Call us
+27 (0) 76 817 1099
Congratulations to Kate, who arrived in Cape Town on 8 October 2010 having never dived before, and is leaving on 10 December qualified as a Divemaster, with more than 60 dives and over 45 hours underwater under her belt!
Kate demonstrates incorrect snorkel technique (in the car, on the wrong side)
While she was here we dived almost every day, in all sorts of conditions. She dived in visibility ranging from pea soup (with croutons) to over 10 metres, water temperatures from 11 degrees up to 18 degrees, and experienced a wide range of what Cape Town diving has to offer. She even did a dive in just a shorty wetsuit – the water LOOKED warm but wasn’t – and I am pretty sure she’s the first diver EVER to do something like that in this city!
She experienced everything from orally inflating another diver’s BCD at 15 metres, to securing Clare’s cylinder when it came loose (oops!), tying knots underwater, a meeting with a very frisky sevengill cowshark on her first ever dive with sharks at Shark Alley, and using a lift bag to ferry our artificial reef out to the correct depth.
Kate transporting part of the artificial reef
She spent a lot of time towing the buoy line, inflated SMBs and balloons underwater (the latter was highly amusing to watch), mapped wrecks and the pipeline at Long Beach, exchanged information on the layout of the SAS Pietermaritzburg with wikivoyage guru Peter Southwood, enjoyed high-speed boat rides to various local dive sites on Ruby Runner – the Blue Flash rubber duck, filled cylinders at a local dive centre, and navigated at night in order to find the yellow buoy at Long Beach. She’s breathed from a hang tank at a safety stop after a deep dive, and from another diver’s octo while swimming to shore. She’s a pro with a compass. She’s also done some underwater photography – thanks to her, the gobies at Long Beach have a serious complex about the paparazzi!
Kate and Clare getting their bearings on the beach. To infinity and beyond!
Kate dived with and without a computer, in various types of gear and several different wetsuits. She knows the difference between an A-clamp and a DIN fitting. She removes and replaces inserts on cylinders with her eyes closed, changes O-rings, and puts on her own kit. She has filled over twenty cylinders as part of her compressor operator course.
Kate was also a fantastic ambassador for diving for the various students of mine that she interacted with. As part of her Divemaster training, she led dives, demonstrated skills, helped students with their kit, and took on various tasks in order to prepare her for the responsibilities that go with this qualification. She did all of this with good humour, good sense and great precision.
Kate helps Anna with her hoodie
During her stay, Kate buddied with all kinds of divers. She met Russians, Swedes, Canadians, French and fellow British divers, and some regte egte South Africans. She assisted foreign-language students with understanding the questions on the quizzes and exams when their English wasn’t up to the task. She got on famously with everyone she encountered, and was never grumpy or a prima donna.
In the ocean she encountered seals (she’s not a fan), giant short-tailed sting rays, hundreds of octopus, sevengill cowsharks, and her favourite friends – barehead gobies! They’re going to miss you, Kate… And especially your underwater singing!
Look at that sad little goby face!
The courses Kate completed during her stay in Cape Town are:
I am confident that she is a safe, capable diver with excellent experience under her belt so far, and I look forward to hearing about her future exploits in the underwater world.
Kate on the move
19 Comments
Newsletter: Dive trips, anchors and friendly fish « Learn to Dive Today
10 Dec 2010 10:12 am
[...] past few weeks have been busy. Kate has finished her Divemaster course and 60 dives. In 40 days, this is quite an achievement with the average dive time being 45 [...]
Wreck specialty course… Part 3 « Learn to Dive Today
24 Dec 2010 08:12 am
[...] and I finished our Wreck Specialty course independently of Kate, because she was on a deadline and had to get back to Mud Island (which is so deep in snow at the [...]
Sea life: Seals « Learn to Dive Today
29 Dec 2010 07:12 am
[...] post is dedicated to Kate, who has a deep and abiding love for seals, and can think of nothing better than cuddling up to one [...]
Communicating underwater « Learn to Dive Today
05 Jan 2011 08:01 am
[...] potentially get their attention by yelling into your regulator. Tony’s Zero to Hero student Kate would often sing classic rock songs to herself while we swam, and when I was buddied with her I could hear her singing. As far as [...]
