Congratulations to all our PADI students for August, September and October

Time has flown past and already it is the 31st October!!! Time to say the biggest THANK YOU to all our students who have certified with PADI during the last 3 months .

May you continue to enjoy SCUBA diving and ocassionally sent us a post card of your adventures .

Thank you and '' Bon Plongee'' from all the staff

Congratulations to our July students

End of July is coming and we have been quite quiet for the month but we still say ''THANK YOU '' to all our students.

Jr OPEN WATER ; Catarina Holst, Rebecca Whant,

OPEN WATER ; John van Zyl, Damon Anderson, Christiane Anderson, Jake Fonseka, Anna Hutton, Ian Hutton

Jr ADVENTURE DIVER; Luzan Robinson, Amalia Herrera

RESCUE DIVER: Christian Beyer, Jens Hammer, Dorry Price, Melissa Sharwood

EFR & 1st AID; Jens Hammer,

ENRICHED AIR -NITROX: Victoria Collins,

PEAK PERFORMANCE BOUYANCY; Luzan Robinson, Amalia Herrera,

BOAT DIVER: Luzan Robinson, Amalia Herrera,

AWARE FISH ID: Luzan Robinson, Amalia Herrera

25 years of service to PADI

Master Instructors, Glynis Sanders, MI 22110 and David Rowat, MI 22109  became PADI Instructors 25 years ago this May  and have been listed in the Spring 2011 issue of the PADI Underwater Journal  to mark their epic occassion ! .

Glynis & David ,PADI Master Instructors, Owners of Underwater Centre

After  their arrival in Seychelles in1985 , the Underwater Centre changed annually till it became a PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre , an Eco Conservation Dive Centre  and a Centre of Seychelles excellence awarded several times  by the Seychelles Tourism Board . Now based at the  BERJAYA Beau Vallon Bay Resort , Glynis continues to  be Operations Manager  at the Dive Centre whilst David has taken his PhD in Whale Shark Reasearch , is Chairman of  Marine Conservation Sociey Seychelles and heads the  annual research program into Whale Shark  population and migration in Seychelles waters  every September and October.

Views of the Dive Centre, Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay

We have been painting and changing   the Dive Centre  since last year ........... you can look back on old blogs showing hard working Divemaster trianees painting and doing carpentry work!! So this is what we look like now !!

always looking towards the beach for easy boat access and loading 

Happy Birthday to all our Divemaster Trainees and Staff

Well that '' was the week that was''  for birthdays . It was amazing that so many staff would have birthdays  so close together!!

It started with IDC Staff Instructor Tony, then moved rapidly to  Divemaster Trainee Lucie's 21st, followed by Yanick 's 18th, Shelby's 21st, Julia's 22nd and Veroniques 23rd .

Happy Birthday - cake , sweet biscuits , balloons  and streamers

Best dive of the week

During the SE  wind season when visibility goes down we  get to look closer at all the small stuff.........yes,  its oh so cool to see big sharks and  rays  etc but sometimes the small stuff is so colourful, delicate and amazing .. just take  a look at what we have on our reefs:.

Porceline crabs are found on the underside of the anemonies so be very careful if trying to get a photo of these. Remember that the anemonie stings!


The  leaf fish  is  very difficult to find but seems to be territorial so once the Divemasters have found one they can usually find it again. We get several different colours and have seen the purple ,( as shown ) white ( which is most common) , black, yellow and pink  Only a few cms long  you really have to look closely .

The ghost pipe fish  is usually mistaken for floating sea grass  so it pays to move slowley  and to look very  closely   at  subjects that appear not to be fish...............you never know they actually may be a fish!!  This delicate subject was found floating  across a coral  head. At only 4 cms long it could easily be missed


Lastly was found a coral head with 2
different  kinds of lionfish . The black and white juvenile common Indian lionfish is the most common of the species found in the Indian Ocean   . Next to it is the orange coloured  Zebra dwarf lionfish . Always be careful of the toxic  spines found along the  length of the  spine.A sting from these is a big mistake  so keep your hands to yourself and dont touch .

So next time the SE winds are blowing and visability goes down  dont every think that there is nothing to see........  its all there .You just have to look!

