Chris, JP and I had to say a sad farewell to some AUC 5th Semesters this morning. We went to Tintmarre with Scott, John, Brian and Melinda for their last Saint Martin dive. AUC is the American University of the Caribbean. It is located on the Dutch side and is a Medical University housing many American and international students.
In order to graduate from AUC it takes 5 semesters over 26 months, I believe. It is pretty tough and in between all the studying we get to see some of them!
Brian is the AUC Dive club president and will be sorely missed. (Don't forget to get a new mask, Brian!). His wife, Melinda, somehow managed to spend more time down here than Brian did, even though she has a full time job in Tenessee! (She's really good at her job, so her employers want to keep her). So we also got to know Melinda really well. Scott is heading to Maryland to do his clinical studies and John isn't sure where he is going yet... he'll figure it out.
There are other 5th Semesters that we will miss, that we didn't see this morning but will be heading off the island very soon. These include Cody and Chuck and loads others that I am forgetting.
Anyway... Chris and I wish you all the very best. Although there are new AUC students coming in every semester, we won't forget the past students! You have helped make this first year for us a huge success, and we will be forever grateful. Not just for the custom, but for the friendship. Make sure that you come and see us when you come back in 2 years for graduation... and most of all... make sure that you come diving with us! And don't let it go 2 years before you get in the water again. Moving to NY, Maryland, London, these are not excuses to stay out of the water!
Keep in touch...
(Sally wrote this blog, :) )
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Happy Easter from Team Octopus
Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. We are closing tomorrow for some well deserved R & R. We were thinking of going out and having some kind of egg hunt on scuba, but then we thought how much we would really rather sleep late. Also, as a customer pointed out, salty chocolate easter eggs didn't sound too good.
The weather has been so great lately I almost don't want to mention it, in case that changes something. I do have something to blog about. Yesterday at Creole Rock Chris was diving with 2 dolphins! It seems so unlucky for me that I missed it. You see, Chris and I usually alternate who teached the diving courses, and the last two students he asked me to take over because he thought that they would have a better rapport with me, so that means that I wasn't teaching Stella, from South Africa, her Open Water Course. So... in consequence, I wasn't diving at Creole Rock with Stella when they saw dolphins. I blame Chris.
Anyway... I am happy for Chris, he was buzzing all evening so we went to Pineapple Pete's for dinner. We really like Pineapple Pete's. It is located in Simpson Bay on the Dutch side, the service is great, the food is good and the price is very reasonable.
Something else I keep thinking that I want to mention in the blog is that I think that the porcupine fish are mating at the moment. They seem to be acting very strange. I tried looking up some information on them but I wasn't very successful. What they seem to be doing is that one porcupine fish will be chasing another. The chasing porcupine fish looks normal (with a grey body and lots of small brown dots all over it), but the one being chased has more of a patchwork look about it... not normal. There are large patches of darker brown color all over the porcupine fish being chased. Occassionally a third porcupine fish will come around and then chase the original chaser. At which point he (or she)... the chaser, becomes the chasee and suddenly changes color to reveal the brown areas of patchwork. It is amazing when they change, it is so fast. It is really bizarre behavoir and I can't figure it out, but has been occuring for about 2 weeks now. If you have any further information, just let me know.
Well, the divers should be back from Tintamare any moment now. I'm kind of torn because I want them to have seen dolphins as it would make them all really happy, but then I will be really jealous as I wasn't on the boat, so I am secretly hoping that they didn't. Does that make me a bad person? Or just honest?
Anyway... HAPPY EASTER everyone. Oh... and just a quick note, I googled imaged "Scuba Bunny" to find an Easter image for the blog and there were some disturbing photos of divers dressed in Bunny suits... I decided to go with the drawing instead.
(Sally wrote this blog :) )
Divers are back, no dolphins.... YES! I mean NO!
The weather has been so great lately I almost don't want to mention it, in case that changes something. I do have something to blog about. Yesterday at Creole Rock Chris was diving with 2 dolphins! It seems so unlucky for me that I missed it. You see, Chris and I usually alternate who teached the diving courses, and the last two students he asked me to take over because he thought that they would have a better rapport with me, so that means that I wasn't teaching Stella, from South Africa, her Open Water Course. So... in consequence, I wasn't diving at Creole Rock with Stella when they saw dolphins. I blame Chris.
