Older and Wiser Underwater Canada Gets A Big Big Make-Over Same old Hog Town show? According to the organisers of Underwater Canada the answer is a big, big no. Come February 26th it will be a new dive expo, at a new home, at a new date, a new pricing and with a new retail policy in place. "We have taken the best of our 27 year history and combined it with what divers and exhibitors have said they want!" explained show advisor Doug Rosser. "We have moved out of the aging Constellation Hotel and moved it down the street into the state-of-the-art Toronto Congress Centre. We are going to allow exhibitors to sell scuba equipment for the first time in memory and we have totally revamped the daytime symposium and workshops programs. We have listened to attendees and at this year's film festival you will see more diving and far less award giving!" For most of the almost three decade history of the Ontario Underwater Council's volunteer show has had a strict policy against exhibitors selling dive equipment. The rule was put into place in part to protect small out-of-town dive shops who normally don't show at Underwater Canada but send many of their customers to Toronto for the big event. "Every other show sells, and with Underwater Canada '99 we are going to allowit on a limited scale," continued Mr. Rosser. "There will be no sale of used equipment and there won't be any last-minute bargains when Underwater Canada closes. Some of the high end equipment (tanks, computers, regulators) can be purchased on site but the delivery will have to made after the show has closed down." Underwater Canada is being held in a facility that is used solely for trade shows. Located just north of the highways 27 and 407 intersections, the facility is on one level and boasts free parking. There are inexpensive restaurants and hotels within walking distance of the hall. The new venue will give Underwater Canada a 21st century look! Gone are the free scuba lessons (there is no swimming pool in the building) however there is a large glass tank in the works where exhibitors will demonstrate their products and certified divers can wet test them out! Exhibitors and speakers will be taking part in free lectures throughout the three day event. A big part of Underwater Canada is its symposiums and workshops. Experts in all aspects of the sport (from travel to brain research) come to Toronto to talk and demonstrate. In past years visitors to the show bought weekend passes to take in the symposiums. Now with the make-over, the show has done away with the expensive passports and streamlined the number of symposiums and lectures. There are fewer of them, but, each presentation is repeated at least once, so that ticket holders will not have to miss an important lecture. The general admission price is now $12.00 and includes free parking, admission to the hall and seats at all exhibitor's demonstrations and product launches. There is a $22 symposium/admission ticket and a $30 workshop/admission ticket. For ticket information contact the Ontario Underwater Council at: 416-427-6033. FILM SHOW LINE-UP The organisers of Underwater Canada '99 have announced the line-up for their gala February 27th Saturday Evening Film Festival. This year the show will feature the works of seven famous diving filmmakers including Jim Kozmik, Cathy Kinsman and spaceman Pat Sullivan. The evening will be hosted by British Columbia's Phil Nuytten. Nuytten, the inventor of the Newt Suit, will be acting as the festival's master of ceremonies and he will be debuting footage of his newest inventionan unteathered, one atmosphere submersible that has a depth range of 2,000 feet. The line of presenters and their works are as follows: Jim Kozmik, producer of the US/Canadian broadcast television show Undersea Explorer and Sport Diver Television, will be giving a world debut of his new underwater documentary Red Sea: Land of God. Cathy Kinsman, a Canadian film maker and diver will be presenting Wilma, an underwater visit with a Beluga whale. David Trotter, a Michigan based photographer and journalist has documented the most mysterious and beautiful shipwrecks in the Great Lakes in his new video which will have its Canadian debut at Underwater Canada. John Moyer is an American based diver who owns the rights to the Andrea Doria. Although it has been a death trap to many divers, the Doria is one of the top wreck dives in the North Atlantic and Moyer has produced a film that will take viewers right inside the sunken remains of this doomed luxury liner. Pat Sullivan is the Project Officer of Canada's Operational Space Medicine Program. He will be on stage with video footage showing how scuba diving is used in training Canadian astronauts to prepare for trips into space. Jim Willoughby is Canada's pioneer underwater film maker. The veteran British Columbian has drawn upon 4 decades of filming and photography in his latest undersea movie. The Saturday Evening Film Festival will be held at the Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Road in Toronto. With the move of the popular film night, organisers are warning movie goers that the new theatre will hold only 650 people350 fewer than when the festival was held at the Constellation Hotelthis show is sure to be a sellout. For ticket information contact the Ontario Underwater Council at: (416) 426-7033 Mickey Dee Joins Forces With Underwater Canada Underwater Canada will be giving a portion of the money it raises in its exhibit hall at the 1999 show to the Ronald McDonald Children's Charities of Canada (RMCC). "The Underwater Canada volunteers and members of the Ontario Underwater Council are proud to be associated with such a worthwhile cause," said Marian Peirce, the chairman of Underwater Canada. "The 1999 Underwater and Marine Adventure Showcase will be allowing dive retailers to sell directly to the public. As part of this new policy, a portion of all exhibit product sales will go to RMCC to help children with special needs." Ronald McDonald Children's Charities of Canada is an organisation with a simple objective: to help children in need. It is committed to assisting organisations whose programs focus on improving the quality of life for children and families of children with life-threatening or chronic illnesses and disabilities.   Champagne kisses and big money dreams Because a German submarine captain had a penchant to make meticulous notes of every ship that he sank in World War 1 a bottle of rare French champagne has come to the city of Toronto. Earlier this year a team of Swedish divers working in the Baltic Sea recovered a cargo of champagne and cognac from the remains of a wooden freighter sunk by a German sub back in 1916. The ship named Jonkoping was carrying a cargo of 5,000 champagne bottles named "Heidsieck monopol gute American 1907" (the same brand and year that apparently was stocked on the Titanic). The champagne is from 1907 and, aside from test bottles held by French wineries, is the oldest drinkable champagne left in the world. The champagne has been lying in total darkness and in near freezing temperatures (a constant 1 degrees Celsius) at the bottom 64 meters down in the Baltic Sea near Finland. The quality of the champagne has amazed the experts. They have certified that the quality of the champagne is like a champagne from the nineteen fifties but with the once-forgotten taste of 1907. It makes this champagne unique and testers are claiming it tastes wonderful. Most of the bottles still have their etikettes intact. Peter Lindberg, one of the divers who recovered the wine, told Diver Magazine that using meticulous German war records, his team was able to pinpoint the shipwreck. Before the Jonkoping could be partially raised, and booze removed, Lindberg had to fight off many legal challenges to keep the bubbly booty. Much of the recovery itself was captured on video tape and broad cast to the world on the Internet. "I hope it (the recovery) has given Canadians some exciting momentsit has to us!" said Lindberg. So far the deep divers have salvaged 535 bottles of champagne and several barrels of cognac (The cognac tested has not been drinkable but plans are in the works to fortify it). The diving is reported very demanding due to the cold water conditions and one meter visibility. The champagne is being sold to collectors around the world. When DIVER first contacted Lindberg in early August, a single bottle was selling for $2,000 US a bottle. When the organisers of Toronto's Gourmet Food & Wine Exposition purchased a bottle for a Sick Children's Hospital November 26th fund raising auction at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, demand for the champagne had pushed the price to a cool $3,500 US.