The clean-up was spectacular.

An Even Dozen
This marked the 12th year that the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI) has joined with the Marine Technology Society's ROV Committee to put on the world's premiere conference for all segments of the commercial underwater operations world - diving, ROVs, AUVs, manned subs, and marine technology. Sun-Star Electric joined the show sponsors this year as a Conference Patron.

The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center was again the host venue, and offered not only a spacious and clean exhibit floor, but close proximity to the nightly parties. And there were many events to keep the party-goers busy. ADCI outgoing President Fred Aichele, MTS ROV Committee Chairman Drew Michel, UnderWater Magazine, Dynacon, Integra Technologies, Sonsub, and Mar-Vel International all hosted receptions at various venues around the city.

Once again, UI had a truly international flair, with visitors from UK, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Chile, France, Singapore, Norway, Colombia, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Peru, Trinidad, Italy, Germany, China, Korea, Sweden, South Africa, Spain, Bahamas, Venezuela, Panama, Switzerland, and Nigeria.

Walking the Floor
The UI show floor is always the most visually stimulating in the world of marine conferences, and 2004 proved no different. The International Lounge served as a sort of town common, giving attendees and exhibitors alike a nice open area to sit and have a drink or a conversation. A Perry Slingsby Systems Triton XLS ROV sat like a statue in the middle of the lounge, with legions of people posing for photos beside it. A Hardsuit from OceanWorks International also called the lounge home, and offered a great photo opportunity, as well.

Commercial diving equipment was well-represented by the leading manufacturers and distributors in the field. Divers Supply, Mar-Vel International, Divex, Broco, Circle Technical Services, Amron International, Aqua-Air, Bay-Tech Industries, Trelleborg Viking, DUI, Kirby Morgan Dive Systems, Hydrospace, and Jack Vilas & Associates were all displaying their shiny and colorful wares. Kirby Morgan had one of the most unique giveaways on the show floor this year, raffling off a GI Joe in full commercial diver dress, including a nifty little Superlite replica helmet.

In fact, the most interesting recent developments in the diving equipment realm have come in the area of helmets. Kirby Morgan's Superlite has long had a stonghold on the helmet market, but many divers on the show floor were keen on looking at the new entries. Les Gorski reported that orders are flooding in for his new stainless steel G2000SS helmet, and traffic at his booth indicated the high level of diver interest. Likewise, the Genesis II, which was on display at Bay-Tech's booth, was drawing a lot of attention from divers in the market for a new hat. As there are one or two more rumored new designs out there on the horizon, the already-hot helmet wars promise to heat up even more in the future.

Praxair, Nuvair, Machine Design and Fabrication, and Applied Subsea Technologies were among those on-hand helping with a part of their job most savvy divers consider at least somewhat important - breathing.

Best Publishing brought a small library to the show, including the 5th Edition of the ADCI Consensus Standards for Commercial Diving & Underwater Operations.

The underwater camera and lighting market was well-represented, with companies like DeepSea Power & Light, ROS, Sidus Solutions, Kongsberg, JW Fishers, Outland Technologies, Insite Pacific, Deep Development, and Desert Star Systems offering the latest underwater visual equipment for divers and vehicles.

Speaking of vehicles, a sizable portion of the show was dedicated to the technology behind and operation of ROVs, AUVs, and manned submersibles. Manufacturers on-hand included Sonsub, Perry Slingsby, and Sub-Atlantic, which had its Navajo ROV on display. Schilling Robotics was at UI, fresh off its buyout from Alstom, with a new logo and a new lease on life. Ditto for SMD Hydrovision, fresh off its merger and sharing a booth with Seaeye Marine, who was displaying a Seaeye Falcon ROV.

You couldn't miss the bright yellow booth of mini-ROV industry leader VideoRay, which held vehicle demonstrations in a hotel pool across the street from the convention hall. Just as eye-catching were the neon green and orange of the Seabotix LBV and DOE's Triggerfish at their respective booths. Seabotix also took advantage of the hotel pool for some ROV demos.

Inuktun was running its VersaTrax all over the show floor, showing its amazing dexterity and maneuverability, and also had its little Seamor ROV on display. Roper Resources had its unique new Gavia, a sleek, modular AUV designed for harbor surveillance. In fact, homeland security was a theme often repeated on the show floor, as Benthos was displaying its Stingray ROV and Geophysical Survey Systems, also designed for maritime security applications.

