Peter Rea and Melissa Fryer, who have been with us since April 2004, tied the knot on August 26 under the gazebo in the beautiful tropical gardens of The St James Club, Mamora Bay, Antigua.

BVI Boating Week At The Bitter End Yacht Club - 6-14 January 2006

Soundings, www.soundingsonline.com, The Nation's Boating Newspaper, will be holding BVI Boating Week at The Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) in January for the serious boating enthusiast. Encompassing both the sailing and powerboating lifestyles, guests will have a personal introduction into the wonders of chartering a boat in the British Virgin Islands. Professionals will be on hand to welcome guests aboard some of the latest designs the top charter companies in the BVI have to offer. Guests will also have the chance to take part in many different boating activities ranging from seminars, daily excursions, hands-on training as well as racing, fishing, scuba diving, surfboarding and kite boarding.

Sail Caribbean Divers are delighted to partner Soundings in this event by co-sponsoring an Ultimate Watersports Day on January 13th. They will offer guests the opportunity to try scuba diving for the first time, or show certified divers what lies beneath the surface of the BVI waters.

For those more interested in a little nautical history with a drink on the beach, BEYC will host the resort's first celebration of Rum Day! Find out why rum has always been considered a sailor's drink. Guests will learn how important the trade of rum was for the islands, America, and Europe while sampling the many different types and specialty drinks that are the perfect complement to any vacation.

Contact the Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) for reservations and let them know that you want to take part in BVI Boating Week: 800-872-2392 or 305-468-0168 or visit www.beyc.com.

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Sail Caribbean Divers Presents A Very Distinctive Specialty Course

RMS Rhone Diver

We are excited to bring you news of The "RMS Rhone Diver Specialty", a PADI Distinctive Specialty that is now exclusively available at our PADI Gold Palm IDC Resort on Tortola in the beautiful British Virgin Islands. The program was co-written by Master Instructor, Melissa Rea, and resident Course Director, Mike Rowe, and has been officially endorsed by PADI.

The Royal Mail Steamship Rhone is our most requested dive site and is regularly voted the top wreck dive in the Caribbean. We believe the PADI Distinctive Specialty is the perfect opportunity to enhance such a memorable dive experience.

Aside from the general fascination that divers have about wrecks, there are many reasons for taking the course:

The wreck is steeped in history - her revolutionary engineering and sea-going qualities, her voyages, cargoes, passengers and, of course, her untimely demise in the Great Hurricane of 1867;
An introduction to the many artifacts that remain on the ocean floor;
The aquatic life that inhabits the wreck and thrives under the Protection of Marine Park status - even those that are not keen wreck divers often vote the RMS Rhone as the best dive in the British Virgin Islands, or even the Caribbean, because of the variety and abundance of life on it.
Photography - the RMS Rhone has everything a photographer could dream of, clear water, impressive structures and tropical reef life.

Upon successful completion of this course, divers will receive a Specialty Certification card. Each Specialty Certification may be applied toward one of the five certifications required for the Master Scuba Diver rating; the highest PADI non-professional rating that can be attained.

For more information on this, or any other PADI course, please call us on (284) 495 1675 or visit our website on www.sailcaribbeandivers.com.

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Special DEMA "sneak preview"

Cooper Island "DIVE-IN"

June 10 - 17, 2006

Join Sea Dog Divers for a jam packed week of diving, fun, activities and relaxation while staying in a shore side paradise at the exclusive Cooper Island Beach Club. We have reserved this entire little resort (the only one on the island) for our friends and guests. Imagine a place with your own private stretch of beach, shore diving & snorkeling, great food and privacy all at your doorstep. The dive boat will pick you up each day just a few steps from your front door, the beach is just a few steps away, and the excellent restaurant & bar is a very short walk. You get the idea - it gets no better than this...your own personal paradise!!

Click here for details

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Guest Photos!

We love it when you send us copies of your photos of your visit to Sail Caribbean Divers and the BVI. We just put up a whole new slew of them in our Photo Gallery! Click here to take a look at the good times!

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We Love Your Letters!

