Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone is the place to be on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2013 for all divers and snorkelers. As well as the CFT AGM and Diving Officer’s conference we will also have expert speakers from a wide range of topic areas. Hosted by Athlone Sub Aqua Club for the third time we hope it to be a huge success. Entrance to the dive show is only 5 euros for each day. For directions and a look at the hotel check out www.hodsonbayhotel.com
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Dive Ireland 2013 Program of Events |
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Times |
Saturday 2nd March |
Times |
Sunday 3rd March |
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09:30 – 10:00 |
Diving Officers & Instructors Conference registration |
09:30 – 10:00 |
CFT AGM Registration |
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10:00 – 12:45 |
D.O. & Instructors Conference |
10:00 – 12:45 |
CFT AGM |
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12:45 – 2pm |
Retail Therapy Time and Lunch |
12:45 – 2pm |
Retail Therapy Time and Lunch |
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2pm |
Wreck Diving with Barry McGill |
2pm |
Snorkeling with Victor Kutischev of underwater-ireland.com |
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2:55pm |
Commercial Diving with Niall McHugh |
2:45pm |
Freediving with Feargus Callagy of Freediving Ireland |
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3:20pm |
Cave Diving with Jim Warney and Jason Masterson |
3:35pm |
Seasearch with Liam Lysaght Director Biodiversity Ireland |
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4:15pm |
Technical Diving and Dive Computers with Declan Burke |
4:15pm |
Sea Shepherd with John Flynn |
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5pm |
Retail Therapy Time |
4:45pm |
Retail Therapy Time |
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6pm |
Trade Show Closed |
5:30pm |
Trade Show Closed |
Speakers
Freediving Feargus Callagy, Ireland’s premier freediver, talks about freediving, the why, the how and the 
future. Why he chooses freediving over Scuba and how he does it. Feargus is an Apnea Academy Instructor and can hold his breath for an amazing five minutes. Freediving is the art, sport and science of holding your breath underwater and enjoying the sensation of swimming underwater in absolute silence. A must for anyone interested in Freediving, snorkeling and learning to relax in the water.
Wreck Diving - Barry McGill is a technical diving instructor and active deep wreck explorer and photographer. Barry first became interested in wreck diving when reading a book on the S.S. Laurentic. Since his first adventure on this classic wreck, his passion for exploration and wreck diving has been fueled by the vast marine history that surrounds the Irish coastline. Exploring famous shipwrecks such as the R.M.S. Justicia and H.M.S. Audacious left a major impression on Barry, which helped develop his desire to photograph and document shipwrecks. Barry has been part of several expeditions exploring the wrecks off the coast of Ireland including the discovery of the H.M.S. Curacao in 125 metres and the White Star Liner Carinthia in 116 metres. Barry was also a member of the 2nd Deep Wreck Mysteries Series, which was aired on ITV and the History Channel in 2009.
Cave Diving in Ireland: Caves, Cavers and Rescues. 
An overview of the cave diving scene in Ireland, the Irish Cave Rescue Service and how to get involved hosted by members of the Speleological Union of Ireland and the Irish Cave Rescue Organization, Jim Warney, Alistar Kennedy and John Duncan.
Sea Shepherd – Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Their mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.
Technical Diving and dive Computers – Declan Burke is a PADI Master
Scuba Diver Trainer and a PADI TecRec Trimix Instructor – one of two in Ireland, he runs courses in Nitrox, Trimix, Wreck, Deep Diving and decompression dive planning using computer software from his base in Letterkenny.
Snorkeling – Victor Kutischev has become Ireland’s number one snorkeling promoter, whether it’s in the videos he makes or photo’s he takes he manages to show us all what snorkeling is actually like in Ireland. His video’s and still shots have to be seen to be believed, the beauty of Irish waters is shown in its true colours and shows why snorkeling is becoming more and more popular. If you haven’t checked out Victor’s work before then come along to Dive Ireland 2013 to see what it’s all about.
Commercial Diving – Niall McHugh is a Mechanical Engineer and a commercial diver of 15 years. In that time his trade has allowed him to travel and work all over the world. He started his love for diving and the water as a 13 year old Junior Snorkeler with Athlone Sub Aqua Club and quickly developed into an experienced diver. He started helping a local Mechanical engineer and Commercial Diver at the age of 16, making the full commercial jump at the age of 24. Since then he has worked on some major worldwide commercial projects as well as running his own commercial diving company. This is a must for anyone interested in pursuing diving as an employment option as Niall shows us what a commercial diver does on a daily basis, how to qualify and what the life of a commercial diver is really like.
Seasearch – Seasearch is a project for sports divers who want to learn more about what they see underwater and want to help protect the marine environment. Liam Lysaght from Biodiversity Ireland talks about Biodiversity Online Maps and the biomapping programs they are running including the Seasearch/ Marine data they contain
CFT Village – For the First year ever there will be a CFT Village, where all your Irish Underwater council needs will be catered for.
- CFT Shop for all your clothing/ log book needs,
- Archives and memorabilia to get back to the past with
- Underwater Hockey and Seasearch also in attendance. The Underwater photography group will provide advice, tips and answer any questions in our dedicated UW photography suite.
Exhibitors
We have a large number of exhibitors confirmed at this stage with more looking to join in for the weekend. We have some of the Dive Ireland regulars but also some new companies hoping to entice you with their deals.
Confirmed so far are:
More surprises on the weekend…
Party time
As part of the planning for the show we aimed to keep everybody’s costs to a minimum. So this year we have decided to move away from the formal dinner dance format to a more informal gathering.
In the Octagon Dining room we will have a Hot Buffet style meal followed by something new. Our very own “Underwater Orchestra” will provide the music, where all music loving divers are invited to bring their voices and instruments to join in the session in the Octagon. We will have some of our very own musical divers and friends to start us off but all musicians are welcome to keep the night going, there is no format, musical theme or specific music genre, just a regular Irish Session. So bring those instruments and sing the night away. Doors open at 7:30pm and tickets, 20 Euros each, available throughout the day at the main dive show entrance.
Looking forward to seeing you, March 2nd & 3rd, Athlone Sub Aqua Club
