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What's it like to attend the one and only dive watch rally on the planet? To be among a bunch of watch enthusiasts, Doxa enthusiasts, who also happen to enjoy scuba, one of the worlds greatest pastimes?
Well, for starters, it's amazing to see all those Doxa's around you on so many wrists! I never fully appreciated some of my watches, until I looked over at someone else's wrist, wondering "what model is that? Man, that looks great"! Only to find, it was the same as I was wearing, or had back in the in room safe. Or was one I'd not seriously considered buying (before now!).
But here we'll have a simple run down of a day in the life... My "routine".
I'd wake up in the morning, and head for the kitchen (Compass Point has fully appointed kitchens in all condo's. Mine was a one bedroom unit, the two bedrooms are larger of course).
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Seated at the table, I'd often check in on the Forum while frying the bacon and eggs (sometimes breakfast burrito's were in order, hey, it's vacation!)....
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And I had a great view of the boats/dock, as I ate and watched the crew load the boats and prep our gear. Could see it well seated there, even better from my patio deck (what a great view to wake too, totally spoiled me, really
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8:00, down at the dock and on the boat, ready to dive! One day we handed our cameras to the crew for a group shot. That's only1brittie back there giving Ty and myself a little "extra" good look in the photo.... but I think we'll change her name. I now proclaim her "giver of bunny ears" (seems to be a familial trait ;-)) Lol.... She really was a hoot the entire trip.
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Once moored at the dive site, while we were getting into our gear (which the crew already had set up for us!) the Captain would diagram the dive and profile on this board, and do the briefing.
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One thing totally new for me for open water, all the dives included guided tours. The crew (all dive instructors) both dove with the group, often splitting between those who wanted to go deeper and those who preferred to stay a bit shallower. Of course you were also free to do your own thing if you chose as well. All the deeper sites were able to be seen nicely as a shallow dive also. This is Neil, our Captain for the week. He was very competent and entertaining. Really made for a fun week. That's MTJO in the black/yellow behind him.... The crew was always back on board ahead of us, ready to help us exit the water.
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This is one of the many swim throughs present at the dive sites (there are a lot of these, particularly on the deeper dives hitting around 100 feet).
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And yours truly, coming through the same....
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Here's one more gratuitous shot of.... Me! :-d Looks like I wore my Pro that day (I dove 3 Doxa's this trip, the 750T Pro, Milshark and Divingstar GMT). I think I'll make this one my new avatar (Pirates Week is over today :-(). I had no U/W Camera on this trip, but we had a Pro accompany us one day, she took dozens of great shots. You've seen a (very) few, I'll let some of the others post them, as well as their own (several photog's took wonderful shots, I have copies of some of their work.... c'mon guys, where's the pics already! ;-)).
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During/after our surface interval (50 min to 1hr.+), we'd motor to the next dive site, a shallower reef. We'd hit that one for a lengthy dive (usually nearing one hour including a lengthy safety stop around 15-20 feet) and re-board the boat, for an enjoyable ride back to Compass Point. Here's how the resort looks when approached from the water....
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Once back at the dock, we'd make our plans for the evening. No need to haul the dive gear, the crew handled that all, putting each bit in our own crate, lugging it up to the shop, rinsing it off in fresh water and hanging it to dry!
Rinse, repaeat. We'd go catch a shower and maybe a nap, and head off to whatever awaited us for the afternoon/evening. In the morning, the crew would again have our gear on the boat, assembled and ready to dive. Hey, it's vacation!
One evening (Tuesday I think it was)? Landmark Jewelers in Georgetown (the other end of the island, about 40 minutes by car) held an open house, with us as the guest of honor! Beer and champagne provided, (and soda's for us teetotalers...). I know there'll be more posts on this, so I'll keep this part brief with a few images I caught that night.
Here, JMoors is entering the store to start the evening.
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Hugh Treadwell was an exceptional host, I hear he is the one who was responsible for getting Doxa to come to the island in the first place. Worth it I think, as their last COSC Milshark and a COSC Sharkhunter in stainless accompanied two of the Searaiders home that evening ;-). Ty tells me Hugh oversees a group that owns Landmark. He's the tall one in the center, that's Thor on his left.
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Here's a very bad shot of my GMT in front of the Doxa display case (thought they might enjoy seeing it, as they'd not seen any! I was right, it wss a big hit among the employees). Those 750T's are all COSC models.
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Finally, here is the only shot I have that shows (more or less ;-)) all 12 of the 2008 Searaiders.
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From the left, JCLevoy, Cheryl (no watch nerds! :-d), T Bone (horrible pic, I'm really much better looking :-d:-x), TMahaun (back row), MTJO (man, what a collection this guy has!), Subkrawler (back row), Thor (that's a Doxa Tank folks... a prototype! We missed the boat when we didn't rave over this one and demand they produce it, it is ONE SWEET Watch!), Dr. Peter Millar, Whse (hiding behind his T Graph), SeaNymph (peeking out from behind John), JMoors, and only1brittie... er, excuse me, "giver of bunny ears"! After this, we all went upstairs to a nice restaurant for more drinks, a great dinner, a fabulous time, blah blah blah.... heheheh, you really gotta check this out for yourselves! :-! See the lucky ones in 2009.