It's Monday and I really missed that 8:30am dive boat pickup. I wish we were all still there! Every time I think about the dive on the Chikuzen I just rub my eyes in disbelief - pretty cool wasn't it? I guess most of you are at work now, but I'll bet that your mind keeps drifting back a few days.....

On behalf of Sea Dog Divers, Sail Caribbean Divers & Cooper Island Beach Club, I would like to thank each of you for making this a great and enjoyable trip. Here is the secret recipe that I used to plan this wonderful adventure:

Start with a fantastic location, add some old friends & new friends, blend with an exceptional staff, mix in some boats & sand, season with a bit of Rum, then mix thoroughly and just let it all simmer for about 7 days in the beautiful sun & water of the Caribbean

We call the result.......the British Virgin Islands!!

After the fantastic week that we have had, I think all of you can now appreciate why I feel so strongly about Sail Caribbean Divers. In my eight years of leading dive expeditions throughout the Caribbean, SCD is without question the best Caribbean dive operator that I have found - by a wide margin......consistently high standards of customer service & professionalism, excellent boats, equipment & facilities, and a well trained, capable and seasoned staff - after a week, it's more like diving with your best friends!

Mike & Mel - thank you for your ongoing friendship & support! Three cheers and special thanks also go out to Ian & Rona, the excellent SCD dive staff, and the wonderful CIBC staff!!

Congratulations also go out to the following members of our crew who achieved some significant milestones during this trip:

Mike Bedell - Wreck Civer Specialty & Boat Diver Specialty
Bill Bi llek - boat Diver Specialty & Master SCUBA Diver
Leslie Billek - Advanced Open Water & Boat Diver Specialty
Giles McWilliam - Advanced Open Water & Boat Diver Specialty
Kathy Stahl - Boat Diver Specialty & Advanced Open Water (SDI)
Jenniefer Toussaint - 100th Diver
Christine Stahl - 100th Dive

Joe Eaker - Broke his personal dive time record again and again and again

Hope I didn't miss anyone...

Upon crossing the Sir Francis Drake Channel under sail, 3 new Pirate Captains earned their commission in a special secret ceremony of the "Sea Dog Brotherhood" on this voyage:

Captain "Black" Bill
Captain "Rail-in-the-Water" Chris
Captain "Margarita" Mike

And of course who could forget Captain Ian's mid-voyage promotion to "boat Monkey" - that guy is amazing! And we are all still plotting on how to kidnap Rona and bring her to Chicago!

I hope that each of you created some memorable moments and that you are already thinking about going back as I am. In a short time you will be receiving an invitation to our Sea Dog Divers post trip "After Dark" event. As always, the highlight will be the premier of our spectacular trip video. Watch for details.

One last request...I know many of you took photos both above and below the surface. If you could please take any & all shots that you would be willing to share and put them on a CD and then get them to me, I will select shots to place in the "Dive Journal" on our website, and will then forward them all to Venson. As a special service, he will then create a photo gallery on the DVD as an easy way of sharing everyone's photos with the whole group.

Please send your Photo CDs to me as soon as possible at:

Sieg Stahl

Sea Dog Divers

20717 S. Hickory Creek Ct.

Frankfort, IL 60423

Thanks again, and I hope to see all of you soon on an upcoming adventure with Sea Dog Divers.

Cheers,

Sieg

PS, I am already having serious Conch Fritter withdrawal!!

Hello there!

First I would like to thank everyone for their warm welcome (this was my first dive trip holiday - ever) and for what was an amazing week!

I have uploaded all the (better) photos onto my Flikr site, so you can browse and download the ones you like. I have adjusted the colours on Photoshop, but they are still quite blue.

Be sure to click on "all sizes" above the picture to get the full resolution picture.

Unfortunately some are low res (640x480) as I'm a bit of a nincompoop and had my camera on this setting for half the trip...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gillux/sets/761195/

I hope you like..

Take care!

Giles

PS: be warned the Cooper panorama picture is massive in full resolution (11303 x 1454 pix)

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In conjunction with the BVI Scuba Operators,

proudly presents

WRECK WEEK 2005

OCTOBER 22-29^TH

JOIN US FOR A WEEK OF GREAT DIVING AND FUN ACTIVITIES

Accommodations provided by

LAMBERT BEACH RESORT

Garden Rooms-$127
Garden Rooms Superior-$170
Beach Front Rooms-$250
All rooms will have a 17% government tax applied

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Sail Caribbean Divers Receives PADI Award of Excellence!