Dive & Accomodation Packages available

Underwater Centre is happy to assist with booking packages  into large hotels, small hotels, family run guest houses and self catering apartments of which an example is shown below.

* meet at the airport
* return airport transfers in an air conditioned coach
* 6 nights sharing a standard double room on B&B
* 2 x 10  boat dives on tank and weights  within the NW Bay of Mahe 
* upgrades to longer distance dive sites as avilable

* upgrades to night dives as available
* FREE equipment storage within the Dive Centre
* FREE pre dive collection as required
* all taxes, GST and service charges for above package.

Costs are from a minimum of euro 1090 or euro 545 per person  staying in self catering

  This is just a sample so please  email to a get a  personalised quote

1st Whale Shark seem at Grouper Point

During the months of June , July and August the SE monsoon winds blow causing off shore winds of various strengths . This in turn causes the up welling current of the ocean and cooler  waters to appear .  With the cooler waters come the plankton and although the visability  is reduced during this period the '' up side'' is the arrival of the whale sharks.

surface swimming whale shark  and ramora fish

So last week the first shark was seem in the south of Mahe  and a few days later our  divers at Grouper Point in the north of Mahe  had their first sighting . Yesterday a small 3 meter  shark was seen in the middle of Beau Vallon Bay .   The annual migrations seems to have begun early but  always welcome ! The Research Programe into the abundance and migratory patterns of Whale Sharks takes place  in September and October. During this period the winds have fallen away allowing the '' spotter''  microlite plane  to fly daily , the seas are calmer , clearer, warmer making snorkelling much more confortable for all  and the sharks are in greater numbers

Here's hoping that 2011 will be a great season with lots of snorkelling encounters each afternoon!!

Congratulations to all our June students

The end of June has come and its time to say a big ''THANK YOU'' to all our students

SCUBA DIVER;  Khatil Muhannad, Lina Abd El Hai, Wouter Jansen van Vuuren,

OPENWATER DIVER; Justine Cheula, Justin Austin, Simon Cottu, Arik Beiman, Lui Jing Xing, Lanqui Qi,  Eric Roby, Narney Roby,Tarjei Nevestveit, nicola Ledsham

ADVANCED OPENWATER DIVER; Georgia French ,

RESCUE DIVER; Julia Rushton, Dani Goldberg, Carley Giosio, Veronique Theriault,  Nicola Murray, Shelby Flemming, Harry Clarke, Meaghan McDonald, Rachel Reilly, William Leigh, Zoe Collins, CameronBailey, Amelia Saxby,Lucie Turcotte, Jenny Clendining, Andrew Laboudallon,

DIVEMASTER; Susie Lilly, Stephanie Seltmen, Samantha West, Corinne Alber Chase, David Marcus

ENRICHED AIR (NITROX) : Susie Lilly,

DEEP DIVER;  Lynette Ferreira, Susie Lilly, Stephanie Seltmen, Samantha West, Isaac Lengerich

DIVER PROPULSION VEHICLE;  Lynette Ferreira,

WRECK DIVER; Stephanie Seltman, Susie Lilly, Corinne Alber Chase, Isaac Lengerich,

New Divemaster trainees get wet !

 On Tuesday afternoon we  have a collection of young school children doing various courses  form Jr Adventure Diver , Jr Openwater Diver and snorkelling   activities.

School Dive Club enjoy Tuesday afternoons

By July 15th all with be certified so only a few more Tuesday afternoons to go

Snorkelling is easy and fun

Jr Openwater class

Visiting Navy during June

 During the first 2 weeks of June we have had 2 visiting Navy ships:  the VASCO DA GAMA from Portugal and the HMS Monmouth for UK .

Portuguese Navy

HMS Monmouth

During these visits  we select a mixture of wreck sites that are now good artificial reefs , Seychelles granitic rocks and Marine Park protected  areas .  This  visit HMS Monmouth were interested in helping out with any underwater  conservation work   so we put our heads together with MCSS and came up with a search and recovery for 3 of the  VR2  tracking / listening stations . This new project has already shown some vast movements of tagged species  around our waters . After diving to 30 meters it was followed with a ''Thank You '' dive at Grouper point.......with white tip sharks and rays seen !!

