Dive Industry Association, Inc.

Dive Industry Profile Series
Bill Acker – Manta Ray Bay Hotel & Yap Divers
In the Words of Bill Acker
with Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

If there is one thing that diving pioneers have in common is that they are all living the dream.  Some diving pioneers get to where they got by following a Dream.  Others discovered their passion in life by finding their dream.  Then there are the diving pioneers we all love in the diving community who create their dreams.  Bill Acker, of Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers, from Yap, Micronesia is one of those people.  When we looked closer at Bill’s history, we see that he is actually a combination of all three types of diving pioneer, and then some.  Bill followed a dream.  He found a dream.  He built his dream.  And now he is sharing his dream with the world.  Bill Acker is what we call a Dream Maker.

Born on November 19, 1952 in Austin, Texas, Bill Acker’s oceanic adventure of a lifetime began at the age of 26 when he joined the Peace Corps in 1976.  “I went to Yap as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1976 and was an avid snorkeler.  I LOVED the ocean and the beauty of the reef and marine life.  One day, I was snorkeling while a Yapese friend of mine (one of the first 3 Yapese to be certified and the eventual two-term Governor of Yap) was diving.  I became very jealous that he could go down to the bottom and sit there while I was going up and down for what seemed like the entire day.  This ability to join nature up close and personal and be in a place where man was not made to be, really intrigued me.  When the Australian Navy helped make it a reality, it made it easy for me years later.  I’ve never regretted jumping at the chance to learn the sport…in fact you could say I’m Aussie certified.”

Bill Acker went to work for WA’AB Transportation in 1977 and started diving.  “We had an oxygen and acetylene plant on the dock that I managed as the Port Manger of Yap.  There was a group of Navy Divers onboard an Australian Navy ship that stopped in Yap one day.  We got a question about filling SCUBA tanks from the divers after seeing our compressor for the O2 plant.  When I told them we didn’t know about this, they said they’d set it up for us.”

“The port also had a tugboat and barge to dredge sand, so I thought it would be good for comradery among the staff to certify as many of them that wanted to learn.  I got in touch with Pete Peterson, the owner of Micronesian Diver’s Association (MDA), who sent three instructors to Yap so 45 of us took dive classes and got certified.  This included my wife.”  So, Bill Acker gets certified in Yap in 1985 and his dream gets better and better.

“After we became divers, I decided we’d take the tugboat out on weekends to spearfish, barbecue, and drink beer.  That was the mid-80’s, and nobody knew better than to spear fish on SCUBA.  Sometimes, after doing this a few times, we’d get stray tourists who happened to come to Yap after a dive trip to Palau.  We always said yes to their requests to go diving when they heard we were diving.  I had the bright idea that if we used my motorboat and opened a dive shop, we could charge tourists for diving and that would pay for our beer.  It’s true, Yap Divers was started for beer money.”  That was in 1986.

It didn’t take Bill long to upgrade his professional diving status.  He became a PADI Instructor in 1988.  I wish I had known Bill then.  I visited Yap briefly on my way to a three-week U.S. Navy salvage project in Palau but we never hooked up.  It’s strange how many times Dive Industry Professionals seem to pass by each other, like ships in the night over the years and never connect.  Two years later on March 1, 1990, Bill opened the Manta Ray Bay Hotel.  By this time Bill had become the General Manager of WA’AB Transportation.  It was time to take his dream to the next level.   “In July of 1991, I left WA’AB and purchased Yap Divers and the Manta Ray Bay Hotel from the company.  Since then we have opened Yap Planet Blue Kayak Company, Yap Anglers catch and release fishing company, the Taro Leaf Spa, a hydroponics garden and the Stone Money Brewing Company which brews world-class beer.” 

We asked Bill what his favorite diving specialty was and of course he said, “Manta Rays.  I am eternally biased as I believe the diving in Yap compares very well with any place I have ever dived.  My favorite dive spot in Yap is Yap Caverns on the Southern tip of the island.  There is everything there including very clear water, swim throughs, walls, shark cleaning station, macro critters, schools of fish and it’s never boring.” 

