The Vancouver Apneist freediving club held its very first underwater Christmas tree decorating event December 15, 2007. It was a very rainy and windy day but despite that, we had four divers in the water. Nikkey and Patti provided moral and logistical support on shore. Greg was the chief enthusiast, bringing a small fake tree, numerous decorations, a stuffed Santa and a battery powered fish.

On October 21, 2007, the Vancouver Apneists held their first annual underwater pumpkin carving contest at Buntzen Lake. Despite the rain, four divers showed up: Greg Fee, Sean Smith, Nikkey Ward and myself.

As this was the first ever breath-hold underwater pumpkin carving contest we were aware of, we used the following simple rules:

• Clean out pumpkins before entering the water to keep beach clean
• Can only carve pumpkin underwater while holding breath
• Collect the pieces from the surface and beach