Aldabaran wreck chosen as best dive for Qatar Dive Club

Divers from the Qatar Dive Club arrived to sample lots of Seychelles  Dive sites and chose Aldabaran Wreck, Shark Bank and Brissaire as their favourite three.  In one week Brain did 20 dives , followed closely by Stewart and  Mark with 16 and 14 dives each . We do offer three dives a day with 2 each morning and 1 each afternoon  and with a night dive included  the numbers soon mounted up.

The Aldabaran Wreck is an artificial reef sunk only 14 months ago  but the  marine life and coral crowth is  now  quite wonderful.
                                                                    This wreck is certainly our deepest dive site with the tops of the mast at 28 meters and the sandy bottom at 41 meters  so it is for experienced divers only who have good air consumption and use dive computers.

We like to use this site as the deepest  dive of the PADI deep diver specialty   as it is close to shore , often without current  and an ideally focused site .

We can also extend bottom times by running a 28% NITROX mix  keeping us within     our 1.4 oxygen  limits.

Shoals of bat fish, fusiliers   and many small grey peppered morey ells  can be seen  immediately  you reach the wreck.


White Gorgonian fan coral  has taken over the  mast and rails and as an artificial dive site it is doing extremely well!    


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LUNCH BREAK FOR DIVEMASTER INTERNS

Divemaster trainees , Charlotte Pryor  and Edward Bridge  have been  buisy completing all required theory  and  practical application exercises  towards their DIVEMASTER  certification.   They have been  part of the large Openwater Diver training classes over the last few days and have been  part of the ''  GIVE A HUG TO YOUR DIVE INSTRUCTOR ''  photos ..............a bit like give an apple to your teacher !!
                                                                                   

  Getting time off duty from a visiting war ship  is never easy and so classes are often split over several days with students coming and going   at different intervals.  Hats off to the  staff who managed to remember who everyone was and even everyones names!!  Photos are taken prior to the  confined water training sessions were all dive skills have to be learned  before completing  the 4 sea dives  needed for certification

But it's not all hard work  and along with   Divemaster  intern Christina Sundelin and Instructor Sabrina Dodin  they have enjoyed a  heavenly lunch break on SECRET BEACH   during  a  full day trip 

Dive Boats leave BERJAYA Beau Vallon Bay  Resort  in the morning for 2 dives and arrive in Anse Duree  around 1pm for a selection from the  cold buffet  with various juices and soft drinks .

Afternoons are spent either  sleeping, playing water games , snorkelling or doing a third dive of the day!

Its a great time for staff to relax  as well ..........warm , clear water can be so inviting!

Return to the Dive Centre  is around  4pm    so dives and snorkel trips for the next day can be  booked.


Weather conditions during March and April have been  superb with a few days of cloud and rain but  long days of sun and  warm water have allowed us to do 4 day trips  over the last  10 days .

HMS CHATHAM arrives in PORT VICTORIA

HMS CHATHAM   has visited Seychelles several times in the past and this visit was exceptional 

     View of HMS Chatham  in Port Victoria taken from the hill of Bel Air

Dives included  a visit to SHARK BANK,  BRISSAIRE ROCKS, L'ILOT Island, Grouper Point, and  the ENNERDALE  wreck, a Royal Auxulliary Fleet tanker that hit uncharted  rocks in1970 .

The boys could not resist flying the WHITE  Ensign flag  on this dive!!!!.   Several  crew members completed  PADI  OPENWATER and  ADVANCED OPENWATER courses   during a very short visit by using the new PADI  e- learning  system.  This  on-line  course allows each student to complete all course theory and exams using their ''home'' computer so only requiring time to learn  all water skills  and  complete 4 certification dives whilst  in  the Seychelles.We wish them safe and enjoyable diving at future destinations as they petrol the Indian Ocean.

