EFR – Learn to Dive Today Blog

Inspecting the EFR equipment

The kittens check out the oxygen cylinder and EFR Annie.

The pictures in this week’s newsletter were taken by Georgina Jones (author of A Field Guide to the Marine Animals of the Cape Peninsula – if you dive locally you should own it), who dived with us on Wednesday. We took the boat out to Roman Rock and Photographer’s Reef, and had decent (about 8 metre) visibility. At Photographer’s Reef the visibility was actually top to bottom, but a large swell was rolling in which led me to cancel the afternoon’s snorkel with seals at Partridge Point.

Last weekend was very much the way this Saturday looks to be: atrocious weather leading to equally bad sea conditions. I am as sorry as you are! We will not be launching on Saturday but I will be launching on Sunday as it is forecast to be almost windless. We will need to go to the sites a bit further south and offshore or to Hout Bay if we are to have reasonable visibility, as the southeaster is going to blow very strongly for the next two days. If you’re interested in a Sunday launch, conditions permitting (as usual), send me an email or text me. We will make a final call on Saturday evening.

Coursewise, this is a good time of year to do some theory-rich material like the Nitrox Specialty, or your EFR course in preparation for Rescue Diver. Working up a sweat giving CPR to a plastic dummy will also help to stave off the cold. If you are keen to further your training or to discuss options, you are most welcome to get in touch.

regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: Winter diving

Hi divers

So, finally the south easter stopped blowing and we had a taste of winter winds blowing hard and softly this past week. The results, cleaner but not too much colder water. We dived Atlantis and Photographer’s Reef today, and 12 metre visibility and 13 degree water. It is probably the best viz I have seen in recent times. Last weekend we dropped anchor at an unnamed dive site close to Miller’s Point and had a good 10 metre visibility so slowly the bay is starting to deliver. The wind tomorrow blows fairly hard from the north west which will either clean the bay even more or at least keep it as good as it is now.

Surfacing to see the freelance skipper waiting for us on the boat!

Weekend plans

The wind will be moderate, but from the north west so the bay will be flat. The bay will be sheltered from the 4 metre swell as it is from the south west because of Cape Point, so it will have very little impact. The swell period is also very long, 18 seconds on Saturday, so I hope it will make for really good diving.

Photographer's Reef today — Photographer’s Reef today

I am having a lot fun diving off the boat and we will launch Saturday and Sunday. We have been launching from the False Bay Yacht Club and it is a very pleasant atmosphere. Not to mention the option of a hot shower (if you take out temporary membership for the day) and toasted sandwiches or burgers in the clubhouse after diving.

Giant roman at Photographer's Reef — Giant roman at Photographer’s Reef

I will plan for two launches each day, one or both of the days will be to Atlantis to accommodate Bernita as she asked for this site a week ago and promised to bring cake. The rest will be decided on the day by the people that have booked, so go here and here, read about the sites, then go here and bake a cake and send me a text with your choices… You may or may not be lucky but then again a slice of cake on the boat is a very strong motivator for me. (Text Clare for cake options.) There are also several whales and hundreds of dolphins in the bay right now.

Fish at Photographer's Reef — Fish at Photographer’s Reef

Training

Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, EFR and Divemaster courses running currently, join any if you wish or be brave and pick your own… here!

See you in the water!

regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: On the surface

Hi divers

What a windy week, or weeks we have had. Last weekend a bunch of us braved the rain… I don’t mind getting wet but there is just something unpleasant about kitting up in the rain – weird I know – and dived with Alistair from Underwater Explorers. The first dive was a deep dive to the SAS Good Hope and the second to a site called Outer Castle. The water was warmer than expected, around 17 degrees, but there was a fair amount of swell and the dive was somewhat surgy and the visibility for both dives was around 6 metres. The photos in this newsletter were taken above the surface because our official photographer last Sunday, Maurice, is in hiding.

The people looking at the camera are our divers!

There is nothing to talk about regarding diving this week as I have not been in the water at all. The southeaster has blown consistently and made the conditions less than appealing. I have put the week to good use and done some work on the boat, primarily upgrading the electronics as the stuff that was fitted to the boat would have given us a 20% chance of finding any of the dive sites.

Mozambique

This trip is booked and we have negotiated a really good rate for the diving with terrific accommodation on the beach. There is still space if you act really quick… As quickly as Chuck Norris…

Cape Town Dive Festival

Grant has put a huge amount of work into this project and with help from many of the dive centres there are really good sponsors on board and great prizes. The bookings have started to pick up and one dive centre in Johannesburg has made a really big block booking. Don’t wait too long, better you visit www.ctdf.co.za and book the dives you want to do. We will be doing the following dives (there’s already a small group) if you want to join us:

Friday 10 August

1150 SAS Pietermaritzburg
1420 Batsata Maze

Saturday 11 August

0920 Fan Reef
1220 Seal Rock

The dive boat heads towards Smitswinkel Bay

Training

I have a new Open Water course starting this weekend, Rescue and EFR next week, and a Nitrox student in hiding! If anyone sees Maurice, tell him to call me… Detecting a theme here!