Jacques Cousteau and Lloyd Bridges may be Bill Acker’s most favorite diving people but, “The late Hall of Famer, Mr. Paul Tzimoulis was my mentor in all things diving.  Paul knew more about dive travel than the rest of the industry combined and to my great joy and benefit, he took a liking to me, my family, and Yap.  The rest is history.” 

You might wonder what type of an inner circle of influence does a diving pioneer have?  My question would be more like, who influences whom?  Bill Acker’s list of favorite diving people he has dived with is, “Way too many to name.  I have been extremely fortunate to have dived with lots of great people.  Paul Tzimoulis and his wife Geri Murphy would certainly be included in any list.  My wife and 4 kids have done hundreds, if not a thousand dives with me, and then there is Tim Rock, David Fleetham, Steve Miller, Marty Snyderman, Ray Bullion, Stefan Michi & Steven Lamphear from Mares, Frank Schnieder, Andreas Schumacher, Amos Nachoum to name a few but there are lots more.  Some famous and some just good people.  Diving is my passion and I love diving with different people.”

And people love diving with Bill Acker and Yap Divers.  Bill was inducted as an SSI Platinum Pro in their first selection class and is a 2014 member of the International SCUBA Diving Hall of Fame.  Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers has received numerous awards from Scuba Diving Magazine over the years for Readers’ Choice, Top 10 Destinations for Big Animals, Top 10 Value Dive Destinations, Top 10 World’s Best Marine Life, Top 10 Best Place for Phot Ops, and Top 10 World’s Best Place for Small Animals.

But what good is being a successful Diving Pioneer and Industry Leader if you are not giving back to the Global Diving Community that has given you so much success, enjoyment, and fulfillment?  Bill has our respect when it comes to Phillanthropy.  “I do not have a particular NGO that I would call my “favorite”, but I have contributed in one way or another to various NGO’s that have reached out for my expertise or assistance.  I help organizations that I believe are there to better the planet and its Inhabitants. 

Philanthropy holds a different meaning to me than I am sure some people.  I have lived most of my adult life in an island nation where the core belief is that one’s actions must be for the good of all.  So, although my family and I have a business, we have not only done it to benefit ourselves, but have done so to help our island communities.  Since being in business, we have been involved in summer training of Yap’s youth, offered opportunities for locals to network with visitors and contributing to anything that will help my island home in improving the standard of living of its citizens.”

Bill Acker is still as active as a Dive Industry Professional can get.  “I have dived Yap, Chuuk, Palau, Kosrae, Majuro, all over the Philippines, Bali, and Raja Ampat and I have discovered and named over 50 sites in Yap.  I have over 18,300 dives and still love it.”   Bill is thankful for the good work that is done by divers in the global diving community.  “I love the work we do every day throughout the world in protecting our oceans.”    Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers are Members of the Dive Industry Association (# 0433).

Since 2006, Bill Acker and Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap divers have produced the Annual MantaFest Photography School & Contest.  “Our MantaFest program has brought underwater photographers, both amateur and professional, to this small island and its protected reef to compete for prizes, attend workshops, take tours of the island, and experience the unique culture of Yap, which is considered to be among the best preserved in the Pacific region.”  The 17^th annual program is scheduled for August 24, 2024 – September 8, 2024. 

A new edition to the annual MantaFest program is the 2^nd Annual BlackwaterFest 2024 Photography School.  Unique to the Underwater Photography circuit is an opportunity to photograph Mantas by day and Blackwater by night.  “Each night, we’ll explore the water over the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, the “Yap Trench”, that reaches depths of over 9,000 meters.  Discover exotic creatures of the deep blue sea that are rarely seen and experience their sighting in their natural habit.  This exceptional experience will change your outlook of the ocean’s wonders and will give you an up-close insight of her dark secrets.” 

Bill concluded our interview with these comments.  “I have been so very blessed throughout my life in all respects and this opportunity to be featured here in The Dive Industry Professional is a part of the blessing. I truly believe I have made a positive difference in the lives of many people, and I thank God daily for the blessings bestowed on my family and me and our business and co-workers.” 

