Octopus Diving

It's cold here... in New York, that is!!

2010-03-27T14:39:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. If you don't see me in the dive shop over the next couple of days, it is because I am in New York visiting my family for 5 days. NY is so convenient to fly to from Saint Martin, so it isn't difficult for an impromptu trip. Chris is holding the fort down and doing a great job, as usual.

The main reason that I am here is to visit my grandmother, Nanna Vera. She is from England and is visiting my parents in New York (my mum is English for those of you that didn't already know) for about 6 weeks. So I am joining for the last one. You wouldn't know it from her youthful appearance, but in just 5 short years she will be receiving a letter from the Queen of England congratulating her on her 100th birthday. She should be coming to Saint Martin in November, so if you see a lovely British lady with a head like a white hydrangea knitting like crazy, that would be Nanna. I don't think I am going to be able to convince her to scuba dive, but you never know. I have trained a few grandmothers to dive in the past.

So, you probably are not interested at all about what I am doing in NY as some of you are probably from NY! The reason you read my blog is so that you know what is going on in Sunny Saint Martin. Well, from talking to Chris last night yesterday was a great day of diving! We had three divers come in the other day that have been coming to Saint Martin for years, but always dived with centers on the Dutch side. They are staying in Guana Bay, which is almost exactly on the other side of the island from us in Grand Case. They said that they were sick of diving the same sites on the Dutch Side and wanted to experience some of the sites on the French Side, so they came to us. Well, according to Chris they were not disappointed and were amazed at the health of the reef and the biodiversity of the fish. There was even a Humpback whale spotting in between Japanese Garden and Chico at Tintamarre!

Also, there is nice family of four that is just finishing up their certification dives this afternoon. They came in last week and made the booking with me. It was a little difficult to fit them in, as they hadn't made an advanced booking, so if you are a group of three or four, please try and make the booking in advance, as we would hate not be able to accommodate you!

I did want to write a little paragraph about the other day when I was swimming with dolphins. Well, actually I wanted to write a whole blog about it, but then something took my time away, and I didn't get the chance.

Anyway... it was one of those rare afternoons where we only had one diver on the boat and we were going to the Dutch Side for a Deep Dive. So Chris said, "hey, why don't we do a fun dive? We'll all go." Well, I had loads of paperwork to do (running a dive center isn't all sunshine and fish you know... there is a lot of behind the scenes action that goes on as well) so I said I couldn't. Besides, someone should stay in the shop in case future customers stopped by. Everyone was going to go out... Mark and Jenn (our two Divemaster interns), Aure and Stuart (our two instructors) and of course Chris. At the last minute I couldn't take it, so I yelled out "Hang on! I'm coming." I rushed out and put up a sign on the door "Sorry, out diving. Back at 4:30 PM" and we headed out. On the way, just as we were in front of Bay Rouge past Marigot, we saw the breathtaking site of Dolphins swimming our way. Chris quickly maneuvered the boat so that we were navigating with the Dolphins and not crossing in front of their path. Chris slowed the boat, and we went with the dolphins for a bit. Then Chris brought the boat to a halt and the Dolphins were still all around the boat. So I said "I'm getting in, I'm getting in." I grabbed my mask, and jumped over the side.

Well, from the surface Dolphins look so beautiful and graceful, but once you jump in and look at them under the water, they are huge. HUGE! And they move fast. I didn't even have my fins, and although the water was clear, it was pretty deep. The ease with which the Dolphins move through the water really made me realize how clumsy and inefficient I must seem in the water. After just about 2 seconds, I started to feel a little insecure. "Hey. Is anyone else coming in? These Dolphins are really big..." One Dolphin turned around and swam towards me, it was probably only about 10 feet away, and we made eye contact. Although it was a special moment, I have to admit, those Dolphins are big, and I was scared. After a few minutes of looking down at the Dolphins and the looking topside for reassurance from everyone on the boat, I got back on. It stays with you, those moments, and makes it all worthwhile. There is nothing better when you have tons of work to do on the computer and accounts than saying "screw it! I'm going diving" and be rewarded with about 10 Dolphins and some really close encounters in the water!

Thinking about that almost makes me forget how cold it is here. I don't know how I used to do it, but I have become a wimp since my time in the tropics, and it is cold here!!!

Well, say hi to the boys for me if you are in Saint Martin this week. They are working hard in my absence, and if you buy something or pay for something, please remind them to write it in the book! Or else it is a nightmare for me!!! Or, if you are in Saint Martin and need something from NY, let me know as soon as you can.

Write more soon...

(Sally wrote this blog :) From NY)

For Stuart's Mum

2010-03-24T14:34:00.002-04:00

Apparently Stuart's mum reads my blog all the time. This way she gets to keep up tabs on what her little boy is getting up to in Saint Martin all the way from Sunny England (well, sometimes sunny England). So, I thought that I would write a small blog about Stuart, so that she can catch up on some of the great things that he has been up to.

Well, where should I start? Stuart told me not to write anything that would worry you. So, I am not going to write about the deep dive that we did the other day near the Fusheng. I am not going to write about the fact that the main reason that I went on this dive was so that I could see Stuart at 140 feet and hopefully see him under the influence of Nitrogen Narcosis. I told Stuart that I wouldn't write about the fact that at 143 feet I looked over at Stuart and made the Narcosis sign (this is done by putting up your first and second finger together and then making little circles) to ask him if he was narked, and he made the sign right back to me, but it was much more exaggerated and his eyes were wide with is eyebrows up, and I think I heard him mumble something under his regulator like "f-ing right". But of course, Stuart's mum knows that he doesn't ever swear, (he is a clean living young man) so I must have misunderstood the mumbling. I will never in my life forget this special moment that Stuart and I shared in our state of nitrogen narcosis at 143 feet. So, in order to not worry Stuart's mom, I agreed that I would keep this incident off of the blog. So, let's just keep it between us then...

According to Wikipedia (of course the most official of sources) "Narcosis while diving (also known as nitrogen narcosis, inert gas narcosis, raptures of the deep, Martini effect) is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while scuba diving at depth. It produces a state similar to alcohol intoxication or nitrous oxide inhalation. It can occur during shallow dives, but usually does not become noticeable until greater depths, beyond 30 meters (100 ft)."

We teach our students about this, but Stuart had never experienced it himself, so I thought that he should to better his teaching. It is, however, reversible, (as wiki points out) and even if Stuart's mom should find out about the deep diving, she shouldn't worry. Stuart is such an amazing, competent diver, that even in a state similar to the inhalation of nitrous oxide at over 40 meters under the surface of the ocean, he can still maintain his usual safe diving practices.

We were actually diving near the Fusheng in order to find another mythical wreck that is down there just a bit deeper, but we were unsuccessful. Well, that was the legitimate reason for diving, I just wanted to see Stuart Narked!

Other items that Stuart probably wouldn't want me to tell his mum about is that he hurt his foot the other day doing some sort of superhuman-deep-water-forward-flip-entry into the water. He is fine now though, the swelling went down and the doctor said in a few days the likely hood that we need to amputate his leg will go down from 90% to 75%. So not to worry.

What I am allowed to tell Stuart's mum is about what a great instructor he is. We get so much positive feedback from his divers and students that it would make Stuart's mum beam with pride. Recently Stuart looked up his records and he has certified over 200 students, and some of them (believe me) were a challenge. So this is no small feat! I can tell Stuart's mum that Jenn recently brought back some nice curtains from NY to help decorate his apartment, and he also received a sofa from his devoted employers (that would be Chris and me) which has a lovely throw over it. Although, I must tell Stuart's mum that he has an 8 x 10 inch picture frame on the wall with nothing in it!! So if you need an idea of something to send over, a photograph to fill the sad picture frame would be a great idea. He also recently bought a pan to cook, although I think the only action it has seen was the other day when he boiled some water for some tea. The intention to cook is there, however, so Stuart's mum should be pleased with this as well.

Hmmm, what else would Stuart's mum like to know. Since Stuart has been with us he has blossomed as a boat captain and has completed a firefighting course, a sea survival course, a marine radio course, a power boat course, and also is picking up a bit of french a long the way. We were going to start having french lessons once a week, but this hasn't happened yet. I blame Calmos, the pub down the road! He is an excellent boat captain though, driving Octopussy with pride. I could probably come up with some inappropriate comments about the name of the boat and Stuart as captain, but for the sake of Stuart's mom, I won't.

I won't write about Stuart's love life, as he is a tall guy (I was going to write big, but since he has been throwing those tanks on and off the boat he isn't really that big any more) and he may throttle me if I do! Boss or no boss, some topics really are off limits. Although I will say that as his mom already knows, he is a real catch!

I will now search through all my photos for the one that Stuart's mum will appreciate the most... I'm thinking the one below, where Stuart is about to teach a Rescue Diver course and he is all serious!!!

I hope that Stuart's mum enjoyed hearing all about Stuart in Saint Martin, and I also hope that Stuart doesn't batter me for writing this.

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Could it get any better?

2010-03-18T16:03:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Followers,

Thanks again for following the blog and hope that you are all well.

Its been a while since we blogged, mainly because we have had another crazy few weeks of business which is just awesome.
Both boats have been working this week and last and we have had Certification after Certification.
You may wonder about the Title, well it's true, could it get any better? Sally and I have been out diving along with Stuart and Auree and we have seen Dolphins, Eagle Rays, Turtles, huge amounts of fish and the sea conditions have been absolutely amazing.
On Tuesday 16th March the ocean was like a swimming pool (not full of Band aids and chlorine) just dead flat and calm, so we closed up and headed out for some exploration dives. We found a shallow reef on the charts (which bottoms out at 45 feet) and headed out some 7 miles offshore to dive it.
We got kitted up and jumped in, I clocked 110feet and found nothing but flat sand and a barracuda!! You never know.... that treasure chest is out there somewhere and one day we will find it!!

So we headed back to Tintamarre for a few beers and some well deserved RnR. Stuart and Auree decided to bury little Alex on the beach which was entertaining. Then Auree saw Dolphins on the way back and Stuart says he saw Elvis..its amazing the affects of a few Presidente beers!

Anyway a great day out and alot of fun.

Congratulations to all our Students espcially, Scott, Patty, Kelly, Connor and Keith all passed Open Water and Advanced Open Water with us, we had a great time with all of you and you are awesome divers.

There is so much to tell you, so I will try to keep it short.

Sally and I moved into our beautiful new house in Grand Case, that is located on the beach that will also be the new Dive operation. The shop will stay in Grand Case on the street as a booking shop and boutique but the new place will house the compressors, Nitrox filling station, equipment, free parking and offer customers a piece of heaven in Grand Case to chill and enjoy a beer after your dive.
Good news for us - no more loading tanks on the boat, we aim to fill the tanks on the boat.

Also free 32% Nitrox for certified customers - we will be the only dive shop on
St. Martin / St. Maarten to offer this and it should be up and running by next season.

As some of you are aware I recently went to the UK to see my Family (Hi Dad - he reads the blog all the time!!) and also had the chance of using an Inspiration Vision Closed Circuit Rebreather.
This was an extremely interesting experience and not quite what I expected.

Water conditions weren't great, we were diving a quarry where ambient temperature was zero and water temp 4 degrees C or in old money thats 39 degrees F.
First dive was planned at 90 minutes (you need 6 hours to be certfied) where I lasted a gruelling 87 minutes before I got out and cried with pain...
We then decided that the quarry was too cold and went to HMS Scylla in the seas off Cornwall. The vis was like diving in soup so we hit 16 meters couldn't see eachother and came straight back up and off to the quarry again!!

The best way I can describe using a CCR is like riding a bicyle all your life and then jumping on a uni-cycle that is computer controlled - a very challenging and humbling experience as a Master Scuba Intructor!!

But in warm water this could be a great experience and soon i will be buying one with the intention of becoming a CCR Instructor and teaching CCR in St.Martin / St. Maarten. We will be the first to offer this and as usual it will be low Instructor to student ratios, one to one.

Sally will write more soon, maybe even this afternoon!

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Lemonade! Buy your lemonade!