We were especially pleased recently to welcome our PADI Regional Manager, Stush Doviat, to "The Surface Interval", our new satellite dive facility on Cooper Island, where he performed the official opening.

Nestled amongst the Sea Grape Trees at beautiful Manchioneel Bay, The Surface Interval is manned daily to offer air fills, dive education, rendezvous diving and retail to visitors in the busy mooring field.

While he was here, Stush also took the opportunity to present Sail Caribbean, the Teenage Summer Sailing side of the business, a PADI Award For Excellence in Design for their 2005 brochure. The new PADI - Pro Brochure was modeled after this brochure. Sail Caribbean has used this design for the past five years with great success and hopes PADI will have as much success with their version. For more details on Sail Caribbean's Teen Sailing and Scuba Diving Adventures visit www.sailcaribbean.com

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To celebrate the launch of

"THE SURFACE INTERVAL"

our new satellite dive facility on Cooper Island,

we are offering you

'DOLLAR DAYS'.

From Monday, May 23^rd through Thursday, May 26^th

you'll be able to buy

Free Air

(with certification)

(for $1 we will pump it into your tank!)

$1 kayak rentals

(no re-fuelling charge!)

$1 sessions on snorkel scooters

$1 PADI Discover Scuba sessions
(9:00am and 1:30pm only)

T-Shirts at 10 % discount

Daily scuba rentals at 50% discount

In addition to these special launch offers, you'll be able to continue to book all our regular services:

rendezvous diving

night diving

full range of PADI dive education

equipment rentals

watersports rentals

and shop at our retail store

You'll find The Surface Interval on the beach nestled amongst the Sea Grapes at Manchioneel Bay,
where our professional staff will be happy to help you from 8:30am to 5:00pm daily.

For further information about this or any other aspect of our operation, contact Sail Caribbean Divers on

284 495 1675 / 284 496 8663 or visit us at www.sailcaribbeandivers.com.

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Sail Caribbean Divers Receives Award From Princess Cruise Lines.

As another successful cruise ship season comes to an end, Princess has chosen their top excursions at each port. Sail Caribbean Divers is proud to have won the Best Low Volume (small group) Tour on Tortola 2004-2005. These selections come from positive guest and staff feedback. A ceremony was held in April onboard the ship and SCD representatives were present to accept the award.

Comments from Princess Cruises On-Board Dive Instructor:

"I'd like to thank each member of the Sail and Scuba Caribbean team for the positive attitude and professional support over the past six months. My students and our diving passengers have always extended their compliments regarding your operation and deservedly so. Keep the spirit alive! I will look forward to working with you and the staff in the future."

Best wishes,

Phil Kellner

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Thanks for the Support!

Sail Caribbean Divers Earth Day Clean Up Cooper Island

With the help of 40 diving and snorkeling volunteers, we were able to pull 662 lbs of rubbish from Manchioneel Bay. This semi-annual event was a success and beat the standing weight record by over 60 lbs lbs. Along with bottles and cans, some notable treasures were found including sunglasses, boat hooks, cameras, breeze boosters, towels, and diving masks. Thank you to every one who participated in keeping the BVI pristine and beautiful.

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Support 'Dive In To Earth Day' with Sail Caribbean Divers

Friday, April 22nd marks the 6th anniversary of Dive In To Earth Day. This organization, along with PADI Project Aware encourages volunteers to get involved with aquatic conservation activities. Sail Caribbean Divers are contributing by holding a beach and underwater clean up in Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island. This event is open to the public and scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm. Free boat transportation departs from our base at Hodges Creek Marina at 1:00 pm and will return at 5:00 pm. Free dive equipment is also available for certified volunteers.

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Dolphin Pods Cruising the BVI

Eamon Guilfoyle, one of the Sail Caribbean Diver Team, caught these dolphins playing in the boat wake.

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	Phone: 284-495-1675 Fax: 284-495-3244 E-mail: info@sailcaribbeandivers.com
FIND IT HERE!