This weekend, for the first time in the twelve year history of the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest, participants had the opportunity to discover the magic of scuba diving.  This event, held each year in the Allentown area since 1997, has steadily grown in size and scope, with nearly 10,000 competitors and 100,000 spectators gathering this year at the festival.

This annual festival of sports and games, started with 16 events as the Allentown Sportsfest, and has grown now to over 100 different events, changing it’s name to the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest to more accurately reflect the regional involvmenet.  Indian Valley Scuba, and the International Association for Handicapped Divers, was asked by the Sportsfest founders to bring a Discover Scuba program to this years event.  We set up the IVS rolling DSD show at Cedar Beach Park, a massive pool/park/nature area, right near the center of the city of Allentown. 

On Saturday, they were lined up and waiting as we pulled the truck & trailer into the pool area.  By the end of the afternoon, over 45 divers had been briefed, geared up, and taken on tours, culminating in some basic skills training, paving the way for our next wave of certified divers!  Channel 69 News was there sharing the event with their viewers, and IVS-staffers Mike Gusenko, Ray Graff, Brad Creveling,  Barb White and Dave Valaika had their hands full, running non-stop without a break until finally closing the pool down at 7:00.  After that it was back to the shop, filling tanks, and getting ready for tomorrow!

Sunday was as beautiful a day as Saturday, with even larger crowds, more fun and another 55 divers getting wet and blowing bubbles for the very first time.  Lin Gusenko, Leslie & Carlie Adams, Butch Loggins, and Katie Chin joined the crew today, making it an even more fun event - what a great bunch of folks we had on both sides of the Discover Scuba program today.  By the end of the weekend we had taken over 110 divers in, went through nearly 90 tanks of air, and planted more than our fair share of smiles across the Lehigh Valley.

Look for us to be back next year! 

This week has been a busy one for IAHD-Americas Intructor Trainer Dave Valaika.  A month ago, we were contacted by Diane Defeo, a young lady in Rye, NY who learned about IAHD-Americas at the Beneath the Sea show.  Diane suffers from Myotonic Dystrophy, a hereditary chromosonal disorder that affects the body and spirit in many ways.  First and foremast is the muscular degeneration and skeletal issues common to Muscular Dystrophy, but it is accompanied by a host of other challenges to those affected by it.  You can learn more about this at www.myotonicdystrophy.org

Diane’s husband, Albert, is an avid diver of many years, and his stories of what he would see and experience while diving just fueled Diane’s desire to be able to share this special sport with him.  But the onset of the disease at the age of 38 seemed to slam the door shut on the chances of this ever becoming a reality.  When they learned about IAHD-Americas and what we are doing to help share the magic of the undersea world with the disabled, they immediately called us up to see if there was anything we could do.  Dave learned all he could from Diane about what her abilities were and her restrictions, and decided that she was a candidate for diver training through the IAHD program.  The excitement was even greater as they had booked a vacation to the island of Bonaire, with expectations of Albert diving and Diane watching from shore - now that setting might be about to change!

Step one was to locate an IAHD-certified training facility in the Rye area that could work with Diane, but in spite of the IAHD-Americas appeal to dive centers to get on board, no one in the Rye area had yet stepped up.  So rather than let the program die on the vine there, Dave opted to come and train Diane himself, and contacted the Rye YMCA to gain access to an accessible pool.  Laura Tiedge, the Aquatic Director there, could not have been more helpful, giving us multiple time slots in her fully accessible pool.  Diane was sent her PADI book and training materials and given her homework assignments to complete in anticipation of Dave’s visit.

Dave traveled the 2.5 hour trip on Wednesday, stopping at the YMCA to meet the key persons and inspect the layout.  Then he headed to meet with Diane and Albert at their apartment and get started on the academics.  One long 4 hour session later, we had covered more than half the material, and we arranged to meet the next day at the pool. 

Thursday we met at the YMCA and got Diane fitted with gear for her first confined water session.  Albert geared up also to assist and work towards his IAHD Dive Partner certification.  Slowly but steadily we progressed through gearing up, getting in, getting under and finally really starting to look like a diver.  Trimming was key as Diane’s body seemed to have a mind of it’s own as to how it wanted to go in the water.  Lot’s of experimentation with placement of trim weights to help achieve not only good trim in the water, but good positioning on the surface too!  Overall it was a great session, and Diane and Albert were thrilled with the upcoming possibilities.   Friday we met again, with another five hour round trip for Dave to get through New York City, but the session went well, and we all felt good about Diane & Albert heading to Bonaire. 

The next step was to locate an IAHD Instructor in Bonaire.  The island is part of the Netherlands Antilles, and is the only group of islands in the Caribbean that does not fall into the IAHD-Americas region.  It was determined that there was currently no IAHD representation on the island, and Klaas Brower, IAHD President, gave us the green light to continue Diane’s training there.  So we set up our training at the Divi Flamingo Resort, which is a fully accessible facility and is currently HSA trained for working with disabled divers.  Serge, the dive operations manager there, could not bave been more helpful in helping us make all the necessary arrangements.