2010-02-04T15:56:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday was really fun as all of our divers came back to the dive shop and were greeted with some lemonade. This was courtesy of our local lemonade sellers, Lola and Julia. Hopefully they will be here every Sunday as they did pretty well (most of the lemonade was bought from me however!) For only 25 cents you can purchase a cold glass of home made lemonade with ice. Here is photo of them with Javenot, our nieghbor, buying some lemonade. So, maybe, when you are next diving with us, Julia and Lola will be there to take advantage of your thirst.

One of the reasons that I think they did so well was their constant heckling of tourists. "Fresh, homemade lemonade! Buy it here! Only 25 cents! C'mon, why don't you want one? We're kids, we need money! Buy from us!"

It worked on me, anyway. I spent a whopping 2 dollars to buy a round of lemonade for everyone!

Enough about that. I had a fun day out yesterday. I went diving with Chris from Ohio, and Isabelle and Patrick from France. We went to Tintamarre to dive Japanese Garden and then the Tugboat. I was crossing my fingers super tight for some dolphins, the water has been a bit colder recently, which is a good sign for dolphin spottings... but alas, we didn't see any. We did see tons of fish, shark, turtles, morays and more, but no dolphins. Next time.

Right now I have Alex in here and Devin. Devin's mom works at the Undersea Explorer, which is the glass bottom boat, and Alex did an internship here last year and the year before. I have blogged about him before, but maybe not so recently. Alex is trying to do some of the work towards the Advanced Open Water, and Devin is watching the dvd for the Open Water. Alex is donning a sporting fake rasta hat and isn't wearing a shirt because Kevin got him wet with water from the rinse tank (that was pretty funny). They are both really keen, although having trouble concentrating at the moment. It seems to be 3 minutes reading the manual and then 5 minutes running around, then back in the seat for some more concentration. It is great though, I love to see it. I wish more of the St. Martin locals were divers. I'm hoping that Alex will eventually become and instructor and work for us. But right now he is only 15, so we will have to wait and see! Sometimes though, with Kevin in here, Alex and Devin, it can be a bit much! I do have work to do!

What else has been going on here. We had a great time at Harmony night the night before last. We met Shane there, who was diving with us the day before, and also we were dancing away to Jonny's and Mikey's band. Jonny and Mikey live opposite the dive shop and their dad is Reverend Hodge (who owns Les Alizes).

I feel like I should be writing more about diving and less about the local activities, but Grand Case is such a small, close knit community, that it seems intertwined with the diving activities.

Alright, I need to kick Alex and Devin out, they are asking a million questions and driving me crazy!!!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Congratulations!

2010-01-29T19:49:00.003-04:00

This is just a quick one, I realize that I didn’t blog for a couple of days, but we have been a little busy.

I just wanted to say congratulations to Youseff and Andrew who recently certified as Open Water Divers. They did a great job, and in some tough conditions too. We had a big swell come through that made the visibility about 15 feet for a couple of days, but they were troopers and passed with flying colors.

So, great jobs guys! Keep checking the blog, I’m going to get Chris to post about England soon, before he forgets everything.

Oh… Kevin kept wanting to blog on my blog, so we started his own, it is kevinstmartin.blogspot.com.

Alright, I’m off now, it was a great day. I was diving with Carol for her Advanced Open Water and she did a great job. Tomorrow we are diving Deep and Wreck, so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Also, apparently my writing warrants the grammar police, so I apologize about that. The words just come out of my fingers, and I find that if I think too much about it all, it doesn’t sound as good.

So, as my Uncle Clay would say “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.”

(Sally wrote this blog, as usual :) )

PS Stuart’s quote of the day: “I’m just running home for a quick evacuation.”

Beer and Pizza and Nitrox?

2010-01-26T17:38:00.001-04:00

Well, we had a really lovely Octopus Diving night last night. Brad and Paula, who had been diving with us all week, kindly invited us over for some Beer and Pizza.

Brad and Paula are both from Minnesota and they are such a lovely couple, we really had a blast hanging out with them. They had some great dives while they were here with us as well, Circus, Basse Espagnole, amazing vis, amazing diving!

So, thank you so much for the invite and the wonderful evening! We won't forget it!

In other news: Tonight is Harmony Night, also known as Mardi Gras Grand Case. For those of you that don't know what this is about, it is basically a street fair with live music, great food and lot's to do. It is a must if you are coming to Saint Martin, whether you are staying on the French side or on the Dutch side. They close down the whole of Boulevard de Grand Case to cars and at about 7 PM the action really starts. There is a live band outside of the Lolos and also lots of vendors selling everything from lingerie to wooden carvings to hot peanuts. Lots of local food is available, there are stalls where you can sign up for activities, and also at 8 PM the dancers and the band come through, really building up a beat.

Harmony night is every Tuesday for 19 weeks, last week was the first one of 2010! So if you are coming to Saint Martin, make sure that it includes a Tuesday!!

In other news, we met with Mike Hill from PADI today. He is our PADI representative and just stopped by in Saint Martin to say hi. He said he was really happy with us because we are the only diving center in Saint Martin who increased the number of certifications from 2008 to 2009! So... Go OCTOPUS! That doesn't mean that we have done the most certifications, (because as you know we only ever take 6 people at a time and we believe in quality not quantity), but rather that all the other centers had fewer students in '09 than in '08... Except for us!!!

He also congratulated us for the number of E-Learners that have chosen to go through our diving center. E-Learning is a way of completing the entire knowledge component on line before coming to Saint Martin on vacation. A really great option if you aren't interested in doing any classroom work in the Caribbean. Cuz, who want that?

We spoke about Rebreather Courses that Chris is interested in developing and also the idea of Nitrox. PADI has now developed an E-Learning option for Nitrox, so that you don't have to do a single quiz, exam, or knowledge review while here in Saint Martin for the Nitrox Specialty. Just diving...

We hope to offer Nitrox soon; we just need to figure out the best option for us. Then the Nitrox specialty would be great here, especially as you can do it almost all on line.

The Advanced Open Water can be done on line as well, just the diving portion with us! How cool is that?

Alright, I'm off now, mosquitoes are killing me at this time of the day! Not to Harmony Night though, too much beer and pizza last night, tonight I’m thinking vegetables and juice!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Kevin's Blog

2010-01-26T13:54:00.003-04:00

Some of you may know Kevin, as he is around the dive shop quite a lot. He wanted to blog something... so here it goes.

The following is Kevin talking, he has written it down, now he is reading to me, but the words are from him, he wants you to know this.

"About Chris and Sally and Mark and his wife, they are very good friends of mine and Aure and Stuart too. I really like them. Every Saturday I go snorkeling, Chris gave me a book. Now I'm learning everything about diving. I'm doing a new discovery. I see fish when I'm snorkeling.

These guys are the best of the best."

-KEVIN from Octopus Diving

Kevin also brought in a photo of himself, had me scan it, and then in photoshop asked me to give him an afro and an earring... not sure why? It is an old photo of him as well. SO here are some newer one's when he went out on one his Saturday Snorkeling excursions.

10 Dolphins!

2010-01-23T09:46:00.001-04:00

Yup, you read it correctly... 10 Dolphins.

So there I was, I had just finished a productive afternoon in the office, (cleaning and organizing the shop, some accounts, some work on the website, I also taught two local kids how to use the Recreational Dive Planner) when in walks Stuart. First of all he just walks right in the shop... tracking mud and dripping water from his wetsuit on my nicely polished floor.

"Well, Sally, I think you are going to want to give me notice when you here what I have to say."

I immediately imagine something is wrong; a lost diver, a sunken boat, a sexual harassment suit... my mind is racing.

"We were just diving with 10 dolphins!" Then I think he actually thrust his fist in the air and whooped, or something of the sort.

So, I replied with what any normal person would say; "That's right, Stuart, you're fired!"

I mean, there I was, being a really great employee to myself (when you are the owner, it doesn't necessarily mean you are the boss, it just means you are an employee that makes the hardest decisions, gets the most boring jobs, and gets paid the least amount of money) and they were diving with 10 Dolphins, definitely a dismissible offence.

So, as Stuart tells the story, they were just finishing their dive at the Tug Boat, swimming back to the wreck from the reef, when all of a sudden there were all these undulating bodies. In a moment of disbelief, Stuart forgot the sign for dolphin (which is your hand, palm down, undulating like a dolphin does... as if you were showing someone "you go up the hill, then down the hill, then up the hill, then down the hill.") so he just kind of pointed and went "mwaahhhh."

Then there was about 5 - 10 minutes of diving bliss.

They were Bottlenose dolphins, a pod of 10, including adults and young. Stuart said that the youngest dolphin was showing off the most, putting on a display for them with flips and all sorts under the water.

All the divers were so excited they were all talking at once. It was fabulous. They have gone back to Tintamarre today, so I will let you know if they see any more. Also, Jen took some video of them, so I will see if I can ask her to post it. Mark had his camera, but unfortunately with e 35 mm macro lens attached... gutted!

Although I expressed joy at their good fortune, those of you that know me best, know that I was secretly squinting my eyes and shaking my fist in jealousy!

Ah well, the season of the dolphins has started. This normally lasts until April, when the water starts to warm up again, so book your diving now... don't wait too long!

Oh... in other not as exciting news, Chris is back, safe and sound. His bag didn't make it... but he did! I will get him to blog soon!

Have a great day everyone!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

7 Eagle Rays!!!

2010-01-22T10:02:00.001-04:00

Well, I know I missed yesterday, but I was on the boat all day, so I didn't get a chance to blog. Yesterday was absolutely awesome though, both the morning and the afternoon trips.

First of all, both groups were great. Everyone seemed to get along really well, lots of joking, laughing and talking on the boat. We had Brad and Paula (from Minnesota); they just arrived yesterday for 5 days of diving. Then there was Erin, Stefano and Nick (from Canada and Milwaukee… I believe); they were just finishing up their last day of three days of diving. Then there was Skip (I can’t remember where Skip was from, but I do remember he was super nice and great diver). He hadn’t dived for 2 years and just decided to come in and see us one day as he walked by, we talked him into diving :) and he sure was grateful we did.

We headed out to Tintamarre, moored up at Japanese Garden and did a drift dive there. The Vis was great, we were greeted by a Caribbean Reef Shark after about 10 minutes, and apparently while we were looking at this shark there was another baby shark in the other direction. I didn't see it, I think that we need to give our divers tank bangers as well as the other equipment so that they can get my attention when they see something cool. There was also a visit from a Turtle, an Octopus spotting, and loads of beautiful coral and interesting geological features.

Then we headed over to Basse Espagnole. This has to be my favorite dive site in Saint Martin. The reef is the healthiest that I have ever seen in the Caribbean and it just never surprises me. Basse Espagnole is in such good condition because it is rare that anyone is able to dive it. If the waves are too big here, then they break over the reef making it impossible to dive. I would say that we get to dive this site about 15 - 20 times a year, so not a lot really. Oh... but when we can… it is amazing!

The Nature Reserve recently put a new mooring in, so it took me a minute or two to get my bearings as I wasn't sure where exactly on the reef we were going to drop into. I used my handy compass though and found the exact spot that I was looking for; a large canyon with amazing red and orange sponge coral covering almost everything and lots (I mean lots) of lobsters. What was also really beautiful was this ball of silver fingerlings that would all move as one, forming this ever changing cloud of shimmering, shiny baby fish. There is also a large portion of the reef that has endangered Elkhorn Coral on it, so that is always heartening to see.

The divers were super happy as we came up, as you can imagine, and for Erin, Stefano and Nick they said that we had saved the best for last! Skip was also really excited, as he hadn't dived for 2 years, so it great to get wet again!

So, that was the morning! In the afternoon we had 4 snorkelers and one diver, Ron. We went out to Creole Rock and Turtle Reef, both were really good, but today Creole Rock took the prize. The Vis was great, the water calm, clear and full of life. I snorkeled all the way around the rock with my four snorkelers and we were rewarded by seeing 4 eagle rays, all majestically swimming together about 15 feet below us. We followed them for about 5 minutes as they circled around, and then all of a sudden another group of 3 eagle rays showed up. So there were seven, count them... one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Eagle Rays all together! It was amazing!

The divers saw them as well, and apparently they stayed with the divers for quite a long time. Normally Eagle Rays hang around a lot longer when you are just snorkeling, as the divers with all our bubbles scare them away. We also saw an Octopus in about 3 feet of water. It always amazes me to see Octopods while snorkeling as the light is so fantastic between 0 -5 ft, so you get a real sense of their changing colors.

