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Is PADI Worth 1 Billion Dollars?
Providence Equity Partners is exploring a sale of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors that could value the company at about $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The private equity firm is working with Deutsche Bank AG to find buyers for the Rancho Santa Margarita, California-based organization, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. A sale process is planned for the first quarter of 2017, the people said. Pro...
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Brion Sullivan (GypsyDiver) - RIP
Greg - 10/27/2014 6:59 PM
We lost GypsyDiver today. I met Brion through DiveBuddy. We quickly became friends. I had the pleasure of speaking with him a few times over the phone. Every time we spoke, I ended the conversation happier! Each call would include some jokes or interesting conversation that would cause him to laugh, which caused me to laugh. I ran into Brion and his wife, Bree, at a scuba trade show. They were such a cute couple. You can tell that Brion loved her very much. His arm was around her the whole time ...
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My Mom (Eve) and Biggest DiveBuddy Fan - RIP
My Mom, Eve, passed away two weeks ago today (on June 13th, 2014). For several months she was battling pancreatic cancer. I felt it was important to share this news with my fellow dive buddies as many of you have interacted with my mom since we started this scuba community. My mom was my biggest DiveBuddy fan. She was always on the website. She replied to many of your forum topics. She commented on many of your photos. While she wasn’t a certified scuba diver, she was the best damn surface suppo...
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You Know its Too Cold to Scuba Dive When...
Greg - 5/24/2013 10:26 PM
1. Your buddy has a long white beard and keeps saying, ’Ho Ho Ho.’ 2. You see more frozen fish than the Gorton’s Fisherman. 3. The divemaster is sporting fur fins. 4. Even the penguins are wearing neoprene. 5. You are taken to the dive site by way of Zamboni. 6. You had to use de-icer on your mask. 7. The guys from the Polar Bear Club are driving away, calling YOU crazy. 8. The readout on your computer just says, ’BRRR!!!’ 9. The dive boat was a US Coast Guard Icebreaker. 10. The divemaster’s pe...
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Attention Dive Shops: Do Not Fear the Internet
Some dive shops get it. Most do not. Rather than fear the Internet, bend it to your will and use it to grow your business and make divers happy. Accept the fact that modern scuba divers research and shop online for gear, travel and training. So put yourself out there! Get involved with social networks. DiveBuddy is here for you, so rather than just using Facebook or Twitter, make sure to have a presence where scuba divers are. Divers don’t go to Facebook to find new dive sites. Divers don’t use ...
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Happy Thanksgiving to my DiveBuddy family
Greg - 11/21/2012 7:00 AM
I hope you all enjoy this time with family and friends. Remember what Thanksgiving is all about. The coming together of different types of people, sharing food, drink and stories. It’s also about getting to know your enemy so one day you control their land...but don’t think about that now, just enjoy some turkey and beer, world domination comes after Christmas. But seriously, thank you for being a part of the greatest scuba community this blue planet has ever seen. Here is a challenge for you: t...
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Scuba Diver First Date Questions
Scuba divers are a different breed. If you are looking for a soul mate, you better know the right questions to ask before things get too serious. Here are a few important questions a scuba diver should ask on the first date: 1. Do you enjoy swimming or being in the water? If Yes, proceed to question 2. If No, get up and leave them with the bill. 2. Are you scuba certified or are you interested in becoming scuba certified? If Yes, proceed to question 3. If No, go ahead and enjoy the first date, b...
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Sunset House (at Texas Dive Show)
At the Texas Dive Show this year (2009), I ran into Keith from the Sunset House. The Sunset House is working together with DiveBuddy.com to help promote our website. It’s great to see such an established organization like the Sunset House support our scuba community. If you don’t know about the Sunset House, you must be VERY new to diving or you just don’t read anything or listen to anyone :) They operate a wonderful dive resort in the Cayman Islands and are celebrating their 50th anniversary th...
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Pascal - The Painter of Blue (at Texas Dive Show)
Pascal, the painter of blue, recently came to my home town to attend the Texas Dive Show. Two of my kids, Conner and Macy, had the chance to meet him (see photo). His artwork still amazes me every time I see it. He’s such a great guy and wonderful member of DiveBuddy.com. At nearly every tradeshow he attends, he’s passing out DiveBuddy stickers for us! If you haven’t checked out his artwork, you need to right now: http://www.pascal-lecocq.com/ His screen name on DiveBuddy is Bluepainter, so visi...
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Dive shop suggestions for staying alive.
Greg - 12/12/2008 10:17 AM
Everyone knows the markets and economy are down big time. Dive shops all over the world are feeling the pinch. I’m worried that next year there may be a mass exodus in the dive shop industry. Most mom and pop businesses keep a few months worth of expenses on hand to survive a slump...but I imagine that money is either gone or nearly gone by now. Business owners are probably trying to sell what they can OR get loans from family and friends OR take equity out of their house. I wanted to write this...
