We attended our first Beneath the Sea oceans exposition, dive and travel show at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, in March 2024.
This conference is a non-profit that both honors and recognizes contributors to the scuba diving community and also provides scholarships to students getting into marine biology and more.
Beneath the Sea was founded by Armand Zigahn in 1976 and the event generally takes place in the same convention center yearly. The organization mission is to provide continuing education to recreational divers and educate the public about the importance of protecting the ocean environment. They also support environmental projects and charities.
We donated a couple of DRYFOB waterproof containers to the convention’s charity fund raiser silent auction. We had actually donated one ahead of time but funny enough we could not see it on the auction table. When we asked them about it the organizer told us she like it so much she had already bought it. Ha-ha! So, we left a second one to get a bit of exposure at the exposition too!
Beneath the Sea seminars
The convention had four separate speaker tracks with topics from alluring dive destinations, to dive safety and technical diving. We also got a screening of a full-length version of the “Soul of the Ocean” movie narrated and presented by the film’s producer and director (and videographer). Howard and Michelle Hall talked about all the love and the many years that had gone into filing these amazing marine life encounters.
Dan Orr’s dive safety talk about why divers make mistakes was excellent and filled with useful information. It also reminded us that it’s important to continue to stay up to date with procedures about what to do in an emergency. Such as practicing releasing weights, sharing air with a diver that’s out of air, and making sure to do a pre-dive buddy check. Also, diving within one’s training, and doing a refresher course when one hasn’t dived in a while. Another great piece of advice was to dive conservatively and even opt out of dives or skip a day of diving in the middle of a dive vacation.
Beneath the Sea exhibitors
There were also several exhibitors ranging from hotels, airlines, and liveaboards, to equipment manufacturers and resellers. We even saw one of our Florida dive shops Force-e Scuba from our favorite dive site the Blue Heron Bridge exhibiting. Many big guys like GoPro, Backscatter and DAN were also present.
We met one group from the Florida Keys that were replanting coral using a new technique of coral micro fragments. More about Plant a Million Coral Foundation
We even got some Diveheart.org coasters made from recycled wetsuits. What a great idea!
Conclusion
It was a small but intimate show. Most people we talked with had been participating for 20-30 years.
The dive community is a small and tight-knit group, and many know each other and share the love of the ocean and conservation. It was also nice to meet other ScubaBoard members and have breakfast before the conference.
We were happy to be in the neighborhood to participate this year. And of course to leave with lots of wonderful ideas for future dive vacations!