Legends of Diving Special

They lived the history, they wrote the books, now they appear at the International Legends of Diving. Legends Festival, 2X in '09 - UNEXSO and Portage Quarry.

UNEXSO of Grand Bahama Island Expands Dates for Legends

Legendary Room Rates offered in this April 2-6, 2009 Package

The International Legends of Diving, with its inaugural event in 2006 at Portage Quarry, is expanding into the Caribbean starting the first week in April of 2009. And we are doing it with your style of diving, classy at a very low cost. Each package includes a stay at the legendary Pelican Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island and legendary dives including Theo’s Wreck, Sea Hunt Reef, and an optional shark dive. Then throw in some reef dives, some surface interval time with friends and legends, and a late banquet for a memorable dive week. You supply your gear and your friends for an added value. Even your surface loving friends will stay at reduced costs and have events scheduled around your down time. Portage Quarry legends author Keith G. Cooper of the International Underwater Explorers Society (UNEXSO) will be one of your hosts for Pelican Bay Hotel with one of its many luxury rooms the week. UNEXSO is the world’s first dive training and resort facility and was the filming location for the Sea Hunt TV Series. Also expect a discussion on the history of diving with Dr. Sam Miller.   Pelican Bay Hotel is one of the newest boutique hotels on Grand Bahama Island, their accommodations afford visitors the finest combination of island and European architecture and service. Its unique Caribbean hotel and suites, accompanied by renowned hospitality and attention to detail will ensure that your stay in the Bahamas will be memorable. The rates here are lower than you will find through most travel agencies or online booking sites. Take advantage of it now and book before it is sold out. With the help of sponsors and Bryan Pennington of Vintage Double Hose we are able to extend this offer to the Midwest United States divers. They will also be there with their original gear. 1960s panorama photo of UNEXSO Dive Facility Photo courtesy of Dr. John Clement, one of the founders of UNEXSO Vintage Double Hose Celebration In 2009 Sand Dog V will be combining forces with Portage Quarry and the International Legends of Diving event to host the biggest and best vintage equipment trip yet. We will be diving in the crystal clear waters off of Grand Bahama Island with the world famous group at UNEXSO. This is the first event of its kind held at the resort and will no doubt be a hit with the world wide diving community. The vintage equipment divers will have their own private boat with a select Captain and crew that will cater to the unique needs and experience level of the divers in the group. These divers will be hand-picked to represent the very best in historically accurate vintage equipment configurations and diving techniques. Not only will this group enjoy the finest diving available around the island they will also have an opportunity to serve as ambassadors for the vintage equipment diving community by hosting a reception one evening to discuss their unique style of diving. Visitors as well as local and international press are invited to this event. Bryan Pennington of Vintage Double Hose will be responsible for the selection and organization of this group of divers. Please contact him directly if you are interested in being part of this exclusive group. Contact Bryan through his eMail address here at Vintage Double Hose or call toll free 1-866-304-2388. Jeff Rice, Portage Quarry owner, speaks with the Sand Dog V group at their annual meeting in Silver Springs, Florida, on March 28, 2008. He discussed diving in the Bahamas. A Legend of UNEXSO: Cristina Zenato Cristina Zenato was born in Italy, 21st Dec 1971, grew up in in the middle of the rain forest of the Congo Africa till the age of 15, and in doing so developed a love of the outdoors and a passion for the ocean. Life took a different turn though and at the age of 22 she went to the Bahamas to learn Scuba diving. It defined her career for working at the hotel and completing her dive training. For the past 14 years she has worked for UNEXSO, starting to work as a temporary diving supervisor back in 1998. She cave dives and Cristina Zenato explores on the island. From her exploits she has written a few short stories for newsletters about cave diving and training. With UNEXSO she also embarked in her other passion: Sharks. She first learned to feed sharks from her mentor, the legendary Ben Rose. Self taught about sharks, their behavior, and the difference in sharks, she is the shark feeder instructor for the staff training and guest program. She is in the process of writing a distinctive specialty for shark awareness. Christina has traveled to many locations to learn the behaviors of sharks. She has gone to such places as the Bimini Shark