Owners' Drift

From the Chairman & CEO:
Date: January 20, 2010

Our World Underwater Trade Show in Chicago:

So we spent Friday through Sunday February 19 - 21 in cold snowy Chicago but had a great time! The OWU show is a consumer diving trade show. It was very well attended and it is always a joy to meet fellow diver face to face!

We brought 1000 reusable grocery bags to hand out and they went so fast we ran out by early Sunday morning.

This is one of the longest running dive trade shows and this was their 40th year. They really do a great job putting on this show and the seminars they have throughout the three days drew a huge crowd to almost all of them.

We appreciate everyone who stopped by our Aggressor Fleet booth, from the ‘what is a live-aboard’ attendee to our old friends that have been traveling with Aggressor since the beginning in 1984.

We will be at the Beneath the Sea diving trade show in New York next month so be sure and stop by to chat if you are attending!

Until then....
EAT SLEEP & DIVE
See you on the bottom!
Wayne B. Brown

Wayne Hasson (left) and Wayne Brown (right)
at Our World Underwater Dive Show in Chicago, IL

What another great week we had onboard with our guests! I absolutely love the diving here and it never fails to impress me. While we had a cold front the last couple of weeks that has brought the water temperature down to 78, none of the marine life seemed to mind.

Our guests were varied from Upstate NY to Southern Texas. Everyone became very comfortable with the sharks at French Cay, even Kristina got up close and personal with them! An old friend, Dean Schuler, where I dive with his company, Pura Vida Divers in West Palm Beach, joined us and he had a great time enjoying the guest side of the dive industry. Rebecca & Steve joined us again. We had the pleasure of diving with them in Indonesia last year. One of my brothers, Thomas, had been making overt gestures about wanting to learn to dive so we took this opportunity for him to get certified. He had a great time and I enjoyed spending some bottom time with another member of my family!

Reef Ambassador Certification - This week we rolled out this new SSI certification in partnership with Jean Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society. We had Dr. Richard Murphy onboard from Ocean Futures teaching the certification. The Reef Ambassador takes you through the reef ecology for an understanding that will amaze you how much there is to learn about our world underwater. All our guest this week received their certification at no charge and we appreciate Dr. Murphy’s time and talents! Reef Ambassador certification is only available on an Aggressor yacht and the proceeds go to the Ocean Future Society for their continued stewardship programs of the oceans.

Also on board was SSI President Doug McNeese. It was great to have time to dive and relax with Doug outside the confines of offices and trade shows.

So it was a fantastic week to dive (aren’t they all!), we enjoyed everyone’s camaraderie, jokes and chats. Thanks to our guests for your continued support and see you on another yacht in 2010!

Until then....
EAT SLEEP & DIVE
See you on the bottom!
Wayne B. Brown

This has been a crazy year! At Aggressor Fleet we are taking a well-deserved couple of easy weeks leading up to Christmas. Everyone here worked extra hours and used more brain cells this year than we ever have to ensure we took care of every guest.

It has paid off with us continuing the positive sales we have had every year and we truly appreciate your commitment to Aggressor and your praises we have received along the way.

We never have and never allow our guests to move from being our number one priority!

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and look forward to diving with you in 2010 and beyond.

Until then....
EAT SLEEP & DIVE
See you on the bottom!
Wayne B. Brown

DEMA 2009 was again a great time! While the attendance was down, business was up as those who attended were serious about live-aboard diving!

We enjoyed, as always, meeting those we speak to throughout the year on the phone and by email but had yet to meet in person and of course we love meeting new guests and sharing our passion of live-aboard scuba diving with them.

We debuted a new line of Aggressor Fleet T-shirt designs by Ron ‘Rogest’ Steven which you can see on our online boutique. We had a lot of positive feedback from everyone and we appreciate it! Thanks also to Rogest for his forward thinking designs.

Our new destination is coming along nicely with the permitting process and we hope to announce it publicly in the next couple of months. We are very excited about this destination and we cannot wait to share it with you!

Coming into the Holiday Season we hope everyone has a thankful and joyous end to the 2009 diving season and we look forward to seeing you on one of our ‘Ultimate Live-Aboards’ in 2010!

