It’s time for the pirates to converge on the Blue Lagoon for a weekend of training, fun, and pirate debauchery. Below is a simple schedule to give you an idea of how the weekend will be structured.

This weekend will involve some students getting their open water certification, others training to be adaptive instructors, while other divers will be taking continuing education. Please bring all of your learning materials, log books and gear for this weekend! We’ve also included a waiver and a medical release form to be completed and signed before you can participate. Medical releases expire every 12months, so it must be current to dive, and if you mark yes to any of the medical questions, you must have the form signed by a physician.  Don’t forget to bring your bathing suit, sun screen and a towel!

As an added bonus, we are giving you a chance to earn a Commodore membership to the foundation, which makes you eligible for not only the membership t-shirt, but also a coveted Pirates embroidered jacket and other pirate booty.  All you have to do is have the most money donated in your Pirate Piggy Bank.  The winner will be announced Saturday night, but be warned… others picked up banks at the Dive Pirates Ball, while other dive stores are in the running too, so don’t be shy matees, take your bank to work, see if you can leave it at your favorite watering hole, there’s great booty at stake here!  We will also be selling squares for a dive computer, to be awarded Sunday night.

Your passage into The Blue Lagoon is complimentary, as long as you give a big THANK YOU to Phil and Sharla Riggs (the owners). The Blue Lagoon offers shelters and gently sloping beaches for easy water entry, as well as primitive camp sites and vittles (concessions).  Find out more about The Blue Lagoon at www.bluelagoonscuba.net.

We are also designing some radical t-shirts to commemorate the weekend, which will be $20 a piece to help raise funds for our students who still need help with their fundraising efforts. BYOM and BYOD (bring your own meat/drink) for our barbeque evenings on Saturday and Sunday, and pack plenty of water to keep hydrated!

Many of us are bunking down at Holiday Inn Express.  Here’s the info if you would like a room there too:

Holiday Inn Express

148 Interstate 45 S.

Huntsville, TX

936-295-4300

Other Key Contacts:

Blue Lagoon:                                                                                                      Texan Scuba Classroom:

649 Pinedale Road                                                                                           2216 Ave I

Huntsville, TX                                                                                                     Huntsville, TX

(Exit 123 off I45 and 4 miles on left)                                                         Phil Riggs cell 936-291-3483

936-438-8888

Texan Scuba Pool:                                                                                           DAN/Stress and Rescue/NITROX Classroom:

123 American Bank Street                                                                            First United Methodist

Huntsville, TX                                                                                                     Texas Hwy 19

Riverside, TX

Dive Leaders:                                                                                                    Volunteer Leaders:

Stacey Minton 505-239-3796                                                                       Theresa Cortez 210-347-9383

Mark Parker 824-724-5174                                                                           Robin Reynolds 281-704-2430

Barbara Thompson 832-212-1967

Sophie Wimberley 832-483-1683

Here’s looking forward to a fun training weekend, pirate style!

Aye Matees, To put this blog in context, it was mostly drafted on my blackberry while freezing my pirate booty off at a little league game in Wall, TX. Nothing makes you long for the Caribbean like sitting on a metal bleacher while the red dirt of the cotton fields swirl around you (at 55 degrees and 30mph!)

Davey Jones Locker holds large bounty for trainees New Mexico Scuba Center’s Davey Jones Locker Underwater Puzzle Challenge scored its best bounty yet! More than enough to cover Michael Malarsie and his dive buddy Camren Asay! 57 divers took part, including adaptive divers Kat Weil, Shawn Unruh, Veronica Padilla, Karen Kolke and Edie Guess. New Mexico’s success is the great community of past students and volunteers who’ve created a family and a desire to continue paying it forward. Got to give it to them, finding a creative dive event in the middle of the desert in February!

Others getting wet in these not-so-warm months… Roger Nelson just went through his first training, thanks to instructors Nigel Lakey, Mark Parker and Buccaneer Barb. In true pirate form, they picked up more crew… Mammoth Dive Shop! Those scalleywags offered theirfacility, and look to train instructors to become a fully operational chapter. (Incoming Stacey!) Thanks Ryan Lalumandier and Mammoth for granting safe harbor for our crew, heard youwere well paid with smiles, and praise (that’s code for now that we’re friends we won’t loot your store!)