For more information visit Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers or email Bill at bill@mantaray.com   

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Finding Your Niche in the Diving Industry
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Last month we wrote about Creating a Dive Industry World View.  A world view is the way we see the world.  It’s our job as Dive Industry Planners to guide Dive Industry Professionals in creating a unified world view of the recreational diving industry, that a majority of individuals in the global diving community could agree with.  Having a unified world view helps us realize how the recreational diving industry works and what our part in the global diving community is.

Finding your niche in the diving industry is a key factor in the pursuit of your career.  As a Professional Business Advisor, I am often asked for advice on starting or building a career in the diving industry.  The question mostly comes from young people who recently became a certified scuba diver and are thinking about making it a career.  I can relate to that.  After I got certified at the young age of 15, scuba diving was all I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  I am very thankful that I had many mentors and advisors along the way to help me through the decision-making processes.  I have been advising and consulting divers and entrepreneurs alike on the various options available to them in our industry, for over 40 years now.

First of all, it is a blessing and not a curse to get “bitten” by the scuba diving bug.  It is a fascinating recreation that has many benefits and can open doors to numerous opportunities and adventures.  My first piece of advice for enthusiastic divers is to think of scuba diving as a hobby or a profession.  We do the global diving community a disservice when we try to convince all certified divers to take the professional career path.  Enjoying a particular recreation as a hobby and making a living are two different life-changing decisions that each and every one of us needs to make privately and separately.

The Recreational Diving Industry is made up of two distinct communities.  The active diver community is referred to as the Global Diving Community.  This international community is comprised of people who are divers. I don’t want to limit it to only certified scuba divers.  Individuals could be snorkelers, free divers, spearfishermen, scuba divers, technical divers, mermaids, etc.  The community that supports divers and produces the programs, products, and services that divers purchase, is the Global Diving Business Network.  Members of this network are engaged, part-time or full-time, in the diving equipment, training, travel, and lifestyle product stakeholder groups.  For them, it is a business.  They get paid for their products and services.

Enjoy Scuba Diving as a Hobby:  The first option a newly certified diver can make is to pursue scuba diving as a hobby.  The definition of a hobby is something you pursue for personal satisfaction.  There are so many things a scuba diver can experience as part of the global diving community.  Scuba diving can become a hobby in itself and lead to the pursuit of specialty interests such as wreck diving, cave diving, or technical diving.  It can be the gateway to other hobbies such as underwater photography, environmental conservation, and others.  The possibilities for diving related adventures using scuba diving equipment are endless.  Our association has created a message to the active diving community, using our website www.divelocal.org.  The message is: 1) Learn to Dive.  2) Buy Your Gear.  3) Go Diving.  4) Stay Active.  We are working to grow and maintain an active global diving community.

Turn Your Hobby into a Profession:  A second option for a certified diver is to turn what you do for fun into a business.  Our definition of a business is something you do for compensation.  An easy way to explain the difference between a hobby and a business is my by cooking example.  If you enjoy cooking and you eat what you create, it’s a hobby.  It’s OK if you share your cuisine creations with your family and friends, as long as you don’t get paid for it.  If you cook for other people and you sell what you prepare, it’s a business.

There are many diving and diving-related skills that are in demand in our industry.  For those who are interested in an employment situation, there are many full-time and part-time jobs available in the industry.  If you are thinking about starting your own business in the diving industry, the opportunity always exists for the well qualified and well-funded entrepreneur.  If you are thinking about working in the diving industry, a Professional Business Advisor at the Dive Industry Association can help you get started with your employment opportunity research.

If you have decided to go the business route in the recreational diving industry, your first decision should be whether you are looking for a full-time opportunity or a part-time commitment.  That kind of narrows things down a lot.  Most Dive Industry Professionals I’ve known in the industry, who are looking for a part-time business opportunity have already decided what part of the industry they are interested in.   Young divers searching for something in the industry are more open to employment opportunities across the board, whether it be in a part-time or full-time situation.  Conducting industry research may be a good place to start.

