Hi divers
It has been a hectic period and we have dived almost every day for the last two weeks. Gary, Oscar and Dineo are doing their Divemaster course and the weather has not been too hectic. Last Sunday we had amazing conditions in Hout Bay (facebook photos here) and again on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we did shore dives in the morning and boat dives in the afternoon. Today we dived with the sevengill cowsharks and the visibility was 6-8 metres, far better than we had on Outer Photographer’s Reef (2 metres) on Tuesday.
Weekend dives
Once again we approach a weekend full of expectant divers and reading and deciphering the forecasts is a little like Russian Roulette. The weather websites (the nine I check) forecast a south westerly wind today but I can assure you the wind blew north north west the entire day. It kind of makes believing in the weekend weather a little difficult.
It is going to be a play it by ear weekend so please text me your preference for Saturday or Sunday and I will text you by 7.00 am on the relevant day if it’s on. Why you ask? Well the current Atlantic water temperature is 21 degrees which most often means green dark no viz diving. Also, the forecasted wind is extremely strong and not quite from the right direction to clean things up in the Atlantic. But we might get lucky.
There may be an option of False Bay diving as the wind today made some improvement to the water colour and the temperature has dropped to 18 degrees…. Most often good viz in False Bay means cooler temperatures.
Training
I am currently busy with SDI Open Water training, and PADI Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, Nitrox and Divemaster. Next up will be Research Diver, Equipment Specialty and Deep Specialties. As usual I am available to chat about training if you want to extend your diving qualifications.
Red Sea trip
We are 90% certain that we’ll be taking a week long live aboard dive trip to the Red Sea in October. The company we will use is probably blue o two. You can see package prices on their website to get an idea of how much you’ll need to set aside (note that not all costs are included – click on “Availability” to get the detailed timetable of trips, and under package details “Click for more details” to see what isn’t included). We will make a booking early in April. I won’t be doing a group booking for this trip; Clare and I will just let you know which itinerary and dates we plan to do, and you may book the same ones if you’re keen. We might be able to assist with finding you a cabin buddy if you don’t have one already, but the booking is completely up to you. You’ll need to be Nitrox certified and an Advanced diver to make this trip worthwhile – you will have the opportunity to do four or five dives a day, and if you’re on air they’ll be extremely short!
Aliwal Shoal trip
Our planned dates for this trip are 26/27 April to 1 May. Worker bees will need 2-3 days’ leave for this. If the weather at Aliwal Shoal is too rough for launches, we can do some dives at the aquarium in Durban and possibly off the boat or shore there. I will have more information on this in next week’s newsletter. You’ll need to be an Advanced diver and confident on boats for this trip. We’ll fly to Durban and drive about an hour south to Umkomaas.
regards
Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/
Diving is addictive!
