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Pascal Lecocq and his travelling gallery -

Friday:
Chicago divers and visitors from surrounding communities wasted no time as they gathered at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center entrance on Friday, February 19th.

Throughout the day, in-depth workshops took place, teaching and informing divers about underwater photography, cylinder inspection, diving safety and how to create professional videos.

Over 165 vendors greeted the public in the main exhibit hall from 5-9pm, introducing them to exotic tropical getaways, the next best dive equipment innovations and unique pieces of marine-related art.

David Trotter, Danny Mauro, Michel Gilbert and Danielle Alary were among the entertainers at the Friday night Film Festival, along with the Wetpixel Video Awards.

Saturday:
The second day of the show was no less exciting and equally as crowded! Forty-minute seminars ran through the day with interesting travel destinations like British Columbia, Canada, the land of the Komodo dragon and Lake Superior’s White Fish Point. Several rooms were dedicated to specialty talks on world travel, shipwrecks and science.

Visitors to the show also had the opportunity to pick up a copy of Bob Adamou’s new mystery book – The Other Side of Hell. Other book authors and film makers signed books and sold their latest creations at an ‘Authors Table’ at the show’s entrance.

“Dive shows like these are very important,” comments Mike Lever, owner of the live-a-board dive vessel, Nautilus Explorer, operated along the west coast between Alaska and Mexico. “Marketing is so valuable these days, you can never get enough.”

The evening Film Festival once again thrilled attendees with and array of unforgettable underwater footage. Howard and Michele Hall, Stan Waterman, Wes Skiles, Nancy McGee and Jonathan Bird were just a few on the evening agenda. Even after the show was over the nightly festivities continued as the Wetsuits, a dive-industry make-shift band, carried on in the mezzanine during a “Decompression Party”.