All in all it was a great day. I didn't get out of the office until 6:30 PM though. I had so much fun on the boat, that I didn't get a chance to answer any emails during the day, so apologies to those who didn't get a speedy reply.

Chris is back tonight though, so with two of us back on the job, one of us will always be answering right away. Our goal is to get back to you all within 24 hours or less!

I will ask Chris to blog about his Rebreather experience in England and what his future plans are. I know one thing he is going to mention, and that is the cold!! BRRRRRRR! Luckily we don’t have to deal with that in the sunny Caribbean! He is flight right now and gets home tonight.

OK, over 800 words in this blog I think that this is enough, thanks for reading!

Over and out!!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

2 posts in row!!!

2010-01-20T13:07:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I am blogging two days in a row... but to tell you what, I think I am over my blogger's block.

Well, today is great weather and the morning divers should be back any minute. We seem to be having a week of certified diver this week. Sometimes we have weeks were it seems all our divers are newbies getting certified, or other weeks lots of people who are snorkeling and doing try dives, but this week is the week of the experienced divers.

That is always really nice as when people do multiple days diving we get to know them better, so we can have their equipment prepared on the boat, we know how much weight they need, how they like to enter and exit the water, etc. Plus you find out more and more about people as well.

This week most of the divers brought their own equipment. It is always nice to dive with your own equipment, but in these days of reduced baggage allowances and increased cost for extra baggage, you may want to think about leaving it behind. We have new, reliable equipment here. Sometimes, people decide to use our equipment instead of their own because they prefer it... especially our masks.

Things that I would bring if I was restricted with luggage and going on a diving vacation would be... my mask, my diving computer, my Deployable Surface Marker Bouy and my wetsuit. The rest, well... it isn't worth it for me. Some people don't like to use regulators that other people have put in their mouths, so a good trick is just to bring your own mouthpiece. I have a SeaCure mouthpiece that I love, because it is molded to my teeth so I don't ever get jaw ache, or have to deal with a mouthpiece that someone else has bitten through!

For me having my own mask is important because it really increases the enjoyment of your dive if you have a well fitted mask. My dive computer I need because I would never trust someone else to calculate my no deco time. My Deployable Surface Marker Bouy, because it has saved my life on numerous occasions, and my wetsuit because, well... I like to be warm. So without the BCD, the regs and the fins, I am really saving a lot of space and weight.

Of course, it may make sense financially to bring everything if rental is expensive, but otherwise, I would leave it at home!

Hold on, divers are back, will finish up in a sec!

Sorry about that. Well, I can report that the divers had a great time, the vis was great, they saw lots of Turtles, and Octopus and loads or Moray eels. So they seemed happy. The weather is great today, although there are some clouds up above, hopefully they will clear out for this afternoon.

Chris is back on Friday... yeah! Only two more days.

Alright, I'm going to try and keep this stint going and blog again tomorrow!

Have a great day everyone! I know I am!!!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

January Rolls On!

2010-01-19T10:35:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how long it has been since my last blog, so please let me sincerely apologise. I think that I had writer's block, or blogger's block I should say. Not that there haven't been really great things to Blog about...

Over Christmas and New Years we were really busy, taking out loads of people diving and snorkeling. We had lots of students, private charters, new divers, old diver, and divers in the middle as well. Some moments that really stick out for us are going to dinner with Jay and Bob at Pineapple Pete's. Jay and Bob are firefighters from the states, and the kindly took Chris, Aurelion, Stuart and I to dinner. It was great!

Also, we went diving with John and G, some of our favorite repeat customers. We also spent a lovely New Year's Eve dinner with them, so I must thank them for the invite!

Also we went to dinner with Lisa and Tim (also repeat divers with us) to Jimbo's and then drink at Soggy Dollar; they are also, really great people.

What I love best about having a diving center in Saint Martin, is when your diving customers become your friends, and then they come back, and they come back again, and then after awhile they become like family! Diving is so great in the way that it really does bring people together. We really cherish the friends that we have made by having our center here.

Something else that sticks out for me is all the certifications we have been doing. We must have certified over 20 people as new divers since my last blog, plus 5 Advanced and two Recue divers! Congratulations everyone...

Chris is in England right now... freezing his butt off! He called me yesterday and was telling me how cold the water is. It is 3 degrees Celsius. He is crazy! Chris is taking a rebreather course with Rich Stevenson from Deep Blue Tech http://www.deepbluediving.org in Plymouth, England. This is something that Chris has always wanted to do. We are hoping that in a year or two, when he gets enough training and hours using the rebreather, that we will be able to offer rebreather try dives. Sure beats diving in the cold UK. For those of you that aren't familiar with rebreathers, they are units that are used for breathing underwater, but they are closed circuit. This means that there are no bubbles as the air that you breath out is then re-used, cleaned of carbon dioxide, has a little bit of oxygen added to it, and the you re-breath that air in. It is pretty cool, but because it is a closed circuit you can't control your buoyancy using your lungs, so it is really strange (according to Chris) as you can't go over stuff, you go around it. Weird. He is enjoying his course, but not the cold.

We spent Christmas day at our house with the Octopus Family... this would be Stuart, Aurelion and also Jen and Mark who are doing a Divemaster internship with us. Roger was there as well (he is our great friend who hails from the same place as Chris in Plymouth, he lives on the island.) It was a great day!

On a sadder note, our hearts go out to all the victims of the recent Earthquake in Haiti. Saint Martin has quite a large Haitian community here, and many Haitians come here for a better way of life. They find it easier to get work here (as just like in Haiti the main language on the French side is French). Many of them live here illegally, don't get paid very well and often don't have very good accommodation to speak of, but this is still an easier way of life than in Haiti. So, there are lots of people here thinking about there family and loved ones at home. The local phone company has reduced the cost to calls to Haiti and many of the local businesses here are taking donations of clothes, supplies and food to send over. It is a tragedy beyond understanding the devastation there....

Well, I must talk about something positive, as I can't leave the blog on that note. So, I will tell you about Kevin. Do you all remember Kevin? I've blogged about him in the past, but not so much recently. He is a local kid, 10 years old, and he is always hanging out in the dive shop, usually making trouble. Well, the other day he came in and said to Chris "Chris, will you teach me how to swim? But don't tell Sally that I don't know how to swim, I don't want her to know." Chris said it was the cutest thing ever. So Chris started taking him out every Saturday. The first session went great, and Chris said that he was doggie paddling like crazy. The second Saturday session Mark took over as Chris was in the UK, and this time they snorkeled. By this time Kevin had told me himself what was going on. All throughout the week he was coming in and trying on fins, wetsuits, etc. Then he would say, "Sally, this is the pair that I am going to use. Where can I hide them so that I know where they are?" And I would say "But Kevin, I may need to lend those fins out to someone else during the week, so let's just try and remember." Finally, once the snorkeling day arrived, Kevin and Mark snorkeled all the way to the Grand Case Beach Club and back! Too cool. Apparently next week Kevin has recruited a friend to go along as well... We love it though. We would love to take Kevin diving, but his mom thinks it is dangerous and won't let us, so obviously we can't. Perhaps we can change her mind one day.

Anyway... I promise not to take so long before my next blog. Speak soon and take care.

(this blog was written by Sally :) )

Octopus Diving: New Reefs

2009-12-14T09:49:00.000-04:00

Octopus Diving: New Reefs

http://www.octopusdiving.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

http://www.scubadviser.com/destinations_1.aspx?id=1:35219&company=0:13104

New Reefs

2009-12-14T08:59:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog followers,

We hope the weather isn't too bad where ever you are, I read this mnorning that the UK is bracing itself for snow and freezing temepratures.....brrrrrr...! Its nice and warm here!!

This is an update on our new reefs that we have been exploring.
Exploration diving is an important part of any dive shop and when a dive shop dives the same reefs over and over again, returning customers can get a little tired. However, here at Octopus Diving we are always searching for something different and interesting and so far we have found 3 new reefs that are awesome dive sites.

Chris's reef.

Out in the channel between St.Martin and Anguilla we found a beautiful reef, so Sally named it after me.
Its a long reef ranging from 50 feet to the sand and 35 feet to the top. It is covered in sea fans, at one end there are wrecks of old cars, creating a perfect artificial reef system. At the North there are some large rocks and crevices, full of lobster, two huge 6 foot Nurse Sharks hang out there and also we get turtles too.
Its position is quite exposed but we can dive it in most conditions, also its only 15 minutes from the dive shop.

Shark point.

Located quite close (5 minutes from our shop) we dived this site with Erb (who is the legendary DJ from Island 92 where we are now advertising http://www.island92.com/) and dived this site for the first time in rough conditions and it was great. Vis was low, but we found turtles, a baby nurse shark, large spotted drum and coral in great condition.
This is a really easy drift dive and great for an additional discover scuba dive site.

Kusasa Reef.

This site is a true gem.

Auree our French Instructor was out sailing his Yacht KUSASA a few days ago on his day off.

Sailing back from a nearby Island he kept well away from a known shallow reef (which will remain nameless - this is top secret information) when his depth sounder alarmed and he saw a reef system beneath him. To save his boat from certain fate, he changed course and headed away from danger.
However thinking like a true diver, he marked the position on his GPS.
This reef isn't marked on any charts or GPS and is certainly unknown on St.Martin amongst the local fishermen.
Two days ago we headed back to the same place in extremely rough conditions and dived it.
The reef is just out of this world and clearly un-touched by fishermen and divers. The fish and Turtles looked surprised that we were there.
The Platax or spade fish were the size of 21 inch TV's, so were the French Angel fish and the reef is just in perfect condition.
This will now be one of our main dive sites when conditions are good.

There are more and we are using Google Earth to pin point them.

Our aim is to stay well away from diving the Dutch side and the usual reefs that all the dive shops dive.
There has been rumours between the local Fishermen that a wreck exists out in the Channel and nobody knows where it is?? We are searching for it any chance we get!

Other news:

We are now live on Island 92 http://www.island92.com/, Mark and Jenn from Les Fruits de Mer have helped us to write some great commercials and we are starting to get some business from it, which is great.

Sally and I visited the Mega Yacht show and are now getting charters, from the private yachts.

The first two day charter is on SY Riela http://www.syriela.com/ this week and also on another Yacht (to be confirmed) next week where I may be staying on board overnight as the Dive guide!! Its a tough life!!

Our ratings are up for Trip Advisor - we are now number 4 in the whole of the Caribbean:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

Snuba is doing well and our bookings and reservations are up. Also we have confirmation from Club Orient that they want us to operate a permanent dive centre on thier premises next year.

The busy season is officially upon us tomorrow so lets hope this season is better than last year.

Thanks to all of you for reading and we will update again very soon.

Chris.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

2009-11-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

Chris and I just had our turkey dinner at Pineapple Pete's (we weren't in the mood for cooking) and I wanted to spend a couple of minutes mentioning what we are thankful for... so here it goes!

We are thankful for

1. All of our loyal customers who we have had the pleasure of diving and snorkeling with. Without all of you, we wouldn't be able to do what we love.
2. The joining of Swen and Aurelion to the Octopus Family. They are both great guys who work super hard, and are motivated to doing a great job.
3. All the wonderful people in the Grand Case community that help us every day. Like Reverend Hodge and his two sons Jhonny and Mickey. (They are the owners of Les Alizes and are always ready with a kind word and a smile). Or like Albert, who never passes the dive shop without saying hello. Or like Kevin, our little helper, who sometimes causes more trouble than help. Or like Emile, the owner of Sky's the Limit, who feeds us when we are hungry and too lazy to cook with a good bbq. Or our nieghbor Rick, from NY, who let us store our kayak next door!
4. The addition of our new boat Octopussy, which makes diving in Saint Martin a dream.
5. The health and well being of our family and loved ones.
6. The really cool octopi that seem to be around lately.
7. The addition of the members of Les Fruits de Mer, who are here for one whole year... yeah! I will blog more about them at a later date.... so stay tuned.
8. The fact that we get to meet so many wonderful people everyday, while living and diving in such a beautiful place.
9. Our lovely cat Max, who is so big he may as well be a small tiger!
10. All our family and friends that come to visit us, especially my family who are all coming for my 30th birthday in February... I know.... 30 years old.... ahhhhh!
11. A hurricane free season!
12. And of course, we are thankful to all of our blog readers (that means you!)

