After recovering (& working like crazy) for a few days from our amazing ScubaRadio trip, I figured it was time to give my impressions of my first time to Beneath the Sea in New Jersey and our adventure to New York City!
I've been to a good number of trade shows, but this was one that I had yet to experience. My overall thoughts? It was pretty darn good! It reminded me of a smaller scale DEMA – but with consumers instead of just dive professionals. And my thoughts on New York? It's definitely not the Keys, and I'm definitely a beach bum at heart, but it did have its moments. (More on that later.)
We even had a brand new mermaid to debut with us at the show – the beautiful Mermaid Sarah!
Now… it does sound a little odd when people ask where we found her and we answer “Well… we picked her up in a bar in Vegas”. The worst part? It's true! And it just so happened that her first debut as a “guest mermaid” at DEMA was on the same day we lost another mermaid … also somewhere in Vegas. Ok – it's really not as bad as a it sounds. We were doing some end of the day networking at the convention hotel in Vegas after a long day and we met Mermaid Sarah – who is the marketing mastermind for Diamond Brand. She was working the DEMA show with Stahlsac and ran into our crew. Little did she know what she was in for as we recruited her! She joined us for her first official ScubaRadio mermaid trip – at Beneath the Sea in Secaucus, New Jersey… and things went awesome! (Sorry it wasn't somewhere warmer!!!) And the best part? She survived Greg the Divemaster's hazing ceremony better than I did! But regardless of the quality of her liver, we hope to have her on more trips!
As for the rest of the show – it was wonderful! My favorite thing is walking the show floor and seeing all of our amazing friends from all around the world as well as meeting new friends… and walk the show floor we did! There were lots of meetings to be had to get us ready for our upcoming busy summer of travel!
Also, I must mention we got “blinged” out (wow… I can't believe I just used that word) with a new line of ScubaRadio jewlery by Dive Silver! The mermaids, Pup, and even Greg were wearing ScubaRadio logo'd jewelry. As I recall saying on the air, “I feel blingtastic!” Someone please shoot me next time something like that comes out of my mouth! hahaha
In summary – it was a fantastic show & a great trip (did I mention I got to meet Robin Williams after his seeing his new Broadway show from the 6th row!?! AMAZING!)
I'm already looking forward to next year's BTS. (Although, I could request it to be a bit warmer!) However, who am I to complain seeing as I live in the Florida Keys and am leaving in less than 24 hours to celebrate ScubaRadio's 14th Birthday in Bimini at the Big Game Club with some pretty amazing dive industry people! Soooo excited! There's still time to join us!! 🙂
The best way to find out about all of our adventures in NY & NJ is to listen to the March 26th episode of ScubaRadio! (And of course, don't forget to listen live this Saturday as we broadcast from the Big Game Club on our BIRTHDAY! – EST 3-5pm)
