It was Pirate Weekend at Beaver Lake this past weekend!  TD Scuba loaded up the scuba gear and the pirate gear and headed down to Beaver Lake with 15 Open Water Students, 3 Advanced Open Water Students, 10 Fun Divers, 3 Assistant Instructor Candidates, 5 Divemaster candidates, and 5 instructors.  With over 40 people in and around the water, we had one of our biggest and most successful weekends of the year.  All the Scallywags and Pirates were into the treasure chest all weekend, pulling out prizes, completing training, and generally having a great time.

On top of that, we could not have asked for a more beautiful weekend.  The sun was out, the temperature stayed in the mid-80s, there was a slight breeze, and visibility in the lake was 30 feet.  With the help of our TD Scuba staff, we were able to work with all our students both in and out of the water.  Our surface stations gave students an opportunity to practice their compass skills, equipment setup and breakdown, and how to log their dives.

In addition to all the certifications by our Open Water and Advanced Open Water students, Jack Reynolds was able to take several of our students out for some fun dives at Starkey's Island and the Foundations.  Many thanks to Jack for offering the use of his boat this weekend!

Finally, I would like to congratulate several individuals who completed some of their dive professional requirements.  We had three students complete the requirements this weekend for Divemaster.  Lisa More, Terry More, and Patrick Thiedke completed the performance requirements to apply for their Divemaster ranking.  We also had three professionals who completed the requirements for Assistant Instructor.  Ed Boles, John Monson, and Liz McInnis all completed the requirements to receive their Assistant Instructor ratings.  Congratulations to all six of them!

This weekend could not have been successful if it weren't for the great staff of TD Scuba.  The Instructors, DMs, and DMCs all played a huge role in making this weekend a hit.  A big thank you to all of those folks. 

Our next weekend at Beaver Lake will be September 26-27.  It is the Project Aware weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone down there in September!