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,