Thursday, December 24, 2009

It's Christmas in Seychelles

Christmas in Seychelles; you would think palm trees, the ocean, a cool drink?   NO WAY!Everywhere  you go people are wearing red hats, there are christmas trees, and more shiney tinsel than you can shake a stick at, just like home back in UK.


Instructor Sabrina, Interns- Gary, Annika, Ross, Kayla and sally

Here at The Underwater Centre it's very festive, everyone has their xmas hats, flashing earings and raindeer hair ties!, someone even went diving this morning dressed as the Xmas Fairy, so hopefully we will have photos to share later.  and ofcourse we have our own Christmas tree so that santa can find his way.




Our current Divemaster Interns are hard at work, finishing up their 2nd week of theory, the great news is all have past all their exams with just the physics exam to complete next Thursday, then it's serious diving!



Everyone hard at work


So to all our wonderful clients past, present and future, please, have a fabulous Christmas, may all your wishes come true.  And best wishes for a peaceful happy 2010 with lots of georgous diving, and we hope to see you all very soon.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Our New Divemaster Interns

Furthering your Dive education is something that we at the Underwater Centre strongly encourage.  At the begining of this week we have had 5 friends commence their Divemaster Internships.


Getting instruction for the morning program from PADI Dive Instructor Sabrina

A Divemaster Internship is a great fun way to learn how to be a Divemaster, and get valuable experiance participating in the day to day operations of a busy dive resort centre. 


It's important to start the day with a briefing.

So this morning Gary, Ross, Kayla and Annika were working on the fundamentals of Navigation, a bit of a dry run on the beach is always a great way to identify any possible issues before trying it all out underwater.
Our internships are made up of both practical and dive theory, with huge experiance gained, most day's these interns will spend at least half of it in the water, learning all the time.


Ross, Annika, Sabrina (PADI Dive Instructor) Kayla, Gary

With the end of week one our interns have already completed a couple of exams, and the emergency assist plan, and after today's navigation exercises and stamina swimming tests,  are looking forward to a relaxing weekend in one of the most beautiful places in the world- Seychelles.

We will keep you updated on their weekly progress, if you have any questions regarding enrolling in a Divemaster Internship or any other PADI Diving program please either drop us an email or give us a call-

Ph: +248 247 165- Shop
Ph: +248 345 445- Office

we would love to help you further your dive education, and assist you in possibly starting a new and exciting career in diving.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Beautiful Seychelles

It is always difficult to decided just where to holiday each year.  We all work so very hard, and our holiday time is so very precious.  This year a friend of mine is living in Seychelles and suggested I come for a visit. You have to understand New Zealand is about as far away from Seychelles as you can get!


I think the deciding factor was the idea of gorgeous crystal clear blue waters, stunning diving, with the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.  I have dived through out the South Pacific, and love islands, but coming to Seychelles was an experiance I will never forget.


The first thing that hit me when stepping off the plane is how blue the sea was and the mountains are so green.  And yes they do have mountains; made up of these most incredible ganitic rocks.  The shapes are amazing, it looks like someone has carved them out of the stone!

The other thing that really hit me was the most stunning sunsets.  Every evening was different, and the light is so very clear.  It was the most relaxing and enjoyable hour, sitting with an ice cold "Seybrew" beer watching the sun going down, and looking forward to the cooling of the night air.  we watched the sun set all over the island and below are just a couple of the most perfect sunsets ever.



I was diving with the Underwater Centre, Tony was my Guide/Instructor.  He was amazing and showed me so much; the fish life in Seychelles is very special, and such a huge range of fish, there are so many different species, we dived on Aquirium, and Tony mentioned that there are over 450 different kinds of fish living there, it was just a riot of moving colour!

The diving was fun, and at times a little challanging with small currents, but every dive site was different, my favourites include, Brissare, and Dragons Teeth- beautiful corals, and large numbers of rays, sharks and all the other good big stuff.  L'llot- a stunning sight with an enormus varity of soft corals, and you got to look out for those Nudi Branches, and Aquirium and the Marine Park at Baie Turney- the varity of reef fish life/spicies is just amazing.
 

Tony really went all out to find the critters I really wanted to see, and I'm into the small stuff, it's the perfect place to go and poke around looking for those rare and shy guys who hide away during daylight hours... I could have spent days underwater.... You have to bring your underwater camera!!
This is a country of contrasts, the people are friendly; it's very much island life, lived in, on and around the sea.  Everyone is linked to the ocean in some way, and I think that that is a very special way of life, one I can relate to a little from New Zealand, but on a much larger scale.



So to everyone at the Underwater Centre, a huge thankyou for all your advice about where to go and what to see, your hospitality is second to none, and the most fabulous diving I have had in a long time, look after your environment, and it really is unique to the rest of the world; I hope to come back soon.  Andrea