Specialties – Page 3 – Learn to Dive Today Blog

Newsletter: This is how we roll

Hi divers We launched in Hout Bay on Tuesday and had good viz, lots of seals and did some “myth busting” underwater with eggs and golf balls. It has been reported that there is currently 20-30 metre visibility on some sites in the Atlantic. Sadly the howling southeaster forecast for the weekend means we will have yet another dry weekend. I can’t in good conscience take either students or paying divers out when the wind is so strong; the potential for accidents is huge, and the boat ride and surface conditions are unpleasant and dangerous.

Training

Gary and Oscar are very close to completing their Divemaster training. We have also done some Open Water and Advanced training in the last few weeks but have not had too many good weather days. Tomorrow I’m doing a DSD and Open Water training at Long Beach.

Night Diving

We are planning a night dive for next week, conditions permitting, mid week. We will meet at 7 pm at Long Beach and start the dive at around 7.30 or 8.00 pm. Let me know if you want to be notified of the day.

Bad weather days

There are options for bad weather days or evenings if your DSTV is dysfunctional. I am going to run an SDI Equipment Specialty for few evenings over the next month. Learn all about how and why your gear works, how to service it and give it the required TLC for it to outlive you. We will cover cylinders, pillar valves, inflators, regulators, BCDs and a whole lot more. After this course your corroded regulator will not get stuck half on a cylinder just before a dive! The Nitrox course is also theory-based and is fantastic to have if you plan to do any warm water diving, particularly.

Trips

We’re still working on the Aliwal Shoal trip, and it looks as though we might switch it to Durban and spend some time diving with the guys at Calypso Diving. More information next week… The Red Sea trip is still quite far in the future but we are saving already! regards Tony Lindeque 076 817 1099 www.learntodivetoday.co.za www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/ Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: Training and travel

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.

Data from a weather buoy on the Atlantic side of the peninsula

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!

The decision to operate a dive boat

Depending on where you are in the world and the coastline you frequent most, owning a dive boat is sometimes optional, and there are several factors to consider. If you were in KZN, shore diving is almost non existent due to the coastline and the unsheltered beaches. If you had a dive centre there without a boat it would be virtually impossible to offer much in the way of diving or training. Here in Cape Town there are quite a number of shore entries and these sites can fulfil most of the training requirements for a range of courses.

For any of the more advanced courses the depths close to shore don’t meet the criteria set by the certification agencies, and in order to reach the deeper sites a boat is required. For example the PADI Advanced course requires you aim for a maximum depth of 30 metres. The best wrecks for a Wreck Specialty require a boat ride. The most popular wreck for wreck penetration is the Aster which lies in the middle of Hout Bay and again is only accessible by boat. Whilst Cape Town boasts well over 100 dive sites the vast majority are boat dives, and in fact only a handful of the shore dives are relatively easy entries whilst most require a scramble down a bank and back up that bank at the end of a dive. Some also require a surface swim of over 100 meters. Whilst these sites are easy for the accomplished diver, a novice diver, already intimidated by all the new info being crammed into a dive course, doesn’t always find the rocky entries and exits a blast.

In Cape Town many dive operators don’t own boats and instead use the services of other centres or dive charters. This has certain benefits in that there are none of the associated costs and time consuming tasks related to boating and the dive is over once you kit is off loaded, whereas when operating a boat the dives are only over once the boat is home, washed, fuelled and ready for the next dive.

We found that using the services of other centres and boat charters had the disadvantage of seldom being able to choose the site or the launch times and this makes student dive planning a little more difficult. Co-ordinating the change of divers, equipment and dive planning becomes difficult if the first and second launches have students at different levels.

In addition to this, I have owned sailing vessels and boats for many years and love spending time on the water. In view of the usefulness to our dive school and the enjoyment we would get from boating, we decided that the right thing was for us to buy a boat when we were able to. The result was Seahorse, acquired at the end of March 2012. Since then we have enjoyed many boat dives off our own boat, and had many happy hours exploring False Bay.