JAWS is circling….JAWS (Just Add Water Solutions) will be hiding in the cargo hold on the way to the Brac! They’ve asked to sneak some of their quality products into our goodie boxes for those pirates going on either 2012 trip. Besides an awesome trip t-shirt, travelers will also receive Quickspit to better see the beauty below. (much more sanitary for you ‘germophobes’…) Thank you for such a generous sponsorship! If you are not familiar with JAWS Products, click on their logo above, lots of great stuff!

BTW the video… Ok, in my haste to communicate the fun of the Ball, I forgot one of thehighlights… THE VIDEO! Its been making the rounds on facebook, but wantedto make sure you’ve all seen it! Starring the 2011 Recipients…

2011 Brac with Friends (Brought to you by Crouching Dachshund Productions and Backdog studios…Who moonlight guarding the pirate headquarters in The Woodlands) This is your subtle hint to watch through all of the credits to see “the dawgs.”

For those of you considering the Scurvy Birdie Golf Tourney in San Antonio April 13, I need you to register… yesterday! To make it easy for you, click here! Time to warm up with some hot rum punch!

Theresa the Terrible

Ay Matees… If you’ve been watching facebook, you’ve seen some fun pics from the ball from me, and some of the other pirates on deck.  If you haven’t, check it out…

Record attendance, lots of past recipients…
This year’s ball was the best yet… in so many ways, but one thing that struck me was the number of past recipients that came!  So great to see the ball as another “reunion” event, just like the trips. Good viddles and grog were had by all, along with the most successful silent and live auctions to date.  I can’t say thank you enough to all of you, and your friends who support our efforts!

Past recipients and buddies granted safe passage to Blue Lagoon!
A surprise that was tough to keep under wraps… Past recipients were called to the stage to receive their special SSI cards in partnership with the Pirates of Blue Lagoon, offering all past reciepients and their buddies a place to dive in Texas free of charge.  The site of our Cutthroat Chili Coo-koff and open water certifications will now by a harbor for pirates to keep diving for years to come… thank you Phil and Sharla Riggs!

Pirates in Training…
Recipient Roger Nelson and his adaptive buddy and brother-in-law Robert got wet this weekend as they continued preparing for the 2012 trip.  Instructors, friends, share your pics on facebook so we all can keep up with the adventures of training, etc!

Much more coming soon my friends, until then, guard the booty and the rum!

Theresa the Terrible
theresa@divepirates.org

Ay Matees… Reporting in from the port of New Orleans  where many a pirate docked for the SSI Dealer’s Conference,… more on that in a minute (with pictures!) … but first…
The 8th Annual Dive Pirates Ball is this Friday!
The excitement is brewing as pirates from around the world have sent in their wares for auction to  secure the next set of crew members.   Let me tempt you with this pretty….  A European Barreta 12 gauge shotgun. just one of the many really cool items to barter over!  Keep your eye on Fox 26 News in Houston for a feature on one of our pirates Friday morning (always subject to change, bloody news pirates!)

Pirates in Drag…
Pirates from across the country and the Pacific converged on the Port of New Orleans to learn more tricks of the trade during the SSI Dealer’s Conference, taking advantage  of the Mardi Gras theme to walk the streets incognito. Seven Dive Pirate chapters represented, with about 7 more committing to help fundraise to build the crew! Thank you Doug McNeese, the Devore’s and all of the SSI family! (more pics on our facebook page!)

Pirates in Training…
Recipient Michael Malarsie and his buddy spend their holidays at New Mexico Scuba Center with Stacey Minton getting certified, while Dillon Cannon  got started at WW Diving in Humble, TX.  Roger Nelson should get wet this month too!  Pirates, take pictures, have someone take a flip cam, or use your phone and load it to the dive pirate channel on you tube, share on our facebook page!   Will have highlights from the ball! Until then, guard the booty and the rum!

Theresa the Terrible
theresa@divepirates.org

Merry Christmas Pirates!  I hope you all are enjoying your families, whether by land or sea (some of our notorious pirates are spending their holiday diving!) More power to you!   I want pictures!  Should anyone get any great diving/pirate related booty under the tree, please sent me a quick pic so I can add it to the blog!

