With Your Host
Mark T. Camarena, CMA
Now available by popular demand The new and expanded Breakroom where you can see pictures of lifeguards that worked at Deep River Waterpark in the past. If you have any to share be sure to send to me. You can e-mail me at in2deep@xvi.net
You can view more pictures in the Deep River Waterpark picture gallery. The 1996 pictures were scanned by a lifeguard in 1997. The 1997 and 1998 pictures come from picture disk
For all the information you need to know about Deep River Waterpark
Indiana's Premiere Waterpark Deep River Waterpark will open for its 5th season at 10:00 a.m. on Friday May 21, 1999. I'll see you there. SEASON PASSES ARE NOW ON SALE!!! I HAVE MINE FOR 1999. DO YOU HAVE YOURS? The price is $90.00 for the first family member and $55.00 for each additional family member. Remember you read it here first. When you get your Deep River Season Pass Remember to tell them Mark T. Camarena sent you.
When the park opens admission will be $10.75 daily. Of course there will be 2 new speed slides They will be known as The Dragon. I hear they are 60 feet high and will be quite fun. You know I will tell you all about the rides as soon as the information becomes available. Now is the time to prepare 1999 it is going to be fine. You will have a splashtastic time so get your passes ASAP remember they are now on sale. Remember to tell them that Mark. T. Camarena sent you
It's the Moment You Have All Been Waiting For. By popular Demand you can now view
My Sister's Secrets Finally Revealed
Thanks to the many lifeguards at Deep River Waterpark in 1998 that protected nearly a quarter of a million lives as in 1998 an attendance record was set at Indiana's Premiere Waterpark. May God bless and protect you in all that you do. You did great in 1998. I'm sure you'll do fine in 1999. Remember opening day is not that far away. It is less than 5 days away. Deep River Waterpark opens for the 1999 season on Friday May 21, 1999. I'll see you there. Until that time you can remember the fun times of the past seasons on this site. For awhile at least you will see the opinions from 1998 on this site.
The following are the opinions of Mark T. Camarena. These are opinions and not facts. This is for entertainment purposes only. You should visit the park often and form your own.
Best Watch: Aimee Sure its not the 12 apostle watch that I have been looking for but it is a nice bright yellow
Best Bag: Christina who doesn't love speedo except if you had to see me in one. Actually the suit I wear is made by speedo and when I swam as Mr. President for 10 some years I always wore a speedo on race day. If you see this bag it is way cool. Of course you would not see me carrying that a bag of that color. I think it is a flourescent pink. I haven't seen this bag in awhile so I asked what happened to it. She says it is at home. Hopefully it will come back before year end.
Best Female Lifeguard name: Mary (try and guess why we chose this one)
Best Female Lifeguard name: Juliet (she is the only person with this name that I have ever met)
Best Male Lifeguard name: Guillermo
They sure do have some female lifeguards with great voices this year at Deep River Waterpark
Best Female Lifeguard voice: Ashley
Best Female Lifeguard voice: Ryan
Best Female Lifeguard voice: Kristen when it is working
Best Male Lifeguard voice: Dustin
Our Favorite Man in the Park: Clarence usually he greets you at the gate with a smile sometimes you will find him over at Guest Services just ask and he will tell you wear the lockers are
The nicest food and beverage person: Carrie
The Best Cart Gal: Jaimie now if we can only get her to sell more so buy Nachos if she is selling them and remember everyone loves Dippin Dots so if you see her there make sure you buy buy buy
Lifeguard with the best hair: Christina you know I really love pony tails and most days she has it in one and it always looks so nice. Now if she would just sport the pig tails one day it will really put a smile on my face
Aimee I love long hair and haven't seen anyone with longer hair than her
Jill her hair may not be as long but when it is down it is really nice looking Mary I don't know how she does it but when she has it in her trademark ponytail it really looks nice
Best Sunglasses: Cara (thanks Erik for telling me her name).
Best new lifeguard this year: Kristen you know she has 5 holes in each ear for now she is sticking to her ears. She seems to be having fun and along with a nice smile has a very nice voice. More may be coming if we find out their names
Best new lifeguards this year: (Honorable Mentions) Ryan, Allen, Mary, and Misty
My sister's favorite lifeguards: Aaron, Shane
Lifeguard with the most colorful shoes: Christina the original yellow sandals are back. She started the whole colorful shoe craze you know. One day she had these very colorful gym shoes. I thought they looked so cute with her bag. Her feet looked very tiny to me in them. Everyone knows all good hearted people have tiny feet.
or is it Mary? she has yellow sandals too. I thought both of them had retired the shoes but on Wednesday August 5 they were both wearing yellow sandals.
Lifeguard formerly with the most colorful shoes: Dana they were orange and bright and really nice. They have been retired now. Her new shoes she says fit better. Her new shoes are nice just not as colorful.
Lifeguard with the Best Tattoo: Dana I hope she doesn't get mad at me for looking at it but I really like the sun which seems to have a face on it that you can see when she has her back to you. Part of it always seems to be covered up with her suit though.