Newsletter: Clean, cold Atlantic

Hi divers

We dived the Atlantic last Saturday, out of Granger Bay, and were rewarded with clean and cold water. Visibility was 15 metres at least and the water was 9 degrees. Christo completed his Advanced course – well done! Sunday was a pool day and on Monday we did Open Water dives 1 & 2 and a Navigation and Search and Recovery dives for Advanced students at Long Beach with surprisingly decent visibility.

Straight cuts through the granite at North Paw

The wind has been humping a bit the last few weeks and it was only today we managed some diving again. We dived the Brunswick and the concrete wreck just off Simon’s Town, and had 6 metre visibility and 18 degree water. The southeaster is not letting up so it is going to be an Atlantic weekend again. My guess is Saturday will be best as the wind is less: it’s still blowing, but less than Sunday. I will take a look at the ocean colour tomorrow and decide if we launch from Hout Bay or Granger Bay. Either way, reports of top to bottom viz both sides of the hill are promising. Text me if you want to be on the boat.

Tony and some brittle stars on a boulder

Changes at Learn to Dive Today

I have recently completed a crossover course to another international scuba diving training agency, namely SDI /TDI. Scuba Diving International and Technical Diving International are pioneers in technical diving and are also approved by the World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC). I will be offering SDI recreational scuba courses in addition to the PADI ones I already teach. SDI offer a whole range of additional courses, for example, Research Diver and Solo Diver. These two courses have interested me for ages and I am now able to offer them together with a range of others. More details will appear on our website and in our newsletter shortly. You can read more about SDI here.

Christo & Tony at the safety stop, at the thermocline

Training

We currently have Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox, Rescue and Divemaster on the go.

The holidays are closing in and if you have a few days with not much planned, give me a call and let’s see if we can get you in the water.

regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Christmas gift guide 2012

In the interest of planning ahead, here’s our annual Christmas gift guide. This is specially for the people whose idea of a good gift is “whatever’s available in a shop close to the mall entrance on 23 December!”

Books

For the reader, you could check out our book reviews, arranged by topic:

There are also a couple of children’s books to consider.

Dive gear

Check out What’s in My Dive Bag for some ideas… You can contact Andre for most of these:

torch
gloves
fins
hoodie
SMB – no Cape Town diver should be without one!
strobes
signalling devices
a knife
logbook
slates

Make sure you know the returns/exchanges policy of wherever you make your purchases. Some places can be difficult, and if the mask doesn’t fit it’s no good at all!

For lady divers

For the diving lady in your life (or your man friend with too much hair), what about some rich hair conditioner to apply before going in the water – suggestions here, otherwise try what I’m currently using: Aussie Moist Three Minute Miracle, which is available at Clicks. A pack of cheap, soft fabric elasticated hairbands is a good stocking filler.

Some high SPF, waterproof sunscreen, or a nice hooded towel for grown ups (available in one or two of the surf shops in Muizenberg) would also not go amiss.

Experiences

Don’t forget to add a memory card for the lucky recipient’s camera if you plan to gift any of these! Contact Tony for prices.

Discover Scuba Diving
Refresher
a well-chosen Specialty course
voucher for a boat dive or two on Seahorse

For those who need (or like) to relax

Magazine subscriptions

The Dive Site – should be your first choice
Divestyle
Submerge

Memberships

DAN cover (for the year or for a dive trip)
Membership to one of the local dive clubs: Cape Scuba Club, FBUC, OMSAC…

Wall art

Clip Clop designs and prints beautiful tide charts for Cape Town and Durban and moon phase charts for the year. You can order online or find them at Exclusive Books.

My underwater alphabet is available for R200 in A1 size, fully laminated. Shout if you want a copy.

If you take your own photos, you could print and frame a couple, or experiment with stretched canvas prints if that’s your thing. A digital photo frame pre-loaded with underwater images is also a lovely gift for a diving friend.

Donations

For the person who has everything, or because you’re feeling grateful:

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!

Newsletter: The patchy bay

Hi divers

The diving last weekend was a bit of a washout. The wind predicted for Saturday arrived at twice the strength and we stayed out of the sea. Sunday was not too windy, however there was not too much clean water around and we went as far as the southern end of Smitswinkel Bay without finding much better than 5 metres. Christo explored an area we have not dived before and found a low reef and nice kelp forest.We did get to see whales on the ride down to the dive site, at the dive site and again on the way back.