As a Professional Business Advisor, the most important piece of advice I can give to anyone is to find their own personal niche within the industry.  I always ask a prospective client; What gives you the most personal satisfaction in a working situation?  Do you have the necessary talents, skills, education, and experience to perform in that capacity?  Would you be happy to perform your skills for 8 hours a day if it were full-time or even a few hours a week if it were part-time?  Is there any room for growth in your particular niche?

Finding your niche within the industry may be an important first step but staying on course soon becomes the next priority.  We all have known people who got into the diving industry because of a certain reason, but soon lost their way and got distracted from their original calling.  Maybe it was the job or maybe it’s just life.  For that reason, we all have to remain focused on what is important to us in our career.  Maybe an annual checkup is what we need?  Are we still doing what we originally wanted?  Are we remaining true to our niche market or niche profession?  Have we grown in our purpose, or have we lost our way?

In the military we call it “Mission Creep.”  That is where you start to do something for a specific reason and the mission grows in nature and scope, until you realize that you have far exceeded your original intent.  How many Dive Industry Professionals loved diving so much they became an instructor?  Then a Course Director, then a Retail Store Owner, then a Dive Travel Specialist.  And now they want to be a Dive Travel Wholesaler?  My question to you is, have you grown, or have you spread yourself too thin and lost your way?  If you’ve grown in your career, that is good news.  But if you find yourself out of your niche, maybe it’s time to reboot.

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about global marketing opportunities, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director of the Dive Industry Association, 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL 32904.  Phone: 321-914-3778.  Email: gene@diveindustry.net  Web: www.diveindustry.net

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Dive Industry Network Series
Create Your Own Support Network
By Gene Muchanski, Executive Director,
Dive Industry Association, Inc.

 In February 2024 we introduced an article entitled Create Your Own Circle of Influence.  In the article we explained how important this skill is to grow your business in the recreational diving industry.  As you become more experienced and successful as a Dive Industry Professional, more people will look to you for advice and leadership in all aspects of the diving industry.  To grow from that point on, you will need to expand your circle of influence to include vendors and suppliers who produce the programs, products, and services you have influence with.  Creating your own network of vendors and suppliers will help you grow as a Dive Industry Business Professional and increase your level of influence in the Global Diving Community.

Creating a network of Dive Industry Professionals that you know and respect can increase the quality and quantity of advice and expertise you can share with divers across the globe.  The secret ingredient is to start networking with the people and vendors you do business with in your supply chain.  This strategy is not restricted to diving influencers only.  It applies to all Dive Industry Professionals and diving businesses from all stakeholder groups in the industry.  Networking within your supply chain works because all the players in your supply chain have a vested interest in working together.  Another advantage of working within a network is that your customers feel more comfortable doing business with a team of people that are catering to their needs, instead of just one single person or business.

Divi Flamingo Beach Resort Bonaire – Light & Motion Repair Technicians.

An Example of How Networking Works:  A few years back I was planning a trip to Bonaire and decided to take my underwater video equipment which included a Light & Motion housing.  Packed in my Save A Dive Kit were basic tools and extra O-rings for normal maintenance, but nothing beyond that.  During our trip I had a problem with changing a dome lens on the housing but was delighted to find out that Divi Flamingo Bonaire just happened to have two Light & Motion technical repair people on board. What seemed impossible for me to fix took these techs about 10 minutes to correct and I was good to go.  They saved my dives and my vacation.  Thank You.  It made me think about how important an integrated support system is to divers who are traveling far away from home.  I looked back on some of the support networks I had been a part of in my diving career, and I realized that having a support network is something that needs to be planned, executed, and maintained over time.  It is not something that happens automatically and it takes a certain degree of commitment and strategic planning to create.

When Dive Industry Professionals first start diving away from home, they are faced with a number of dive planning scenarios.  Their level of planning and preparedness will depend on whether they are traveling by themselves, with a buddy, or with a group.  It will also depend on whether they are a casual traveling diver or if they are the person in charge of the group.  A big factor in adventure travel planning is the distance away from home and the remoteness of the diving destination.  A factor that many new divers fail to take into consideration is the amount of equipment supply support that is available at their destination.  To the detriment of the Global Diving Community, many dive equipment manufacturers, dive resorts, dive operators, and dive travel specialists still have not addressed this issue.