So, have a wonderful day everyone, wherever you are! I do believe that now it is time for bed, all that turkey makes me sleepy!

(this blog was written by Sally :))

Aurelions Photos

2009-11-24T11:49:00.005-04:00

I haven't been able to take my camera diving lately... but Aure has been taking some photos. He likes the little stuff, so here are some of his photos.

Aure says "if you like my photos, please check out my website, where there are more."

http://divingprojects.evoserv.net/divingprojects/photos.html

He likes the little stuff, so there are shrimps, nudibranchs, but also some bigger stuff as well, like an octopus, an eagle ray and a turtle. Enjoy!

Time is moving....

2009-11-21T15:02:00.004-04:00

Wow... I can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving! Time has gone by so fast, it feels like we have just came back from our 2 weeks in NY, but that was almost 6 weeks ago now. To think of it, I haven't had a day off since then. Hmmmm. Maybe I need to rethink my career choice.

...

Thought about - still happy! Even 45 days without a day off rules, when you live in the Caribbean, get to go diving everyday, get to meet great people like yourselves, and work with your husband every day. Sure, I sleep well everynight, but it is worth it. Besides, I am taking tomorrow off, so I am breaking the working run. Guess what we are doing on our day off... guess... go on... guess... that is correct, we are going diving! People often think that we would do anything else on our day off, but we love diving! We are going to try and find some dive sites around Anguilla so that we can start to offer diving over there. In the new boat, it only takes about 8 minutes, so it isn't far at all, and there is supposed to be some great diving over there. But don't worry mom and dad, I am going to take a proper day off soon to relax, get some rest, most likely when you are here in December!

I am always impressed at the secret followers of this blog. Talking to customers, they seem to know things about us that aren't common, and then I say "do you read our blog?" And they reply "yup." You see, I only know of 17 people who are actually following the blog on blogger.com, so when I write this blog it gets sent to them in an email, and that is who I feel I am writing to when I blog. I must admit, that out of the 17, about 10 are family (one is actually me...!) so perhaps I am slightly more relaxed when writing the blog than I should be.

Anyhow, that is what blogging is all about, isn't it?

I should talk about something you are interested in, like diving, our boats, our staff, etc. Well, the diving has been really great lately, and there seem to be lot's of octopodes about at the moment. They stay in the same little cave for about 2 weeks, so if I can find one, or two, or three, then I can usually keep finding those same octopodes for awhile. A good thing to look out for are lots of empty shells near a rock, these are the remains of dinner, and also provide cover for the octopus inside the hole. We also had a dolphin encounter the other day, which was awesome. Awesome for Chris, Aure and the divers. I was in the office... ho hum!

We have also been seeing lots of small things lately that we haven't before. Perhaps we are just looking more closely, or perhaps there are just more. We've seen an increase in nudibranchs lately, and also of different types of shrimp. I noticed a Sun Anemone Shrimp the other day, as well as a Golden Coral Shrimp, and I had never seen these before. I can thank Allan for this, as he was a bit nervous we went really really slow, and this allowed me to find all the cool little stuff.

Here are some photos. The first is of the golden coral shrimp, which I got from the internet, it isn't my photo. http://chemistry.csudh.edu/faculty/jim/Cozapr07/golden.jpg

The second is the sun anemone shrimp and I got the photo from this website. http://www.jonathanbird.com/jpegs4/sun_anemone_shrimp.jpg

I have also been noticing a lot of really beautiful anemones lately. Like the elegant anemone and the bearded anemone. (Does anyone actually pronounce that word correctly? In my head I can't stop saying anenome, switching the "n" and the "m".) They are so pretty, like underwater flowers, and if you look well, you can see a whole new ecosystem in one anemone. There are always little Hairy Crabs behind the Giant Anemones.

Alright, I better stop the silence and fill some tanks. I will try and blog on Thanksgiving, like I did last year, listing what we are thankful for, but I will wait until Thursday. It is this Thursday, isn't it? One year I almost celebrated on the wrong week, (I was in England at the time where they don't really care about Thanksgiving), but luckily my mom set me straight before I defrosted the turkey.... thanks mom.

Until then, think of Chris and me tomorrow on our day off! (Sally wrote this blog :) )

Fantastic Afternoon!

2009-11-12T19:53:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I went to Tintamarre with Marisa (my open water student), her husband Louis, and Michael. Michael was diving with us in May, and we are super happy to have him back.

When I was talking to Michael he was telling me that he is always reading the blog, so I thought that it was only fitting that I blog about him. I always get excited when Mike sends us an email because he works for the military, so the words "unclassified" are always contained in the top of the email. I like to imagine all the other "classified" emails that go out... but Mike assures me that he isn't really privy to classified information, but he would say that, wouldn't he?

Anyway... the diving was really great this afternoon, especially diving from Octopussy. We went to Japanese Garden and saw the biggest Green Turtle hiding under a rock. I learned the other day, from Aurelion, (our new instructor), that the turtles go to the surface, take a gulp of air, and then they wedge themselves under a rock. With the huge gulp of air they are buoyant, so if they want a nap, they need the rock to stop them from floating to the surface. This Green Turtle had two huge Remoras on her back, she let us approach slowly, but then when we were too close, she swam gracefully away. We carried on, checking out all the schools of fish and spiny lobsters. It was a really nice dive. Marisa did fantastic, considering it was her third dive ever!

Then we went diving on the tugboat, where we had close encounters with sting rays and also watched Louis do some break dancing on his head (underwater of course). Aurelion had his camera, so I will post some photos when he sends them to me. The Tug was full of fish, like normal, and it was a beautiful dive.

Other news.... we have had some more great reviews on tripadvisor (thanks everyone) so check those out... http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

We are currently the #1 attraction in Saint Martin / Sint Maarten and #5 in the whole of the Caribbean. We want to be #1 in the Caribbean, so if you are so inclined... write good review for us!

I will soon take photos of our new instructors Swen and Aurelion for the blog and the website, so stay tuned for more information about these two characters. They are real characters... Swen speaks 8 languages.... and Aurelion lives on a boat. They both love diving, and they are great guys, so check out the blog soon!

Congratulations to Marisa on her open water certification!

Friday the 13th tomorrow, I wonder if this will affect the marine life...

Good night everyone!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Octopussy in the Water

2009-11-10T13:18:00.002-04:00

Well, we are all set with Octopussy, and on Suday she had her maiden voyage. It was awsome. We went with a group of the medical students, there were six of them, so it was a great test as the boat was full.

We went diving at Tintmarre, doing a drift dive at Chico, and then another drift dive at the Tugboat. It was just so comfortable, you couldn't even feel the waves on the boat, and Eric (who normally gets seasick) wasn't feeding any fish at all. He felt fine. So that was another test passed. The radio was playing, putting everyone in a fun mood, and it was so easy to get equipped and into the water that we reduced our time getting ready by half.

So we are really excited at how great the new boat is working out.

Also, we had two amazing dives. I had never done a drift at Chico in the direction that I did on Sunday, and it was so beautiful I think I may do this every time. Just really healthy reefs, with beautiful formations, we saw turtles, barracuda and lots of fish.

The second dive was also really great. First of all, the tugboat is always really pretty and with millions of fish around it, but on this particular dive, once we were on the reef, Maggie spotted an Octopus. But this Octopus wasn't just hanging out in it's cave, it was moving all around, stretching his tentacles in all the holes of the reef, then he was free swimming, and changing colors over and over and over. We watched it for about 10 minutes (personally, I could have watched it all day).

So, I think that it was a really great omen. The coolest Octopus I have ever seen on the maiden voyage of Octopussy, with Octopus Diving! It doesn't get much better than that!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Octopussy... Almost there

2009-11-06T11:15:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. I know that I have been terrible about blogging lately, this is simply because so much has been going on.

I just wanted to update everyone on the new boat. She is almost there. What is holding us back at the moment, is that we decided to change the engines. We had bought second hand engines, but Chris decides that he couldn't resist those shiny, new 225 Mercury Optimax, so we folded and bought them. Chris is currently installing them as I am writing this, and the boat should be in the water today! Fingers crossed!

I am attaching some photos, so you can see it. Chris has worked so hard to get the boat ready, and taken so much care to make sure that it is comfortable to dive from, to snorkel from, and that it is safe! This means that there were times where we were all dressed up in our diving gear (on the boat in the dry dock) figuring out exactly where the tank rack should go, how we should set it all up, where people can put there fins on, etc. I should have taken photos of that!

My favorite part is the stereo. With the new stereo, you can just plug in your ipod and listen to whatever you want. So, if you are coming to dive with us, just bring your ipod on the boat and we will hook it up.

It's funny to think that this time last year we were all excited because we had just renovated the shop, and now we are so excited because of the new boat. She is going to fly!

But don't worry, even though she is larger, and we are certified to take 16 people on board, we are still only going to take 6 divers at one time, so more room for you!

I will take more photos for the website soon.

(sally wrote this blog :) )

New season

2009-10-27T20:48:00.002-04:00

Hi Blog followers,

We are back from vacation - 2 weeks in New York and Chris had a week in Miami where he is now a Certified Mercury Technician.
Thanks to Wes and Gillian (Sally's parents) for entertaining us for 2 weeks - we had a great time.

We also had four amazing days in Saba - what an amazing Island that is - the diving was awesome. We are now running trips with Scouts Place / Saba Divers so if anyone wants to take a trip let us know, we can arrange it for you.

Now we are back and busier than ever.

Chris and Christian have just finished thier Snuba training, where Christian trained as a Snuba guide and Chris is now a Snuba guide trainer and one of 3 in the Caribbean.

Sally has been extremely busy keeping the dive operation up to its usual high standards - hence our 62 reviews on Tripadvisor:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html
Go Sally !!

Snuba in Orient Bay is all set to go live - we are just waiting for Octopussy to get registered and we will be up and running.

Octopussy has had some teething problems that Chris has been working on and we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel now. She looks great and has a custom built tank rack, custom dive ladder, IPOD hook up on the high power Sony stereo system, all the safety features you would expect, two powerful 250HP Mercury Racing engines, and plenty of room. She is so stable that she has been certified for 20 people!! But still we just take 6.

We have our first all day Charter this season on Saturday its a birthday party for a couple so Sally and Chris will be taking them out with French Champagne, cake, lots of diving and an awesome lunch on Pinel Island - should be a great day trip out.

Sally will update soon so goodbye for now

Team Octopus.

Just in case you didn't see it

2009-09-22T19:23:00.004-04:00

Just in case you didn't go to the snuba blog to see the photo of chris, I thought I would post it here. He is the guy on the right hand side with the pretty blond... (that would be Heather, not me). They didn't want me modeling with Chris because they said I was too short! The audacity of it. I mean, you can't tell height underwater????

Anyway... here is the photo.

or visit http://snubagirl.wordpress.com/ for a larger view!

My husband is toooooo cute!

Check out http://www.octopussnuba.com/

2009-09-22T17:23:00.006-04:00

Hey everybody,

This is Chris just to give you an update on what's been happening in the world of Octopus Diving.

Last week Sally, myself and Christian spent 4 days on Saba with www.sabadivers.com we had an awsome time and are now setting up trips to St.Martin and Saba.
Scouts place is beautiful and the diving is totally different than St.Martin - I wouldn't say better - just very different. We saw a Hammerhead Shark, loads of turtles, Nudibranchs and lots of fish, great dives especially Shark Shoal where we did our un-guided dive, discovered and entered a cave system at 52 metres or 170 feet - really cool but lots of Deco - very naughty......!

This week I am in Miami training to become a certified Mercury Technician which will save us down time on the boats next season and of course save alot of money... its very simple stuff, just basic mechanical skills and some PLC programming.

Sally is still in St.Martin and Christian has flown to France to see his Parents. Sally is working really hard, painting the shop, sealing the decking outside and preparing for Snuba.

