Sunday: Atlantic ocean boat dives at 8.30 and 11.30 am
I completed an SDI Open Water course with students this week, and we dived Long Beach on two days. The visibility was 3-4 metres on both days, and later in the week it was extremely surgy.
Roosting on the catwalk at Fish Hoek
It does appear that the Atlantic dive sites will be the ones to visit this weekend. False Bay is not great right now and the south easter won’t help, however it is exactly that strong south easterly wind that is needed to clean up the Atlantic. The south easter has been blowing for much of the day today, and is forecast to continue tomorrow and Saturday.
It really needs to be south easterly wind and not a southerly wind, and most important it needs to be blowing in Hout Bay. Strong wind in the northern suburbs, or over False Bay, doesn’t always translate into the same over Hout Bay. It drops off for Sunday, so clean cold water should be the order of the day. We will be launching from OPBC or Hout Bay (so we can check out the desalination plant) at 8.30 am and 11.00 am.
Water
Here’s this week’s Wednesday Water File from the WWF. It’s all about groundwater, and you should read it. If you’re feeling stressed and helpless about Day Zero, remember that we’ve been given the gift of a bit of time to prepare for it – and, just maybe, avert it (by using a hashtag, apparently) – so make a to do list, ask someone sensible for advice if you need it, don’t get scammed by a dodgy rainwater tank supplier, and get going.
Scuba Professional: Insights into Sport Diver Training and Operations – Simon Pridmore
Have you ever wanted to run away and become a scuba instructor? Have you been intoxicated by promises of a lifestyle of tousled, barefoot, beach-based freedom from the rat race? Have you passed your instructor training course and are trying to decide what to do next? Or are you already a dive professional, perhaps looking to solidify your dive business, diversify your income streams, or branch out in the dive industry?
Scuba Professional
This is the final, and possibly most important, book in Simon Pridmore’s scuba trilogy (the other two are Scuba Fundamental and Scuba Confidential). Like the other two, it has much to offer – this time, to dive professionals and wannabe dive professionals.
Some of the topics Pridmore discusses are hard truths, such as the fact that becoming a scuba instructor is less about diving than about teaching. A person who doesn’t feel a vocation to teach should probably look for employment elsewhere in the dive industry rather than trying to attain instructor status. He devotes a whole section to teaching issues, many of which will be extremely useful to new instructors looking to move quickly up the learning curve.
An often overlooked feature of the dive industry is that there are many people who make a living from diving, but not by teaching students. Pridmore includes an incredibly helpful chapter in which he interviews several such dive professionals about their jobs, including a gear distributor, a photojournalist, a liveaboard cruise director, and a dive travel specialist. All of these professions include many of the positive aspects of the dive industry, and should provide inspiration for anyone who is keen on the underwater world but doesn’t necessarily feel the urge to teach.
For owners of dive businesses such as dive shops, charters or small training operations, Pridmore has much advice gleaned from running his own dive centre on the island of Guam. Many of his recommendations seem like common sense to anyone who has paid attention to the cycle of boom and bust that seems to characterise the dive industry in some locations, but they are hard-won insights that likely are only obvious after the fact. Unsurprisingly (perhaps?) several relate to safety considerations and gear maintenance. Many of the recommendations Pridmore provides are illustrates with anecdotes describing how he arrived at his viewpoint.
A whole section is devoted to developing a culture of safety in diving, something that featured in Scuba Confidential as well. It can be difficult to discuss dive safety and it seems to me that the industry doesn’t even try. None of the professional member forums I’ve attended, presented by training agency employees with access to incident reports, statistics and trends, has ever addressed dive safety directly. It would be tremendously helpful for instructors and divemasters to know that, for example (I’m making what follows up to make a point) most potential dive accidents happen on dive two of the Open Water course, during mask remove and replace, or during regulator recovery. Because instructors are obliged to report such incidents, training agencies know all about them.
Finally, the future of the dive industry comes under the spotlight, with a discussion of rebreathers (are they the future?) and the likely origin of the next wave of scuba diving students and tourists (Pridmore reckons, China). I was surprisingly moved (for a book about being a dive professional) by the chapter about dive tourism businesses, which concludes with the insistence that the only way a dive business in a remote, exotic location will flourish, is by involving the local community, training them to work in all levels of the business, and spreading a message of conservation that includes the people who live in the paradise in question. This kind of cultural sensitivity has not been the norm in many places, but where it is, the results are special.
Scuba Fundamental: Start Diving the Right Way – Simon Pridmore
When I first learned how to dive, all I wanted was to find books about scuba diving that were relevant to my stage of knowledge and skill, so that I could learn more (my learning style is by reading). Unfortunately at that time the only books about scuba diving in South Africa that I could find were absolute rubbish (fortunately the situation has improved immeasurably – here’s a quality example). I wish I’d had this book to hand, but it was only published last year, so sorry for me.
Scuba Fundamental
I read it anyway, with my jaded old eyes. It isn’t specific to South Africa, but it’s written for people who are contemplating learning to dive, who are busy learning, or who are still early in their diving careers. Many of the topics that Simon Pridmore covers are ones that Tony and I tried to deal with in the early days of this blog. He is eminently sensible, and writes from a position of deep, international experience in the dive industry.
If you’re thinking of learning to dive, are busy with your course, have done fewer than 30 dives, or are just seeking some direction in the early stages of your love affair with scuba diving, consider this guide. If you have a friend or family member you’d like to start a conversation with about diving, or would like to buy a dive course for but can’t afford it, this book is an excellent starting point. I found myself agreeing out loud with the author’s observations more times than I can count.
Get it here (South Africa), here (US) or here (UK).
