ScubaMagazine Staff had an opportunity to attend the 2007 OWU show and we wanted to share some photos of the event with our readers.

Chicago at the time happened to be about 5 degrees F during the day, so it was quite cold! Luckily the hotel was just across the street and the convention center had a coat check and the central heating worked great!

The show was quite well attended. Below is a photo of a dive shop that specializes in wreck diver suppplies, and of course they were all decked out in Halcyon equipment.


One particular booth that was interesting was Flashback Scuba that had a whole host of original Cousteau dive equipment. They had acquired some of the original molds and made new fiberglass shells to go over the original Cousteu multi-tank rigs shown below.


Upon close inspection the left side of the backpack had a shark prod stick that had a compass on one end and a dive knive inserted up the bore of the bottom. If you ever want to know what Cousteau's diver's backpacks looked like inside, wait no more!


For underwater photographers and videographers, equipment manufacturers were in good attendance. Shown here is Amphibico's International Sales & Marketing Director Joe Bendahan and colleague Mathew Rousel showing off their new final version of their HiDefinition external widescreen monitor. Of note was the changed bracket that affixes it much more firmly yet allows better and smoother rotation.


Mares had their new X-Vision LiquidSkin mask on display that uses a dual compound silicone. They say it is guaranteed not to leave the typical huge red series of marks on your face, yet seals better. 45% softer yet 270% more elastic silicone material is used for the layer that seals against your face, and the 30% firmer silicone portion is the part that interfaces with the mask frame yet does nto contact the divers face. Shown below is Mares Sales Planning Manager Julie O'Hara showing Keith Cormican of Wazee Sports Center the new Liquidskin mask.


Rebreathers were representd by DiveRite showing their Optima, and Silent Diving Systems below is showing an Evolution to an attendee who is management for a great dive resort in Cozumel. In case you wanted to know, he ordered an Evo on the spot!


Shown below is an Aqualung staff member setting up a future diver to put on the separate weight pouches in a timed event. The little guy did it in 8 seconds, the 3rd fastest of the show at the time.


Events included a Friday evening Film Festival that has really beautiful films by Annie Crawley and Saturday evening had a keynote film presentation by Stan Waterman and the authors of Shadow Divers.

There were too many seminars and workshops to mention, but the presentations on the tropical dive locations were enough to make you call your credit card company and have them raise the limit to the "Stun" setting.