August update

Its a beautiful day today here in St.Martin, the sun is shining and the sea's are calm. All is about to change in the next few weeks.
Check out this link: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

As you may know its hurricane season and we are having a spell of tropical cyclones passing through with one large depression expected in 7 days time, so fingers crossed. We have our Hurricane action plan ready and our boat is planned to be lifted out at a minutes notice if needs be.
A Hurricane plan is difficult, how far do you go? How much food do you really need? What if the roof blows off the house, or we lose our sea wall defence again? Its a very difficult decision to know exactly what to do, but after Hurrciane Omar last year we are now even more prepared mentally and physically and each person in the team knows thier job.
I just checked the website again Aug 12th 1400hrs and in the last hour the storm on the West coast of Africa has just intensified considerably..........

We have had another extremely busy week this week, with 8 open water certifications in the last 10 days which is just amazing considering that we are still in a reccession and a fully booked schedule again.

The new boat is on its way from Florida and scheduled to be here in a week or two, the new engines have been ordered, once fitted we are ready to go - can't wait! Lets hope it doesn't get blown away in the storm...

The SNUBA operation is full steam ahead, the contract with Club Orient is signed and sealed and they have used Sally's awesome photographs on thier website with a great link to our website: http://www.cluborient.com/waterSports.php

SNUBA will be available to all aged 8 through 80 and is so easy compared to Scuba, just a 15 minute briefing and you are in the water, no heavy tanks or weights, just a tube to the surface and some fins and you are diving!!
The new website www.octopussnuba.com will be up and running in a few weeks after Sally makes some finishing touches to it.

I have had the go ahead from Mercury to train as a Technician at thier manufacturing facility in Miami. This now means that any downtime will be kept to a minimum if we experience technical problems with the boat. I leave in September for a week for an intensive 4 day course.

Sadly, Jean Phillipe has left Octopus Diving, he will be missed by the Staff and Customers alike. We are currently seeking his replacement on the PADI Website. Bon chance JP !!

We have some Freinds staying at our apartment at the moment, Heather and Laura. They are old Friends and instructors from Stuart Cove in the Bahamas. After living with 3 girls for less than 72 hours, I have now learnt the do's and don'ts of "foundation" (after enduring a make up video last night for an hour), I never knew just how complicated foundation can be, I now understand why it takes them so long to leave the house!
They are off for ladies night at the movies tonight so I get some peace, if they ever get there!!
Heather and Laura if you are reading this - we will miss you when you leave !!

Trip Advisor is looking very healthy with a total 51 reviews, 5 stars and of course we are still number 1 attraction on St.Martin.

The review from the Schneider Family is great. This family of 4 came on a private boat charter and thier youngest Daughter 4 years old was snorkeling at Turtle Reef and saw turtles - we couldn't get the mask and snorkel off her all day - she loved it. Then we went to Green cay and she saw Eagle Rays and Sting rays. We took them to Pinel Island for Lunch and then headed home - a fantastic full day boat charter and the highlight of thier week on a Caribbean Cruise.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html
Thanks to the Schneider's for a great day and also to our instructor Christian for being a great Snorkel guide.

We will keep you updated with Hurricanes so watch this space.

That's about it for today,

Have a great week

Chris.