From 19th to 23rd  April  2 full day excursions were done with picnic lunch stops taken on ''SECRET BEACH'' of Anse Duree. This ideal spot offers a beautiful sandy beach, very welcome shaded areas  and a fresh water stream and small pond.  Although  many elected to snooze on the beach  for most of the afternoon some  also went for a third dive of the day.
  

14 students completed Openwater diver certification with Instructor Sabrina Dodin and 3 completed their  Advanced Openwater  training with IDC Staff Instructor Tony Marie- Jeanne 

   Dive group before descending 30 meters to the Ennerdale wreck

A Safety Stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes  is required  after  a deep  dive

A safe return to the Dive Centre  at BERJAYA   BEAU VALLON BAY RESORT 

                                           

         Bon Voyage and Bon Plongee

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HELLAS DIVERS visit from FG LIMNOS

Underwater Centre- Dive Seychelles is  pleased to welcome our third visiting Greek  warship into Port Victoria and to take  divers from the  HELLAS DIVERS  group of Navy trained Divers

Hellas Divers  on Easter Monday with  only a 2 day stop in Port Victoria

We visited L'Ilot Island to show the granitic rock formations  that are typical of Seychelles Mahe Island . At this site the rocks are surrounderd by shoals of  snapper, bream, big eye, pygmi batfish, fusselier, stripped seargeant major 's and more.  Corals encrust onto the rocks and in possible current areas there is a garden of soft tree and fan corals.  At a depth of 18 meters max it is a good site for all  certified divers

 

                                                                                                    

HAPPY EASTER from all at UNDERWATER CENTRE

Easter weekend as fantastic............. perfect weather with blue skies, calm warm seas and great visibility  so we did as many longer distance boat dive  sites as possible!!.......almost all of the top 10 dive sites.

Our top 10 include Brissaire Rocks and the neighbouring rocks of Dragons Teeth.  Always several shoals of fish and passing pelagics to keep everyone interested  including the '' must see a shark''   boys and girls.

The wreck of the ENNERDALE , a British Royal Auxilliary Fleet tanker sunk in 1970  after hitting an uncharter rock  is always a highlight .  Lying on its starbourd side , 30 meters to the sandy bottom  and 18 meters on the top.............  this is a huge wreck!!   Visited by large grouper, shark, rays and shoals of fish it is  an advanced divers dive due to depth and probable current.

Also visited was Shark Bank..........which should be renamed as Rays Mount  as it is almost  always  possible to guarantee  Eagle Rays overhead and large blue Marble rays on the ground. With a given maximun depth of 30 meters , an average of 25 meters and a shallow top of 22 meters this is a good computer guided dive  over granitic rocks in the middle of  the sea half way between Mahe Island and Shillouette Island . Always a favourite  long  distance boat dive site .

Easter Sunday afternoon divers  going to Bay Ternay Marine Park for diving and snorkelling


Glad to say we had lots of divers, chocolate and EASTER bunnies . Trust everyone had as  good a weekend as us

APRIL FOOLS DAY or POISSON D'AVRIL

April 1st  once again saw many divers at the Underwater Centre .   All were sent out on a search for the very rare fish of Seychelles... Heniochus cubicus  or Diamond bannerfish



The Dive went to GROUPER POINT which is  a Seychelles granitic rock site with encrusting corals  and lots of shade loving fish. Larger pelagic fish are often seen  on the NW point as the coast changes direction and head south .   So an ideal dive site to look for and hopefully find very rare fish .  The second dive of the morning  two tank dive trip was Bay Ternay Marine National Park.  As a protected reef site  this would have been ideal territory  for any kind of unusual  or rare fish !!

Needless to say  no Diamond Bannerfish  were seen  and all divers were so surprised  to find out that an APRILS FOOL had been played on them by the dive team.



The group photo  was a laugh  with Divemaster's Michael   and Christina  , Skipper  Mervin  and several

divers from all across the  world ..............America, Canada, Germany, England, Finland, South Africa.