The only lifeguard that I have ridden on a ride with while obeying all the rules: Joel a.k.a. J Dawg and you know he seems to say Hi every time I am at the park. I'll take that has being friendly as usually the way it works is no one says hi to me I just say hello to people
Lifeguard that pushes the best on slide rides: He has always been the champion of the slide rides Mr. James.
Female Lifeguard that pushes the best on slide rides: Jessie
Best Person in the park to talk to: Tina of course you can find her at guest services or somewhere around
The friendliest male lifeguard: Erik here is someone who can pronounce my name correctly including the T although you can just call me Mark. He always seems to be helping people out and making sure they enjoy their stay at Deep River Waterpark.
The most charming lifeguard: Joel (editor's note by request. I am sure all the ladies think that though)
My favorite Lifeguard: Christina she's the nicest lifeguard I know and she held this post most of last year too. I also happen to really like her as she is the perfect girl to me. I'm going to marry her one day. I just hope it is alot sooner that July 30, 2048. However that date she already agreed to.
Lifeguard that laughs the most: Kristin it is so fun to talk to her because she always laughs when I talk to her not when people are injured then she is very serious. Laughter is contagious though I find it especially funny since we have always been Kelly fans and Kelly is her twin sister and I at least tell her that Kelly is friendlier etc and she just laughs. Of course not to long ago Kristen threw some tubes at me. She claims it was the wind but don't we all know it is about me liking Kelly more than Kristin?
Best 2cnd Season Lifeguard: Most people know she is one of my very favorites: Jill of course
Best 3rd Season Lifeguard: Miss Jennifer
Best 4th Season Lifeguard: Kelly the lead guard
In 1998 The Lake County Parks Department celebrates 30 years of excellence (for those of you trying to guess my age I am younger than the Parks Department) so as my sister prodded me into this following in no particular order are my 30 favorite people at Deep River Waterpark. I'm sorry for anyone I may have missed
This list is not all lifeguards as I deal with many people at the park it include food and beverage people, guest services, locker and tube rental, etc. Now here is the list for 1998
Christina, Tina, Clarence, Courtney, Dana, Aimee, Jaime, Kelly(the Lead Guard), Kristin and Kristen
Mr. James, Miss Jennifer, Jill, Joel, Jordan, Juliet, Guillermo, Butthead, Ashley, and Kara
Park Director Jim Basala, Erik, Erin, Kelly (a.k.a Sam), Ryan, Misty, Heather, Dave, Dustin, and Mary
To make me put up my list my sister gave me her list on July 27, 1998 she made some major revisions as she has gotten to know more people now. Here is here new list. Here it is 30 years of Excellence for Lake County Parks so in order here are her 30 favorite people at Deep River Waterpark in 1998.
1. Shane 2. Mr. James 3. Aaron 4. Dana 5. Christina 6. Courtney 7. Jon 8. Tina 9. Ryan 10. Kristen
11. Jaimie 12. Clarence 13. Dave 14. Erik 15. Justin 16. Amanda 17. Mary 18. Dustin 19. Joel 20. Allen
21. Guiellermo 22. Kristin 23. Kelly 24. Stacey 25. Lindsey 26. Juliet 27. Jill 28. Kara 29. Miss Jennifer 30. Shala
Now for the disclaimer at the time this was updated Mark T. Camarena,CMA is in no way whatsoever associated with Deep River Waterpark, The Lake County Parks Department, Ellis and Associates, Splash Down Dunes, M and M Mars Company, or Tootsie Roll Industries Inc.
Any questions you want answered maybe I can find out for you just e-mail them to me. Check back here often for more Gabbing with Guards.
Jeff Ellis grew up in the Red Cross system, he became head of water safety for the Houston Chapter. In 1983, after helping to investigate a drowning at a local water park he launched a water safety business specializing in serving water parks and the attractions.
There are now 950 water parks of all sizes and in 1996 they admitted 58 million visitors. (I have had requests that I Waterpark Mark go around the country and visit various water parks and write a guide to all the waterparks around. Right now I don't have any plans to travel all around the country doing tha but if we can get a publisher to finance that so I can travel all around I will be on my way and believe me I am willing to write whatever I think. Of course for now my home base of Deep River Waterpark is the only waterpark I have been to so it is my favorite.) In waterparks rescues from rolling surf and steep slides are a frequent occurence.
This called for a different sort of lifeguarding. Mr. Ellis required his guards to use skinny, flexible foam "rescue tubes" that help support victims in the water. He also devised the "rear huggie" and "duck pluck" special manuevers used with the tubes to carry victims back to land and protect guards from injury. He banned whistle-twirling as unprofessional, and required guards to sit upright in chairs and continously scan the water.
Mr. Ellis introduced what many call "snoopervising" Technically Jeff Ellis and Associates call this a safety audit. Ellis contractually requires clients to buy at least 3 safety audits a year. Sometimes Jeff himself will put on the swimsuit and play the drowning victim.
With Jeff Ellis and Associates behind the lifeguards at Deep River Waterpark you can be assured that you will be safe for Ellis will stand behind the guards it certifies.