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Scuba Industry Bailout
Greg - 11/19/2008 12:01 PM
If the Financial and Auto industry are receiving handouts from the government, we should get in line and ask for ours! I’m not an expert on the subject, but I am a tax payer and I do understand most of what’s at stake. My opinion is that we are becoming a socialist society. If too many people buy homes they can’t afford or companies extend their credit beyond the assets they have...we step in and save them. If an auto manufacture builds gas hogs and complains that sales are down, we step in and ...
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Join the DiveBuddy.com club on LinkedIn.
Greg - 11/07/2008 12:20 PM
I just created a DiveBuddy.com club on LinkedIn. If you are a member of DiveBuddy.com and also have a LinkedIn profile, please join this club: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1197827 We can use the DiveBuddy.com LinkedIn profile to communicate with one another on a career/business level. We don’t all work in the scuba industry, but scuba divers are a breed apart, so it makes sense for us to network professionally. In business, it’s always good to know someone...maybe our relationships on DiveBuddy...
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DEMA 2008: Greg’s Post Show Blog
Greg - 11/03/2008 4:28 PM
Well, the big scuba event of the year is over. Becky (my wife) and I visited Las Vegas to attend DEMA 2008 (Dive Equipment and Manufactures Association). I recently posted lots of pictures with some of my favorite companies that exhibited at the show (View My Photos). So what did I think of the show this year? I felt the attendance was a bit lower than expected and it was not a shock to see some exhibitor booths completely empty (given the economy and all). A great video about surfing and diving...
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DiveBuddy has more "scuba" photos than PhotoBucket
Greg - 9/26/2008 10:54 AM
Did you know that DiveBuddy.com has more "scuba" related photos than PhotoBucket.com? As of Sep. 26th, 2008, DiveBuddy.com has 18,538 photos and PhotoBucket has only 13,355 photos when you search for the keyword "scuba". That’s a record worth blogging about huh? Now we need to catch up with google images, which doesn’t really count because they scan through the whole internet and borrow everyone else’s images. I know...not all our photos on DiveBuddy are "scuba" related, some are just down right...
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Scuba comment images and graphics.
Hey dive buddies! I just created some new fun images to use when posting comments to your buddies on DiveBuddy.com OR your friends on other sites like myspace or friendster. When using them on DiveBuddy...make sure to paste the image code in the HTML tab of the comment message field. Here is the link to the page with the images: http://www.divebuddy.com/comment_images.aspx If you have other ideas for comment images that would be fun to use AND help promote DiveBuddy.com, let me know. Here are so...
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New business concept for dive centers.
Greg - 9/22/2008 11:47 AM
When I first started diving about 5 years ago, the dive centers in my area (Houston, TX) were VERY cut throat. The owners of most dive shops seemed to literally hate divers that bought gear online. It amazed me that they had this attitude and I knew something had to change. Some scuba agencies promote the philosophy that the only way to make money as a dive shop is by selling Equipment, Entertainment (ie: travel) and Education (ie: training)...and that you would only do well if all three were an...
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DiveBuddy Member Comments.
I’m putting together some marketing material for DiveBuddy.com and I’d like to have comments from members. If DiveBuddy.com has helped you OR if you just love the site for some reason...please post a brief comment to this blog. By posting a comment, you are giving DiveBuddy.com the permission to use your comment and screen name on our marketing material. Thank you for your help and thanks for being a member of DiveBuddy.com...the greatest thing to happen to the scuba industry since the regulator...
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PADI EANx32 RDP Safety Recall
The following notice was copied from the Pro’s section of PADI’s website: Safety Recall Notice: Imperial EANx32 RDP PADI Americas is recalling a single version of the English Imperial EANx32 Recreational Dive Planner used for calculating dive profiles. A printing error caused a series of numbers to be out of alignment, thus incorrect. The risk of injury from these errors is remote and no injuries have been reported. All RDPs included in this recall bear the printing mark “Printed in the USA” loc...
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New Features on DiveBuddy
Greg - 7/29/2008 11:44 AM
Hello DiveBuddy members, I’ve recently added a few features that are worth blogging about: Surveys: login and you’ll see links on the member home page to view/manage surveys. Members can create their own surveys now! New Forum View: go to the forum and click the Show drop down field to change views. List View has been added which allows you to sort and shows all topics and posts in date order (most recent first). Forum Subscriptions: when you’re viewing a forum, you can subscribe to it and recei...
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Greg Davis for President in 2008
Greg - 7/16/2008 11:39 AM
DiveBuddy must be getting popular...vote for Greg Davis, President of the United States of America in 2008! My sincerest gratitude goes out to snappahead and GypsyDiver, "special" members of DiveBuddy.com, for starting this radical movement. I’m Greg Davis and I support this message....
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