My fascination with the ocean « Learn to Dive Today
09 Jan 2011 09:01 am
[...] the preceding information is to justify my fondness for two little fellas I met at Long Beach while Kate was doing her Zero to Hero course. They are called Peanut (a juvenile double sash butterflyfish) and Butter (a juvenile jutjaw). [...]
Update on the artificial reef: 27 days « Learn to Dive Today
16 Jan 2011 08:01 am
[...] deciding that an artificial reef would be a cool project to do at Long Beach, Clare, Kate and I installed the reef on 20 November 2010, and revisited it on 30 November. Clare and I visited [...]
Newsletter: Southeaster « Learn to Dive Today
21 Jan 2011 03:01 pm
[...] have a new Zero to Hero student starting on 1 February and this course will be an intense program as he is on a time [...]
More best buddies « Learn to Dive Today
15 Feb 2011 07:02 am
[...] at Long Beach – and can often be seen having mothers’ meetings together on the sand. Kate thought of them as her friends, watching out for her… Barehead gobies at Long [...]
Sea life: Strepies « Learn to Dive Today
22 Feb 2011 07:02 am
[...] Kate and I did a dive at Long Beach with Jeremy, a Canadian tourist, in early November last year. The visibilty was magnificent, it was a sunny day and we stayed shallow. While we were quite close inshore we encountered a large school of strepies, who circled around us for some time. It was magical – the sunlight, their shiny bodies, and the good visibility combined to make this one of the best dives I’ve done at Long Beach. Strepies schooling at Long Beach [...]
Newsletter: Back from Sodwana « Learn to Dive Today
22 Apr 2011 11:04 pm
[...] to do in the coming weeks as we were able to sign up 28 people for a Discover Scuba experience. Kate is also back from the UK and needs to do forty dives before June when she will attend an Instructor [...]
Newsletter: Wreck diving « Learn to Dive Today
06 May 2011 12:05 pm
[...] also dived on Wednesday, when Kate and I dived with Andrew to do a search and recovery dive for his Advanced course and used a lift [...]
“Will you marry me?” « Learn to Dive Today
04 Jun 2011 08:06 am
[...] flowers in her hand and a humungous smile on her face. We also had a video camera (ably operated by the legendary Kate) and a still camera on the dive and were able to supply the couple with a short movie (above) and [...]
Newsletter: Birds and dolphins « Learn to Dive Today
09 Jun 2011 06:06 pm
[...] also in order for Kate, who last year in October arrived in Cape Town wanting to learn to dive. By the end of November she [...]
Lomography: Dive buddies « Learn to Dive Today
25 Jun 2011 07:06 am
[...] The fair Kate spent two months with us doing a Zero to Hero course (Open Water to Divemaster). She spent a lot of time towing the buoy around! Kate walking up the beach behind me with the buoy Kate waits on the sand [...]
Dive sites: SAS Pietermaritzburg « Learn to Dive Today
24 Sep 2011 07:09 am
[...] SAS Pietermaritzburg once before, as part of the Wreck Specialty course I did along with Tami and Kate. The water then was distinctly green, and I was armed with a slate trying to draw a plan of the [...]
Dive Deals column: The invisble cost of learning to dive « Learn to Dive Today
25 Oct 2011 07:10 am
[...] he/she has most likely spent around R70,000 and used at least 6 -12 months getting the required training and qualifications. You may not be surprised to learn that they would like to recoup that [...]
Newsletter: Green, brown and blue « Learn to Dive Today
27 Oct 2011 09:10 pm
[...] Compare that to his recently-acquired cave diving qualification… Time flies! This time last year Kate was also with us, finishing her Advanced course and on the way to Divemaster. She’s now a [...]
Guest post: Kate’s IDC « Learn to Dive Today
06 Dec 2011 06:12 am
[...] qualify as a Divemaster. She had never dived before when she arrived, and I took her through a full Zero to Hero course, including 60 dives to meet the requirements for Divemaster, before she went back to the UK. [...]
Handy hints: Keeping your feet clean on the beach | Learn to Dive Today Blog
29 Apr 2012 10:04 pm
[...] Kate, carrying her brother Ollie (who, at 15 years old is a keen rugby player – no welterweight) [...]
Leave a Comment