Anyway... I am happy for Chris, he was buzzing all evening so we went to Pineapple Pete's for dinner. We really like Pineapple Pete's. It is located in Simpson Bay on the Dutch side, the service is great, the food is good and the price is very reasonable.
Something else I keep thinking that I want to mention in the blog is that I think that the porcupine fish are mating at the moment. They seem to be acting very strange. I tried looking up some information on them but I wasn't very successful. What they seem to be doing is that one porcupine fish will be chasing another. The chasing porcupine fish looks normal (with a grey body and lots of small brown dots all over it), but the one being chased has more of a patchwork look about it... not normal. There are large patches of darker brown color all over the porcupine fish being chased. Occassionally a third porcupine fish will come around and then chase the original chaser. At which point he (or she)... the chaser, becomes the chasee and suddenly changes color to reveal the brown areas of patchwork. It is amazing when they change, it is so fast. It is really bizarre behavoir and I can't figure it out, but has been occuring for about 2 weeks now. If you have any further information, just let me know.
Well, the divers should be back from Tintamare any moment now. I'm kind of torn because I want them to have seen dolphins as it would make them all really happy, but then I will be really jealous as I wasn't on the boat, so I am secretly hoping that they didn't. Does that make me a bad person? Or just honest?
Anyway... HAPPY EASTER everyone. Oh... and just a quick note, I googled imaged "Scuba Bunny" to find an Easter image for the blog and there were some disturbing photos of divers dressed in Bunny suits... I decided to go with the drawing instead.
(Sally wrote this blog :) )
Divers are back, no dolphins.... YES! I mean NO!
Open water, Dolphins and Sally's wreck.
Its been another crazy week in the Caribbean, fully booked everyday and some fantastic customers.
I completed Stella's Open Water course on Friday 10th, she was great in the water and passed the course, so congratulations.
On Open Water Dive 3 at Creole Rock we were looking at the large Spotted Drum in the Canyon, when a large shadow passed above us, I turned around and was face to face with two huge Dolphins, I will admit that I needed a change of underwear, but what an amazing experience. They were playing around us and at one point were nearly touching us.
They were approximately 8 foot long and looked as like they were hunting for food and probaby annoyed that we may be stealing it!!
especially after the number of dives that I have done and this was my first time diving with Dolphins.
Stella of course was especially excited as this was her 5th dive!! We had also just seen the biggest Eagle Rays I have ever seen with a 5 foot wing span.
Our Exploratory dive for Sally's wreck was particularly interesting as it turned out to be a completely different wreck than first thought and one that nobody knows exists apart from the fishermen.
I briefed the guys who were diving with us, all experienced Advanced divers, that the wreck was unknown and depth also unknown. We had a Deco tank under the boat and off we went down the line.
Initial guesses on depth were 20 - 25 metres.... I told the group to level off at 32 metres / 100feet and carried on to the sand to 44metres / 145 feet.
The wreck is about 150 feet long and looks like an old trawler, lots of Baraccuda, Snappers, Jacks and also alot of Southern Rays in the sand so it has great potential as a new dive site.
Located just between Anguilla and St.Martin its also close to us.
Our dive lasted all of 8 minutes and it was back up the line for a safety stop.
So.... Sally's wreck is still out there and we have recently heard of a possible location near Marigot?? We will check it out soon.
We named this Wreck "Jean Phillipe" (after JP) as we have spoken to lots of people and can't find its real name.
We are closed for Easter Sunday and then back again Monday for yet another busy week.
Hope you are all well and Happy Easter!!
Chris.
I completed Stella's Open Water course on Friday 10th, she was great in the water and passed the course, so congratulations.
On Open Water Dive 3 at Creole Rock we were looking at the large Spotted Drum in the Canyon, when a large shadow passed above us, I turned around and was face to face with two huge Dolphins, I will admit that I needed a change of underwear, but what an amazing experience. They were playing around us and at one point were nearly touching us.
They were approximately 8 foot long and looked as like they were hunting for food and probaby annoyed that we may be stealing it!!
especially after the number of dives that I have done and this was my first time diving with Dolphins.
Stella of course was especially excited as this was her 5th dive!! We had also just seen the biggest Eagle Rays I have ever seen with a 5 foot wing span.