We had plans of boating this weekend as well as continuing Open Water students but alas this is not going to happen. The bay is a mess as we speak and is only going to get worse before it gets better. I reckon Tuesday next week will be the first day the ocean will see me.

regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: Tropical holidays and icy water

Hi divers

Recent dives

Last weekend delivered up some really spectacular boat dives on Sunday, with 20 metre visibility (and 9 degree water!) on the Katsu Maru in Hout Bay and only slightly less on the Maori. As you can see from the picture of the BOS 400 below, the surface conditions were also ideal. We had reports that a plankton bloom started in Table Bay early this week, straight after the weekend’s dives. The hot weather makes the plankton in the clear water that upwells from the deep ocean grow like crazy, which is why you have to dive very soon after the southeaster stops blowing to take full advantage of the good visibility.

We were actually also fortunate on Saturday – the pool leaked half its contents out during Friday night, so I had to take the new Open Water divers to do their confined skills at Long Beach. Conditions were not half bad. This week I’ve been doing a fair amount of diving in False Bay and the temperatures have been between 17 and 19 degrees, with fairly respectable visibility of about 5 metres.

Weekend dives

Big wave surfers are rubbing their hands with glee because on Friday evening a huge swells roll onto our coastline. This pretty much rules out ocean dives on Saturday unfortunately.

So on Saturday I will be in the pool with students. If you have new gear you’ve recently acquired, can I encourage you to come and spend some time in the pool getting used to it – it costs R50 and you will not regret it. The open ocean is not the place to discover that your new BCD doesn’t work as you expected it to.

Unfortunately conditions for boat dives look very iffy, and we will have to make a decision late on Saturday as to whether we’ll do the early launch on Sunday (if there is one).

I have a full diving schedule next week with tourists and students. If you’d like to join in on any of the days, please let me know you’re keen and we can make arrangements for a cylinder and/or gear for you.

Finally, I’m going to keep reminding you about our planned Mozambique trip (7-12 May). You don’t have to commit yet, but you do need to think about all the possible reasons why a tropical diving holiday is a good idea. I can’t think of a single reason why it wouldn’t be…

Regards

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

Diving is addictive!

Newsletter: Mozambique!

Hi all

I am sure most of you are happy that Christmas and New Year parties, expenses and rushing around are now behind you. Often this period is so taxing that a vacation early in the year is required for the purpose of recovery.

Mozambique

Nice visibility on the safety stop in Ponta do Ouro

We are going to Ponta do Ouro in southern Mozambique for a five night/eight dive trip leaving on the morning of Tuesday 1 May, diving twice a day from 2 May to 5 May, and returning on Sunday 6 May.

The primary reason for avoiding the school holidays and long weekends in April is the high costs of car rentals, accommodation, flights and diving over these “peak periods”. Another bonus (hopefully) is avoiding the mad rush of divers from Gauteng who flood southern Mozambique and Sodwana on long weekends (since their other diving options are quarries)!

If you joined one of our trips last year you will know how it works. For this trip, it’ll be similar to a Sodwana trip but with some extra considerations:

We leave Cape Town real early on day one and try to all arrive at Durban airport early enough to pick up our rental cars and drive to the border.
The border to Mozambique is around 100 kilometres further than Sodwana Bay (about 5 hours drive) but the border post closes at 5pm so there is time pressure.
There is a safe lockup place for the rental cars and the dive camp send a vehicle to collect us at the border. The trip from the border to the beach (approximately 15 km) is very sandy and requires a 4×4 or hi rider style vehicle (even 4x4s get stuck sometimes).
You will obviously need a valid passport!

Like Sodwana, it’s warm water diving on beautiful coral reefs. The launches are also surf launches, meaning that you help push the rubber duck off the beach into the sea, hop on board, and hold tight as the skipper punches some waves to get you out into the open ocean!

We will do the accommodation and dives booking for the group, but flights and car rental bookings are up to you. If you’re traveling alone, we’ll hook you up with someone(s) to share a car with. We will have different options of accommodation but will aim for small self-catering cabins as opposed to tents (it can be very hot and there are mosquitoes). If you want to keep your costs down or if you have less leave you can join us for part of the time there – Clare and I will do the full trip, but you are welcome to do a four night/six dive or otherwise reduced version.