Snuba is all set to go live on November 1st 2009 and everything is in place for it to start as scheduled - can't wait !
We are starting really easy and working out of a Bar on Orient Beach to start with and then hopefully we can progress to something more permanent next year, the management of the Hotel are very excited and we are flying in a Snuba trainer to train me as a Snuba Course Director where I can train Snuba guides and also become part of the Snuba university which you can find by following this link http://www.snubau.com/
Also we are now listed on the Snuba blog which is cool.... http://snubagirl.wordpress.com/ take a look at the guy in the banner at the top - its me in my younger slimmer days!!

Our new boat Octopussy is the name for the new Power Catamaran as you may know and she is taking shape, 250HP Pro XS racing engines are on, sit down tank rack is made and ready to be installed, so is the custom designed ladder which will be the same design and easier to climb than Arvor.
I spent the last 2 - 3 weeks completely re-wiring the whole boat and modifying its existing structure - as soon as she is ready we will post photo's of before and after.

After Miami Sally and I meet up in New York for two weeks where we will eventually have some down time - can't wait!! Visiting Jenn and Marc au Marc - could be interesting - lots of Saki and red hats !

That's about it, thanks for reading and look forward to seeing some of you again in the near future.

Chris Davies.

Can the weather be any better?

2009-09-10T12:06:00.002-04:00

The weather is just so amazing at the moment, I wish it would never stop! That is the thing about coming here in September... the weather is either absolutely amazing, or... there is a tropical storm / hurricane.

This week, it is so calm out there, like a swimming pool. I just got back from snorkeling at Creole Rock with Janelle, John, Geri and Dennis, (while Christian was diving with Erik) and we were able to snorkel parts of the rock that I have never been able to before. It was superb. There was quite a bit of elkhorn coral, which suprised me. Elkhorn coral is an endangered species, and there isn't that much of it left around Saint Martin. But at Creole Rock, there still are a number of healthy Elkhorn communities. (that sounds funny).

This afternoon we are off to the Dutch side for some wreck diving! Barry requested it, so we are happy to comply.

I will let you know how it goes!!!

(Sally wrote this blog...:) )

Erika!!

2009-09-03T11:14:00.003-04:00

Well, Erika is meant to be over us right now... but you wouldn't know it. We have taken the boat out of the water (we always do when there is a tropical storm or hurricane) and will go and get her later today to put back in the water. For those of you who are unaware, Erika is a Tropical Storm, and she is making diving a little difficult for us! It is always hard to know what exactly to believe in the weather forecast. Normally we rely on Windguru for our day to day weather reports, and then when there is something larger, a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane, we use the National Hurricane Center and also stormpulse.com. But even using these websites, they sometimes contradict eachother... it is confusing. Our strategy is simply to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

It is giving Chris and I time to collaborate on the design of the new boat, so that is good, however, we always hate to cancel diving. Not just because we lose diving, but we also understand that our divers have been looking forward to diving for a long time. Perhaps they are only here for a few days, so when we cancel, sometimes we take away the opportunity for them to dive for another year. Saying this, however, if we feel it is unsafe, we won't go out. C'est la vie.

Chris and I went to see Porto Cupecoy the other night. This is a new gated community on the border of the Dutch Side and the French Side (it is just on the Dutch Side). It is currently in development to open in November, 2009. We were invited for cocktails and a little tour (we never say no to free drinks, plus it was a good opportunity for networking. The website is http://www.portocupecoy.com/ The premise of the evening was that it was a "bloggers" night. So anyone that blogs was invited. So, I felt obliged to mention them in my blog (hence my writing this.) Also, however, it is nice sometimes to see the other side (the top side) of Saint Martin. The whole village looks like it will be really nice, hopefully full of potential Octopus divers!

They took this photos of us ...

For those of you that have met us, I love this photo because it makes me look so tall. Normally I come up to Chris's armpit, but I am on my tippy toes and Chris is bending his knees a little bit. So it gives me about a foot extra!

It was a nice night.

They are just saying on the radio (I listen to Island92) that there was loads of hoopla about the storm, but really it has come to nothing. So that is fantastic.

Alright, keep your fingers crosses that Erika passes us fast...

(sally wrote this blog :) )

Can you believe it is September already?

2009-09-01T13:46:00.001-04:00

5 More divers

2009-09-01T13:32:00.010-04:00

5 more divers to add to the list of accomplished Octopus Diving Students!

Firstly there is the fantastic four from AUC, Shaun, Shawn, Pace and Ben. I taught these four how to dive and it was so much fun. They really worked like a team, and I appreciated that. In the beginning, as normal, they were just finding their bouyancy, but by the end they really looked like pros! I would just say "meet me in the water" and they all worked in their buddy teams to get kitted up and in the water! I was so proud. Here are their obligatory mug shots.

Here they are taking the final exam! They all passed because they did their homework.

The 5th diver is Travis from Oregon, USA. He recentely took the Bar exam and gets his results September 24th, so fingers crossed. He and Kirk (his dive buddy) were staying in Anguilla and just took the ferry over everyday for the diving. We hope to take them out diving again at the end of the week! Here is Travis' happy diver photo. I don't have a picture of him taking the final exam because he was an E-Learner. That meant that he chose to do the knowledge portion of the PADI Open Water from the comfort of his own home... on line!

Christian was the instructor for Travis and he said that Travis did a great job... so Congratulations everyone.

Alright, more soon. We are excited as we are taking a trip to Saba to go diving in two weeks, yeah, it will be a first for us!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Diving with the Watson Brothers

2009-08-31T11:06:00.012-04:00

I went diving the other day with Joey, and Joey's brother John. Joey is one of my past students and his brother was out here diving. Some of you may remember Joey because he was on the dive where he didn't show me a seahorse, and I blogged about it, because I was so upset. Anyway... he is forgiven now because I saw a seahorse the other day.

It was so super tiny, really tiny, but sooooo cute. I am in love, really. It must have been about 1.5 cm in length and looked just like a floating bit of seaweed but with this sweet little head bobbing up and down. So, Joey is forgiven.
The Watson brothers went diving for two days with us and we had a blast. Diving with Joey is always fun because he is so full of energy. Whenever I looked around he would be upside down, doing sommersaults, sometimes his fins would be off.... when he did his open water we had a long discussion about "stealth" underwater, and he is defintely incorporating some James Bond into his diving!

We also had Hans diving with us who was from Holland and our good friends Heather and Laura. Heather and Laura were both instructors with us when we worked at Stuart Cove's in the Bahamas, so we kind of had a little reunion. It was so nice to see them, and they really helped out a lot. Heather even taught an open water class for us, and Patrick and Fred were really glad for that!

We had four great dives, doing a drift dive behing Creole Rock, another dive at Turtle Reef and then two dives at Tintamarre, at Japanese Garden and the Tugboat. We saw turtles and eagle rays, and just had lots of fun.... Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

Some other news at the moment, boat construction still going on. We just installed the new engines (they look great!) and we are putting in the tank racks tomorrow. Then we will anti foul the boat, (it was never anti fouled becuase it was always taken out of the water every night.) We are going to make sure that the boat is comfortable for riders as well as divers. We are really excited, so any divers that come and dive with us in October will be on the new boat!!!

Alright, gotta do some boring accounts now.

It is the end of August, can you believe that? Where did the summer go?

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Congrats to Open Water Students....

2009-08-27T10:36:00.008-04:00

Wow... I can't believe that it has been so long since I last blogged! This month has just flown by because so much has happened...

First of all I want to say congratulations to all the students that we have certified in the last couple of weeks. They all did fantastic, and we could not be prouder of their accomplishments.

So, here are some pictures of them. They are, from left to right and top to bottom, Tom and Leo (from France), Tricia and Aaron (from California), Patrick (from Quebec, Canada), Ilene (from NYC), Tricia (from San Pedro, California), Fred (from Quebec, Canada), Aaron (from California). Alicia (from NY), Melissa and Robin (from France), Laura (from Indiana), Josh (from NY as well) and finally, Robin and Melissa (from France).

Other news is that the new boat is here! Yeah! Chris is working on it, diligently, putting in new tank racks, replacing the engines, rewiring the boat, putting in new guages, and lots of other stuff I don't even really understand! His goal is to make it a really comfortable boat to dive from, and also to relax on in between the dives. It looks beautiful. We are making final changes this week, and hope to put her on a sea trial next week! So exciting! We are calling her "Octopussy" in keeping with Octopus Diving. What do you think?

You wouldn't believe that Octopussy arrived the day before Hurrican Bill. That meant that we had two boats to worry about as Bill passed us. Luckily, Bill passed about 300 miles away, and we had some rough seas and winds, but nothing major. The visbility wasn't great for a few days, but it is back to normal and we are diving regularly again.

Alright, I want to blog again tomorrow, so if I don't, send me an email to nag me. Tomorrow I want to post some photos of a dive I did with the Watson Brothers! I can't right now as I have four students who should be here now... they are 15 minutes late for their final exam.... they're in big trouble!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

August update

2009-08-12T13:40:00.005-04:00

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.

What do we do on our days off?

2009-08-05T09:11:00.003-04:00

A lot of people ask Chris and I what we do on our days off. Well, first of all, there aren't many. We are open 7 days a week, so that means that we sneak a morning or an afternoon off once in a while. Sometimes a long while.... and then there is the added component of actually getting a day off together, this is the most difficult.

Not that we begrudge any of this, it is just one of those things when you own your own business.

However, saying all that, Chris and I finally did manage to get a day off together last week. So, what did we do? We went diving! I have told a lot of people this, and they seem kind of shocked, that diving would be the last thing that we would want to do on our precious and rare days off together. But at the end of the day, diving is what Chris and I love, and it is also what brought us together in the first place.

I do love diving with customers and students, but there is something so wonderful about just diving with your husband, not worrying about anyone's air, or if they are finning too far away. Not thinking about currents or water clarity, just diving. It was also super nice because I didn't even have my camera. We were just diving for the sake of diving. We didn't even go anywhere special, we went to Turtle Reef. We both must have done this site a hundred times, but it was amazing! We spent 98 minutes down there and didn't even notice the time pass. We were just looking, observing, searching. That is what diving is all about for us, discovering the mysteries of the underwater world.

We found a tiny octopus, a shrimp I had never seen before, some tiny crabs, we saw loads of turtles, I found a tiny tiny pigmy file fish, there was a barracuda that we got so close to I couldn't believe it.

I also think that it is necessary for us to dive like that sometimes. So that we never forget why we are so blessed to be doing what we are doing, because we truly love it.

Anyway... that is how we spent a large portion of our day. The rest of the day we spent at Happy Bay, relaxing, reading, sleeping. Then it was back to work (can you hear the crack of a whip?)

I have recently revamped the website, added some more photos, a couple more pages, just tried to make it more professional and more friendly to use. Let me know what you think about it, and also if there are any broken links or anything.

We have a really nice boat this morning, three people from Holland, two from Virginia, and one from NY. They are diving on the dutch side as they wanted to see some wrecks!

I will try and be more diligent about the blog, I realize that I have been slacking.

(Sally wrote this blog. :) )

Compressor

2009-07-22T14:51:00.003-04:00

As most of you know we bought a new compressor and had it shipped to St.Martin, and after 83 hours of use it decided not to work....?? Very annoying.

So we contacted the manufacturer and after much discussion they decided not to back thier 12 month full parts and labor warranty - even more annoying !

So I decided to take it apart myself and instantly found the fault, the high pressure piston had completely disintegrated and therefore we couldn't produce any high pressure air.

Luckily a fellow Brit by the name of Richard Lomas comes to the Ilsand once a year, as he has a house on St.Martin and just so happened to be here this week.
Richard is just like me, very hands on and can repair just about anything, however he specialises in Compressors.

I ordered the new part from the states, had it flown in by Fedex and we fitted it yesterday.

So far its running like a dream and we are filling tanks really fast - awesome!!

Conclusion as to why it went wrong in the first place:
Richard seems to think the same as me, the compressor had a problem and the manufacturer didn't want to repair it or couldn't find the fault and sent it to me !! Nice eh?

On a lighter note, we have two engines for the new boat in Guadeloupe they are 3 years old and have around 300 hours on them but are like new.
The boat will arrive in late August and we will have two new, fast and fuel efficient engines to fit onto it.

