Well, last night, ComCity officially “migrated” the Dive Sports website to a new set of servers.  Of course, it went exactly as you might expect; we have been down all day.

I have said it before and I will say it again…..I don’t really understand web hosting companies.  They survive on those of us who are not computer and networks experts, but the criticize us when we don’t understand everything that they understand.  According to ComCity, I am the only reason the website is not working properly.  I did things exactly as I was told, but what I did was not exactly what they wanted.

Maybe it will be working tomorrow morning.  This is a terrible time of year to be having website problems.  I am REALLY counting the days until I am able to launch the new content management system.  It will be much easier to manage.

Phil Ellis

Buy Discount Dive Equipment and Save at DiveSports.com

I thought I would take an opportunity to congratulate some of the winners from the FREE prize giveaways at the Dive Sports Annual Christmas Party and Sale this past Saturday.  Like always, we had lots and lots of winners and I think everyone had a good time.

About 75 people were drawn to participate in the Dirty Santa game.  Each of them won prizes, including regulators, dive bags, masks, dive light, knives, and lot of other goodies.  We saw one lucky winner walk away with an Oceanic Alpha 8 regulator, another won an XS Scuba M-Line Beta Titanium knife, and yet another won UK eLED light pack.  All in-store customers that were not chosen to play Dirty Santa were given a FREE Innovative Scuba Adjust-a-Strap, with the new DiveSports.com logo.  Most important, everyone had fun!

The end-of-the-day prize drawings drew a lot of attention.  All combined, the gifts had a retail value of slightly over $10,000.

W. K. Cole was the Grand Prize winner of the complete TUSA scuba diving system.  This set included the TUSA Liberator BCJ3200 vest, a TUSA RS-240 regulator, a TUSA standard octopus, and a TUSA 2 gauge analog console.  Congrats to W.K.

Kyle Nichols won a TUSA IQ-800 wrist computer, a great addition to the dive bag.  Chuck Linholm was the winner of a $500 Dive Sports Gift Card.  The XS Scuba SeaAir regulator went to Becky Landers and it will finally give her the spare regulator she needs.  Rachel Turner was lucky and won a TUSA X-Pert Zoom split fin package, including a mask and a snorkel.  Susan Hudson won the most beautiful dive watch we sell, the St. Moritz M50 for women.  Christine Sharp won an Akona AKB144 roller backpack.

Two lucky winners, Kim Coots and Brad Cheatham, got $100 Dive Sports Gift Cards.  We are pretty certain the fit is perfect on both of them.  Jennifer Lovitt won a new ScubaMax duffel bag and regulator bag matching set.

We also did a little raffle for the party.  Congratulations to Adam Teague on being successful at winning the Sea & Sea DX860G Digital Sport package.  This is a great camera and Adam has already been in and selected a Pelican case for his new camera.  We look forward to posting some of his underwater pictures next year.

As always, the party was a blast.  Thanks to our great local divers for making it fun for another year.

Phil Ellis

Discount Scuba Gear

Well, I slept most of the day today.  Yesterday, our Annual Dive Sports Christmas Party & Sale was absolutely fun.  We had large crowds all day long, there was lots of food, beverages, and snacks available to everyone, and lots of divers got some really good deals on some cool dive gear and accessories.  It is good to see everyone in the local dive community all together and I think most people enjoyed seeing some folks they haven’t seen in a while.  If our crowd from yesterday is any indication, lots of people are going to be scuba diving in 2008.

I thought I would post a couple of pictures taken during the day of the crowd.  Again, it was great to see everyone having a good time.

We also had several very lucky prize winners.  Later today, I will try to make a post listing all of the winners and the booty they were lucky enough to win.

Again, thank to all of our friends and customers that helped make this annual event a success.

 Phil Ellis

Give Someone YOU Love Scuba For Christmas!

Our annual Christmas sale is always popular and everyone gets to pick up some neat scuba stuff at a really good price.  The SINGLE most popular thing about our Christmas sale is always the Dirty Santa game; just like the one you have played, except we provide ALL of the gifts!

In about two hours, the store will be packed to the walls with people waiting to play the game.  This year, there will be over 80 prizes under the Christmas tree, valued in the aggregate at over $3000.  As the names are pulled out of the hat and the gifts are chosen, the Dirty Santa wheeling and dealing starts.

If you are close, you still might have time to make it here before the game begins.  Come on over the play Dirty Santa with the Dive Sports crew.

Phil Ellis

Discount Scuba Diving Gear at Dive Sports

I just made the drive from my residence to the scuba store.  My drive to work each morning is about 1 hour, so I have lots of time to think during that drive.  Of course, all my thoughts this morning were about today’s party and sale.  Will the customers show up in force?  Do we have the right things for sale at the right price?  Will our merchandising and planning present a good picture to new customers who might decide TODAY that scuba diving is right for them?  Will they spend their limited holiday shopping budget on scuba?  In a small business, it is typical to always be thinking about the business.  I am no different.

Sales like the one today in our scuba store are a big deal to me.  Unlike the WalMart, Office Depot, and other large chain operations, I don’t get second chances; this one is a success or we miss the great Christmas spending season.   The degree to which we depend on the success of this  seasonal sale is amazing.  If it is successful, it fuels the preparations merchandise and inventory planning for the upcoming dive season.  If not successful, well………we just have to regroup.

Like the Christmas sales of the previous 8 years, I hope we are able to convince people that there is nothing more fun than scuba diving.  It is a great give to a friend and loved one.  It is a great gift for the entire family.  It is even a great git to give yourself, payment and reward for a year (and life) of hard work.

I will attempt to make a couple of posts to this thread today.  If possible, I will post a couple of crowd pictures.  I like for others to see that, even here in North Alabama, far from the deep blue sea, there is still an avid group of local scuba divers.  They are the ones that will be in the pictures.  Later today, I will let you see.  Thanks.

Phil Ellis

Dive Sports Annual Christmas Sale and Party