dealers. For example Suunto offers an upgrade to their warranty on computers which includes three battery changes to your computer at no cost! Other computers such as the Scuba Pro Uwatec come with a free lifetime battery replacement. That’s right, you get a new computer once your battery runs out only if the purchase was done with an authorized dealer.

Don’t get lured in by the enticing prices of companies like LeisurePro. The savings isn’t worth the risk and long term forfeit of manufacture warranties. Making your purchases from Aqua Safaris comes with added benefits and security.

Channel Islands—Our Channel Island trip was a huge success & much fun was had by all. Here’s what a few people had to say about the trip:
Andy Brennan: “The most memorable moment for me was doing water aerobics with a Sea Lion. It was so much fun that when I went to do my stop the sea lion bumped me to let me know she still wanted to play.”
Luisa Orlando: “There were many amazing sights above and below water. I don’t know of any other trip where I could watch a diver pull in fish after fish while sporting a fluffy red bathrobe over his wetsuit. It seemed that after less than a day a boat of mostly strangers became a big group of friends.”
DeDe Houghton: “I love seeing new things, and the alien like zig-zag worm that came out only on full moon to spawn was really awesome!”
Steve Seidlinger: “That trip was my best Channel Island trip yet. I had so much fun, I’ve already signed up for another one.”
If you missed that trip and are anxious to experience some of the above be sure you sign up early for next year’s trip, June 17–19 aboard the Conception. This year our November three-day lobster trip aboard the Vision is November 12–14. Cost is $430. Space is limited, bunk assignments are made by first come first served.