Some dive planning scenarios call for self sufficiency with an expectancy that little to no supply support will be available on the trip.  Other strategies call for working with destinations where equipment and maintenance services are more readily available.  This article will focus on the benefits of building a supply support network for your company, your brand, your dealers, and their customers. 

As a Navy Diving Supervisor traveling around the South Pacific with U.S. Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One, I learned how to pack our dive gear and fly-away boxes for any and all possible contingencies when traveling to isolated island locations.  On a mission to Palau we loaded 12 sea-land containers filled with dive gear, gas compressors, a hyperbaric chamber, small boats, engines, tools, and spare parts.  Even with all that gear we had to plan for contingencies and prepare for using emergency repair facilities that were closest to our operation, should we have the need.  Having a support network is one thing.  Knowing where it is and how to access it is another.

Over the past 57 years as an active diver and instructor, I have seen good and bad examples of companies who created, tried to create, or failed to create functioning supply support networks.  In my opinion, two dive companies in particular (individuals actually) did an outstanding job in building an integrated supply support network.   The participants in these networks were more like Team Players than independent diving professionals.

In the 1970’s Fred Calhoun was the NAUI Branch Manager in the Northeast Territory of the United States.  Fred created a network of Instructors and dive businesses that included Instructors, Course Directors, Dive Stores, Dive Boat Operators, and even Dive Equipment Manufacturers who had a NAUI connection.  I would venture to say that Fred Calhoun was the major diving influencer in New England at the time and was able to capture and maintain the dominant market share for the company he and his team represented.  I credit Fred’s success to the fact that he actively built, maintained, and controlled an integrated supply support network for the Local Dive Community and the industry he worked in.

A second supply support network that I admire most was the one created by Dick Bonin from Scubapro.  Dick may have learned his networking strategies as a Navy Lieutenant and Team Member of the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team.  When I was a Scubapro Dealer in the 1980’s I experienced an integrated, unified approach to dealer supply support.  It started with Scubapro’s manufacturing, shipping, and repair facility in Compton.  Everything under one roof.  They had an organized and select Dealer Network.  Their Sales Reps were in constant touch with their Regional Dealer Networks.  It was very common in the day to attend regional and national meetings with your Scubapro Team, whether it was at a regional dive show, national trade show, at the Scubapro factory, or on a local dive boat with the Scubapro Dive Team.  Remember the steak sandwiches at the Scubapro Repair Seminar luncheons?  Those were the days!

So, a lot has changed in the last 30 years.  The branches are gone and so are the Branch Managers.  With many companies, even the Regional Managers are a thing of the past.  Dive equipment companies are entering the U.S. market and yet they don’t have a warehouse or maintenance and warranty repair facility in the states.  There are fewer Dealer Networks and certainly none that operate as a Team.  When Retail Dealers are traveling the Caribbean, they are looking in vain to find dive resorts and dive operators with the same certification agency, the same equipment vendor, and any maintenance and repair support for the gear they are using.  But don’t worry.  Creating your own network can help your business flourish.

Growing our businesses in a controlled manner should be our underlining strategy.  I could speak volumes on the advantages of controlled growth, as opposed to uncontrolled growth.    Business growth is only good if it is planned for and monitored during the growth phase.   Profitable growth that builds the entire company is what we are looking for in the long run.  Uncontrolled growth can lead to higher expenses, lower profits per sale, and missed opportunities and sales in other aspects of our company.  Let’s look at a few ways that we can grow our market share and profitability by using an integrated supply support network.

Using the NAUI example above, the recreational diving industry performs more efficiently when local diving communities are managed by regional managers.  The branch system has worked in the past and there was a reason for that.  Local businesses have local needs that only local support can provide.  Local support is best provided by local managers. If the diving industry does not succeed on a local basis, it is a mote point to think about an integrated support network.  There won’t be any businesses to support.  However, if your company succeeds in their local diving community, then they will need a supply support network when they travel outside of their local community.

