ashira v3.0b: 3 full days of ADEX

*phew* survived the weekend spent at ADEX. Other than the usual madness that follows setting up and dismantling of the coral nursery display, it was great fun seeing familiar faces at both the Eco-Village and the main booths all over, as well as getting to know some of the prominent but-not-so-familiar (as in not introduced) faces in the dive industry.

Had to be there early on Friday since there was an opening ceremony, and we did up the little coral nursery corner of the Keppel booth at the ADEX Eco-Village.

All with time to spare as the exhibitors of the cozy little Eco-Village area settled in while the opening speeches were made.

Well, compared with the IT show that took place earlier in the year, the turnout at ADEX was a little dismal, even more so at the Eco-Village since we were almost tucked away from most of the action. ADEX is known in the dive community more for its deals on gear, trips, books, magazine subscriptions, etc. so the bulk of the visitors hardly spent any time at our Eco-Village. Our busiest periods were usual before and after the lucky draws/dollar auctions (Singaporeans being Singaporeans only appear when there's any announcement of free/cheap stuff), as well as when school groups were brought round on Friday and Saturday. Definitely had our hands full at times, and am thankful for the Keppel volunteers who signed up to man the booth, especially those who came for more than one shift, and the gungho few who have yet to have any first hand experience with deploying the tables or maintaining them. Everybody was all smiles to share with visitors about what the nursery is all about!

Other than sharing with visitors, these Keppel volunteers were also charged with the task of helping roll up a set of 5 posters on Singapore's biodiversity, so that we could give them out to visitors. A couple of the dive shops actually took stacks to give out at their shops too! Here's two of them posing very happily with the 2 marine posters.

Our nearest "neighbor" were the folks from Kon-Tiki dive centre in Thailand, and we spent time chatting with each other over the 3 days. They seem to be involved in a number of projects, from Project AWARE to CoralWatch to ReefCheck and some stuff on monitoring butterflyfish as a gauge to reef health, as well as some beach cleanups. Rather heartening so see that there are dive centres that are trying to do their bit for our seas. (To the hardcore pessimists, yes, it IS good commercial sense considering that there's a "Let's go green" bandwagon at the moment but if it helps the cause, why not? Everybody's happy) Would like to be able to head up to Thailand to visit them as well~~

They were even having an art contest every few hours of so. You just need to draw your favorite marine life, and you stand a fish ID DVD from Kon-Tiki. There's even a category for adults so we also took a break from the poster rolling and the booth manning to join in the fun~

And our masterpieces. Even includes a really special looking "lion-fish" (nope, it's NOT a merlion...LOL) as well as our local critters (courtesy of CH). Do excuse the smudge marks, had to get rid of personal particulars.

One of the Keppel volunteers even won! Hope you put that ID guide to good use, girl!

IMG_0092 Kon-Tiki's Andy with our Keppel winner

As with all things, the 3 days came to an end all too soon. In the midst of all the packing, managed to grab hold of some of the TMX folks for a quick shot. Some of the (not-quite) behind the scenes people, making things smooth for all of us, including the man behind the voice we've been hearing over the 3 days! Hope the Boat Expo this weekend goes as smoothly for you!