HMS Monmouth, MCSS and Underwater Centre staff

                                                         

HELLO to our new Divemaster Interns

Our Divemaster training course and extended  Internship is now very popular. June's intake has 4  trainees signed in for 3 months  and 1  local Seychellois   who will train for a month or more 

Meaghan, Julia, Shelby, Lucie, Veronique

The course always starts with theory  and the group are paying attention to the PADI Divemaster DVD!   It is now possible to do Divemaster theory via PADI e- learning .......David did this last phase and found it  excellent.  You can always consider this  alternative option  for theory for almost all PADI  courses .

Watch this blog as we take you  on the Divemaster  course !!

Our popular 3 Island dive / snorkel day out with beach BBQ

Another great day out with good dives ,  great snorkel  activities and the most fantastic beaches to visit  plus a tasty  Creole  BBQ

Tony preparing the lunch table

Dives are done on the granitic rocks of  Grouper Point on the NW of Mahe Island   and south point of  Conception Island .  Lunch  was spent on the beach of  Therese Island  with fantastic views over to   the hills of Mahe
  

Creole Fish Kebabs

BBQ fish and chicken Creole style is prepared by Tony and crew  and there is always more than everyone can eat


After lunch there is time to wander around the islands beaches, snorkel off the shallow reefs  or just play water games with the staff as they relaxe for an hour or two  before taking the boat back to Beau Vallon Beach 

View from Therese Island beach over to Mahe

Divemaster Corrine  and Harry  relaxe in the water

                        

Bye Bye to leaving Divemaster Interns

Our latest Divemaster Interns  from Australia, Great Britain ,and  America   are packing their bags and will be leaving us over the next few days .

Corrine, Samantha, David, Susie , Stephanie , Dagmar

Joined during their training by David from South Africa and  assisted by  our German Divemaster Dagmar everyone had a great time  helping many students and divers from around the world over the last three months.We wish them  safe travels   during their ongoing trips to sight see through South Africa or traveling home. 

Returning  as Whale Shark Research assistants  for 2011 season of September and October  will be our Divemasters Vanessa, Samantha and Susie so we will see you all again very soon.

Vanessa

Susie

Samantha

Jean Michel Cousteau comes diving with us!

It was a very happy day to once again welcome world famous conservationist  and pioneer diver  Jean Michel Cousteau  and his wife on a flying visit to Seychelles.....and on a quick dive with Divemasters Jessica and Joshua

 We have been fortunate to show them  Seychelles granitic sites such as L'Ilot Island and Requin Bank  were  they have made positive comments about  our coral growth and abundant fish life . It was also fortunate that Dr David Rowat , Chairman of Marine Conservation Society Seychelles was at the Dive Centre asthis time  and was able to present  a copy of his  new  book on SEYCHELLES WHALE SHARK

Congratulations to all our April & May students

Its the end of the month and time to catch up on saying  a big ''THANK YOU'' to all out PADI students who have done so well during April and May, 2011

SCUBA DIVER; Marie-Josee Roy, Philippe Bouchard, Iris Lienhard,

JR. OPENWATER DIVER; Sofia Smeigh,

OPENWATER DIVER; VeroniqueTheriault, Rachel Reilly, Zoe Collins,Noor Jan-Mohamed, Meaghan McDonald, Emma Wilson, Rick Carbone, Colin Wheeler, Lucie Harter-Turcotte, Jan Hammer, Michela Gualtieri, Lyndsay Rae,  Daniela Kramer, Yuliana Angelova, Terry Laporte, Nikolas Socratous,  David Burchelle, Furat Al-Murani, Muthuraja Shunmugavel, Iva Angelova,

ADVANCED OPENWATER DIVER; David Smeigh, Grant Parry, Heather Wigley, Montell Kurz, Vasiliki Malakasi, Lucie Harter-Turcotte, Adrian Muszynski

EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONDER (CPR): Andrew Laboudallon, David Marcus, Lucie harter- Turcotte,

RESCUE DIVER; David Marcus,

ENRICHED AIR ( NITROX): Brian Kneafsey,  Mark Boll,

Sharkbanks- beautiful!

Don't you just love the Seychelles.