In the example about Scubapro, I explained how successful Dick Bonin’s strategy was in the United States.  Well, how about developing that same strategy in the Caribbean?  Around the world?  In all fairness to Scubapro, dive travel was not a big thing in the 1980’s.  It is now.  If I was still a Scubapro Dealer I would want to see Scubapro rental equipment at the dive resorts I took my groups to.  I would want to see Scubapro Repair Technicians on staff with the dive operators and I would expect to see a good selection of repair parts and tools on hand.  Should any of my group lose or break a piece of equipment, I would hope the dive resort or the dive operator would have at least a small selection of Scubapro equipment for sale.  In other words, I would want my dive resorts and my dive operators to be on the Scubapro Dealer Network with me.

Creating a supply support network is important to the traveling Dive Industry Professional because they want support for the programs, products, and services they use.  However, it is only important for the equipment manufacturers, dive resorts, liveaboards, dive operators and destination Instructors if they get bookings, referrals, and business from the traveling divers who want on-site support.  Why would a dive business bring on Scubapro Repair Reps, Scubapro rental equipment, and Scubapro merchandise if you never get any Scubapro Dealer business or referrals?  To be clear, a supply support network is a two-way process.  It has to be beneficial to both parties.

Building your own network makes your job as a Dive Industry Professional easier.  I know it is a difficult thing to do by yourself.  I also realize that it is really the job of the Equipment Manufacturers and Training Agencies to build their Networks so that more Dive Industry Professionals “speak their language.”  But until your vendors build a supply support network for you, you can start by contacting the dive resorts and dive operators you do business with and ask them about their certification agency affiliations and about the dive equipment they rent, sell, and repair.  You may be the reason your resort or dive operator finally adds an equipment line or another certification agency.

As a Marketing Professional I would start by asking the people you currently do business with, if they are capable of supporting the lines you carry.  If they do, they are in your network and you have a home.  If they don’t currently support your lines, you can remind them that the issue is important to you and ask them to consider it.  You can also contact your vendors and ask them to reach out to the resorts and dive operators on your behalf.  You all have something to gain by working with each other.

For more information on future developing  your own supply support network, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, Inc., 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL.  Phone 321-914-3778. Email: gene@diveindustry.net  web: www.diveindustry.net

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Creating a Dive Industry World View
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

I learned a long time ago that We don’t see things as they are – We see them as we are.   You might say that’s a little philosophically deep for a Dive Industry Professional to be writing about, but when you think about it, that statement explains why we have so many problems with marketing communications in our industry.  A world view is the way we see the world.  The way individuals see the world is based on a combination of their heredity, environment, education, and experience.  Every individual on the planet may see things a little differently, based on their individual uniqueness.  Based on the things that we see, feel, read, learn, and experience (our inputs), our world view is forever changing.  When our world view adapts, grows, or changes, the things we communicate (our outputs) change accordingly.

Creating a unified world view of the recreational diving industry is something the Global Diving Community would benefit from greatly.  Creating a unified world view is not a complicated or difficult undertaking.  It just requires an initial commitment and a daily focus on defining the recreational diving industry as it is and explaining how it functions.  It is important to recognize that we are not trying to change a person’s world view or the way they process information, but we can educate the Global Diving Community about the Global Diving Business Network and let individuals experience the diving industry for themselves.  With additional education and experience, divers and the general public will have a clearer understanding of the true dive industry world view.  Whether you and your business are included in their world view of the diving industry is up to you.

Currently in the recreational diving industry, we receive our information from countless individual sources. There is no shortage of data about the diving industry and the programs, products, and services that are sold by the dive equipment manufacturers, training agencies, travel companies and lifestyle product producers.   We continually get input from magazines and their advertisers, in both print and digital formats, from social media, internet communications, websites, emails, catalogs, and in-person at trade and consumer dive shows.  I don’t know how many companies are bombarding their customers with their monthly newsletters and daily email advertisements, but if your email in-box is anything like mine, it’s way too many.  As a Trade Association, we are on the mailing lists of hundreds of diving businesses.  Somehow, we learned how to penetrate their limited circle of influence and get on their mailing list.  With that said, we get way too many emails from a few.  We get a few emails from many.  Surprisingly enough, we never get any correspondence from the vast majority of diving businesses.  Most of the correspondence we receive is not educational or informative in nature.  It is usually correspondence with a request to buy something.  The critical flaw with this type of correspondence is that the messages are sent out to everyone on their list, with no regard to the receiver’s demographic or their need for the item offered for sale.  It is the classical shotgun approach, shooting at the flock, with the hope of hitting a single bird.  From a professional marketing standpoint, these companies are sending out requests for someone to buy their products, not knowing if the target audience has a need, want, or desire for their product.