Nova Ray's new ROV is a very attractive winged design that turned a lot of heads. The innovative vehicle can be run off thrusters like a normal ROV, or act as a towed fish.

Nuytco Research's booth was running a video of its DeepWorker performing various subsea tasks. Other vehicle-based exhibitors included DOER, Robotic Systems, OceanWorks, Ocean Engineering & Production, Innerspace, and DeepSea Systems.

Cables and connectors of all sizes were on display at booths from IEC, SubConn, Seacon Brantner, HL Technologies, Diveline, South Bay Cable, Cortland Companies, NSW, Falmat, Geospace Offshore, Impulse Enterprise, Tyco / Rochester, TMT Laboratories, Nexans, MacArtney, and Birns. Focal Technologies and Schleifring had their slip ring ranges on display, as well.

Other marine technology exhibitors included Marine Sonic Technologies, Cygnus Intsruments, Fugro, Marine Magnetics, TSS, Seatronics, Survey Equipment Services, LinkQuest, Sunwest Technologies, CodaOctopus, Subsea Technologies, Applied Acoustic Engineering, Sonardyne, Sensor Technologies, Reson, Prizm, Ocean Technology Systems, Klein Associates, International Industries, Innovatum, Materials Systems, Applied Microsystems, and Delta Wave Communications.

Heavy underwater work requires heavy duty equipment and tools for the field. Among the exhibitors in this realm were Steffen, Flange Skillets, New Draulic Tools, Integra, Flotation Technologies, Blue Water Engineering, CRP Group, Cutting Underwater Technologies, Dynacon, Prevco, Hydratight Sweeney, Rotech Subsea, Senior Aerospace, SSP Fittings, Eureka Chemical, Fastorq Bolting Systems, Galvotec Corrosion Services, Caley Ocean Systems, Customcrete, Denso, Water Weights, APM Hexseal, and Subsalve.

The rental equipment market was represented by a pair of leaders in the field, Morgan City Rentals and Redfish Rentals. And to protect all this precious underwater equipment, Storm Cases, Hardigg, and Nalpak were offering every size and shape of waterproof cases at their booths.

John W. Fisk, International Special Risks, and Amerisafe were among the insurance industry exhibitors.

There were several commercial contractors in attendance, including Superior Diving, Global Divers and Marine Contractors, Caldwell Marine, and C&C Technologies. The government and military sectors were also well-represented, including NOAA, the US Navy Diving & Salvage Unit, NAVSEA, NEDU, and the Naval Oceanographic Office, which had its massive Seahorse I AUV and MaxRover ROV on display.

Job Fair, Scholarships and Awards
Louis Cranek spent the show connecting employers with potential employees at the inaugural UI Job Fair. Cranek, from the Institute of Robotics, acted as Job Fair Chairman, and was assisted by Gerald Hart.

The Institute of Robotics also sponsored two scholarships, in conjunction with the University of Texas at Austin. Ben Peterek received a $5,000 award for the Institute's 320-hour Robotics Program, and Scott Rubac was awarded $2,500 to enter the Institute's 65-hour Fiber Optics Program.

In other scholarship news, Clifford Jackson, nominated by Jamestown Marine Services, and Jerrod Pehle, nominated by Kirby Morgan Diving Systems, were each awarded a $2500 scholarship by the ADCI Scholarship Committee.

The MTS ROV Committee Scholarships were awarded to Katie Wasserman, Ben Kinnaman, John Fassero, and Jennifer Kerwin. The MTS ROV Corporate Excellence Award went to Oceaneering International, and Drew Michel's Chairman's Award went to Oceaneering's Richard Frisbie.

Technical Program
The UI Track Chairmen did an excellent job pulling together a strong technical program. Sessions were well-attended, with tracks focusing on commercial diving, AUVs, ROVs, offshore oil and gas operations, shipwrecks, US Navy, and NOAA, which hosted a forum to open a dialogue with industry leaders about what the agency needs from them in terms of equipment and technology development.

UI Co-Chairman Drew Michel chose as the show's Best Technical Paper William J. Castle's "Removing a Collapsed Fender System," which detailed the engineering and demolition problems encountered trying to remove a collapsed fender system that fell into the Delaware River.