Our Exploratory dive for Sally's wreck was particularly interesting as it turned out to be a completely different wreck than first thought and one that nobody knows exists apart from the fishermen.
I briefed the guys who were diving with us, all experienced Advanced divers, that the wreck was unknown and depth also unknown. We had a Deco tank under the boat and off we went down the line.
Initial guesses on depth were 20 - 25 metres.... I told the group to level off at 32 metres / 100feet and carried on to the sand to 44metres / 145 feet.
The wreck is about 150 feet long and looks like an old trawler, lots of Baraccuda, Snappers, Jacks and also alot of Southern Rays in the sand so it has great potential as a new dive site.
Located just between Anguilla and St.Martin its also close to us.
Our dive lasted all of 8 minutes and it was back up the line for a safety stop.
So.... Sally's wreck is still out there and we have recently heard of a possible location near Marigot?? We will check it out soon.
We named this Wreck "Jean Phillipe" (after JP) as we have spoken to lots of people and can't find its real name.
We are closed for Easter Sunday and then back again Monday for yet another busy week.
Hope you are all well and Happy Easter!!
Chris.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Congrats Alexis, Sherry and Peter
Just wanted to say congratulations to some of my new students.... Sherry, Alexis and Peter.
Here are there diver shots for their certification cards!
Don't forget that I wait until after the course to take the diver "mugshots." I think that it is mandatory for divers to have authentic "diver" hair on their certification cards!
Sherry and Alexis are from Atlanta Georgia. A mother and daugher pair they were really great underwater. You could see that by doing the Open Water Course together it was a real bonding experience and they were learning about eachother, as well as the underwater world. At first Alexis had some problems equalizing (no wonder with those tiny ears) but she didn't give up. She went again the next day and succeeded to equalize and we all cheered her on underwater. I wish that I could post that photo, of Alexis being underwater. Unfortunately it is kind of hard to teach and take my camera, so I just will have to keep the mental picture for myself! Sherry, on the otherhand, she had no problems equalizing.... or with anything really! We had loads of fun together, including dancing on the boat, seeing loads of great stuff (eagle rays, turtles, morays, arrow crabs, banded shrimps, you name it, we saw it!).
Here are there diver shots for their certification cards! Also, last week I taught Peter his Open Water. Wait... did I already blog about this? I can't remember... oh well, it was so fun that writing about it again is no problem! Peter is from Quebec, Canada (but he doesn't speak any French). He came down here in December and did a Discover Scuba Dive with Craig and decided to come back to get his certification this April. For me, I think it was one of the fastest certifications I ever did, because Peter didn't have to repeat anything. It was just a one on one course, so really relaxing and enjoyable (the way it should be). We were even able to circumnavigate all of Creole Rock on Peters first dive! We are looking forward to seeing Peter again later in the year for him to complete his Advanced Open Water.
Don't forget that I wait until after the course to take the diver "mugshots." I think that it is mandatory for divers to have authentic "diver" hair on their certification cards!Anyway... that's all for now. Chris is on the boat diving Sally's wreck with some divers. I can't wait to see it. They are also diving the caves, which we can only do when it is really calm, like it is now!
(sally wrote this blog :0) )
Monday, April 6, 2009
New Wreck in St.Martin
I was Captain for a Private Boat Charter yesterday, it was great and made a change from diving. I took a family for a tour around St.Martin, snorkeling and sight seeing. We saw two dolphins who decided to play under the boat for a while which was great. We also came accross a film shoot for a new boat. The 80 foot boat was driving extremely fast, maybe 50 knots followed by a helicopter with a cameraman hanging out the side !! It was great especially when he used our boat for a perspective shot - wished I had a camera!
Whilst on our travels I spotted a large white buoy in the channel between St.Martin and Anguilla, so we went and checked it out. About 60 - 70 feet down, past the shoals of Horse eye jacks, Barracuda and yellow tails we saw the wreck.
Some of you may know that last year Sim ( better known as Baab) and his Girlfriend Helen were staying with us from the UK for a while.
Whilst they were here we went searching the local boat yards for a wreck and the first one we found was a 47 foot yacht !! Costing only 175 Euro's we decided to "Acquire" it and get it ready for sinking.
