New to Our World Underwater

mwdiver · January 22nd, 2008, 08:29 PM

Anyone been to Our World Underwater before? I'm planning to go. I see there's a lot of seminars and workshops...anyone recommend any of them? I also saw Team Scuba is going to be there. Do you think the Nascar car will be there?

jepuskar · January 22nd, 2008, 10:12 PM

If you are a diver, thinking about being a diver, or want to do something cool for a diver spouse/friend/relative etc... then I highly suggest making your way to the show atleast for one day. There is alot to see and do at the show...accomodations are plentiful in the area so spending two days at the show is not unheard of either.

This is the Premier show in the Midwest and people do make the drive from all over, not to mention fly in. I went to a workshop at the Florida Dive Show in early December and was amazed at how much smaller it was to OWU. I wasn't expecting that given the area. It is a great setup and I know atleast one of the workshop instructors. Top notch instruction.

Jason

00scuba · January 22nd, 2008, 10:19 PM

Nascar will be there ( I believe the car itself). SB will be there also. I'll be at the booth, stop by and say hello.

John Chatterton will be there as well, it will be a great weekend.

jjwdiver · January 23rd, 2008, 07:38 AM

Go...it well worth the weekend. Catch a bunch of seminars and classes, then check out the "show floor", then repeat that for 2 more days!!!!

DiverBeth · January 23rd, 2008, 04:29 PM

Go if you're into diving or thinking about it. It's a lot of fun. Check out their web site to see all the exhibitors, seminars and films. I dragged my younger son to it a couple of years ago he was 12 at the time, and now he's a certified diver and totally bummed because he has to miss it this year.

Byte Me · January 24th, 2008, 10:45 AM

Roatanman turned me on to this show and I'm dragging my (currently) non-diving wife along in hopes that eventually she'll turn into my dive buddy!

I pricelined a 4 star O'hare area hotel yesterday and got the host hotel (Hyatt Regency O'Hare) for $60 which is $56/night less than the show rate. We're coming down from just north of MKE Saturday and Sunday.

Really looking forward to it!

Gary Knapp · February 9th, 2008, 04:25 PM

If you want to get your wife to go diving with you have her watch one of our videos, they are made to turn woman and men onto diving around the world... we have been told many start after watching the shows as they inspire divers to get off the couch... .we will be exhibiting there this year for the first time in booth 906 come see us. Gary

DivingPrincessE · February 25th, 2008, 06:53 AM

How similar is OWU to Beneath the Sea?

RoatanMan · February 25th, 2008, 06:56 PM

If it's within your travel distance, BTS is highly recommended.

It is similar in that it is a retail dive show that is one of the top few- I travel to various of them over the years.

Each show draws different crowds, in Chicago the audience is either Warm Water Pretty Fishes or Lake Michigan technical guys.

Out East, they have access to a much larger array of wrecks that are in better shape, and remember that all show booths throughout the US are populated by destinations that are easily accessed by that specific gateway city.

At BTS you'll see any number of resorts from Bermuda down to St. Barts that we don't easily travel to from Chicago. At OWU, the Belize resorts are better represented. It's geography.

You'll hardly notice the difference. I think OWU had a better selection of speakers in some regards, quite a few from The History Channel and Deep sea Detectives. BTS has JJ and Sylvia Earle- no slouches either.

They are both first rate shows, much more interesting than any DEMA offering- but DEMA is not meant to be what this is.

sitdown248 · April 3rd, 2008, 05:38 PM

I just want to say that this was the first year I attended Our World Underwater and it was really cool. I got to meet John Chatterton and Richie Kohler and talked to them for a while. There was also some really awesome things on display.