The week has delivered mixed conditions with 6-8 metre visibility on Tuesday and 5 metres today. There are vast patches of different shades in the bay with some having clean water and some not.

The weekend does look reasonably good for Saturday. Sunday is a bit windier than I like but we could possibly have good conditions for shore dives.

So the plan is:

Two launches on Saturday: first launch maximum depth 30 metres, and the second launch maximum depth 18 metres. Where? well I think it best we go and look for the clean patches and decide out there. If you want to boat dive send me a text and the same goes for shore diving on Sunday.

Training

Nitrox, Open Water and Advanced on the go, with some Specialties in the pipeline. The southeaster will arrive soon and send us off to the Atlantic. I will run Deep, Wreck and Nitrox specialties once we hit the Atlantic as the Aster, the Katsu Maru,the BOS 400,and the Maori all need to be dived again to see what the winter storms and swells have done.

Curious seal says, "Are you my mother?" — Curious seal says, “Are you my mother?”

I will also run a Rescue course later this month and we will use the really windy days for pool training.

regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: The season begins

Hi divers

Last weekend the first ever Cape Town Dive Festival was held at Miller’s Point. We could not have asked for better weather on Saturday and the entire event was a huge success. All the local dive centres, training schools and boat charters pulled together and made this an event not to be missed. Every little detail was covered. We even had hot showers on the slipway for cold divers. Well done to all that participated and a big thanks to all the divers that supported the event.

The season has kicked off in a big way for us we and we have been running courses almost every day for the last two weeks. The conditions in the bay are great right now despite the water fluctuating between 13 – 15 degrees. We are expecting 25 degrees air temperature this weekend so summer is most definitely around the corner. For those that still need to do a few dives to complete their courses started before the cold set in, dust off your manual, and give me a shout so we can get going. There is a long weekend around the corner so if you do not have plans to go away, go diving.

Relocation

Finally we have relocated to the South Peninsula and it now takes 3 minutes to get to the beach… Less if you speed (which I can’t really, and specially not towing the boat)!

The new classroom is taking shape and the equipment we use is now no longer tucked away in boxes every day, it is instead all neatly stored and easy to access. Pictures to follow as we make progress. We are very happy here already. Please feel free to follow us home (not like a stalker please) after your dives to check the new place out!

This weekend

Tomorrow is not technically weekend but we are doing two dives tomorrow for Advanced students, Nitrox dives on Saturday for the Nitrox Specialty students and starting a new Open Water course on Sunday.

I will launch both days this weekend and Saturday will be a deep dive followed by a wreck dive, while Sunday will be Partridge Point and sevengill cowsharks.

On Monday we will launch and go to Outer Castle and the Pietermaritzburg, Tuesday to Outer Photographer’s Reef and Photographer’s Reef.

regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: The very first Cape Town Dive Festival

Hi divers

As the weekend approaches we are glad to see favourable weather for the long awaited first ever Cape Town Dive Festival. The first date was a weather disaster and the decision to postpone was a good call as it was a weekend of really foul weather. For those renting gear from me for the festival please make sure you mail me the details of your requirements before midday tomorrow. We will have all the gear in the gazebo which we are sharing with BlueFlash.

Family of Egyptian geese at the pool today

Over the last few days I have been out, on, or in the water almost every day and must say it makes me very happy watching the mercury creep up towards to 20 degree mark (air temperature, that is). We have done a few double tank dives to the cowsharks and seals and they never ever seem to disappoint. The bay is also full of snoek, whales, and dolphins and these are all good signs we are heading for a good summer season.

Training

We are busy with a few Open Water and Advanced courses and will be doing some Nitrox training dives during the festival. Congratulations to Mark who completed his Divemaster course after practising his teaching skills on an extremely difficult pair of divers called Christo and Maurice!!

Next weekend it is International Coastal Cleanup Day. I will be in touch with you regarding that during the course of next week.

regards

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

Diving is addictive!