Drift Diver specialty

Newsletter: Sweets on the boat!

Hi divers

Weekend diving

Sunday: Boat dives at 9.00 to Atlantis Reef (5-27 metres) and 12.00 to Tivoli Pinnacles (10-22 metres)

Conditions report

Both the Atlantic and False Bay have been great during the week. We had 8 metre visibility on an Atlantic charter on Wednesday, and today’s offshore winds have flattened False Bay nicely, and cleaned the water significantly. The water temperature on both sides of the peninsula is similar, 10-12 degrees, and the visibility is around 8 metres. I feel that if the water temperature is a single digit the viz needs to be double that, but we don’t always get what we want! False Bay will be the best option this weekend so we will plan to launch on Sunday, at 9.30 for Atlantis and for Tivoli Pinnacles at 12.00.

For the diary

December is starting on Monday and the season gets really busy, really fast. We are going to focus on Open Water, Advanced and Nitrox courses this December. We will add a Nitrox course free to the first 5 people that sign up for an Advanced course during December. We are also able to run the Research Diver, Drift diver and Equipment Specialist courses during December and January. To see the range of courses available take a look here.

Please diarise our open house on Saturday afternoon, 13 December. Proper invitations to follow.

For interest

On Sunday while out on the boat we passed by the prototype shark repellent cable at the end of Glencairn beach. This is a non-lethal approach to keeping humans and sharks separate, and is in the testing phase. You can see how the cable is lying with electrodes on each side of the centre cable, the electrodes marked by orange buoys on risers that stick out at low tide. There’s a description of the cable here, and we’ll have some more photos on the blog next Wednesday.

The risers on the cable are clearly visible at low tide

This is a great project with a potentially significant impact on the relationship between humans and sharks in South Africa. The cable was developed at the behest of the KZN Sharks Board, and is being tested in co-operation with Shark Spotters and the City of Cape Town.

For the history books

Last Friday the wreck of the Clan Stuart turned 100. She ran aground in False Bay on 21 November 1914. We had a little commemoration of our Clan Stuart dives on the blog.

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/

Diving is addictive!

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Newsletter: Distant dusky dolphins

Hi divers

Weekend plans

We will launch on Saturday and Sunday, with Monday being an option if it’s not too windy and if we’re not all dived out.

Saturday: Launching at Miller’s Point to go to SAS Pietermaritzburg and Atlantis
Sunday: Launching at False Bay Yacht Club to go to the Roman Rock area and Ark Rock wrecks

Last week’s diving

We launched from OPBC last weekend and took the boat to Justin’s Caves. There is also a small seal colony there that begs to be dived. I know Justin’s can be dived as a shore dive but I am not a fan of big climbs and long swims, and the boat ride there is very beautiful! We had patches of really clean water with a very green surface layer. We enjoyed watching a small, lazy pod of dusky dolphins on the surface, and before the dive we saw a sunfish leap right out of the water, and then disappear into the depths next to our boat. Thanks to Gary Carstens for this week’s newsletter photos!

The south easter has blown a lot this week but has suddenly dropped off and once False Bay calms down the diving will be good. The bay does not have that terrible green colour it can sometimes have with a south easter. The Atlantic needs more wind for longer to clean it, so I reckon False Bay will be better for the weekend.

Text message list

In addition to the newsletter I have an sms list that I use to notify divers of planned dives. If you’d like to receive text messages as well when we plan to go out, please email or text me your number (if you text me, send your name too so I know who you are). There are contact details at the bottom of this newsletter, otherwise hit reply.

Memorial

For those interested, on Sunday there will be a procession of boats attempting to encircle Robben Island in memory of Nelson Mandela. This starts at 12pm from OPBC.

Rocksucker at Justin's Caves — Rocksucker at Justin’s Caves

Training

During the months of December and January we will run a Drift Diver specialty course. This is a lot of fun as you can often end up drifting over things on the ocean floor that you had no idea were down there. If you’d like to extend your training with this or one of the other Specialty courses I can teach (there’s a list here), give me a shout.

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/

Diving is addictive!

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Newsletter: Midwinter summer’s day

Hi divers

Wow! is about all I can say for the current summer day-like conditions. A short while ago I installed a weather station at home to help my inadequate weather forecasting, and this is a screen shot of today’s temperatures. Note the high of 26.5 degrees.

