In Alabama, the mere mention of the word “snow” closes the schools, delays factory openings, sends everyone to the grocery store, and basically radically changes the lifestyle of several million people who think a harsh winter is two or more days below freezing. Our fear of cascading out of control down a snowy road, submerged forever in a dark creek or river, is stronger than any natural urge. Having been surprised in some select years in the past by heavier than normal ice and snow coatings, we are easy prey for the panic, doom, and gloom forecast by our local television stations. Yesterday and last night was typical of what we see about every two or three years…..a forecast of the “big one”.

I pride myself in not falling prey to the hysteria that is our local weather reporting. I laugh as my fellow Alabamians rush to get 10 loaves of bread and 5 gallons of milk “just in case”. Unlike others I know, I fear no weather! Unfortunately, this time they even got me.

I live in Florence, Alabama, about 60 miles from our store in Decatur, Alabama. To make my way to work, I must cross one of three bridges or river damns operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federal entity created nearly 75 years ago to manage the mighty Tennessee River and its water resources. TVA will close these transportation facilities at the drop of a hat, and when that happens, I have no way to get to the “other side of the river”. So yesterday, as everyone who dropped into the store talked about the blizzard of 2008 that was coming, I decided that I should spend the night in a local motel and eliminate the possibility of being stuck 60 miles away from my business, unable to do what I do every day, without fail…..open the scuba store. We had an open water class scheduled, we have a distinguished visiting guest from a major scuba company in today, and as always, we have the online orders that must be filled. So, for last night, I lived at the Best Western just down from the store.

Well, the Alabama blizzard of 2008 didn’t amount to much in our part of the world. A little sleet, a little snow, and a blistering 30F overnight temperature. Of course, that didn’t stop these gentle Alabama folks from creating chaos on the roads. Cars in the ditches, police cruisers everywhere, and not a gallon of milk to be found this morning on any grocery store shelf. All in all, we have survived here in Alabama. The Blizzard of 2008 will be much more interesting years from now when I am telling the story to my grandchildren. Prone anyway to a little exaggeration, I bet I will be able to tell it well 10 years hence.

Personally, I could kick myself for falling for it this time. I wasted $69 on the room fee, my skin will take weeks to recover from the scratchy hotel sheets, and Jan had to put the dog on the telephone this morning for his “daily walk” with dad. Oh well….time to go back to what we love, introducing a brand new crowd to this great sport of ours…..scuba diving. THEY will be able to say that they learned to dive during the Blizzard of 2008!

Phil Ellis

Rain, Sleet, or Snow…Get the Best Scuba Prices at DiveSports.com

Back in November, we made an announcement (November Art to Media Post) about the Art to Media waterproof dive map cards. We began our inventory with waterproof cards for the Oriskany and the Spiegel Grove. These card have been a very big success with our walk-in customers and our Internet audience. The concept of having a full 3D view of the site you are about to dive is a great one and the detail, planning, and measurement effort that went into these cards is clearly reflected in the final product.

We have recently added several more of these Art to Media waterproof cards to our inventory. In addition to the two Oriskany cards and the Spiegel Grove, we now have the shipwreck of the Duane, the Bibb, and the Eagle in south Florida. In addition, we have an Art to Media card for the reef site at the Christ of the Abyss in Key Largo.

For your next shipwreck dive, go with a detailed waterproof wreck site map card from Art to Media. We have them all in stock and ready for immediate delivery at DiveSports.com.

Phil Ellis

3D Dive Map Cards at DiveSports.com

On February 27, I made a post on this blog announcing the selection of XS Scuba as the North American distributor for MiFlex double braided regulator hoses. As an XS Scuba dealer, we are naturally excited about the introduction of any new product, so we were glad to see this agreement that would allow us to offer this hose. As is my practice with new and unique products, I made a post on www.scubaboard.com offering these hoses as a Hot Deals offering to anyone that might be interested. This is a common method we use to get a little sales boost on new products and we continue it with new products because it works. The ScubaBoard users are our good friends and customers and we always want to give them a shout when we get something new. You can use the link below to see that thread on ScubaBoard.

Dive Sports Hot Deals Thread - XS Scuba MiFlex Hoses - ScubaBoard Chat Board

I am absolutely astounded at the response we have had to this to this product. Even though we were promoting this as a pre-delivery offering, we got orders for over 25 hoses on the first day of the post! And the orders continue to roll in. The interest and discussion of this product is actually shocking and surely indicates that this is a hit. As the days since the introduction have passed, we noticed another unique thing….we had over 675 DIFFERENT users enter the term “miflex” in our internal search engine on www.divesports.com. Honestly, I can’t remember any single product getting that much search action in such a short period of time. And remember, this is a brand new product not being seen by US customers in their local scuba store. So, the question is….why is this hose so hot?

Well, there is no doubt about it…the XS Scuba MiFlex hose offers some attributes that would be a considerable improvement over the standard scuba hose. They are very flexible. Standard hoses often pull at the diver’s regulator due to high rigidity. The XS Scuba MiFlex does not. They are light. Standard hoses, especially in the longer lengths can be heavy. The XS Scuba MiFlex is not. They are durable. Standard hoses have a realistic life of about 5 years with an active diver. The testing by the manufacturer suggests that the XS Scuba MiFlex hose might by 3 times more durable than a standard hose. Best of all, the XS Scuba MiFlex hose really looks cool! It gives a regulator set an upscale look and feel. We have a sample here in our store and everyone that sees it remarks on the great looks.

Apparently, the interest in the XS Scuba MiFlex hose indicates that there has been dissatisfaction with old standard rubber scuba hose. For years, we thought we would just need to live with it. Now, with the introduction of the XS Scuba MiFlex double braided regulator hose, maybe we don’t. You see, ANYTHING can be improved. This is a great example of improvement.

Phil Ellis

XS Scuba MiFlex Regulator Hoses - Buy Them Now at Divesports.com

We have just completed our March newsletter and scheduled it for delivery at 6AM on Monday. For this month, we are offering a new discount code to allow our customers to continue with the savings at www.divesports.com. This new coupon code is MARCH15 and it gives an immediate, online discount of $15 OFF of any online order totaling $150 or more, not including shipping and sales tax. Like all discount codes, this one is applied at the shopping cart and the discount is shown on your electronic invoice. This discount code cannot be used with any other discount. If you apply the MARCH15 code and then attempt to apply another discount code, the last code applied will be the active one. Additional information about using discount codes can be found at www.divesports.com. Simply click the Promotions Link on the gray menu bar in the header of the website.  Note:  This discount code can ONLY be used for online, electronic purchases.  It cannot be used for purchase in our brick and mortar store.

DiveSports.com was the first scuba diving retail site to provide our users with a link that explains ALL of our discount codes. We will continue to offer you THE BEST PRICES POSSIBLE on all of your scuba diving equipment and accessories. Remember, at Dive Sports, we want to be your local scuba store, no matter where you live!

Phil Ellis

Save More with Discount Codes at DiveSports.com