Mozambique is more expensive than Sodwana due partly to the remoteness of the coastal sites in the south. For example, dives on our last trip to Sodwana were R220 including tanks and weights, but in Mozambique it will cost about R380 per dive for the same deal. The other extra costs are more petrol, and border transfers. Accommodation costs are about the same as we had at Coral Divers.

We will limit the group to maximum 12 people as this is the maximum number of divers per group. This will mean we have a boat to ourselves and get to choose the dive sites. I worked and lived there so I have photos and videos of the sites and can assure you the diving is amazing. As before we will meet sometime before the trip to see some photos and videos and make plans.

If such a trip interests you please mail me as it will be on a first come first served basis. I’ll then let you have an idea of costs and more details! If you want to see more of what Mozambique diving is about, check out this playlist of videos on YouTube, as well as the photos in this newsletter.

What have we been up to?

During the few free days Clare had during the festive season I had her running me in and out of hospital (3 times) and despite this Clare managed to successfully completely redo the website as well as move both the website and the blog to a self hosted site that makes it far more user friendly.

Clare and I have spent many hours driving and diving but on the 1st of January instead of having her talk to me in the car she was in my speakers. Clare was interviewed by Cape Talk and 702 on a nature program (in her capacity as a blogger) on talk radio. Made me very proud.

What are we planning

Well, since the 3 January I have been unable to dive due to the untimely demise of some random body part that it appears we have no use for. I have mostly recovered now and am chomping at the bit to get in the water. Doctor’s orders mean that I have to sit out this weekend, however.

Fortunately… this weekend features a howling southeaster on Saturday which will eliminate diving on both sides of the peninsula for all but the most hardy and desperate. Grant is launching in the Atlantic on Sunday – if you want to be on the boat, let me know if you want assistance with arrangements, otherwise speak to the man directly. I will be back to a full diving schedule next weekend – I am sorry to those regular divers who’ve been sorely neglected the last couple of weeks!

Over the next few weeks we have a number of Open Water and a few Advanced students to dive with so hopefully we will be doing a day of shore entries and a day of boat dives every weekend coming up. The water temperature has been as high as 23 degrees in False Bay over the last few weeks and the current 30+ degree day time temperatures around will most likely keep it high. It is also southeaster winds that prevail this time of year so more often than not the Atlantic is the ocean dived.

We are having a theory evening on Wednesday (25 January) for Open Water students – if you haven’t written your exam or learned how to use the dive tables yet, this is for you. Please let me know if you’re attending so Clare can stock up on snacks in preparation.

Training

Rescue training courses are my plan for February. I am going to try and get a group of six for this as it then brings the cost down dramatically, If you are a regular diver then this is a course that has a lot of value, more so to improve your own level of safety and ability to save yourself from a diving incident as well as assisting other divers. It is a lot of fun and includes the Emergency First Response course (you get to practice CPR by pounding the chest of my dummy, who is called Annie) as well as use of oxygen delivery equipment.

Once we have done Rescue we will focus on Wreck, Deep and Nitrox specialties as I am a firm believer that a regular diver should be comfortable with depth, Nitrox use and wreck diving as Cape Town has some stunning wrecks that lie between 30 and 40 metres.

Be good, have fun and get wet –

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

Diving is addictive!

Master Scuba Diver

Let’s get this straight, right off the bat:

MASTER SCUBA DIVER

is not the same as

DIVEMASTER

Are we all clear? I know a Divemaster candidate who is proud of announcing to people that he is becoming a Master Scuba Diver. He’s not (and at the level he wants to dive, not knowing the difference is a bad sign…).

A Master Scuba Diver is someone who has completed:

Open Water
Advanced
Emergency First Response (EFR)
Rescue
Five Specialties (mine are wreck, night, deep, navigation and Nitrox)
50 logged dives

You don’t have to do anything other than the above to get this rating – if you qualify, you just ask your instructor or local dive centre to certify you with PADI. They’ll help you fill out an application form, attach a photograph and post it to PADI. It’ll cost you quite a bit of money (about 26 British pounds when I did it) for a certification that doesn’t actually entail any diving but the idea is it’s a prestigious rating that sets you apart among recreational divers.

Not sure about that! But you’ll get a shiny new certification card, a wall certificate, and a decal too, if that’s your thing… Plus, instead of carting a wallet-load of certification cards around, you can just take this one (and Deep, and Nitrox, because the card doesn’t specify WHICH Specialties you did).

Rescue Diver

It’s taken me long enough, but I recently completed the PADI Rescue Diver course. During the Open Water course, there is emphasis on self-rescue (cramp removal, regulator recovery, and so on). The Rescue course teaches you the skills to rescue other divers, and proactively resolve problems where necessary. The Emergency First Responder course (first aid) is a pre-requisite for this course.

