Hi divers
I would love to have a newsletter filled with amazing diving stories to send out every week, but for the last while each and every newsletter has been a challenge to write due to the lack of diving. When asked about diving in the Cape during winter I would usually claim that winter is often better than summer as we have north westerly winds that clean the bay and deliver stunning visibility. Last winter we had a dives with 15 metre visibility almost every weekend yet this year I doubt we have seen anything better than 6 metres so far.
It does appear that this is set to change over the next few days and by next week we will have the first real winter storm on Tuesday so when that’s over we should have good conditions. We are midway through winter so its long over due.
This weekend
It is difficult to say for sure what the conditions will be on Saturday. The wind blew from the north last night and that will move the dirty water in the top of the bay south towards the dive sites we most often frequent. Hopefully the sites around Smitswinkel Bay will be unaffected so we will plan for two or possibly three launches on Saturday and give Sunday a miss as the wind will be too strong. I think its most likely we will do Batsata Maze, Atlantis and Outer Castle as I think the water will be cleaner on the southern end of the coastline. If you want to be on the boat on Saturday text me.
Last weekend
We launched on Saturday, doing one dive only as we had more wind than predicted and around 5 metre visibility. After the dive we came across a pod of dolphins, I would guess there were a few hundred at least and we followed them for a while and watched the sea birds and dolphins having lunch.
Sunday we did navigation dives at Long Beach in 4-5 metre visibility and a fair amount of surge. Not the greatest.
The boat
I have removed all the seats and built a dive rack giving much more space on deck. The bow rail has also been shortened so there is now more than enough space for kitting up. I have come to grips with the GPS and sonar and found and entered a lot more waypoints. We have also joined False Bay Yacht Club in Simon’s Town which means we no longer need to do battle at Miller’s Point with some of the other rude and obnoxious boaters or the baboons, not to mention the lack of proper toilet facilities and decent cell phone reception. The real attraction for me with the club is the fantastic facilities and the option of a hot shower after a cold dive as well as a very good restaurant for a coffee and lunch at very good prices.
regards
Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/
Diving is addictive!