Recently I spent two weeks diving around Mahe the main island of Seychelles, and was fortunate to find the BEST diveshop on island.

With friendly staff, big boats and calm seas, it was time to spend some bubble time.

First dive of the day, Sharkbanks, with a name like that you expect something special, and it didn't disappoint.  A 30 mt dive, and warm waters, we were met at the bottom by a couple of very large marble rays, neither seemed too concerned with us, and just cruised on by, and of course a very large Nurse Shark, just doing her thing.

The yellow striped snapper hung off the top of the rocks schooling, and just above was a big school of Barracuda.  The odd thing with Barracuda, is you never really see them move, but they are always there just out of site, I especially liked the one who had a huge hook still lodged in his mouth.

We spent a lot of time poking around looking under the rocks, so much to see, I found a beautiful turtle having a wee sleep, and the biggest lobster.

 

The corals here are really special, and very colourful, with lots of reef fish shilling out, though everything seems a little bigger at this depth.

At the end of the dive, during our safety stop, a huge school of Jacks came through, there were so many they seemed to go on for ever.  Thank you Tony, a wonderful dive!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR MARCH GRADUATES

 March started slowly  but we are pleased to congratulate all those who have  received PADI certification this month .

JR OPENWATER DIVER; Amalia Herrera, Luzan Robinson.

OPENWATER DIVER;  Charles Germain,  Georgina French,  Adrien Froidure, Charlotte Saint-Paul,  Gabor Gyulai, Casey Turner, Grant Pary,  Heather Wigley, 

ADVANCED OPENWATER DIVER; Agnieska Brooks, Patrick McMahon,

RESCUE DIVER;  Stephanie Seltman, Lorinne Chase

ENRICHED AIR NITROX; David Paddis,  Vanessa Scott,  Mark Bol, Hanna Kowalizyk

DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTO;  Ryan Morse

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR FEBRUARY STUDENTS

Well February has come and gone and we have a few students that we wish to congratulate :

SCUBA DIVER : Benjamin Seibert,

OPEN WATER DIVER:   Peter Dobinson,  Andrew Overbye,  William Weniger, Patrick McMahon, Alix Jackson,  Robin Sink,  Tousef Mhammedi,  Deon Van Heerden,  Helen Burrow,  Bernhard Vogt,  Alexandr Ivashchenko,  Marie Nickell,

ADVANCED OPENWATER DIVER: Barbara Koeberle-Jandl, Corina Spitzer, Stefan Palmer,  Kerry Feely,  Juan Pantoja,

EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONDER:  Fransesca Beresford,

RESCUE DIVER: Phillip MacEachron, Ashleigh Felice, Emily Shelton, Willem Costigan-Jones, Andrew Overbye, 

DIVEMASTER : Hanna Kowalizyk, Vanessa Scott, Tristan Wambold, Mark Bol,  Leon Flowerdrew,  Brian Kneafsey

ENRICHED AIR NITROX :  Bernd Froese,

UNDERWATER NAVIGATOR:  Lynette Ferreira,

All the Staff and Divemasters wish you  Happy ansd Safe diving .

Best Dive of the Week

There are always dives that are memorable  and BRISSAIRE ROCKS is one of those!!

  A selection of  White Tip  and Black Tip sharks with both Sting Rays and Eagle rays  is always  amazing !!

 

Then add Turtle and Napolean Wrass  and Dreams do come true!!!

  Long Distance dive sites outside of  Beau Vallon Bay that are  Seychelles Granite Rocks attract  lots of pelagic fish  as they pass between the islands of Praslin and Mahe so every dive is full of expectaton.  Max 18 meters so enjoyable by everyone

Next  door is the deeper site of  Dragons Teeth   that  can range from 27 meters  up to the surface  and when no current is present both make fantastic snorkel sites as well.
                                             

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Three Island Day trips with beach BBQ very popular

 We have been very lucky with spells of great weather allowing us to vist three islands in one day for diving / snorkelling and beach BBQ

 First  dive / snorkel is at Grouper Point on Mahe  Island followed by a trip across the  gap to Conception Island. Diving / snorkelling the south point of this Island is always rewarding and visability has been the best ever for January!!  Then its off to Therese Island  for the beach BBQ  with a Creole twist.......lots of fish , chicken and local style salads


On days when  taking the boats out of the West of Mahe has not been  so good we have  taken trips to St Anne's Marine National Park.