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you…. To our men and women in the armed or civil forces, to their families who support them, to the many dive pirates who give their vacation time, volunteer time, etc. to share with others the freedom of diving, and to the great people at the Brac Reef Beach Resort, Reef Divers, and SSI and our Dive Pirates Board of Directors.

Some quick Pirate Posts:

Scuba Santa has been good to our adaptives in training, as donations have come in on behalf of the Christmas Card Campaign!  Thank you students and buddies for making that happen!

Each of our adaptives in training have a new addition to their wish list pages… an “any amount” can be donated to help defray the costs, giving those who want to give more options.

Pennies for Pirates!  Wallin’s Dive Center in San Carlos, CA, an official Dive Pirates Chapter, sent us this picture as an example of their pennies for pirates campaign.  They went to area businesses and asked to have their penny banks at various cash registers, and they were gathering up the booty before shipping off to the Caymans for the holidays!

Be a fan on facebook!  We are trying to reach more and more people, so be sure to invite your friends and family to fan us, and post about your adventures!

Lastly, I’d like to share a link about one of our recipients this year, Dillon Cannon.  He was featured in the Lufkin Newspaper and honored with a deer hunt. We’re happy for you Dillon, we can’t wait to go diving with you!

Merry Christmas Pirates, may your bounty be great, and your generosity towards others greater…

Theresa the Terrible ( burr!)

Our 2012 students and buddies are writing to Scuba Santa, asking all of those who fill their stockings to think about filling their mesh bags instead with goodies to go diving! Students, Buddies, make sure to get your Christmas cards out!  Members, spread the Zen of diving by contributing to our adaptive divers-in-training directly on our web site!

Maybe your office can pool their funds for one student…

Maybe you can start a tradition in your home to replace one gift with a donation to help someone with limited mobility…

Maybe you have a better idea, and can share it with the rest of us!

Another super cyber idea…

Re-up your membership for yourself or a loved-one for Christmas!  You pay the membership, they will get Pirate Booty in the mail… you don’t even have to leave the house/office! Click here and you’re on your way!

(for those of you who have sent in your membership, you should have an email or a phone message from me asking for t-shirt sizes, pirate names, etc.  I want to share the pirate booty and bling and make sure your info is on the wall of shame…err… members, so let me know!)

from left to right: Sophie, Barbie, Juan Chico and Mama Lou

Team BS at Concho Cove…

Team BS (Barb and Sophie) came to Concho Cove over Thanksgiving to visit Mama Lou, the matriarch of this pirate clan.  Besides great grub and grog we pirates plotted away on events to come… here’s a quick update:

The Pirates Ball:  Feb. 17th   in Houston.   Mark your calendars and look for silent auction items!  If you have something to donate, contact board member Robin Reynolds.  I’m already hearing about some cool things coming in!!!!!

The Video…

the video for this year’s ball is almost complete, and highlights the 2011 recipients.  It takes you back, can’t believe that was six months ago that we were all playing in the Caymans!  That also means we only have six months to go to get ready for the next trip!!!!

We schemed about so much more, but if I told you, they would have my head.  Bloody Pirates!
Until next time, guard the booty and the rum,

Theresa the Terrible

Karl "Bro-Man" Brown

Pirates, so much to talk about… where do we start???? How about last Friday morning… the Pirates were asked to make an appearance on the Fox 26 morning show with Dive Pirate and morning anchor Jose Griῆan.  To promote Saturday’s Cutthroat Chili Cook-off our recipient Dillon Cannon, Blue Lagoon owner Phil Riggs and I appeared on the morning show and “attempted” (I use the word lightly) to prepare Buccaneer Barb’s Broadside Chili. Let’s just say we tried to get the message across it would be a great time… more on the chili cook-off in a minute…

Meanwhile, across town, “The Bro-Man” (aka Barb’s and my Brother) was registering golfers at the Scurvy Birdie Tournament.  We had a good crowd, a big thanks to our members who pulled together a foursome for the event. (Buccaneer Barb, Buddy Devoe, Kurt Byth, and Steve Racca)

1st Place MacDermid Solutions

2nd Place PPI Technology Team 1

3rd Place Jacobs Engineering

4th Place PPI Technology Team 2

Closest to the Pin and Longest Drive, Scott Kopsick of MacDermid Solutions

And let’s not forget who got the ultimate door prize, the Boner Beer Basket!!!! Congrats  Brett  Pope!