The Dive Industry Association is in the business of bringing buyers and sellers together.  We are students of the industry, and we know how products flow from creation to consumption, through the supply and demand channels of distribution.  We have identified the sellers of diving and diving related programs, products, and services and we work with them to acquire, retain, and sell to qualified buyers.  We use an integrated marketing approach of working with Dive Industry Professionals in the supply and demand chains.  On a consulting basis we have worked with demand side businesses to attract and sell to key buyers.  As a public service to the industry, we created a Trade Directory for buyers and sellers.  As a public service to the 1,100 + Retail Dive Centers in the United States we have created and actively maintain a website directory of all active retail dive stores that can be accessed for free by the consuming public.  Our Dive Store Directory is published on www.divelocal.org  To make it easier for divers to find an active dive store in their vicinity, we divided the United States into 9 Territories.  The territories are NE, NC, NW, MA, SE, FL, SC, SW, SP.  Each territory is broken down by state.  Our association lists each dive store by their name, city, state, and website address.  If a dive store has a website listed, it has been verified by us in the past year.  Check it out to see if I am correct.  If a dive store does not have a website address, it will be researched and verified or deleted within the next 12 months.  Every year we verify all the dive stores in our directory, at a rate of one state per week, and we report it in our Weekly News press release service.  Incidentally, the dive store press releases are usually the most read releases in the Weekly News.  The dive store directories on each page are pretty good, but they are not perfect.  Dive stores go out of business all the time and new ones enter the market without telling us.  That’s why we need manufacturers, sales reps, training agencies and their reps, and dive stores to pitch in and help us with our research.  Our competitors read our weekly dive store reports all the time.  You would think they could help us with our research!

The current listing of dive stores on DIVE LOCAL’s website has brought customers and more business to local dive stores, at no cost to them.  It has also helped Dive Industry Professionals in other stakeholder groups to identify, and hopefully do business with dive stores that have been verified by us to be currently in business.  When we are finished with the program on dive stores, we will be able to expand it to included other stakeholder groups in the supply and demand chains.  We already have plans to initiate similar programs for the other 3 Pillars of the Local Diving Communities – Dive Boats, Dive Clubs, and Dive Instructors.

As a Trade Association we are documenting a Recreational Diving Industry World View as we see it.  Our world view is based on the industry’s collective research, education, and experience.  It is not “the world, according to one person.”  It may have started out that way, but as more people get involved with our research, the world view of the recreational diving industry becomes clearer for everyone.    Our ultimate goal is to create a unified Global Diving Community and supply them with the programs, products, and services they require. To do that we need to know the companies that are in the business of creating and supplying these types of products.  As a Marketing and Trade Association that is on mission to bring buyers and sellers together, that is what we specialize in.  For a minimal annual membership fee, our supply side members can be referred or introduced to qualified buyers that we identify and maintain a business relationship with.   Our magazine, The Dive Industry Professional, features business articles about the diving industry every month.  Our DIVE LOCAL Series covers how we support local diving businesses like Dive Stores, Dive Boats, Dive Clubs, and Dive Instructors.  The focus of our local and regional advertising is to show local divers how they can learn to dive, buy their gear, go diving, and stay active in the recreational diving community.  And that’s only the demand side of our industry economic development plan.  Wait until the diving industry learns what we have planned for the supply side of the industry.

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about global marketing opportunities, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director of the Dive Industry Association, 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL 32904.  Phone: 321-914-3778.  Email: gene@diveindustry.net  Web: www.diveindustry.net

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