Due to the risk of pollution the entire electrical system, A/C and refrigeration system needed to be ripped out and to allow safe penetration by divers, we removed most of the interior panels. Two days work in 36 degree temeprature with no breeze..... it was rather hot to say the least.
Then we used fibre glass to seal the hull so we could tow her to the dive site and sink her.
To cut a long story short, another dive centre on the FRENCH side heard about this and stole the wreck from us - nice eh?? They sank it and failed to tell us its location.
But now we have found her and it was proudly named "Sally's Wreck" - you can imagine the trouble I would be in if I named it Chris' wreck.
So now we have another reef and of course there are lots and lots of sharks in this area - yeahhh!
So next time any of our followers are diving with us, we will take you out and show you our new wreck.
The weather at the moment is fantastic and we are all diving the cave systems at Tintamarre tomorrow afternoon, Me, Sally, Roman, Cody Cox and JP is staying dry on the surface - should be great.
Then we are going to dive the new wreck ! We will update as soon as we can with photos.
Thats all for now, so its back to work for me.
Chris
Whilst on our travels I spotted a large white buoy in the channel between St.Martin and Anguilla, so we went and checked it out. About 60 - 70 feet down, past the shoals of Horse eye jacks, Barracuda and yellow tails we saw the wreck.
Some of you may know that last year Sim ( better known as Baab) and his Girlfriend Helen were staying with us from the UK for a while.
Whilst they were here we went searching the local boat yards for a wreck and the first one we found was a 47 foot yacht !! Costing only 175 Euro's we decided to "Acquire" it and get it ready for sinking.
Due to the risk of pollution the entire electrical system, A/C and refrigeration system needed to be ripped out and to allow safe penetration by divers, we removed most of the interior panels. Two days work in 36 degree temeprature with no breeze..... it was rather hot to say the least.
Then we used fibre glass to seal the hull so we could tow her to the dive site and sink her.
To cut a long story short, another dive centre on the FRENCH side heard about this and stole the wreck from us - nice eh?? They sank it and failed to tell us its location.
But now we have found her and it was proudly named "Sally's Wreck" - you can imagine the trouble I would be in if I named it Chris' wreck.
So now we have another reef and of course there are lots and lots of sharks in this area - yeahhh!
So next time any of our followers are diving with us, we will take you out and show you our new wreck.
The weather at the moment is fantastic and we are all diving the cave systems at Tintamarre tomorrow afternoon, Me, Sally, Roman, Cody Cox and JP is staying dry on the surface - should be great.
Then we are going to dive the new wreck ! We will update as soon as we can with photos.
Thats all for now, so its back to work for me.
Chris
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Amazing Visibility
The last few days have just been stunning visbility. Like this morning, it must have been over 100ft vis. On Thursday just gone, it was probably 150ft, so good that you couldn't tell depth because the water was so clear.
This morning I certified Frank as an Open Water Diver. Congratulations, Frank! From California, USA, Frank told me if you love what you do, then you never have to work a day in your life. So, I guess I'm a slacker....
His wife was going to get certified as well, but she had some trouble with the beginning of the course that she did in California. See, Frank did all the book work and the shallow pool sessions in California with his wife and then came to us to do his four Open Water dives. After talking to Carol we realised that the reason she had trouble with the beginning of the course was that she had a bad instructor. So... word to the wise "if you aren't getting on with your instructor, if you aren't comfortable or happy... ask for someone else." There is no shame in this.
Sometimes I will have a student that is having problems with the Open Water Course, so I just say "maybe you should work with my husband, he has a different teaching style and it might be better for your personality." It isn't anything against my teaching abilities (I am of course an AMAZING instructor) it is just that sometimes people need different techniques. Sometimes Chris asks me to take over with a particular student, because I teach differently. We all teach to the same high standards, but our methods are different. At the end of the day we are all just people, but diving is important and if something doesn't feel right, you should say so.
Unfortunatly, we couldn't convince Carol to finish the course with us, but Frank did a great job. This morning we saw two eagle rays, a couple of turtles and also lots of fish. The vis was great so I was just enjoying being underwater today!
Here is a photo of Frank...
Yesterday afternoon we had some the students from the AUC here (American University of the Caribbean) and they went to Tintamarre with Chris and JP. I didn't get to go, but when they came back they were buzzing with excitement, as usual.
OK. Filling tanks now, so gotta go!