Screen shot from our home weather station console

Weekend plans

To complement the great weather the bay is clean and blue ,and the water temperature is 15 degrees. All this good stuff from today is set to continue for the weekend, and we will launch the boat on both days. Neither day will deep dives as I have Open Water students, so we will pick the sites from a range of the following: Photographer’s Reef, Ark Rock, SAS Pietermaritzburg, Spaniard Rock or Caravan Reef. Why the loose arrangement? Well there are a few traces of red tide further north and further out in the bay, so we will dive where we have the best conditions.

If you want to dive, text me. Be quick, because the boat is already quite full!

The past week(end)

We did not really dive last weekend as the weather wasn’t all that great and most of this week has been spent on Divemaster training. Over the weekend there was rather a large swell and lots of wind and rain. We did however get wet on Sunday, above and below the surface, as we did a cage diving trip in False Bay to take a closer look at some of the rather large animals hunting around Seal Island. We had some sun, some rain and some time in a cage, and seeing the white sharks was absolutely remarkable. Despite the swell the experience was most definitely a memorable one and if I won the lotto I would go back every other day for the entire season.

Training

We are working on some detail for a few Specialty Courses not offered much in Cape Town, namely Drift Diving, Research Diver and Equipment Specialty. If any of these courses tickle your fancy send me a mail and I will send you the details.

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/

Diving is addictive!

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Newsletter: The wild side

Hi divers

We had really good conditions last weekend despite the gloomy forecast. Saturday was spent at Long Beach doing dives one and two for Open Water students, and Sunday we dived the Brunswick and then Photographer’s Reef. The visibility was good at the Brunswick apart from liberal quantities of bread in the water (thanks to one of the local grannies feeding the birds!) and around 5-6 metres on Photographer’s but worse in patches.

I dived Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in False Bay, doing Refreshers, some Discover Scuba Diving experiences and Rescue dives, and had 6 – 8 metre visibility with 17 degree water. There are several rays at Long Beach already.

Clare took this picture while chilling on the boat on Sunday

Weekend dives

We are diving Roman Rock and Outer Photographer’s Reef tomorrow but I think that will be it for the next few days as there is a big swell arriving tomorrow evening and it lingers for several days. The forecast wind and swell will turn False Bay a little wild and the only outing available for the weekend will be Dungeons, where the big wave surfers will treat you to some spectacular action. The last time we were out there the speed at which some of those waves build was quite amazing. I will go out on Sunday for a few hours, if you join then warm clothes, cameras and cling wrap are to be packed with the coffee and chocolates… Don’t forget the chocolates.

Courses

We will be doing Drift and Deep specialties as soon as the current Rescue course is completed. I am also starting Open Water, Advanced and Nitrox next weekend.

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: Finding cowsharks

Hi divers

We had some great diving last weekend, and were on a mission to find the cowsharks and clean water. Our first dive on Sunday was to Ark Rock, a relatively easy but beautiful site with sheer walls, overhangs, ledges and a sort of cave. There is also almost always a handful of very playful seals to start and end the dive with.

We then went to dive at Atlantis. Our expectations of cleaner water below the murky top layer did not materialise (even at 15 metres) so we hauled into the boat and went to look for the sevengill cowsharks. For some reason or another there have been very few sightings of these animals since mid-September, and we have been trying to find them in several different places over the last week or two. We had a plan, it was dived and I waited on the boat. Happily a few minutes into the dive Clare’s head popped up (still attached) and she shouted they had found them.

I launched again on Tuesday and we dropped in on the very same spot and there they were. There aren’t as many to see as there have been on other occasions, and they didn’t seem as curious as they sometimes are, but we were very glad to see that they’re still in the general vicinity of Shark Alley.

On our way back from Shark Alley we were overtaken by a huge group of very relaxed and playful seals. It was an amazing experience – there’s a video here.

Training

We are busy tomorrow and the weekend with Rescue and Open Water, and next week I have two courses running back to back: the Drift and Deep Specialties. We will start these courses on Tuesday. Monday will be a Discover Scuba day most likely, at Long Beach.

This weekend

I think False Bay will be the place to dive and we will do shore dives with Open Water students on Saturday with Rescue in the afternoon. On Sunday we will do two launches for student qualifying dives and some more Rescue training.

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/

Diving is addictive!