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SIDEBAR - Who's riding onboard the dive boat

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. SIDEBAR# 1 FOR DIVER MAGAZINE ARTICLE (printed in next item below this) South Florida Diving Headquarters’ Manifest: A slice of Americana (with a Canuck thrown in) The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker is so one hour ago. Try three legless vets, three holidaying tattooed DEA divers, a spear totting husband and wife and a self-confessed air points whore. One morning late in April, the following signed up for a morning of diving. • Three members of SUDS (Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba). One man lost both legs in Afghanistan. The other two each lost a leg in Iran. They are accompanied by a wife and Captain John W. Thompson, president of SUDS. The group tries to dive in Pompano once every 3-months. The men don’t talk much, but, the Afghanistan vet, walking in full gear on two stumps cut above the knees, says that underwater he “isn’t disabled”. The trip is sponsored in part by Body Glove. • Seth Miller is a freelance computer expert and an avid collector of air miles. F

SIDEBAR - Contacts for Diver story about Florida diving

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. SIDEBAR #2 - STAYING IN TOUCH Florida Keys & Key West Visitors Bureau, Key West FL 800-FLA-KEYS. www.fla-keys.com . Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Fort Lauderdale, FL 800-356-1662 www.sunny.org Olympus Imaging America Inc. Center Valley, PA www.getolympus.com underwater@olympus.com Pro Dive International 429 Seabreeze Blvd. www.prodiveusa.com Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 776-3483 Quiescence Diving Services, Inc Key Largo, FL 33037 305.451.2440 phone www.keylargodiving.com South Florida Diving Headquarters 101 N. Riverside Dive Pompano Beach, Florida www.southfloridadiving.com MV Spree Live Aboard Charter Boat Key West, Florida http://www.spreeexpeditions.com/dry_tortugas.asp Martin Štěpánek Performance Free Diving Pompano Beach, Florida martin.stepanek@performancefreediving.com Underwater Music Festival Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce Big Pine Key, FL 33043 Phone:(305)872-2411 www.lowerkeyschamber.com/underwatermusicfest.htm Visit Florida Toronto, Onta

SIDEBAR - All dive photographs taken with Olympus cameras

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. SIDEBAR 3 All of the photographs used in Diver Magazine's feature on diving in south Florida were taken with Olympus cameras -- most using a new Tough 8000. The camera is shock proof, waterproof to 33 feet and is relatively goof proof (perfect for a writer who has been taking bad underwater pictures for more than 30 years). The use of the shockproof camera had me thinking about Tough jokes. Here is a sample. Tough underwater camera humour Police call to the wife of a diver. We have good news and bad news. The bad news? Your husband is dead; he was run over twice by a van. The good news? His Tough 8000 waterproof camera still works!

Best dive spots in the Florida Keys, Miami and Fort Lauderdale

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. Original version of story which appears in this month's Diver Magazine ( http://www.divermag.com/v2/index.php ) Florida Redux Battered, Shaken and Baked, But Still Going Strong By Stephen Weir Bleeding ankle – rusty spur lurking inside a sunken tanker. Sliced shin – rogue wave hits while seal-hopping onto bobbing stern platform. A divine blessing – but no miracle cures – from a reef bound Jesus. From Key West to Pompano Beach, field-testing an underwater camera is a full contact sport. There is a scuba highway that stretches from the tip of the Florida Keys to the hyper-busy Greater Fort Lauderdale Airport. More than 650,000 snorkelers and divers travel this route every year, making it the most popular dive destination in the world. Accessible. A rich variety of dive sites. Government regulated boats. North America’s biggest scuba stores. Relatively cheap places. No wonder the southern tip of Florida is the place to dive, dive, dive. And, if you are testing a camera, the place

West Coast totem pole stands tall In Ontario gallery - Don Yeomans delivers his commissioned art

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. Photo provided to Toronto Weekly Newspaper First West Coast totem pole raised at an Ontario public institution in decades Haida artist and carver Don Yeomans came to Toronto yesterday (September 1, 2009) to oversee the installation of a totem pole he carved for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The 1,000 lb red cedar carving was trucked to the public gallery in Kleinburg and installed in the building's lobby. Don Yeomans is one of the most highly respected artists on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. The gallery, with funding provided by the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, commissioned the full-scale totem pole by this artist to create a new, unique piece for the Collection that will remain on permanent view in the gallery’s Grand Hall. On the totem pole, Yeomans uses traditional iconography and totemic animals as a point of departure to comment on today’s different modes of technological communication. With this imagery, which includes an eagle holding a cell ph

West Coast Totem Raised At The McMichael Canadian Art Collection

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Photos provided to Toronto Daily Newspaper First West Coast Totem Pole Raised At An Ontario Public Institution in Decades Haida artist and carver Don Yeomans stands beside his totem pole outside the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The 1,000 lb red cedar carving was delivered today to the public gallery in Kleinburg and installed in the building's lobby. Don Yeomans is one of the most highly respected artists on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. Also pictured above is the20ft totem being raised inside the gallery. A gantry lifts Don Yeomans totem pole upright inside the McMichael Canadian Art Collection lobby in Kleinburg, Ontario. The west coast artist and carver oversaw the installation. The gallery, with funding provided by the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, commissioned the full-scale totem pole by this artist to create a new, unique piece for the Collection that will remain on permanent view in the gallery’s Grand Hall. On the totem pole, Yeomans uses traditio

Children Charity Boat Show article to be posted on Diver Magazine Website soon

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10th Annual Boating for Children’s Charity Special Preview Night raised $65,266 in Toronto. Divers are boaters too! And each year thousands of certified divers attend the Toronto International Boat Show which is held each January. Not only did divers buy boats, motors and dive accessories, many also attended the 10th Annual Boating for Children’s Charity Special Preview Night. This year the evening raised $65,266. The donations will go to four children’s charities: Camp Oochigeas, Ontario Sailing, Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, and Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund. Beneficiaries of the night include the following children’s charities close to the boating community: • Ontario Sailing: Able Sail, Access BOOM Program - Access BOOM is a mobile sailing school that brings sailing into the lives of children and youth with disabilities. • Camp Oochigeas – For more than 25 years, Camp Oochigeas has been enriching the lives of children who have cancer through the magical experience of campin