Community Update

This is not a backpack - this is more than a BC!

We had the opportunity to
participate the big scuba dive event DEMA (Diving Equipment and Marketing
Association) in Las Vegas in November last year.  My husband and I had planned different things
of interest to check out but there he came towards me, making his way between
the booths. He wanted me to go with him because there was a really cool
demonstration going on at the company Aeris exhibition. And so it was, cool I
mean. Aeris had a prototype of a new scuba invention; a BCD (Buoyancy Control Device)
that was also a back pack for not only your scuba gear, there was room for your
clothes and toiletries too when travelling if you packed light. I had never
seen anything like it and neither had anyone else at this huge dive
professional industry event . Dive equipment lighter than usual made for
travelling wasn’t new, but to be able to use the biggest and heaviest part of
your equipment to pack the rest of your stuff in, even your fins if you have
the smaller but wider ones.  On top of
that, you could pack three days of clothes, your lap top, a book, your alarm
clock etc. and still have the accepted carry-on size on airplanes.  Aeris Jetpack is made like two backpacks
attached to each other so one of them goes under the seat of the flight
passenger sitting in front of you and the other one can be put in the
overhead.  The idea was brilliant! As we experienced
scuba divers all know, dive equipment is something personal so you want to use
your own at all times and not rent (if possible) since you don’t know if the
dive shop you are renting from have serviced their equipment so it doesn’t leak
anywhere, you don’t want to figure out how the integrated weights gets released
if already diving or to realize they hadn’t attached the Surface Marker Buoy to
the BC if you need it. The only problem is, your dive equipment takes the space
of a whole suit case of its own, so you have to check it in when you are flying.  Who knows if it will arrive at the same time
and to the same airport as you do! And by the way, some of the equipment is
sensitive enough that an airline staff easily can break it when throwing your
suit case around through airports. And here was the miracle, Aeris Jetpack. No
wonder Aeris sold more than 600 of them before they were released on the market.
They just did. We ordered two of them, one for demonstrations and one to sell.
We got them two days before our dive centers 
shore dive a half hour south, at Bradenton Beach. We took one of the
Jetpacks with us to give a demonstration about how you transform the backpack
to a back inflated BCD. The backback/BC combo weighs 8.25 lbs! Fully packed
with travel friendly dive gear it stays under 20 lbs. with ample space for the
rest of your packing like clothes and toiletries. One size fits all with three
adjustments to fit you, the harness, cummerbund and lumbar support. I like that
the weights are so easy to remove from their pockets, because the air in the BC
doesn’t interfere with the integrated weight pockets as it does in my own BC
when inflated.  I also think I look cool
when I show up with only a backpack at Bradenton Beach, telling everyone that I
had everything I need except air tanks and weights for my shore dive! That felt
awesome!!

Interested? Come on in to Gulfport Dive Center on Gulfport Blvd to have a look at it. We will be happy to show you how it works! More details here: http://www.diveaeris.com/ Never mind the price, we sell them a lot cheaper!

Anette Monroe

owner of Gulfport Dive Center