Well, for starters, it's amazing to see all those Doxa's around you on so many wrists! I never fully appreciated some of my watches, until I looked over at someone else's wrist, wondering "what model is that? Man, that looks great"! Only to find, it was the same as I was wearing, or had back in the in room safe. Or was one I'd not seriously considered buying (before now!).
But here we'll have a simple run down of a day in the life... My "routine".
I'd wake up in the morning, and head for the kitchen (Compass Point has fully appointed kitchens in all condo's. Mine was a one bedroom unit, the two bedrooms are larger of course).
Seated at the table, I'd often check in on the Forum while frying the bacon and eggs (sometimes breakfast burrito's were in order, hey, it's vacation!)....
And I had a great view of the boats/dock, as I ate and watched the crew load the boats and prep our gear. Could see it well seated there, even better from my patio deck (what a great view to wake too, totally spoiled me, really
8:00, down at the dock and on the boat, ready to dive! One day we handed our cameras to the crew for a group shot. That's only1brittie back there giving Ty and myself a little "extra" good look in the photo.... but I think we'll change her name. I now proclaim her "giver of bunny ears" (seems to be a familial trait ;-)) Lol.... She really was a hoot the entire trip.
Once moored at the dive site, while we were getting into our gear (which the crew already had set up for us!) the Captain would diagram the dive and profile on this board, and do the briefing.
One thing totally new for me for open water, all the dives included guided tours. The crew (all dive instructors) both dove with the group, often splitting between those who wanted to go deeper and those who preferred to stay a bit shallower. Of course you were also free to do your own thing if you chose as well. All the deeper sites were able to be seen nicely as a shallow dive also. This is Neil, our Captain for the week. He was very competent and entertaining. Really made for a fun week. That's MTJO in the black/yellow behind him.... The crew was always back on board ahead of us, ready to help us exit the water.
This is one of the many swim throughs present at the dive sites (there are a lot of these, particularly on the deeper dives hitting around 100 feet).
And yours truly, coming through the same....
Here's one more gratuitous shot of.... Me! :-d Looks like I wore my Pro that day (I dove 3 Doxa's this trip, the 750T Pro, Milshark and Divingstar GMT). I think I'll make this one my new avatar (Pirates Week is over today :-(). I had no U/W Camera on this trip, but we had a Pro accompany us one day, she took dozens of great shots. You've seen a (very) few, I'll let some of the others post them, as well as their own (several photog's took wonderful shots, I have copies of some of their work.... c'mon guys, where's the pics already! ;-)).
During/after our surface interval (50 min to 1hr.+), we'd motor to the next dive site, a shallower reef. We'd hit that one for a lengthy dive (usually nearing one hour including a lengthy safety stop around 15-20 feet) and re-board the boat, for an enjoyable ride back to Compass Point. Here's how the resort looks when approached from the water....
Once back at the dock, we'd make our plans for the evening. No need to haul the dive gear, the crew handled that all, putting each bit in our own crate, lugging it up to the shop, rinsing it off in fresh water and hanging it to dry!
Rinse, repaeat. We'd go catch a shower and maybe a nap, and head off to whatever awaited us for the afternoon/evening. In the morning, the crew would again have our gear on the boat, assembled and ready to dive. Hey, it's vacation!
One evening (Tuesday I think it was)? Landmark Jewelers in Georgetown (the other end of the island, about 40 minutes by car) held an open house, with us as the guest of honor! Beer and champagne provided, (and soda's for us teetotalers...). I know there'll be more posts on this, so I'll keep this part brief with a few images I caught that night.
Here, JMoors is entering the store to start the evening.
Hugh Treadwell was an exceptional host, I hear he is the one who was responsible for getting Doxa to come to the island in the first place. Worth it I think, as their last COSC Milshark and a COSC Sharkhunter in stainless accompanied two of the Searaiders home that evening ;-). Ty tells me Hugh oversees a group that owns Landmark. He's the tall one in the center, that's Thor on his left.
Here's a very bad shot of my GMT in front of the Doxa display case (thought they might enjoy seeing it, as they'd not seen any! I was right, it wss a big hit among the employees). Those 750T's are all COSC models.
Finally, here is the only shot I have that shows (more or less ;-)) all 12 of the 2008 Searaiders.
From the left, JCLevoy, Cheryl (no watch nerds! :-d), T Bone (horrible pic, I'm really much better looking :-d:-x), TMahaun (back row), MTJO (man, what a collection this guy has!), Subkrawler (back row), Thor (that's a Doxa Tank folks... a prototype! We missed the boat when we didn't rave over this one and demand they produce it, it is ONE SWEET Watch!), Dr. Peter Millar, Whse (hiding behind his T Graph), SeaNymph (peeking out from behind John), JMoors, and only1brittie... er, excuse me, "giver of bunny ears"! After this, we all went upstairs to a nice restaurant for more drinks, a great dinner, a fabulous time, blah blah blah.... heheheh, you really gotta check this out for yourselves! :-! See the lucky ones in 2009.
