Lots to do

We continue with the pre Easter rush following mid term school holidays in Europe . Lots of divers and snorkelers on each boat trip
AOW courses for Francois and Teesha have been completed . Both are doing coral research and monitoring on Silhouette Island.

Teesha is from Mauritius

Francois is from Belgium

We have also had the family of 5  from the Netherlands doing their OW e learning completion courses . Meet Dirk J, Dirk T Alli, Wouter and Didiem

Dirk J, Didiem, Dirk T , Wouter, Alli  

 

 

 

4 happy DSD students following the pool training and ready for a boat dive

Add 4 Introduction to SCUBA ( DSD)  courses and shallow water afternoon boat dive to the day and it is again busy time for all the staff

Very busy at the Dive Centre

It is mid term school break and there are lots  of divers and snorkelers  around with  their  holidaying family and kids.
Today's dives boats went :
Boat  1) Ennedale Wreck  and Brissiare rocks .....special request
Boat 2)  L'Ilot Island and Scala reef
Afternoon boat went to :
 Boat  3)  Coral Gardens Reef

dive boat underway with twin outboard engines

Seychelles National Flag

Boats back at the beach

Enriched Air NItrox course under way

Enriched Air ( NITROX)  is  a very popular way to go diving and we have done 2 courses this week .
It is a DRY course with theory and a lot of mathematics !! 

LOTS OF TABLES TO CALCULATE

Maintenance never stops

There is always some maintenance to do at the Dive Center . At the moment is is repairing the  equipment drying racks .  Being made of metal  there is always some rust patches that need a bit of TLC .  See George our handy man  and his assistant getting to grips with one of three racks . He will grind away all rust areas, paint anti rust paint and a strong top coat  and bring them back looking like new .

Off to the work shop 

Sabrina takes the dive out

It is getting busier at the Dive Center with the morning boat trip  booking fast . Weather is improving so the boat is now able to come to the beach outside the Dive Center

Instructor Sabrina takes the morning dive boat out at 09.30

Some underwater photos

We have a great variety of marine life . See some photos below

yellow snapper

Big Eye

puffer fish

Zebra Morey ell

Grouper Point and Bay Ternay Marine Natonal Park today

The day stated sunny and hot! One boat went to Grouper Point .....lost s of granitic stones  and then onto Bay Ternay Marine National  Park

Grouper Point form the boat anchor position

Grouper pint on the left and Bay Ternay in the middle

The second boat went to Shark Bank and  Beau Vallon Reef . Good dives had by everyone

Valentine's Day at the Dive Centre

Reception had a few Happy Valentines Day messages for all the guests  as they came to sign in and make payments

Welcome to the Dive Centre

Thanks for making your payment ..cash or VIsa/ Master card work well

The sea conditions were so good today that 1 boat went to long distance dive sites Dragon's Teeth and Brissiare rocks . The other boat was requested to visit Bay Ternay Marine Park for snorkeling

Today's dive sites

Happy Divers return from the long distance dive sites

Dive Guide Generio looking 'cool'

Dive Sites from the air

Snorkel and dive site of Sunset Rocks 

BeauVallon Bay  outside the Dive Centre showing several reef systems . The white dot is the dive boat on Aquarium 

Snorkel and dive sites of Bay au Chagran or called Willy's Bay !!

some of our underwater images

We are very lucky in Seychelles to have a huge variety of Marine Life . See  below a few snap shots of fish often seen  on our dive to L'Ilot Island

L'Ilot Ilsand  north end of Beau Vallon

Bat Fish

Eagle Ray

Queen Angel fish

Gosh this was a busy Sunday!!

Little did I know just how busy it would get at the Dive Center today ........too busy for the usual photos .sorry guys!!
I did catch the 2 dive boats leaving this morning 

09.30 boat departure for 2 different dive sites each boat

Today we had the local Dive Club ( 8 divers)  going to Shark Bank and L'ILot island ......its the best weather and sea conditions in months so  not surprising they got together to go for a dive. The other boat went to Grouper Point and Bay Ternay Marine National Park ( 6 divers and 1 snorkeler)  . Ideal for both snorkelers and  divers alike and was a request By Silvie and Patrick .Both boats returned at 1.15 having seen sharks , turtles ,rays ....the lot so everyone was happy !!!
 By now I was busy with pool skills for Anne doing her Open water  confined water training with Instructor Darius

Start at the beginning and put equipment together then check all is OK

Once they were in the pool I had Andrea come  along for a  pool refresh  having not dived in 15 years  followed immediately  by 4 Spanish clients wishing to do the introduction to SCUBA course and 2 of their friends as Open water divers wishing  to do the afternoon dive with them. .........great!!
So we go from just Anne doing her first ever dive for PADI OW course training  to 8 divers . Luckily we have lots of experienced staff  and the dive departed with 3 staff supervisors and 8 divers ...a good beginners ratio.
 
Constantin completed his Enriched Air NITROX course with final tables theory.  ( had him working his brains a bit as this course is mostly mathematics !!) and final exam ....... but he is now certified to dive with NITROX.
Having put out over 40 tanks today we had a final  rush to assist another Dive Center who's compressor went down!  20 tanks required for tomorrows dive .  We always help out when we can as it is impossible to say when you may need help yourself!!

So Phew !!!  a busy Sunday !!

Views of Dive Sites from the air ....Bay Ternay Marine Park

Seeing  an image of the dive sites from the air certainly assists in dive orientation and dive planning.
 Bay Ternay is very popular for  both divers and snorkelers alike .

Bay Ternay Marine National  Park  

A beautiful sunny day ..Saturday 10th February.