Until then....
EAT SLEEP & DIVE
See you on the bottom!
Wayne B. Brown

We have returned from our latest dive trip. We had some outstanding dives for this new destination. The photos and videos proved as exciting looking at them after our return as they did taking them during the trip!

We have given the prospective franchisee the go ahead to organize all permits necessary for this great new destination. They are also finalizing the plans for the yacht upgrades.

Once all is in place, we will be announcing the destination and releasing the charter schedule as well as some of the photos and video we compiled. This is going to be a great addition to the fleet and we look forward to diving with you exploring these new areas!

For now it is all about DEMA 2009 and getting ready for the long but productive week in Orlando. Please stop by and say hello or inquire about our group rates for Dive shops and Travel resellers!

Until then....
EAT SLEEP & DIVE
See you on the bottom!
Wayne B. Brown

It is off for 7 days of travel/diving to qualify a NEW destination for Aggressor Fleet. Things have been progressing smoothly for this new franchisee and it looks like we could be diving by June 2010!

This destination will offer up to three different itineraries throughout the year and will provide everything from walls to drift diving to large animal encounters.

We should be able to announce within the next 30 days and start taking reservations. As the yacht will be renovated to Aggressor standards at it’s current location and then travel the 30-45 days to the actual destination, we will be setting up some interim diving along the way for our guest that want to join parts of the relocation charter. Definitely a way to get in some diving at areas that you have not been before on an Aggressor (or maybe any other Live-Aboard).

Part of our qualifying tour is to capture as much HD video and still photography as possible at the same time we ensure the diving meets our guests’ levels of expectations. We will share all the beauty of these areas with you once we put the final charter package together.

Until then....
EAT SLEEP & DIVE
See you on the bottom!
Wayne B. Brown

Back in the office after spending 10 days in the Maldives. This was my second trip to this part of the world this year and I have been very impressed both times!

The country is very well run and continuously makes environmental progress and protects it’s biggest natural resource; marine life.

While this trip was during their monsoon season, under water it is little noticed except for some decreased visibility but still remarkable diving all week.

We had a great group of guests this week for the Dive with the Owner’s and GatesFest charter. Everyone had the chance to try several Gates housings with video ranging from consumer Sony camcorders to the Red $40,000 professional.

The Maldives Aggressor is a motor sailer and was the most stable yacht I have ever been on! During the days when the wind picked up and the waves grew, unless you went outside, you had no idea that the weather was anything but calm.

We hoisted the sails one day and had a marvelous time plying the atolls between dive sites. Thanks to Captain Jon and the rest of the staff for another great charter and thanks to the guest for your continued support of Aggressor Fleet!

So... it is off the the Magical Maldives to board the new Maldives Aggressor! I am looking forward to my first week onboard this beautiful yacht that Giorgio and his team have built. The diving there is incredible and combine that with the new yacht, I cannot wait to get there!

This week is also the first of our 'GateFest' weeks where we have the owner of Gates under water housings, John Ellerbrock, on board. He sent an email with the equipment he is bringing for all the guest to try on this charter:

VERY Exciting. I will be sure to post a Trip report and plenty of pictures/videos to follow on my return.

End of our 25th Anniversary - as the 25th year comes to a close, we wanted to give back to our dedicated guests for making it a great 25 years! As a special ‘Thank You’, we are offering up to $700 savings per person on select yachts and weeks.

In the last two years, I have traveled on too many charters to count and on most of them I arrived early to greet our departing guests. It has been a pleasure meeting and diving with many of you and visiting with you at the yacht cocktail parties. The Aggressor guests are such a diverse group yet everyone always comes together during the charter like long lost friends. The charter always starts with everyone looking forward to the diving adventure that awaits them and all of a sudden it’s the last night and no one’s ready to go home! Every week always goes by so quickly.

Thanks goes out to some of the greats in the industry for their dedication and guidance over the last 25 years like Stan Waterman, Jim Church, Mike Mesgleski, Mike Haber, and Jean-Michel Cousteau. Thanks also goes out to the many dive centers, travel agents and tour operators from all over the world who we still work so closely with after 25 years! Thank you for your business.

Saving the best for last, the entire management at Aggressor Fleet want to thank our tireless Captains and Crews for maintaining the highest standards in the live-aboard industry! So, it is back to diving for the next 25 years.