The theory aspect was very interesting – there’s a lot about the psychology of stress, and application to the particular environment that divers place themselves in. Unlike a mountain climber or a horse rider, a scuba diver is in an element that is hostile to human life: you can’t breathe water. So a clear head and swift action is essential, as well as resolving problems immediately when they arise. By the time you get to this level of diving, bolting to the surface when you get into difficulties is completely out of the question (not that it’s ever really an option after you get out of the swimming pool on your Open Water course!).

The practical aspect of the course involves dealing with unresponsive and panicked divers, and effecting various rescue scenarios. Kate and I practised some of these skills in the pool in preparation for her Instructors’ course. When it was her turn to be the panicked diver underwater, she displayed a level of malevolence and forethought that I hope never to experience in real life! She accidentally unclipped her own weight belt, and then yanked off my mask and removed my regulator. I was wiser the next time, and jumped onto her cylinder so that I was out of reach. Decisive action is often required in these situations. The alternative – if you’re going to get injured trying to assist – is to allow the other diver to exhaust themselves, and then perform a rescue.

There are no dives as such – you will do rescue skills as part of your dives, but many of the skills (such as the ones shown in the pictures) you will practise on the surface, in the surf zone, and on the beach. The skills can be quite strenuous. I also found it tiring to be the panicked diver for Kate to practise skills on – uses a lot of air! One thing that was immediately obvious was that it’s important to be in reasonably good shape to be a safe diver. Not being able to do things for yourself means you definitely won’t be able to help another diver.

The Rescue course is a prerequisite for Divemaster and Master Scuba Diver (and Instructor, obviously), but should also be seriously considered by divers who plan to move on into technical, cave or deep diving. It’s a great confidence-builder, and if you’re the sort of person who finds themselves not enjoying dives (or the build up to them) because you imagine all sorts of problems arising, this is a very good course to do.

Newsletter: Deep dives, Sodwana, and octopus don’t eat sweets

Hi everyone

Weekend diving

The weekend was not ideally suited to diving and Saturday was too windy for diving. Sunday saw a strong southeaster which dictated the only option for diving, OPBC.

Close to the V&A Waterfront, the boats launched from there and we went to explore a pinnacle close to North Paw. Almost directly in front of Lions Head there is a North and a South Paw, rocky ridges that resemble the lion’s paws.

Maximum depth was 25 metres, visibility around 10 metres and chilly water, 8-9 degrees celcius at the bottom. It is a newish dive site so we were lucky to find all sorts of creatures that had never seen divers before. It also looked like lobster country with hundreds of them, all different sizes, all over the place.

Fun with octopus

On Tuesday last week I spent 30 minutes with a video camera and an octopus. I had previously seen this same octopus become very excited at the sight of my brightly coloured weights some time ago. We were doing a peak performance buoyancy dive and when the students placed the coloured weights on the sand near the octopus it became very animated. I spent some time with this octopus last week and gave him some liquorice allsorts to play with. After tasting them all one by one they were spat out. Most entertaining. Watch the video here.

Night light sea jelly with Tony in the background

Deep Specialty

This weekend we start a Deep specialty course. As a deep diver you are qualified to dive to 40 metres, this makes many of Cape Town’s wrecks accessible for exploration (including those in Smitswinkel Bay, most of which are deeper than 30 metres on the sand). Experience an emergency decompression stop, navigation at depth and breathing from a hang tank. You will learn more about nitrogen narcosis, how to plan a dive using a dive computer and the use of dive computers. Drift diving and wall diving will also be experienced during this course. You will also learn proper deployment of an SMB. If you’re interested or want to discuss this course with me, drop me an email.

Cecil checking his computer at a safety stop

Congratulations to…

The following students have attained their qualifications since 1 January – welcome to the world of diving!

Open Water -Arieh, Michelle, Andrew, Lukas, Jamie-Lee, Danelene, DC, Sarah (all grown up)

Junior Open Water – Shira, Josh (nearly grown up, 10-15 years old)

Seal Team – Abby (9 years old)

Advanced – Oscar, Mark, DC, Cecil

Nitrox – Cecil

Tony, Cecil and SMB on the surface after the North Paw dive

Plans

Wednesday and Thursday I am doing some Rescue training and an EFR course, a prerequisite for Rescue.

We will be finalising the arrangements for the chamber dive this week, and I will contact those of you who have expressed an interest in a separate mail. If you’d like to take part and haven’t let me know yet, or want to know more about it, please email me.

I’ll also be in touch about Sodwana (16-20 April). If you’re still on the fence or still need to pay your deposits, get moving and confirm whether you’re in or out.

And finally, permits – if you don’t have one, go to the post office NOW and get one!

regards

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

Diving is addictive!