The weather has turned out to be very tropical today with .blue skies , lots of sun , no wind and people out enjoying the beach

Water Sports activities underway on Beau vallon Beach

lots of people enjoying the warm water just outside the Dive Centre

We also had Oda complete her OW course today with Instructor Darius.  Log book  entry of all dive activities  is the final part of the training .

Nathalie also completed her Rescue Diver scenarios to day and is a certified PADI Rescue Diver

Final scenarios include exiting the water with  an unconscious victim 

The big moment of today was the sighting of a giant Manta Ray on the morning  dive . This is the second time in 3 days that this magnificent creature has been seen. Estimated to be 2 . 5 meters across the wing span it has been a glorious sight as we rarely see manta rays! Not the best of photos but surely a Manta Ray.

Manta Rays have the eyes on the main body

spots on the under carriage were seen by Instructor Darius confirming a Manta Ray 

Always something going on at the Dive Centre . Today 7th February

Our usual dive boat routine is a boat trip morning  ( 9am till 1pm) and afternoon ( 2pm till 4pm) .
This morning saw  Instructor Darius complete the Open water  training dives for certification for Lena and Viktoria . This weekend they are off to La Digue  for the remainder of their  holidays

Happy faces all round for Lena , Viktoria and Darius 

 Also qualifying today was Constantin having completed the Deep and Navigation dives of his Advanced Open water course . After a day off he will start the ENRICHED Air ( NITROX) course on Friday
Other activities keep us busy .Today was day 1 of the Open Water course for Oda from Norway

Oda taking the Open Water  theory quizzes 

Hamon is from India and in Seychelles on his honeymoon . He thought he would try out SCUBA in the Berjaya swimming  pool .. .a calm and controlled environment  for  skills learning . He did exceptionally well for his first attempt

Hamon  breathing SCUBA for the first time

We also had a visit from the cutest of little girls wanting to get her swimmers ring inflated  .

Start their love of the water as early as possible !

Life in the Dive Cente.... 6th February

Today turned out to be a  lovely sunny day . Sea is calming down after a storm  in Mauritius gives us rougher sea conditions . See  below the view of the  beach  from the Dive Center at lunch time  today.

Calm seas over the dive sites 

Due to the persistent wave action close to the beach we are still loading from the Bel Ombre harbor just a 5 minute ride away in our company bus . Loading and unloading is so much easier there when we have a few waves on the beach .
Divers Denis and Marie Claude from France have been diving regularly but to day have a no dive day and a relaxing time on the beach.....they chose to sun bath in front of the Dive Center so still stayed close by!

Meet Denis and Marie - Claude 

Daria completed her Open Water course  this morning with IDC Staff Instructor Tony

Post Dive Debriefing and log book keeping 

Constantin today completed the Wreck and Boat dives of his Advanced Open Water course
After logbook  keeping and debriefing from Tony it was a practice session on the beach for the Compass Navigation dive tomorrow 

Learning how to use a compass...practice with Dive Master trainee David

developing good habits  means writting your dives in your log book ...........Tony is quite strict about this!

At the end of every dive there is the big cleanup involving washing all gear and getting it on the drying racks  before putting it away in the equipment room  . Dive Master trainees Nichole and David  get busy

5th February activities

It is still low season so quiet on the diving front! We had 3 divers on the morning dive  and 1 Rescue diver student, Ellie,  out on the boat completing the  RESCUE course with Instructor Sabrina . Dive Master trainees David and Nicole  went along as well . David has been diving daily but Nicole has suffered form a bad ear infection and is just getting back into the water  . So far all goes well so fingers crossed the ears are all OK now.

Ellie completed her RESCUE diver course today 

Ellie lives in Seychelles and has done all her training with us from Open water , Advanced Open Water and the Emergency  First Aid & CPR course . Next step is the Dive Master course !! Sabrina is ready so sign up soon .!!
                   Keeping busy on the tanks for  SBS scene are  Tony and Dean .

Everyone likes a safe cylinder when diving but there is nothing fancy about the preparation 

Daria will complete her Open Water course tomorrow and Constantine from Austria is underway with his Advanced Open Water course ..so still lots to do.

Sunday 4th February activities

Sunday started well with 6 divers doing the morning 2 dive sites dives. Today the boat visited Twin Barges double wreck site   from 12 meters to 24 meters . 2nd dive was Fisherman's Cove Reef ......a coral site from 10 - 18 meters .
 Welcome back after trips to Europe was Dagmar  who helps out on Sunday mornings . Our German
divers just   love having Dagmar around !

Dive Master Dagmar speaks German, English, French , and Creole  

Also on the morning dives  with Instructor Darius was the new Open Water Referral  diver  Daria from Russia . She has complete all her theory and pool skills learning before coming to Seychelles and needs the 4 training boat dives for OW certification

Daria will be certified Monday 5th February

Whilst the boat was out diving the new Open Water Course  classroom sessions began for Anna Marie from the Netherlands . During the morning she managed to complete 3 theory chapters of her Open water course getting 100% pass marks on both Knowledge Reviews and chapter quizzes ..excellent work!!

Anna Marie getting comfortable to watch the PADI DVD  

Keeping  IDC Staff Instructor Tony  busy was a pool training session

Being able to use the BERJAYA Hotel pool is great for training exercises 

We find that  that hotel guests are most interested in what goes on and love to 'people watch' the students going through their paces .
Our last activity  for  Sunday morning was hunting out our next batch of tanks for   Visual or Hydro-static testing at Seychelles Bureau of Standards .  Genario was given his list of tank numbers and set free  in the equipment room.  After  emptying all air and removing tank valves they should be ready for the  trip by mid week

Skipper Genario on the SBS tank hunt