What do jellyfish repellant sunblock, tan-through bathing suits, waterproof machine gun covers, rebreathers and astronauts have in common? They were all part of this years four-day DEMA show held in the 200,000 sq. ft. Anaheim Convention center in Los Angeles. This is North America's biggest diving trade show and it brought together the latest and greatest in dive gear, dive paraphernalia, training and travel.

All the major diving equipment manufacturers displayed their wares and it was good to see many Canadian manufacturers so prominently displayed and well received. There was even a large British Columbia dive tourism booth.

There was also an assortment of smaller manufacturers on hand who have developed either an innovative way of carrying tanks, clearing your ears or weighting yourself down.

In addition, many celebrities such as Dr. Sylvia Earle, Zale Parry, Jean Michel Cousteau, Bob Talbot, Francisco 'Pipin' Ferreras, and Buzz Aldrin could be found at various booths or wandering through the show.

For 1998, most of the manufacturers have expanded their lines of dive gear, reflecting the great diversity of divers and interests. Now many manufacturers include dive gear suited for the novice to the hard core technical diver.

Canadian suit manufacturers such as WHITES, BARE, OCEANER and ATLAN all displayed their newest suits. WHITES has a couple of new drysuits the Alaska DT5 and Monterey DT3. Both of these suits are made of high density, Denstek neoprene and are available in a self-entry design. BARE is offering a new trilaminate drysuit called the Trilam Commercial to go along with their Trilam Sport. Oceaner has entered the realm of dense neoprene suits with their latest drysuit, the Riptide.

SCUBAPRO has expanded their BC line with the addition of Soniform to the Johnson Worldwide family of companies. Soniform has been a leading manufacturer of technical BCs for several years and Scubapro's new BC is the back-mounted X-Tek and offers great flexibility in a single BC. The X-Tek can accommodate five different buoyancy packages from the very compact Trav-Tek travel BC with a surprising 30 lbs of lift to the double bladder, double inflator Super Tek on the same harness. Scubapro is also introducing a new entry level BC as well as a women's BC.

DIVELINK, an underwater communications equipment manufacturer located on Vancouver Island, has developed Direct Video Sound which allows a Divelink-equipped cameraman to record real-time narration directly onto the videotape.

DACOR has introduced the Bandit mask which looks like no other mask on the market. It is basically a pair of swimmer's goggles with anti-fog lenses and a clear or black silicone skirt. It's tiny size makes it the lowest profile mask on the market. DACOR has also added a few new BCs, featuring weight integration as well as a women's BC to their line.

OCEANIC displayed their new Air XS, a combination octopus regulator and BC inflator. Their digital compass, the Navion is scheduled for release in the late spring. Oceanic's Trend series of masks now comes in a three window version and a new wrist mount computer, the XTC-100, can be programmed for use with up to 50% Oxygen.

AERIS is a new company that we will probably hear a lot about with their line of back lit gauges, full function computers and ergonomically designed consoles that allow a quick glance at all gauges simultaneously.

AQUALUNG has changed its look. They have done away with the familiar tank with double-hose reg US DIVERS logo and replaced it with a new stylized wave. They also presented their new Nova EAN computer designed specifically for the Nitrox diver. In addition, several new regulators have been added to the Aqualung line, such as the Impulse, Micra+ and the Titan.

GENESIS is offering the Athena, a weight integrated BC specifically designed for women. They also have a new Nitrox computer, the Nitrox Resource and a few new masks and a new snorkel.

From SHERWOOD, look for the new Courier computer which is designed for use with air and the AWAC-1 which is Nitrox compatible up to 50% O2. They also have a new entry level two-gauge console.

OCEAN MASTER has added a new fin to their successful line of masks and snorkels. The ART fin with its independent blade motion will be on the market within the next couple of months. Also look for their new Titanium Beta Alloy knife and unique leg wrap sheath.

TUSA has expanded their line of BCs into the ever expanding group of semi-technical BCs. Their latest is the BCJ-4900 Imprex Pro. The popular Splendive II mask now has a new cousin in the four-window Splendive IV, a lightweight, low volume mask with a wide field of vision. TUSA also has a new computer, the IQ-400 Imprex II, and a couple of new console packages such as the SCA-990 and the SCA-900.

MARES has expanded their line of BCs with the addition of the Vector 1000 and the Frontier X and Frontier XK. The Guardian computer is now available in the Mission console package and a second computer, the Tutor is now available. Mares is also offering a computer, the Apneist, solely dedicated to free diving.

For 1998 ZEAGLE has come out with two new Nitrox compatible computers. The Status I is designed for use with a single gas up to 50% O2 and the Status II can be used with two different gas mixtures of up 50% O 2 for the first mixture and up to 100% O2 for the second mix. Zeagle also has several new utility accessories available such as a snorkel holster and a new pair of light and compact travel fins.

AMPHIBICO, manufacturer of high quality video camera housings introduced their new VH-1000 housing, designed for use with SONY DCR-VX1000 NTSC or PAL video camcorders. Accessories for this unit included a 4 inch professional monitor and a 100 degree aspheric lens.

COCHRAN INDUSTRIES, a leader in the technical diving field has been intriguing us for the past two years with glimpses of their heads-up display mask and had a prototype on display at DEMA. They are saying that it should be available in the late spring. This mask has a compact hoseless air integrated computer mounted on the top of the mask and projects all pertinent information onto a prism mounted on the lower right lens. Cochran also displayed their new closed circuit rebreather.

This is a sample of some of the new gear that we will see in our local dive shops over the coming year. In upcoming issues of DIVER Magazine we will try to bring you more in-depth coverage of these and other new items.