This past week has not really been a diving friendly week. There has been a fair amount of swell on and off and also a decent amount of humping south easterly wind. The weekend shows promise for the Atlantic, which is currently still dirty but is showing signs of improvement. There is a good chance it will be clean by Saturday or Sunday. The swell goes south east, so I think Granger Bay may be a possibility, and Hout Bay will almost certainly work.
Diving last Friday
Sunday will probably have less viz than Saturday but also a bit less swell, which is important for Hout Bay launches. If by Saturday afternoon the Atlantic is not clean we will dive False Bay instead (warm water is better than cold water in poor visibility!).
Georgina at Boat Rock, photographed by Arne Gething
I think most people are keen for summer to arrive. I know I am. We dived last Friday at Atlantis and Boat Rock and had pretty good conditions – thank you to Arne for the photo above! Last weekend was a washout and the week has been dry thanks to the spring tides, swell and some wind.
The whales heard my complaints from last week, and on Friday a young whale breached in front of us again. This time while Geoff was holding the camera and he got a great photo!
Breaching whale, picture by Geoff Spiby
False Bay is currently flat but not very clean. We are meant to have two days of westerly or north westerly winds so I think Sunday will be an option. There is also less swell on Sunday. I don’t think it is going to be paradise, but it will certainly improve over what we have right now.
We will launch on Sunday from theSimon’s Town jetty at 8.30 am for Maidstone Rock and 11.00 am for Atlantis. This is the plan, but the dive sites may change as I prefer to dive in better visibility if we go that far south, so will change sites to suit the conditions.
In other news
Diarise Diversnight 2015 for the evening of Saturday 7 November! More details to follow.
Also, as of yesterday we are a PADI Resort Dive Centre – the only major difference so far is that we now appear here…
This blog has been going for a while, and there’s some content that I’d like to revive – all in one place – as a handy guide for people who are considering learning to dive.
Once you’ve made the decision to learn to scuba dive, you may wonder how to shop for a dive course. If you’re doing it just on price, I think you’re doing it wrong. Scuba diving is a sport with inherent risks, like paragliding or rock climbing. Do you really want to base your decision purely on how much it costs…?
Many people ask whether children can learn to scuba dive. The short answer is yes – from the age of eight, in the swimming pool, and from age 10 in the ocean. More information can be found in this post about scuba diving for kids.
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.
Sweets on the boat!
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.
We had a dry weekend last week as we spent three days at the CTICC participating in the Cape Town International Boat Show. We met a lot of new people, some old friends and a few really cool dogs. Many of the visitors to our stand expressed an interest in diving and asked to be added to the newsletter. To new readers we say welcome and hopefully we see you all soon in the water!
The special offers on Open Water, Advanced, Refreshers and Nitrox Specialty will hold for another few weeks, so if you missed the show you can still be part of the summer diving bunch.
Clare at the boat show
Conditions report
The south easterly wind has been hectic all week so theoretically the Atlantic should be crystal clear. I drove home along the coastline today and there are huge patches of clean water and huge patches of darker water. It looked very clean around Llandudno so I think the Romelia is on the cards for the weekend. I doubt False Bay will be good as apart from the wind, the swell is in a southerly direction which does not improve conditions at all.
Saturday looks like the best option for diving, and Sunday a maybe. If you want to dive, reply to this mail or text me. Sunday’s launches will be confirmed late on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday: launching from Hout Bay at 9.00 and 12.00. I have mostly students so we will look for clean water around the wrecks of Maori Bay and the Romelia wreck area.
Sunday: conditions permitting, we will be launching from OPBC at 9.00 for a double tank dive. We will look at the viz around the wreck of the Cape Matapan, and if it’s not clean there we will dive the pinnacles at North and South Paw.
Safety stopping in Maori Bay
Congratulations are in order
for Shane and Odette, who got engaged this week. Wishing you all the happiness! Also congrats to Brian, who has just completed his Divemaster course in… wait for it… Hawaii! Brian is starting an Instructor Development Course this week. Good job!
Heinrich learned to scuba dive recently, and on his final Open Water dive at Duiker Island in Hout Bay, he brought along his Go-Pro camera. He edited together some footage from that dive, and is generously allowing us to share it here.
The last training dive for my OWD. Amazing dive site with Seals everywhere you look. They are very playful and like to interact with divers. And by interact I mean biting… 😀
Deciding on where to dive every weekend is always a case of looking at several weather sites, sucking on your thumb, and then choosing. It can sometimes be so spot on it makes you beam with pride and other times you miss the mark so badly you wonder whether you were looking at a forecast from another planet. I thought perhaps we would try a premium subscription for a while and see if the odds improve. Time will tell…
It has been a pool week for me and therefore it will be a student weekend with only a few spaces on the boat for casual divers. The viz however is absolutely stunning in False Bay right now. If you want to join a dive, let me know.
Clock tower in Simon’s Town
Weekend plans
On Saturday we will dive at Long Beach starting at 9.00 am. The wind is supposed to blow from around midday so we want to get going early. Casual divers are welcome, as long as you can fend for yourself while I take care of students.
On Sunday we will do two launches to a destination as yet unknown. My weather god, who I suspect is as real as a unicorn, says if it blows south easterly all night on Saturday, we will launch from Hout Bay. If it does not we will go to False Bay and launch from the jetty in Simon’s Town. It is also forecast, by the same unicorn, to blow relatively hard on Sunday which means we will most likely dive the sheltered sites of the Brunswick wreck, and Ark Rock.
Training
Online learning with SDI
Summer is on its way, it gets busy and warm really quickly and the price of training and diving usually climbs with the thermometer. We do offer both PADI and SDI courses but are focusing more on the affordability of online theory with SDI. In the modern world we live in it is no longer essential to purchase a big thick manual when you can have it all on your laptop for a lot less money. If you want more info on any of the courses we offer give me a shout or visit our website.