Dillon spent lunch with the golfers, who thanked him for his service!

On to the Blue Lagoon!

Saturday morning divers arrived at the Blue Lagoon near Huntsville, TX and set up their tailgates for theCutthroat Chili Cook-off  competition.  Phil Riggs, who owns Texan Scuba in Huntsville and the Blue Lagoon,.  graciously offered Blue Lagoon II for the event.  In preparation for the event, Phil and Sharla Riggs made some accommodations at the park to make it more accessible for our adaptive pirates like adding two new covered shelters to Pavilion 4 and 5 and grading the slope down to the lagoon for easy access.  Two accessible portapotties were donated by A-1 Septic of Huntsville, TX.  We can’t thank them enough, the Pirates of the Blue Lagoon!The events kicked off with an underwater scavenger hunt, with more than $3,000 in prizes including dive computers, etc.  Thanks to our sponsors Texan Scuba, WWDiving, and various donors for making that happen!

Chili'd to the Bone!

Now for the Chili…

The names were awesome, and the chili was perfect after diving in the 70°F water of Blue Lagoon.!  A tough competition:  You’ve already heard of Buccaneer Barb’s Broadside Chili, there was the Kelso Family’s “Cannon Ball Chili” in honor of Dillon Cannon, Pirates of the Blue Lagoon Chili, Chili’d to the Bone, the Wild West Chili, and Pirate’s Skull Chili.  Chili’d to the Bone won best name hands down, (walking away with the Boner Beer Basket!) while the Blue Lagoon walked away with both the Judge’s and the People’s Choice awards.

Sean and Ed

Oh, and the diving…

Big Congrats to Jesse Cannon, 2011 recipient who came out for the event and completed his 50th dive with Swashbuckling Sophie!  Other past Pirates in attendance were Sean Barr and Alan Bailey.  Thank you and all of our members and friends (and new friends) who came out!  Looks like this will be the start of a yearly event that looks to get crazier every year!

What’s on Deck…

Chapters are busy raising money and building relationships between dive clubs and their pirate members…

Tom Bartley in San Antonio is holding a buoyancy clinic and all around party at this place, Dive Masters Saturday, Oct. 29th…

Connie and John Iszler   in Michigan are gearing up for a Christmas party aimed at raising funds for their chapter…

Wallin’s Dive Store in California is promoting the Pirates at their cash register with donation banks, as well as asking other businesses in the community to do the same.

The New Mexico Scuba Center is gearing up for its traditional “Davey Jones Locker Underwater Puzzle Challenge” in February and

December 3rd WW Diving is having their annual Christmas Party, and proceeds will be donated to the Dive Pirates!

What is your chapter doing??? Let us know! Every little bit helps!

Team BS (Barb and Soph) are headed to DEMA next week to meet up with Trudy from the Brac Reef Beach Resort and Rogest (the designer of our very cool trip shirts).  They will be sharing with others in the dive industry how incredibly cool the Brac Reef Beach Resort is for all divers, and how much fun our reunion trip will be with Rogest in tow September 2012.  If you have not registered for the first ever Reunion Trip, please see our website for details https://www.divepiratesfoundation.org/events/reunion/ Trudy has a special price for our divers, and we have availability today.

Lat    = 31 degrees,   11.6 minutes   North
Long = 100 degrees,   29.9 minutes   West

LABOR OF LOVE…

A lot of activity this Labor Day Weekend!  We’ll get straight to it!!!

Pete the Pirate and Glenn Anderson

Swashbuckling Sophie went to Hawaii to meet with Kona Honu Divers owners  Glenn and Maggie Anderson to discuss their soon-to-be Chapter Status (how does she get these gigs???) when who was there when she arrived???? Pete the Pirate (aka Peter Gamble, big time DPF supporter) hanging out with Glenn and enjoying diving in Hawaii!!!  Peter is an adaptive diver who found out about us, and paid his way to go diving with us a few times, and was happy to be around some like-minded divers.