More good news..... I have just been offered the chance to attend a Mercury Engine Training school in September where I will be the 4th certified Mercury Outboard Engineer in St.Martin.
This is perfect as I will be able to diagnose faults by connecting my laptop to the engines computer and also save us alot of time and money.
To be able to attend this course one must be nominated by an Authorised Mercury Dealer as this isn't open to the general Public. So.. many thanks to Steffan at Madco for arranging this for me.

Sally is out teaching an Open water course this afternoon and is also upgrading the wesbite, if any of you computer guru's out there have any ideas please let Sally know.

The weather here has been really bad the last few days, we had two tropical waves pass over us, but we have still been diving our local reefs and seeing lots of Turtles.

Thanks for reading the blog,

Chris.

5 pages in magazine!

2009-07-15T11:20:00.003-04:00

I just saw the magazine DISCOVER, and they are using my photos for a 5 page spread! I am really excited... it is the first time my photos will be in a magazine!

For the cover, they want to look at the photos I suggested and then will email me. But I am sure they will use one of my photos! Thanks for all your comments on the cover shot, personally, I also really like the one with the diver and the two jacks in front.

For payment we are getting free advertising in the magazine. I'm not sure if this was a good trade or not, as they are using a lot of my photos, but I'm so excited to see them in print, I may have just let them use them for free!

Cover shot

2009-07-15T08:54:00.005-04:00

So, these are some of the photos I am taking to the magazine for the cover shot. Which one do you think is the best?

Eric snapped this, this morning. Nice photo!

2009-07-13T16:18:00.001-04:00

My mom said I need to blog

2009-07-11T09:58:00.003-04:00

I was just skyping my mom, who is in England with my family at the moment, and she said "you haven't been blogging lately." Which is correct, I haven't. I suppose it is a combination of being busy, and also I have been Twittering.

Not that there hasn't been a lot to blog about. We have done loads more certifications, had some fabulous dives. Chris went to Florida to look at a new diving boat, and all lights point to go.... so it looks like we will have a new diving boat soon. We will still take out the same small groups, but the new boat will be a lot more comfortable (more room, more storage space, a more stable hull design, better entry and exit from the water). So that is really exciting. I don't want to post the actual boat, or put photos of it up, until it is signed, sealed and delivered. But, as you can imagine, we are all very excited!

We've been working a lot with Christian lately. Christian is a PADI IDC Staff instructor, and also a French Brevet d'Etat Educateur Sportif (this is the french rating that I went to France to obtain, for those of you who need a recap). He is also a super nice guy... He will be working for us full time next year, but for the moment he is only working part time. Although the last two weeks part time feels full time! He was originally working for the competition (the audacity!), but then decided to take a break from diving to do something completely different. After a few month, however, the lure of the ocean brought him back, and luckily we were able to snab him.

Distinguishing characteristics about Christian are... he loves to sing, and seems to know a million French songs. He has joke about everything, and they are normally really funny! He is excellent with students as he is so patient and has a way of explaining things really well. (I know this from what his students have said about him, and also from team teaching with him). He is fluent in English! He has traveled extensively, and in consequence has a lot of great stories. And... He has a wetsuit that has a skeleton on it! We are really happy that he decided to come back to the diving industry. I need to add him to the website on the About Us page... I am adding this to my "to do" list right now.

You can see Christian here below with his two students Tony and Patty. They were really great people and we hope to see them again soon. Patty was a little nervous at first, but Christian soon fixed that, and you can see them here, definetly not skittish underwater.

We have also ordered some more t-shirts, as we have sold out of loads. We are getting some more designs and more colors as well. Hopefully they will arrive soon. We are having them made on island (in support of local businesses) but alas, this sometimes takes a long time!

Also, my photos are going to be published in a magazine. I took a whole bunch of my photos to a company that publishes magazines for Saint Martin. You know, all the free magazines that are left in your hotel room or villa. Well, they really liked them, and in exchange for free advertising in the magazine (this is how they make all their money) I am letting them use some of my photos. They just emailed me back to ask if I have any good photos for a cover shot! So maybe I will be on the cover!

You know, I should have a blog book on the boat. I come up with the best ideas about blogging when I am under the water, but then by the time I get back to shore, unload the boat, kiss and hug the divers goodbye, the idea is gone. woosh!

I want to say thank you to Tony, for letting me use his photos, and because he and his wife were such a nice couple.

Okay, back to work. I am looking for that perfect cover shot for the magazine!

(sally wrote this blog :) )

Check out the video!!!

2009-06-30T08:13:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone. Check out this new video that Erb put on YouTube for us. The first was filmed at Creole Rock earlier this year while two of our lucky guests were doing a first time, discovery dive! The second was filmed at Sec de Grand Case, which we call "Turtle Reef" for obvious reasons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XxqdFPsR_4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtHKqIzNSAg&feature=channel

We want to say thanks to Erb for helping us technologically challenged dive instructors turn the video into a format that we could put on YouTube.

Anyway... enjoy!

Congratulations Open Water Students!

2009-06-24T13:46:00.005-04:00

Recently we have had the pleasure of certifying quite a few students. Teaching is something that we all love here at Octopus Diving, for me especially, I love seeing people underwater for the first time.

I also think that you learn a lot about people during a diving course. Especially, the Open Water Course. For example, if someone is a little scared, by helping them over come that, you learn about their determination. You see how people deal with having super messy hair and snot on their face! And of course, you see what they look like underwater. I think that all you divers will agree, people just look different underwater!

I just feel that there is the "top side personality", and then... there is "the bottom side personality". Once you descend for a dive, even if you are only practicing in really shallow water, everything seems to change. For example, underwater I have held hands with hundreds of people. Maybe they are a little scared and need some reassuring, or maybe their bouyancy isn't so great, or maybe they have never dived before and can't fin properly! It isn't at all strange to be holding hands with someone you just met, when you are underwater. But once our heads pops up after the dive, immediately we let go. Top side, it would be weird to hold hands, but bottom side, not strange at all.

Well I had loads of fun getting to know my students above and below the water. Here is a picture of a recent group we had all learning the dreaded recreational dive planner! You can see Lee in the front is using the super size RDP!

Then, of course, after the course we have the obligatory mug shot for the certification card... I think it is only right to wait until after the dives so that everyone has messy hair in the photo!

Above you can see all their smiling faces... in no particular order; Lee, James, Kevin, Noah, Emily, Daniel, Alan, Paul and Emma! Congratulations to all of them!

In other news... we recently made an offer on a boat, so finger crossed that they accept it. And we may have another boat for the summer! That would be amazing.

Also, check out some of the reviews that we've had at Scubadviser.com http://www.scubadviser.com/destinations_1.aspx?id=1:35219&company=0:13104 This is a great site if you are traveling and looking for a good scuba diving center.

OK. That is all for now. We've got some snorkelers out this afternoon with JP and Christain, Chris is in the water with two more open water students, and I am sat at the computer. Doesn't seem fair, does it? Oh well, I will be teaching again tomorrow!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )

Sucess! Sucess!

2009-06-19T08:13:00.002-04:00

Just to let everyone know that we are back from France and I was successful! I passed the French Exam so I am now officially a BEES 1. Go me!

I couldn't have done it without the help of JP, my coach in all matters concerning French diving, and Chris, for working so hard at the shop allowing me and JP the time to study.

Also, I would like to thank Alex, because he let me drag him around the ocean so much practicing for the part of the exam where I would have to drag a mannequin through the water. This was the one exam that I was the most scared of, but I did it! Thanks to Alex. Although the actual mannequin that I did drag through the water didn't look or feel at all like Alex did! It was a lot bigger, fatter and heavier. But... it didn't squirm around, and it wasn't half as slippery as Alex.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and now I have a Brevet d'etat Educateur Sportif for diving!

The divers are still going out, as normal. Chris did a great job with all the boat work and keeping things going while we were away. I know that it wasn't easy for him. Today on the boat we have David, Erb (the DJ from Radio Island 92), and Caley and Billy. They are diving the Gregory and also Chris' reef, so I will let you know how the vis was and the diving when they get back.

Anyway... I have so much paper work to catch up on, so I better start.

Thanks for all your support and good wishes, it really did help!

(this blog was written by Sally... a BEES 1 instructor!)

Forget Redbull! Chris, Sally and JP give you fins!

2009-06-13T11:19:00.003-04:00

The title of this blog was from our latest reviewer on www.scubadviser.com and I thought it was really funny. It sounds funnier if you say it with gusto and out loud!

JP and I are off to France for a week so that I can take a french diving exam. I'm a little scared, the whole thing being in French and also entailing 6 exams that I have been training for 2 months to pass, but I am feeling confident. I will let everyone know how it goes when I get back, and maybe some updates along the way as well. We are going to Antibes in the south of France. It is supposed to be beautiful there, the only downfall is that the water is cold. brrrrr! So I bought a new wetsuit that seriously needs breaking in!

Chris will still be here, hard at work! We decided to coincide my going to France with JP with some planned boat maintenance. So right now, our beautiful boat is out of the water getting all spruced up. For all of you that have already met Chris, you know how he feels about "prevantative maintenance." So, you can be sure that when the boat does go back in the water, she will be running even better than she is already.

The boat will be back in the water on Monday, for some diving on Tuesday! So not long really. Christian Vincent will be helping Chris while we are away. He is fantastic. He is fluent in English,a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, holds the French diving rating of a BEES 1, and has a wicked sense of humor. Just ask him for some jokes if you are here next week with us.

Well, I better run now, flight leaves at 4 PM for Paris. We are flying Air France, so that makes me a little nervous. But they can't have 2 devestating accidents so close together... right?

Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their confidence in me in passing this exam. It will give me the French rating of BEES 1. Think of me over the next few days and send me good good diving thoughts! In French please! Every bit helps.

Off to France now....

(sally wrote this blog :) )

Frog Fish Siting

2009-05-27T11:23:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, JP took out a family of four. There was Lisa, Phil, Clay and Jordanna. They currently live in Utah, but apparently they bounce around a lot. Apart from being a really nice family, Phil and Clay have really great eyes underwater. They managed to see a Frog Fish. I think they were then pretty suprised when JP took the camera and started taking photo of it! You know you've found something good when the dive guide is really excited. JP got this photos below....

They are just so amazing. We have heard that there are Frog Fish in the area, but this is the first one that we have seen. Frog fish are so named because they look like toads almost, but they are actually fish.

They are a type of anglerfish, but are distinguished from anglerfish by their three dorsal fins (these are the fins on the back of the fish). You can just about make them out on the photo above. They are extremely hard to see because they are so well camouflaged. They can change color to match their background and have various warts and growths that make them almost invisible.

I love them because they have such a pronounced frown and always look so grumpy. They don't actually swim, as such, instead it looks like they are "walking" on their pectoral fins (these kind of look like feet). They can also propel themselves forward by forcing water from two small openings behind and below the pectoral fins. How cool is that? Chris and I have seen them

We are all really excited and will be looking for Frog Fishes all the time. They are so hard to spot, I wonder if they haven't been around, or if we just aren't seeing them.

Anyway... I'll keep you posted if we find any more!

(sally wrote this blog :P )

Twittering on Twitter

2009-05-20T14:38:00.003-04:00

There was so much hype about Twitter, that we decided we should check it out. For those of you who are stuck in the last year (the phrase "last century" is no more appropriate for the current exponential changes in technology) Twitter is a way for people to let friends and family know what is going on, at any given moment.

So... this is how it works; you create an account on Twitter.com. Then you can write up to 160 words for each "update" and people who follow you on Twitter will be able to know what is going on. It is similar to "status updates" on facebook. Kind of like this blog, but instead of a whole paragraph it is just a snippet of information. For example "Diver's just left for boat." "We are eating lunch." "Diver's said they saw a turtle." Etc.

Anyway... apparently people are really into it, and after having signed up, it's kind of addictive. Not that anyone is actually following it at the moment, but it kind of gives you an "I'm famous, people want to know what I am doing" feeling. Totally unfounded, however.

If you would like to follow us on Twitter, then just look at http://twitter.com/Octopusdiving
or, alternatively, I have put a "Twitter box" on our homepage. The latest ramblings are about internet frustration. But maybe it will be interesting to see how it works. It means that as people go on our website they can a) check out the blog to find out what is going on OR b) look at the Twitter box for a sentance summarizing current activities in Saint Martin.