(Sally wrote this blog :o) )
This morning I certified Frank as an Open Water Diver. Congratulations, Frank! From California, USA, Frank told me if you love what you do, then you never have to work a day in your life. So, I guess I'm a slacker....
His wife was going to get certified as well, but she had some trouble with the beginning of the course that she did in California. See, Frank did all the book work and the shallow pool sessions in California with his wife and then came to us to do his four Open Water dives. After talking to Carol we realised that the reason she had trouble with the beginning of the course was that she had a bad instructor. So... word to the wise "if you aren't getting on with your instructor, if you aren't comfortable or happy... ask for someone else." There is no shame in this.
Sometimes I will have a student that is having problems with the Open Water Course, so I just say "maybe you should work with my husband, he has a different teaching style and it might be better for your personality." It isn't anything against my teaching abilities (I am of course an AMAZING instructor) it is just that sometimes people need different techniques. Sometimes Chris asks me to take over with a particular student, because I teach differently. We all teach to the same high standards, but our methods are different. At the end of the day we are all just people, but diving is important and if something doesn't feel right, you should say so.
Unfortunatly, we couldn't convince Carol to finish the course with us, but Frank did a great job. This morning we saw two eagle rays, a couple of turtles and also lots of fish. The vis was great so I was just enjoying being underwater today!
Here is a photo of Frank...
Yesterday afternoon we had some the students from the AUC here (American University of the Caribbean) and they went to Tintamarre with Chris and JP. I didn't get to go, but when they came back they were buzzing with excitement, as usual.
OK. Filling tanks now, so gotta go!
(Sally wrote this blog :o) )
Friday, April 3, 2009
Bring on Summer!
The water temperature is slowly creeping up, and that means... summer is coming soon! Although summer is a little hot down here, it is great for diving and JP, Chris and I are really excited. Not only do the warm water temperatures mean that we don't have to wear wetsuits, but generally, the diving is really fantastic.
Summer means great visibility, like this morning where the visibility at our local sites must have been over 100 feet! Summer means calm seas, so that the bay is like a pond! Summer also means little to no wind (so hotter on land, but great when out diving and snorkeling). Plus... summer is a time when we get a lot of great customers. Not that our winter divers aren't great, but in the summer we seem to get people who come to Saint Martin specifically for the diving! Hotels are cheaper, flights are cheaper, so the people who come in the summer are those thrifty divers who want to save all that money on accomodation and flights and spend it on... you guessed... diving!
Chris, JP and I have been busy this week training potential summer divers. Yesterday we certified Peter from Quebec, as an Open Water Diver. He came out here in December and did a discover scuba dive with us, loved it so much that he came back to do a full open water certification course! He was a realy natural in the water. We also certified Matt this morning, from Chicago, IL. It is interesting that we are getting a lot of students coming on cruise ships. They do a part of their course in every port. The last place being the center that certifies them. This is possible because all PADI courses are taught the same way. Although the instructors may be different, we all follow the same rules, so it is possible to complete separate parts of your certification course at different centers. We have been seeing a lot of this in cruise shippers, and it seems to work really well. So, if you are on a cruise ship and you are interested in getting certified, it is possible to do it this way. Just contact me and I will tell you more.
What else has been happening lately? Well... we are all very excited to have the new compressor in. Chris already told you all about the specifics, but basically it is new, shiny and clean! So I love it. Of course, it is totally more reliable, fills the tanks faster, and adds another filter, so if you come and dive with us, you are getting air that has been filtered 4 times!
Oh... also, we got the new t-shirts in. They are super cool. The t-shirts seem to be more popular than the ladies tanks, although personally I prefer the tanks. My parents are coming in June to visit (yeah!) so I am going to see if they will take some shirts over and then mail them to customers. I know that Greg wants a couple, so I will have them send them. If you are interested then let me know and I will set something up on the website so that people can pay via PayPal. We are asking for $25, but I will have to add a little extra for shipping (I don't think my parents would want to fit the bill for the shipping!).
Chris wants me to post some photos of the new compressor. So here they are!
You can see here, The compressor arriving with a very happy Chris, the installing of the compressor late one night (JP is drinking a beer to help) and then the final photo of the compressor all shiny and new!
Alright, I'm off now. Tomorrow I will blog again! I promise! (this blog was written by sally :))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
