Diving vacations both near and far

This week, Lori Lachnict from the PADI travel
network. Tune in to learn "The Way the World Learns to Dive."

Over the past decade, the sport of SCUBA diving has become a huge form of recreation and of course a significant portion of the tourism industry. Florida, the Islands of the Bahamas and the Caribbean are destination meccas for many who seek the beauty and uniqueness of the undersea world. From snorkeling and shallow water dives to more advanced diving experiences, the industry continues to grow at an amazing pace. Since the invention of the Aqua-Lung by Jacques Cousteau in 1943 and the wetsuit by George Beuchat in 1953, subsequent years led to a revolution in recreational diving. However, for much of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, scuba diving was a sport limited to those who were able to afford or make their own kit and prepared to undergo intensive training to use it. No so today!

This week’s guest, Ms. Lori Lachnicht, reservation specialist for PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), will be in the studio to share with listeners the latest and greatest on this popular activity. Lori has a long history in the industry. In addition to owning her own travel operation—Bahamas Out Island Travel, she has served as the U.S. office for Brendal’s Dive Center, Abaco; Art Pickering’s Provo Turtle Divers in the Turks and Caicos; Hightide Watersports in Barbados; and Aquanauts Dive in Grenada. She also was a Caribbean marketing representative for Skin Diver Magazine.

Whether you are an avid diver or just thinking about getting into the sport, Lori should be a wealth of knowledge.

Radio Man and History Lady will also certainly have other topics of tourism interest, the scoop on upcoming Treasure Coast events, and a whole lot more travel and tourism nuggets you won't want to miss!

See you Friday morning at 10:05 a.m. on WPSL 1590 AM or www.wpsltv.com from Sailfish Marina!

Fall travel, here we come!

Where did you spend your Labor Day?

Labor Day 2011 is now behind us and we're ready for fall travel and fun!

Since this was a holiday weekend, show hosts Gary Guertin and Robin Hicks-Connors decided to take a holiday from having an in-studio guest and covered a wide range of vacation based factoids. These included: National Geographic’s Free to See in the U.S. list, special pet friendly amenities available in some southern California hotels and restaurants, and Frommer's top places in the Caribbean to get away from it all. Gary and Robin covered a lot of ground and had a fun time rolling through their "lists."

Listeners also received a Bahamas update. Although Hurricane Irene ran her course through the Islands of the Bahamas just a week and several days ago (seems longer),  through the Flahama Coconut Telegraph and connections with Coastal Angler Magazine-Flahama, Talkin’ Tourism provided island-by-island post-storm updates. Despite Irene's wrath, the Bahamas have recovered remarkably well and are definitely “open for business." Gary highlighted the great effort put forth by all Bahamians to get things in order as quickly as possible. Go, Visit the Bahamas!

As always, thanks for tuning into the show! If there are any special topics you would like for us to consider for the show, let us know by sending your suggestion to talkintourism@gmail.com.

For those of you who like to listen again and again (or those who missed the show), here the audio file to the September 2 Labor Day Holiday edition of Talkin' Tourism! Enjoy!

Labor Day diversions, travel myths, and goodbye summer

Labor Day Weekend marks the traditional end of summer. Students will be returning to school (and are already in school in Florida), many people will be taking their last big trip of the summer, in the Northeast, summer cottages will begin closing up and thoughts change toward autumn activities (football).

Radio Man and History Lady thought that this would be a good week to fly solo without a special guest and get caught up on Talkin’ Tourism notes accumulated over the summer that never quite made it on air.

So, what are some of the topics of conversation for the show?

• Travel projections for the upcoming Labor Day Weekend according to AAA Auto Club
• National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel Blog’s “Free to See in the U.S.,” where you can find many things to do and places to go for FREE!
• Direct from Frommer’s--The Top Places to Get Away from It All in the Caribbean and the Top Dining Bets.
• Flier comfort--Boeing 787 myths and facts.
• The top pet-friendly places in Southern California according to The Privileged Pooch, a new book by Maggie Espinoza
• And, how to get the most happiness out of a vacation according to Smart Money.

We will also share with our listeners the status of various resorts and marina facilities in the Bahamas post Hurricane Irene. Yes, folks the Islands of the Bahamas are definitely open for business!

All in all it is a remarkable recovery and we will talk about how the Islands of the Bahamas dealt with this terrible storm and got things together post Irene.

Thanks for joining us again this week as we roll from the 'Good Ol’ Summertime' toward an new and busy tourist season, which will be here before we know it!

How to protect your identity when traveling and how Social Media helped travelers (and others) during Hurricane Irene

Earthquake in Virginia, Hurricane Irene blasting through the Islands of the Bahamas headed for the U.S. mainland, man—what a crazy week it was for tourism!

The most recent episode of Talkin' Tourism took a slight turn from the norm (whatever that may be). With Irene just completing her run through the entire Bahamas archipelago the day before show time, a good portion of the show was devoted to getting our listeners up to speed with the state of affairs in this major tourism region. After all, Talkin’ Tourism is 'Radio Free Flahama!'

Despite the enormous threat of Irene, the Bahamas did very well overall and there was lots of good news to share. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers continue to go out to all Bahamians for having to experience such a severe storm.

As a special guest, Talkin’ Tourism co-producer and president of Misti Guertin Public Relations, Misti Guertin, was in the studio explaining the major improvement in disaster communications today versus what existed during 1999 with Hurricane Floyd, which nearly took the same path as Irene. During Irene, social media in all its forms allowed persons to communicate specific situations and provide nearly real-time updates much faster than a decade ago. This has made a huge difference in being able to cope during such challenging times. Lots of people who are on Facebook and Twitter now have many more friends and followers than they did before the storm.

Last, Mike Prusinski, the senior vice president of communications for the identity theft prevention company LifeLock called in from their Tempe, Arizona headquarters to advise our listeners how to best prevent identity theft. Identity theft perpetrators are becoming more and more sophisticated and you need to know how to protect yourself. Hi-tech can now be hi-crime.

Unfortunately, WPSL had an equipment malfunction while recording the show, resulting in this episode's audio track being lost. So if you missed the show, you really missed the show. Bummer. We've provided links to LifeLock so that you can learn more about identify theft prevention. Also, your local AAA Travel Club South office should also be able to provide more information.

See you on Friday with another information-filled and entertaining hour of Talkin' Tourism!