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Tomorrow is #GUEUnityDay2020

"We are really excited because for the first time ever, GUE communities from around the world will gather together this weekend to celebrate our love for diving.

"This has been a unique year—each of us has experienced stress and challenges. We thought it was time to bring a bit of joy to our community of passionate scuba divers," stated Dorota Czerny.

Live Stream Schedule

Session 1: 06:00 - all times shown are GMT

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Session 2: 12:00 noon - all times shown are GMT

A 45.5m-deep diving pool with artificial underwater caves and Mayan ruins has opened in Poland.

45m-deep diving pool opens in Poland

Unlike regular swimming pools, Deepspot can open despite corona-virus restrictions in Poland because it qualifies as a training centre because it offers courses.

Deepspot is located in Mszczonow, a town in central Poland, about 40 kilometers away from the Polish capital Warsaw. Construction began in mid-2018.

The 2020 edition of DEMA Show turned out to be a sinker

DEMA Show 2020 … what a bellyflop!

This review comes on the coat tails of the other virtual dive show, Scuba.Digital, which we attended a few weeks prior and the conclusions are just about the same; The conference component in which attendees can listen into a range of webinar-style presentations worked reasonably well.

The rest of it, however, such as networking activities which is an essential part and, to entities like ourselves, the most important aspect of taking part in dive shows, absolutely did not.

The 2020 Lavanchy Award Winner - Franz Brümmer - is pictured here on the right with the Steffen Scholz (EUF President) at BOOT.2020

It's time to submit your 2021 Lavanchy Award nomination

The award recognises an individual who has enthusiastically contributed to the European diving community and it was named in honour of the late Jack Lavanchy.

The EUF has now confirmed that nominations are open for the 2020 award.

Screenshot of presentation in progress on the main 'stage'; Rick Walker, GUE, talks about bringing wrecks back to life. Ricks presentation was one of better ones and an example of how to make it look good.

Inaugural Scuba.Digital imperfect, but concept holds promise

During the event I sat into several great presentations, and it was a valuable learning experience setting up, preparing and taking part in the exhibit. Being the first dive event, of this size and scope, some teething problems were to be expected not just on the part of the organisers but the many presenters and visitors who frequently grappled with getting their tech – their webcams, microphones, speakers, etc – to work.

The dive industry is seeing seismic shifts in training, dive vacation habits and dive equipment purchasing patterns and consumer base.
The dive industry is seeing seismic shifts in training, dive vacation habits and dive equipment purchasing patterns and consumer base.

William Cline publishes survey on dive industry sentiments

In his introduction, William Cline writes:

We, as an industry, are experiencing tremendous change that started well before this current global pandemic. We are seeing shifts in training, dive vacation habits and dive equipment purchasing patterns that all point to seismic shifts in our dive consumer base. This survey seeks the industry’s assessment of where we are going by sector and what we can do to change or respond to some of the emerging trends.