2019 Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show

[JennafromASL]

I've always wanted to travel to Turks and Caicos, i'm sure you and your wife will have an amazing time! Liveaboards are nice for shark viewing especially with All Star Liveaboard's because they provide a shark feeding for scuba divers to witness. I just got back from Thailand and snorkeled next to black tip sharks. It was a great experience even though I was a bit nervous. I hope you and your wife are able to see sharks on your trip and if not come book with All Star Liveaboards in the future and we will be happy to make all your sharky dreams come true!

 

[Hoag]

FWIW, it looks like I will be going to the show on Saturday. I would like to sit in on the noon presentation from Sandra Reily of the Volivoli Beach Resort on Diving the Bligh Waters at the Underwater Adventures Stage

 

[Bubbles McGee]

We'll be there tomorrow as well. Swinging by to talk with our friends from SCUBA 2000.

 

[GrafCanuck]

Was at the show today, great to see a few GTA and area LDS. Save Ontario Shipwrecks and the Underwater Council were there as well. Bonaire, Curacao, Mexico, Dominican Rep, Grenada, St V & the Grenadines, St Lucia, Cuba, Jamaica, Belize, Utila all had welcoming booths. Plus a number of live boards were there. Good to see a diverse selection in the 2 scuba aisles. Well worth the money and 4 hours spent. Note only one LDS (Aqua Sub) had a retail presence. The other LDSs were there pushing training and trips.

 

[Hoag]

If you buy your tickets online, you can use the "Coupon Code" UNDERWATER to save $4 off the ticket price.

If anyone sees an old fat guy wandering around the show today in a T-Shirt that says Shark Junkie on the front and has the logo for Shark Diving International on the back, say hi. That'll be me.

 

[Hoag]

The show was a good show. It leaned (as it always does) toward the travel side of things, throughout the show, not just in the scuba area. As @GrafCanuck said, there was very limited retail presence so if that is what you are looking for, then this might not be the best show for you.

Having said that, here are some of my take-aways:

• There were several presentations at the various stages. Everything from resorts giving sales pitches (more on that in a minute) to "How-to" presentations. I saw 3 of these presentations and was impressed.
• Most of the retail booths were located around the perimeter of the hall, and included everything from titanium cookware to dive gear, camping gear (this is not just a dive show), micro-fiber towels (the big ones are great for use on a boat, or I picked up some small ones to use to clean my camera gear/lenses), to some fast food.
• Many of the travel oriented booths had some great show specials. Including one resort in Fiji offering 7 days including food & 12 dives for $2169USD (about $2850CAD)
  I spoke with Ginny, the owner of the Bohio in Grand Turk. They have fully recovered from the hurricane damage and are "better than before". They rebuilt their facilities with concrete structures. Dive Provo confirmed that they are back in full force as well and that Provo has bounced back as well. Bottom line: Turk & Caicos is back. Have no worries about booking a dive trip either to Provo or to Grand Turk.
• The show opened at 10am and I got there at about 11. Traffic heading into the International Center was backed up about a mile and once I was into the parking lot, there were "attendants" there to direct you to where there was still available parking.
• There were a lot of people manning the booths who were more that willing to answer any questions that you might have.
• As noted above, the show was much more than scuba. There were booths offering info on tourism for areas such as The US (Texas, Utah, I NY, Florida, Alabama and other areas), African (photo) safaris, Peru and other areas from South America were there offering photo trips, and too many tourism options for Canada and especially local Ontario activities.
• The one negative (and it is a very minor one) was that the Cocoview Resort in Roatan is usually there (and were scheduled to be there this year) but they didn't have a booth set up. I plan on heading to Cocoview this spring, so it would have been nice to have been able to have chatted with them.