Very Cool!  Back to Kona Honu Divers, they will have a visitor soon who will be teaching adaptive scuba instruction, (Now I can see why Stacey Minton gets the Hawaii gig, but shouldn’t I be there to blog???)  I digress, so once they have the certification Kona HI will be its own self- contained chapter on our island state to the west.  We met Glenn at the SSI Diver’s Conference in Denver back in February, and welcome his enthusiasm and vision for the islands!

Speaking of new Chapters…

We welcome aboard Wallin’s Dive Center in San Carlos, CA! Joe and Margo Lillie are wonderful people who have been doing a few special sales and drumming up some fundraising for their Chapter.  They’ve placed special “pirate banks” at cash registers of dive-friendly businesses donned with Dive Pirate Logos,  and I know we’ll be hearing more from them soon!

SAVE the DATES!!!!!

All Pirates need to attend if within a reasonable radius to either event!!!

Dillon Cannon

Scurvy Birdie Golf Tournament in Houston Oct. 21, 2011. Follow this link for the details! We need players, sponsors, etc!  Click here to go directly to online registration.  And Meet Dillon Cannon, our Houston area veteran and soon to be full- fledged pirate!

Cutthroat Chili Cookoff and Underwater Scavenger Hunt at the Blue Lagoon Oct. 22, 2011

We’re still working out the pirate code for this one (more like guidelines) and will post ASAP, but expect a day of fun!  The Blue Lagoon is an excellent location for completing open water certification, scavenger hunts, and a great local diving spot.  Throw in a little chili and diving debauchery and it’s going to be a party!  Much more very, very soon!

Have you seen our students in training???

We’re putting our new students on the web site with a wish list for all the scuba booty needed to be a Dive Pirate.  Students can link to it and send it to their friends and family, facebook it, etc.  That way those who want to help them out know their donation goes directly to that person… from helping with fins or a wetsuit to helping with the trip.  Check it out! As I get pictures from our new students we’re getting them posted… the sooner you are up the sooner you could be steering peeps to your wish list!

From the mailbag:

Mark Parker and Johnny Fisher at WWDiving

Got these pics from instructor Nigel Lakey who spent Labor Day Weekend with a new dive pirate in training… Johnny Fisher!  A real go-getter who wanted to give adaptive diving a try, he raised his own funds for scuba gear and jumped right in!  More on Johnny on the web soon!

Kat and BJ

Kat and BJ, thanks for sending fun pictures from the trip!  But I’m only posting my favorite… BJ and Kat celebrating BJ’s new medical clearance!  BJ is a super mom to Kat (and all of us on the trip) and has been a great adaptive dive buddy. Glad to see she’s taking great care of herself and a doctor says she’s ready for more underwater adventure!

Received a note from a very interesting person, who wanted to donate his diving gear to us.  An adaptive diver himself, he loved to travel and dive.  He wanted to share the adventure with others, and found us online.  Greg Funk, he has a pirate’s name and a pirate’s heart.  I asked “why not keep the gear and come diving with us?”  His answer stays with me.  His MS has progressed to where travel is no longer possible, let alone diving, but he wants others to celebrate mobility while possible.  Thank you Greg!

Are you on board?

I’m still having fun mailing out pirate booty to our friends who renewed their membership (and chose to help others afford gear to have fun on the high seas) but I must say, I’ve got a lot more booty then I have members!!!  We have more applicants then we have money for gear, so this goes beyond the latest do rag… and those without passage just may not make it back to port!

I leave you with one more chore my pirates…. Check out our  you tube channel hosted by pirate video sista!  We need the hits, we need you to share with your friends…. We need to put DPF on the social map!

Until next time, guard the booty and the rum…

Theresa the Terrible

I’ve been keeping this little place busy, mailing out pirate booty to new members and those who’ve renewed to keep up with the adventure.  Is your membership letter hanging out on the desk? The “I’ll get to it later” stack?  Well you are missing out on dive pirate bling, as well as helping our 2012 recipients get geared up and find out what the rest of you already know… diving is fabulous!  Thank you all for helping to make diving attainable to more and more pirates every year!  You can renew or start a membership on our website, be sure to fill out the online form so I know what pirate booty to ferry your way!