If you are coming to this site via the website, then you have already seen it. If you are coming as a loyal follower of my blognonesense, then check out our website on the home page http://octopusdiving.com

You can even set Twitter up so that you can update it from your phone. Luckily, we can't take phones diving, or I might be sending in messages like "just saw a fish" "10 minutes into dive, I'm at 60 feet" "diver seems to be trying to get my attention" "diver still signaling me" "maybe I should help" "No, I'd rather send messages to Twitter."

Maybe this is one of the reasons that diving is so special, because down there the only way of communicating with anyone is through hand signals, or maybe tapping on your tank to make some noise. There is no instantaneous way of letting the entire world aware of exactly what you are doing in that second. The time during the dive, that is just for you!

So, that's all for now. The divers are at Tintamarre at the moment, and via a text message sent from my husband (from the boat), I know that the vis is really great. Maybe he should have texted that to Twitter? Then I could have checked on-line to find out, instead of the boring way of actually receiving the message on my phone.

OH, and don't worry, I promise not to abandon the blog!

(this was written by Sally :P )

Alex Richardson - Diving Instructor in the Making

2009-05-18T14:27:00.006-04:00

We recently hosted Alex here at Octopus Diving, while he was completing his "stage" for school. In France, during highschool, the students do a work placement during their last two years. The work placement or internship, is normally 2 weeks.

Originally, Alex wanted to work for Undersea Explorers (this is the glass bottom boat that leaves from Grand Case) but they said that "he needed to have the diving certification for him to be able to dive." I should explain that Undersea Explorers has some divers in thew ater while the people are in the glass bottom boat showing the people the fish.

So.... they brought Alex here.

We had never heard of a "Stage" before, so we weren't sure what it was. I told Alex that we work really hard here, and that we work long hours. He said that this wasn't a problem, and that he was willing to work really hard.

I said yes, and then three weeks later Alex started his stage here. The first day, we weren't really sure what to do with him, so I made him clean the shop. He wasn't too happy with this! The second day Alex went out on the boat to Creole Rock, and this he enjoyed a lot more. Then, as I had an open water student starting I asked Alex if he wanted to learn to dive. He said yes. So the next day we started his open water course. He was very much happier to be doing this than being in school. Although, some of the theory of diving he said "was just like school." And "being just like school" means that it was boring and he didn't like it.

He's sitting behind me now and doesn't like that I am writing that he said "it was just like school."

But you did, Alex. So there.

Alex was a natural in the water, and Constance, my open water student at the time, really enjoyed being in the same class as him, it just made it more fun. It took him a while to pluck up the courage to take the final exam, but when he did, he only got two questions wrong (awsome!).

So, now he is an open water diver, and all around helper in the dive center. He loves diving, especially with JP.

I will now ask him why? "ok ok. Because.... you are actually writing "ok ok"? ha ha ha. oh my goodness. ok. because, he said, I mean, I like diving with him because he is really funny underwater, he makes me laugh a lot. ha ha ha."

Now we will get back to the interview:

Alex, tell us something about yourself.

"I like chocolate. Ummm. I want to become a dive instructor, or maybe not. Maybe, I will become a diver for Undersea Explorer."

Where do you live?

"I live in Grand Case."

How old are you?

"I'm 14."

What was the best part about doing your stage at Octopus Diving?

"Diving."

Who would you prefer to dive with, me or JP?

"I already told you. JP"

I think that that is unfair, I want a second chance. Diving with me is really fun too.

Now Alex's stage is over, but he is still here all the time. We make him work for diving. So he helps us with customers, helps clean the shop, etc, and in return we let him dive with JP (and sometimes me!)

Hopefully, soon he will be able to do his Junior Advanced Open Water and then Junior Rescue Diver. Then, when he is 18, he can do his Divemaster with us. Only 4 years to go!

The photo of Alex above was the one that I took for his Junior Open Water Certification. He is wearing the "Rasta Hat" and trying to look too cool!

We are really happy that Alex came to us, and he is quickly becoming part of the Octopus family. He may be only 14, but he has the maturity of someome much older. Hopefully, if you dive or snorkel with us, you will get to meet him.

(This blog was written by Sally :) )

Octopodes!

2009-05-17T17:10:00.003-04:00

Hey... I know that I haven't blogged in awhile (Chris posted the last one), but a lot has been going on. Firstly, I was trying to survive being bitten by all of the wild life on Saint Martin.... this included a dog and a couple of fire ants. The fire ants are actually more deadly to me, because I am allergic, so that means that I end up looking like a super fat crocodile unless I seek immediate medical attention.

Anyway... the final score is Sally 2 - saint martin wildlife 0. So, ha!

(You thought that I was going to say I was bitten by a shark, or a grouper, huh? Well, they are actually much less harmful than dogs and fire ants).

Also, I have been studying really hard for my equivalence test in France in June, and generally, just slacking on the blogging front. So as my Uncle would say: Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa.

When I first started writing this blog my intention was to mention that we have been seeing loads of octopodes lately. I need to find out more information about them, but they are definetely around more now, then they were in the winter. Yesterday, Chris saw three, and two were together at the same time. Here are a couple photos that Mog, Chris's open water student at the time, captured.

I also saw one today when I was diving with Jessica, Jennifer, Alex, Dimitri, Shawn and Michael, (from Texas, Michegan, Brooklyn and Seattle but not in that order.) They are just too cool. I could really watch them for hours.

So that was my original intention, (to write about octopodes, (I also intended to use less parentheses (but you can see that isn't happening))) but I thought that I would also tell everyone that I now have an awsome new haircut. I know it has nothing to do with diving, but I decided to tell you all anyway! ha! And here are two photos... they aren't the best photos, ok?

In fact in this photo below, I kind of look a little evil. But for those of you who haven't dived with us, or who are considering diving with us, I'm really not. Also, my vocal language skills are much better than my written language skills. Chris told me to look at the camera from the side, so I did, but that has made me look a little strange!

Anyway folks, I gotta run. It's 5:30 on a Sunday, so that means BBQ time with some friends on the balcony in time for the sun set at 6:45 pm. Grand Case is the best places to watch the sunsets in Saint Martin.

(Sally wrote this blog, couldn't you tell? :) )

New Dive ladder

2009-05-13T14:16:00.005-04:00

Remember the days of boarding the boat on the rickety old dive ladder, wobbling from side to side....

Those days have gone.

I decided enough was enough and designed a new ladder, as many of you will know I spent a few years in England working as a Mechanical / Electrical Engineer (14 years to be exact).
Luckily this experience has helped me out quite a few times in our travels around the world.

The new design is great, its extremely over engineered and very strong. We fitted the ladder, tested it and what a difference.

Divers are now climbing back onto the boat wearing their equipment with ease, thus saving JP and I from early retirement due to slipped discs !

Soon we will have photo's of it so you can see what to expect when you dive or snorkel with us.

Sally is on the road to recovery after being bitten by an Island dog, luckily there is no rabies on St.Martin.
She was walking down a back alley and the dog was obviously protecting a property. Luckily JP was a minute walk / limp away and she manged to get to hospital. After a course of Antibiotics and no diving she is doing great and will be back in the water on Friday to teach an Advanced Open Water course.

New boat - the search is still on for the new Octopus Diving boat, we have narrowed it down to a 36 foot Twin Vee Catamaran or a Custom built dive boat - the problem with the custom built boat is that its is just a "pure" dive boat and we need an all round dive / snorkel / pleasure boat that people can relax, sun bathe and have fun on.
Watch this space as I made the final offer today and hope that it is accepted on the Twin Vee.
She's a monster and has all the toys one would expect on an offshore fishing vessel. She may be huge (36 long and 12 foot wide) but with only a shallow draft she only needs small engines to push her along and will be as fuel efficient as our current boat.
Being a catamaran she is extremely stable and offers an amazing ride in big seas.

Business is still great and even in May we are busy, I found out from a reliable source yesterday that the Radisson in Anse Marcel is fully booked for June and July - this is very promising so we should have a great summer.
It seems that people have accepted the recession and are just getting on with life as usual which is great - lets hope it continues.

We are still number one with a 5 star rating on http://www.tripadvisor.com/ you can read all our latest reviews by following this link:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

That's about it for now, we will update again soon.

Thanks for reading

Chris.

Sad Farewell... AUC 5th Semesters!

2009-04-13T17:16:00.002-04:00

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, :) )

Happy Easter from Team Octopus

2009-04-11T15:41:00.002-04:00

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!

Open water, Dolphins and Sally's wreck.

2009-04-11T10:18:00.003-04:00

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.

Congrats Alexis, Sherry and Peter

2009-04-07T16:27:00.006-04:00

Just wanted to say congratulations to some of my new students.... Sherry, Alexis and Peter.

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) )

New Wreck in St.Martin

2009-04-06T10:09:00.002-04:00

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

Amazing Visibility

2009-04-04T14:38:00.006-04:00

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) )

Bring on Summer!

2009-04-03T16:14:00.004-04:00

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 :))

Dolphins at Creole Rock 24th February 2009

2009-03-24T13:00:00.003-04:00

Can you believe that all day yesterday the customers on the Undersea Explorer (glass bottom boat) were watching Dolphins play at Creole Rock and nobody told us ....... !! We weren't happy with thier dive guide Maki who explained what happened

Its been a while since we blogged but have been extremely busy, which is great !!

Spring break was fully booked but business has now slowed down until early April.

We want to Congratulate Jenn Yerkes (or should I say Madam J, founder member of “Les Fruits de Mer”) on the completion of her PADI Rescue Diver course. She worked extremely hard during the whole course including her Emergency Response Course (medic first aid).
The highlight of the course was the Minkie Whale swimming by us about 100 feet away from the boat, just outside our apartment.
The other hysterical moment was when JP pretended to have a Dive knife stuck in his leg and Jenn had to rescue him underwater. The knife penetration looked extremely realistic and I have never heard JP whine like a baby !!

We also certified 3 Open Water students:

Kelli
Joanne
Carol Ann

Congratulations to all of you for successfully completing your course.
Joanne’s Open Water dive 4 was particularly interesting as we saw 13 Turtles on Turtle Reef (a new record for the reef and me), 4 Stingrays, one was so big that it couldn't swim properly as its wings were too heavy !!

This week Tintamarre has been amazing, we actually managed to dive the Circus in near perfect conditions which produced 2 sharks, rays and the beautiful cave systems. Then onto Basse Espagnol, Sally was dry on the boat and snorkeled with a Black tip reef shark and the lobsters are still there, all 30 – 40 of them !!

The forecast is bad again for the weekend – 4 metre northerly swells. This is primarily down to global warming as the Locals have never seen the waves so frequent from the North.

We have a shiny new compressor being shipped from Miami as I write this blog.

Our old Bauer compressor is about 20 years old and a refurbishment would cost in the region of $5000. A new one cost $8000 – go figure…. So we bought a brand new compressor which is custom made to my specification.
No annoying electronics, so less to go wrong.

For all of you technical people out there, it’s a Coltri Sub (Bauer block) 10.9 CFM, 5000PSI, triple water separation, auto drain, open compressor. Closed compressors hate the humidity.

So we can now fill our banks to 4500PSI, I have to fit a pressure regulator inline and then we can fill 12 tanks to 3000PSI from the banks – at last !!

To those technically challenged readers – its, black, shiny and pumps tanks !!

The new boat is on hold until we know exactly what is going on in this crazy world, Sally and I have paid ourselves bonuses this year and the meal in Lolo’s was an unforgettable experience..!

We just had another two fantastic reviews on Trip Advisor keeping our ratings to 5 star and of course number one attraction on St.Martin which is great.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

That's about it for this week so keep watching the blog.

Thanks,

Chris

Updated Website!!!

2009-03-09T16:25:00.003-04:00

I have just updated the website. Basically I just added some additional pages that I think offer more information about our awsome dive center.

So... you will now find a "Useful Links" Page. This only has a few links as yet, but if you can think of any that I should put on, then just let us know. We are hoping to get a small website for Les Alizes, (the hotel run by Reverend Hodge just opposite the center) Calmos (the really great bar/restuarant on the beach run by Alex... who just had a little boy!) and Skies the Limit (one of the Lolos restaurant run by Emile and his wife Jacqueline) and then link them all on our website. Kind of start a "Grand Case Hub" for information. That is the idea, anyway.