 Here, during the day  we can visit Cerf  Island, snorkel around St Anne's and Moyenne Islands and have lunch on Round Island .  Traveling from the East coast is an easy departure from Marine Charter  and only about 25 minutes by boat .    It seems to be a favourite  for the new Divemaster trainees with regular requests to be on board  every Friday !!

Good-bye to Louise

Louise has been with us for 6 months and has trained  from  Advanced Openwater Diver to Divemaster and Divemaster  DSD leadership

. During her time with us she has assisted with many course , beach BBQ's, snorkelling trips , childrens training classes and enviromental dives and snorkel trip .

She returns back to the UK with the intent of starting her PhD in Phsycology.......we all wish her well   with her endevours and studies in 2011.  Hopefully we will see her back again some time soon.......... she promised to show her Dad the beautiful Seychelles islands  and he never managed a visit this time round .  Such a good excuse Louise!
Dont get too cold in  10.C England.

Congratulations to all our January Students

Well done to all our January student:

Jr Openwater Diver: Emil Kraus

Openwater Diver:  Andrew Bruce,Dan Chernett, DagAndre Leireng, Trude Johnsen, Michael Mason,

Advanced Openwater Diver: Andrew Laboudallon,

Underwater Navigator: Lynette Ferreira

Divemaster DSD leadership : Joshua Mathias, Robert Howard, Dave Wilson, Louise Jenkins

Happy New Year to all our Divemaster Interns

Our current PADI Divemaster trainees  come from all over the wolrd including Mark from Australia, Vanessa and Trsitran from USA

Brain from UK , Leon from Ireland and  Hanna from Sweden  . They bring with then a variety of life experiences  ranging from medical care, tree surgery, architecture , engineering and so much more!! Langauges are also   varied and mulitiple  from English, German, Swedish and  Dutch. ..absolutely fantastic.

Training is progressing well and soon they will be fully fledges DM's

Merry Christmas 2010 and Happy New Year 2011

 All the Staff at Underwater Centre plus all our new PADI DiveMaster Interns wish all our divers, snorkellers , students and regular visitors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year of 2011.

It is the ONLY time that Underwater Centre will be closed ..........December 25th and Janauary 1st!

We trust everyone had a great party   just like us!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR DECEMBER STUDENTS

 Well done to all our December PADI students :


Jr OPENWATER DIVER:  Alexander Wassermann,

ADVANCED OPENWATER DIVER: Eric Chen,

PEAK PERFORMANCE BUOYANCY:  Charlotte Pryor,

DEEP DIVER: Steven Roseline,

SEARCH & RECOVERY DIVER: Dave Wilson,Steven Roseline, Brandon Michaels

DIVER PROPULSION VEHICLE:  Charlotte Pryor,


UNDERWATER NAVIGATOR:  Steven Roseline,

WRECK DIVER: Steven Roseline, Branden Michaels,

ENRICHED AIR - NITROX:  Ryan Richards

Congratulations to all November students

 Well done to all our November students :

OPEN WATER DIVER:  Guillaume Lecole, Lloyd Cantillon, Stuart Hale,Juan Pantoja,  Richard Graham, Sean France, Nick Womack, Dianora Corsini, Mathew Robbens, Justin Daugherty,

ADVANCED OPENWATER DIVER: Souhila Berkat,  Amanda Peddles, Gareth Netherwood, Scott L:ynd

RESCUE DIVER: Sarah Leadbeater, Hanna Kowalczyk, Tristran Wambold, Leon Flowerdew, Mark Bol, Tino Koster, Katie Angus, darragh O'Flaherty,Monika Raschle, Brian Kneafsey, Vanessa Scott,  Yannick Vidot, Steven Roseline,

DIVEMASTER: Fabrice Bonnal, Robert Howard, Dave Wilson, Josh Mathias, Louise Jenkins, Hernan Borja,

DEEP DIVER: Brandon Michaels,

DIGITAL U/W PHOTO: Steven Roseline,

ENRICHED AIR-NITROX:   Dave Wilson, Robert Howard,