Lab, South Africa, North Carolina, and Little Bahama Bank. At these locations she has observed the behaviors of Tiger, Great White, Lemon, and Bull sharks. But her best knowledge is with Caribbean Reef shark. She has learned tonic immobility from Ben Rose and has developed it even further. She uses it to educate people and to remove hooks out of the mouths of these gentle creatures with voracious appetites. Currently she is working as a diving instructor in charge of the Technical Department as a full cave instructor and as an Extended Range Instructor. In her own words, "I dive for living and after 14 years I still live for diving." Her fascination with scuba diving started at the age of 8 when her dad was in the military, a member of the special forces dive team back in the 50s. She grew up swimming, snorkeling and playing in the water. Two "movies" reinforced her idea of wanting to be involved in Scuba Diving: a documentary about Amy Slate, and a movie about a guy who could swim with sharks, she wanted to do both. Christina speaks five different languages: Italian, English, German, French and Spanish, in order of capacity. She learned to cave dive in 1996. In 2000 she used her own time and money to train in Florida  to become a Full Cave Diving Instructor, I am #325 Full with the NSS-CDS She has worked on several films: BBC Nature, BBC Science, Discovery Channel Shark Week, National Geographic on shark feeding and tonic immobility, Ushuaia Nature program in France, Quark, Italian TV Nature program, ABC, Galatee for the movie Oceans, Movie Shark Man, movie Shark Water, and the movie Sea Wolf, just to name a few. She has worked and assisted for different magazines including Advance Diver Magazine, Skin Diver, Sport Diver. Some of the photographers/videographers she has worked with: Stephen Frink, Walt Sterns, Bob Talbot, Pete Zuccarini, Mark Wrackley, and Wes Skyles. Christina has worked pro bono for calendar photo shoots to fund shark awareness: Shark Water photo shoot, Protect the Sharks Foundation, and Shark Lab. Dive Community Involvement: Bahamas National Trust Dive Guide, Bahamas Internship Program, Environmental Moorings Project, Artificial Reef Program Diving Qualifications: UNEXSO Shark Feeder Trainer - certified 73 divers as feeders, NSS-CDS Full Cave Instructor, TDI Cavern, Intro and Cave Instructor, TDI Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures and Extended Range Instructor, TDI Advanced Wreck Instructor, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, NAUI Open Water, Scuba Instructor, SSI Rescue Instructor Diving Experience Summary: 8000+ total dives, 1600+ shark feeding dives, 600+ cave dives, 1000+ mixed gas dives They lived the history, they wrote the books, now they appear at the International Legends of Diving. UNEXSO pioneered this exciting dive almost 20 years ago and was the first to offer shark diving on Grand Bahama Island. The staff is considered to be experts in shark behavior and conservation and will organize an up-close and personal experience with the sharks at UNEXSO's Shark Junction. The expanded pre-dive briefing dispels the misconceptions about sharks, covers information about shark behavior and highlights interesting facts about these misunderstood creatures. During the dive, you'll observe these magnificent creatures as its experienced staff feeds and interacts with sharks of all sizes. You will come away from the experience with a new appreciation of these beautiful animals and understand the need for increased conservation measures. Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Department: (From Left) Charles Robins – Event Coordinator, Rosalind Pinder – Manager-Niche Markets, Jeff Rice of Portage Quarry, Jeritzen Edwards – Senior Director - BMOT, Betty Bethel – General Manager Groups, Keith Cooper – Director of Sales & Marketing and Tom Wyble of Portage Quarry. Two of the Great Legends at UNEXSO Photo with Lloyd Bridges and Al Tillman at UNEXSO - Lloyd Bridges appears with guests and UNEXSO founder Al Tillman. Tillman was a legend and co-authored with Zale Parry the dive book, Scuba America Vol. I, the Human History of Sport Diving in America. Tom Tillman photo, from the family archives

International Legends Of Diving
April 2-6, 2009, Grand Bahama Island
 

Both Dive Packages include

• Garden View Room Accommodations

• Roundtrip Airport Transfers

• Continental Breakfast Daily

• Welcome Packet and Registration

• Legendary Dives including Theo’s Wreck, Sea Hunt Reef, Shark Dive

• International Legends of Diving Collectors T-shirt

• Welcome Reception (Non-diver guest included)

• ILD Seminar with Dr. Sam Miller

• Awards Ceremony and Dinner (Non-diver guest included)

• Special non-diver activities including shopping at Port Lucaya Marketplace

• Tanks and weight belt

• 12% Bahamas Government Room Tax

 4-Day Diver Itinerary

 2009 Confidential Net Rates

*Nitrox available - $10.00 additional per dive, See terms below.