The Scurvy Birdie Set to Fly into Houston!

This is your official “save the date” notice… Oct. 21, a Friday to get away and have some fun, play for some great prizes, and enjoy some time with fellow scallywags who would rather play golf on a Friday for a great cause. (do I really have to twist your arm… much???)  You don’t have to be a golfer to get in on the fun, just come for lunch and you too can put in for the raffles, listen to the whales of tales from the players, and see who walks away with bragging rights. Click here for all the details.

Another golfing adventure Labor Day Weekend!

SWAGA (South West Amputee Golf Association) is hosting a weekend of golf at Northern Hills Golf Club in the San Antonio area.  Now a seasoned dive pirate (he survived Brac with Friends 2011) Randy Smith and others want to get people with mobility issues and their friends together for a great weekend of golf.  The man in charge is Roy McCoy, a prince of a guy who came to Port Aransas to play in the Scurvy Birdie Tournament to help raise money for Randy and Cara.  Contact Roy at rmccoy2@austin.rr.com or 512-431-2861 asap!  The tournament is both Saturday and Sunday, with a possible practice round on Friday.

Scuba Cache!

As you’ve probably seen on our Facebook page, we placed a geocache (scuba cache) at the Tibbits Shipwreck while we were there in the Caymans.  Well, it’s live, on the geocaching.com site for people to find our buried treasure and learn a little more about us.  We also have an icon link to it on our web site too! Mick Maher with Reef Divers II helped us place it and will have info in the dive shop to entice others to find it.  Thanks Mick and Brac Reef Beach Resort for promoting it!  Interested in setting up a Dive Pirate Scuba Cache at one of your local diving spots?  Let’s talk!

In the News….

Another great article in the Dallas Morning News… I can only share a link as I can’t post it on our website due to copyright restrictions.  If you are a subscriber to the Dallas Morning News, you will be able to read the article, if not… just know it was a wonderful story talking about adaptive training with instructor Joe Pazos, featured adaptive diver Eric Alva, and mentioned all of our Texas chapters.  Thank you Joe for your efforts to get us such great coverage in a prominent newspaper!

Until Next Time…  guard the booty and the rum!

Theresa the Terrible

Hey mateys!

I’m sure you’ve missed my daily banter from the island, thanks to all for being such good sports, and for those of you who probably felt SPAMMED with all of the email blasts… thanks for not complaining, that’s a one-way ticket to walkin’ the plank, and I was hopin’ for  no Recordables on this trip!

Really, I was going to give it a rest, but there is so much to tell you!

In the News…

The Cayman News Service did a fabulous article on Leland and the Pirates.  Leland, thank you for being  you, your warm personality and genuine honesty really came through.  Here’s a link to the article on our web page with pictures… she captured Leland the Diver, and Leland the Flotilla King!

The employees of the Houston Intercontinental Airport and related staff and organizations will all be reading about The Pirates in their employee communications.  (I think our sea of lime green shirts wow-ed them!  Thanks Rogest for such great shirts, and to the pirate who decided lime green!)  Check out this article too.

And more to come… be on the lookout for a feature in the Dallas Morning News on July 26.  Always subject to change (reporters are modern day pirates, they’ll change their dates/topics/angles faster than the changing winds of the Caribbean!)    Also, Dive News Wire should have a story on us soon.

Pay it Forward…

I’m hoping all of you saw the email from Diane Parker, encouraging everyone to go to Travel Advisor and write review for the Brac Reef Beach Resort.  If you haven’t done it yet, click here and get after it! What a nice way to say thank you to all of the people who went above and beyond for all of us!

Good Cookin’ with Gooden!

As promised Chef Gregory Gooden forwarded his recipes from his cooking class with us on the Brac with Friends adventure.  Now following the pirate code only the mateys that went to the class should be privy to the secrets, but since Team BS blasted it out to everyone already on email, I decided to break the code (more like guidelines anyway) and share with all of our pirate friends.  Here you go!