We flew down on Saturday, and started our training Sunday afternoon in the balmy waters of western shore of Bonaire.  We modified our weighting and trimming to get Diane right in the salt water with her exposure suit, and enjoyed our first two open water dives.  Monday we further refined the process, getting in two more dives, and finally, on Tuesday, we enjoyed our longest and deepest dives so far, spending 30+ minutes enjoying the reef in 30 feet of water. 

We celebrated with a few more hugs and a graduation ceremony dockside.  Diane is now officially certified as an IAHD Sport Diver!  While Dave packed up and headed home, Diane and Albert plan to relax for the next few days in Bonaire.  They plan to be joining us at Dutch Springs to continue their diving this summer.  Look for some great video footage of Diane in her biggest adventure ever on the IAHD-Americas site soon!  

So, let’s sum up this experience -

                                 3 five hour round trips to Rye, NY            $300

                                 Airfare to Bonaire                                     $810

                                Hotel & Meals                                            $574

                               The smile on Diane’s face after 6 dives   PRICELESS!

Every year at this time the dive community in the greater northeast U.S. gathers for a special three day event, the Beneath the Sea show and expo.  Seminars, training opportunities, destinations, dive manufacturers, and of course, everyone;s favorite dive shop, Indian Valley Scuba, is there for all to see.

This is our third year exhibiting at this consumer event, and our biggest yet, with three booths dedicated to bringing the IVS message to the masses.  As the audience continues to take notice, so do the manufacturers - so much in fact, that this year Cochran, Armor, Halcyon, Pterydactyl, and Bottom Crawlers all opted to not have their own booth, but to bring thier products and representatives to staff the IVS booth. 

And this year we had an even more special guest - the new Poseidon Rebreather!!  Indian Valley Scuba is honored to be the only stocking dealer of the Poseidon rebreather in the Northeast US! And, our Puerto Rico IVS location is also the Poseidon dstributor for the entire Carribean region!  Want to dive one?  Call us! 

On Saturday we had 26 members of Team IVS in the booth, spreading the message, sharing the joy, and inviting others to get on board the IVS train.  From training to travel to great gear deals, there was something for everyone at the IVS booths.  This year we released our sixteen page training catalog to a very receptive audience, along with the IVS “sign up / show up” guarantee.  This is our exclusive commitment to program scheduling, where we truly stand behind our word by ensuring that even if only one student signs up for a class, we will run that class!  Crazy? Maybe.  Committed? Yes!!

After the show closed on Saturday evening, our own Frank Gabriel took us out to dinner at a fantabulous Portuguese restaurant right in downtown Newark.  What a treat to see a table of two dozen members of the IVS family laughing, joking, & eating to our hearts content!   And after that dinner, half of us caravaned over to Frank & Isabel’s home where we were treated to dessert, after-dinner libations, and a chance to play in Frank’s ultimate toy room - his garage!  “Drivemaster” Dave West lead us back to our hotel, OK, tried to lead us back, but finally we all made it back to catch a few zzz’s before sunrise.

Sunday morning kicked off to an even stronger start, and the crowd never thinned out.  We were honored to have six of the eight IVS locations represented at the show over the weekend, and were amazed at the number of old friends visiting and new friends made over the two and a half days!  As always, our fresh hot Philadelphia soft pretzels were a hit, and we gave over a thousand of them away during the show!  In addition to our regulars, we especially want to thank Joe Garvin for his continued support, working hard to spread the word about Indian Valley Scuba to so many - it’s great to know we have such a warm place in his heart!

Look for an even bigger presence at next year’s BTS show - we already put our reservations in for four booths!  

But Indian Valley Scuba still has three more weekends to spend there before we put the virtual cover on the pool for the winter.  And this weekend was a great one to enjoy at the local pond, with 55 degree air in the morning, warming up to nearly 80 each day.  The water is still great, at 75 degrees down to about 40 feet, so the diving is as good as it can get there. 

Both Saturday and Sunday saw some huge IVS crowds there, enjoying the return of Bev to the grill, cooking up some beer-steamed chicken, fresh Amberjack from North Carolina, and the usual menu of dogs, burgers and salads.  Team IVS does eat well, that is for sure!

Congratulations to Jarod Rodgers, John Zyskowski, Brenden Malloy, Brad Creveling, & Rob Lunny, on completing their Advanced Open Water certifications this weekend. 

John Glodowski, lead designer on the IAHD back-mounted scooter, was on site both days tweaking the development of our third generation scooter, designed specifically to allow handicapped divers with little or no use of their legs to be able to motor through the water alongside the rest of us.   This is a phenomenal product that opens up the sport of scuba diving to so many of our less-than-able-bodied friends.  Make sure you stop by the shop and check out the IAHD scooter.

Switching hats, i met today with the founders of Wheels2Water.org a Huntington Beach, CA based organization dedicated to helpig spinal injury victims enjoy adventure sports.  Five years ago, brothers Robert & Travis Tremble started the organization with the support from the southern California surf community.