One thing that did really catch my eye was the Volivoli Resort in Fiji. They are what could be considered an almost All-Inclusive resort. They offered a show special (as mentioned above) for $2169USD valid till 31 March 2020 that includes transportation from Nadi Airport, meals, 7 night accommodation, 12 boat dives (3 day of 2 tank & 3 days of 3 tank dives) + unlimited shore diving a traditional "Meke performance and Fijian Lovo Night", and all meals. It looks like you are on your own for your bar tab . It also does not include your flights. Of all the things that I saw at the show, this really caught my eye! (For those in the GTA, the Dive Academy in Oakville is starting to put together a 10 day trip here but it is very early in the planning stages, so not a lot of details yet.)

Hope that gives a bit of an idea as to what to expect for anyone going today.

 

[Bubbles McGee]

It was a good show for sure. I spoke with Michael from Dive Provo. I'll be staying at Beaches in Turks in May. I think we'll go out with them for a couple of dives. We discovered a couple of places that we've never seen in Guanaja close to Roatan that were really interesting. All Inclusive Bay Islands Scuba Diving Resort | Cabanas on Clark's Cay and Dunbar Rock. Will go to the show again next year as well.

 

[Hoag]

It was a good show for sure. I spoke with Michael from Dive Provo. I'll be staying at Beaches in Turks in May. I think we'll go out with them for a couple of dives. We discovered a couple of places that we've never seen in Guanaja close to Roatan that we were really interesting. All Inclusive Bay Islands Scuba Diving Resort | Cabanas on Clark's Cay and Dunbar Rock. Will go to the show again next year as well.

Dive Provo is a great dive shop. It is a "Valet service". Be forewarned though, if you don't like other people touching your gear, then it might not be for you (unless you have a chat with them before your first trip out). Take your gear with you when you go to check in the day you arrive. That will be the last time you handle it to any extent until you are ready to leave. It is almost like being on a live aboard in that regard.

A typical "dive day" will go something like this: You will check in with the dive shop (walk in and let them know you are there) and then go wait in the parking lot. You will then get on to one of the buses that are waiting to take you to your dive boat (the boats may be berthed in different locations, so it is important to get on the right bus). Once you get to the boat, your boat bag will be under your seat, and your BCD will already be on your tank. Then, off to the dive site (depending on where they go, it could be 45 minutes to an hour transit). During the surface interval, they will switch your gear over to the new tank. Do your 2nd dive and then when that is over, you head back to shore where the bus is waiting to take you back to the shop. During the boat ride, take your BCD off the tank and put it in your boat bag. When you get to shore, take your mask and camera and anything else you don't want to leave with them but simply leave everything else in your boat bag on the boat including your wetsuit. Over night, they will rinse everything & dry it and the next morning, it will be waiting for you on the boat.

 

[Bubbles McGee]

Dive Provo is a great dive shop. It is a "Valet service". Be forewarned though, if you don't like other people touching your gear, then it might not be for you (unless you have a chat with them before your first trip out). Take your gear with you when you go to check in the day you arrive. That will be the last time you handle it to any extent until you are ready to leave. It is almost like being on a live aboard in that regard.

A typical "dive day" will go something like this: You will check in with the dive shop (walk in and let them know you are there) and then go wait in the parking lot. You will then get on to one of the buses that are waiting to take you to your dive boat (the boats may be berthed in different locations, so it is important to get on the right bus). Once you get to the boat, your boat bag will be under your seat, and your BCD will already be on your tank. Then, off to the dive site (depending on where they go, it could be 45 minutes to an hour transit). During the surface interval, they will switch your gear over to the new tank. Do your 2nd dive and then when that is over, you head back to shore where the bus is waiting to take you back to the shop. During the boat ride, take your BCD off the tank and put it in your boat bag. When you get to shore, take your mask and camera and anything else you don't want to leave with them but simply leave everything else in your boat bag on the boat including your wetsuit. Over night, they will rinse everything & dry it and the next morning, it will be waiting for you on the boat.

If we go, it'll be for one day. Cost of diving at Beaches is included so I just wanted to test Dive Provo out. He said they don't allow lionfish hunting as the sharks are starting to get a bit too interested. I guess I'll have to wait until St Lucia in September to try out my new Neritic Lionfish Eliminator.