I also added an "Our Shop" page where there are pictures of the shop. And also a "Shop Transformation" page showing all the remodeling that we did to the interior and the exterior of the shop. Also on this page there is a "Directions" page so that people can find us.... always helpful!

There is also an "Octopus in the Press" page on the "About Us" page so that people can see what has been written about us in the press. Hopefully we will be adding to this page often!

I also added an entire section to the Gallery page called "People Gallery." When I went to the DEMA (Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) convention in Las Vegas they said that people want to see people underwater! So that is what this section is all about. Check it out, you may be in there....

What else did I add... just some more photos on the "Boat" page and the "Courses" page, for example. Making the site look nicer. I don't have as many dots... in the website... that I put in the blog... maybe I should think about better punctuation in this blog. Hmmmm.... nope... I like the dots.

Please let me know if everything works well, I think there may be a couple of links out that I need to fix, but after sitting at the computer for too long I start to lose concentration and see double... best to be diving really, but somebody has to do all this stuff! So a quick comment, or an email to me would be appreciated if you notice anything doesn't work. Also, any suggestions are welcome. How can I improve the site unless people let me know what they think?

On another note, Chris spent all weekend getting our little dingy all ready for use (with the help of JP of course). This means that on days when we have some more waves in Grand Case than normal, we can use the dingy to transfer people to the boat! It is really cool.

Alright, I'll keep you posted.

(this blog was written by Sally :) )

5 Green Turtles at Turtle Reef

2009-03-08T12:27:00.005-04:00

I went diving on Friday with Doug and Molly, from Minneapolis. They have been diving with us all week, and we just had the greatest time with them. I thought on their last day that I would take my camera so that I could get some nice shots of them, and also because it was the birthday of Molly!!!
As you can see here, we celebrated underwater with a birthday "hat bag." Molly was supposed to hook it around her ears, but I didn't explain it well enough under water! Anyway... Happy birthday Molly. Diving birthdays are always the best!

We were planning on going to the Dutch side to dive the Porpoise and Le Pont, but the weather was picking up, and also with the Heineken Regatta, it isn't the best idea to be travelling so far with so many sailing vessels around. So instead, we opted for our local reefs. I know that they are close, and not so shallow, but really they are the best sites! Doug said that they were his favorite dives and I have to say, that they were two great dives.

We dropped in at the back of Creole Rock, diving it in the opposite direction that we normally do. This is fun to do if you have already dived Creole Rock, as you get to see different things. Well, we weren't disappointed as we saw two Spotted Eagle Rays, one of which stayed with us for ages, cut in front of us, and then doubled back. We also saw loads of fish, Molly saw a big sting ray in the sand, but doesn't have a tank banger, so Doug and I missed it. Here is a photo of the eagle ray that I saw.

This was the first, and bigger of the two eagle rays. They always look like they are smiling!

Then at Turtle Reef we saw so many Green Turtles. Usually we see more Hawksbill turtles as they are less skittish around divers, but that wasn't the case on Friday. We were following two, and then all of a sudden there was another one, and then again later in the dive we saw more. The Green Turtles aren't so easy to photograph, as with my fish eye lens I really need to get close to get a good shot, and the Green turtles usually swim away once they see us. However, I was able to get these shots below.

We did notice that one of the turtles had some kind of growth on it's eye. So I did some research on the internet and it looks like it is a fibropapilloma tumor. There were two on the turtle that we saw, one on it's eye and the other just under it's arm. You can see it in a couple of the photos.

The tumors look more like "a wart gone wild" than a malignant cancer, but they can be still be deadly. The tumors frequently occur near the eyes and throat, and as they grow in size they impair the turtle's vision and ability to eat and breathe. It is really sad, and we hope that we don't start noticing it in other turtles as well.

I have contacted the Nature Reserve and sent them a photo, to hopefully see if they can do something about it. I'm not sure what they will do, but simply documenting it is a start. Then if we can figure out if it is a rare occurrence, or something more frequent we can start to see what the cause is.

On a lighter note, in celebration of the Heineken Regatta we have the Wailer's playing at Kimshaw beach tonight in Simpson Bay. So the Octopus Team, plus a few others are going to go dance to some Reggae tonight.

All the information about the green turtles was from "Epidemic Levels of Tumors Found in Green Turtles" from http://www.turtles.org/lnturtle.htm, accessed March 8th, 2009.

(this blog was written by Sally :) )

Outstanding Visibility

2009-03-02T08:41:00.002-04:00

We had such a great weekend, I thought I would just do a quick blog about it. Saturday and Sunday were fantastic in Grand Case, with great visibility, hardly any wind, and some fantastic diving.

Saturday morning we went out to Tintamarre where Chris said the vis at Japanese Garden must have been over 100 feet. Then over to one of my favorite dive sites, the Tugboat, and again, good vis. Not as good as on the eastern side of Tintamarre, but still good. In the afternoon I went to Creole Rock and Turtle Reef with a group of snorkelers. We really had a fun. We would see something big... like a barracuda or an eagle ray or a turtle and my group of relaxed snorkelers would suddenly pick it up about 10 notches and I would be racing behind to keep up with them. Sara, whose in the 7th grade, may have been little, but this made her cut through the water like a pro!

For me it was a really nice afternoon because I was surrounded by so many people who live really close to where I grew up in NY. There was Sara and her dad from New Jersey, Jennifer from Brooklyn, Tina from Manhattan, and then Chris from Mamaroneck, NY. Mamaroneck is really close to where I grew up... Croton-on-Hudson. I love those conversations:

"So where are you from?"
"NY."
"Me too... where?"
"Westchester."
"Me too... where?"
"Croton-on-Hudson, you?"
"Mamaroneck, but my cousins live in Croton now."
"Really, what are their names?"

With all the travels that Chris and I have done, we can truly say that it is a small world. Like Ingrid, who we worked with in Thailand coming by the shop one day to ask about buying some diving equipment. She looked at Chris, and Chris looked at her, and they said, "I'm sure I know you." And voila, reconnection made. We worked with Ingrid on a tiny island in Thailand called Koh Lipe, lost contact once we left, and found her again in St. Martin. She's been here over a year now! Weird, huh?

Anyway... wasn't I talking about diving and great visibility? These blogs are dangerous, as I feel like I am just typing away and can't imagine that anyone takes the time to actually read this (besides my parents of course). So I end up babbling on and on.

Yesterday I had loads of fun on the boat with some Advanced Open Water students... Eric, Julius, Sam and Peter. We did the Underwater Navigation Dive and all four succeeded in navigating a beautiful square. I had to make each length of the square a little longer than normal as I didn't want them to be able to see where they started, I wanted it to be from compass use and fin kicks only. Then we went to Sec de Grand Case (also known as Turtle Reef) for the Search and Recovery dive. The visibility was also so great that I really had to hide the object they had to search for well. I did a better job the second time, and it took Julius ages. hee hee. Then we went for a little wander around and saw three baby turtles. The babies are just too cute!

Then in the afternoon I went diving again, and Creole Rock was just amazing. These three gigantic Horse Eyed Jacks came through. I mean big, like 2 feet from top to bottom.

I am in the office this morning, hence having the time to blog, but the divers are off to Tintamarre, so I will let you know how it went when they get back.

Have a great week everybody!

(this blog was written by Sally :) )

Joey... NOT JOEL! and... tell me if you see a seahorse!

2009-02-27T13:25:00.002-04:00

We just had a visit from three of our past students... Joey, Jimmy and Jon-Michael. I blogged about Joey not that long ago, and he told me that I had his name wrong! I said Joel... Apparently I had his name correct by his photo, but wrong in my ramblings on. So, Sorry Joey.

Anyway... Joey reminded me of another story of when we were diving together. I was conducting the compass excersize with Andrew (I think) while Joey and Sonny were waiting with JP. I would take one, then the next, then the next, testing their use of a compass underwater.

When we surfaced after the dive Sonny was saying how cool the seahorse was (I think it was Sonny). I thought to myself, they must be mistaken. So I said "What seahorse?" He said "The seahorse we saw." So I said "what seahorse? No one showed me the seahorse!" And Sonny said, "well you were busy with the compass episode." I wasn't very happy, as you can imagine. Not only do I love seahorses, but I haven't seen one here yet! They are pretty rare. So three of my students, my lovely attentive students, all saw the seahorse and no one bothered to show me. O thought about failing them all on the spot, but I'm just too nice.

It must have been the Hippocampus zosterae or the dwarf seahorse, as they said it was really little. They live mostly in the eel grass and are super cute! It may have been another type, I didn't see it, so I can't tell! Seahorses are so cool because they are one of the only species in which the male is pregnant. The female actually puts her fertilizes eggs into the "brood pouch" of the males. Also, the female and males (after an extensive courtship ritual) spend the whole mating season together and even though the female has the capability to reproduce with another male while the male is pregnant, she does not. They remain in a monogomous relationship. The female seahorses remain faithful during the pregnancy by returning to the male’s territory each day for an early morning greeting. During the greeting the pair change colors and dance together for about 6 minutes. This greeting plays an important role in reinforcing the strong monogamous bonds between seahorses. Isn't this amazing? I hope that when I am pregnant my husband will dance with me every morning, while changing color, for six minutes...

The lesson to take from this is... if you see something cool, show your instructor / dive guide / buddy, as we all love diving and the best thing about diving is seeing cool things underwater!

It is funny because I had another diver, not a student, but a diver at Turtle Reef one day, and he also saw a seahorse, but didn't tell me... I just have bad luck.

Anyhow, sorry Joey for getting your name wrong, it in no way reflect my feelings about you or any post course bitterness I have over the seahorse incident.

All the information I got about Seahorses, I retrieved from:

Irey, B. and W. Fink. 2004. "Hippocampus zosterae" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed February 27, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Hippocampus_zosterae.html.

(Sally wrote this blog ... with the help of Irey and Fink)

New Shirts

2009-02-23T09:00:00.005-04:00

Hey everyone! We are getting new t-shirts designed. They should be with us soon, but let us know what you think of the design. We have made the print only one color this time, as with too many colors it was not only expensive, but we found that the printing wasn't that good with gaps in between the color from where they moved from one printing press to another.

Anyway... here is the new design.

The girls is going to be a tank, and the boys a t-shirt. The colors in the picture above aren't the exact true colors of the shirts, but they will be similar... a light blue for the girls and a dark blue for the boys.

Let me know what you think, and if you want one, just ask for one when you arrive. We don't normally ship them out, as shipping from Saint Martin is unreliable and expensive! We are excited to recieve them soon, though.

I will post a real photo once they do arrive.

(This blog was written by Sally :) )

Who are Les Fruits de Mer?

2009-02-22T08:08:00.005-04:00

Les Fruits de Mer is an Extreme Shallow Snorkeling (E.S.S.) Team that is based in Brooklyn, NY, however, they travel all over the world in their many expeditions. Their goal is to "explore the world’s shallowest waters and report back on the life within".

We are lucky enough to have hosted two of the key members of Les Fruits de Mer here at Octopus Diving. We had the infamous Marc AuMarc. Marc AuMarc is a co-founder of Les Fruit De Mer as well as co-inventor of ESS. He also happens to be a really great underwater photographer and videographer, documenting all of their hard work. Madam J is also co-founder of Les Fruits de Mer as well as co-inventor of E.S.S. Madam J also specializes in reconnaissance, gathering as much information as possible about new E.S.S. locations as well as local flora and fauna.

If you check out their website http://www.lesfruitsdemer.org/ you will find more valuable information. Here you can see Madam J and Marc AuMarc below sporting their super cool Les Fruits de Mer uniforms which must be worn while on expedition!

Marc AuMarc and Madam J love Saint Martin, and especially Grand Case, so they come here often. In consequence, you will find invaluable information about St. Martin and Grand Case on their website. They also have an extensive blog that they post while on expedition and here there are some wonderful photographs and commentary on all the diving that they did with us.

Here are some photos that I took of them....

This one is Mark in a swim through giving me the "I'm double okay" sign.

Madam J and Mark at the RoRo... the visibility was amazing.

Madam J coming up for our safety stop.

Madam J practicing her photo skills!

Chris and I first met Madam J when we were here scoping out the business last May. As you know we completed the purchase on June 1st, 2008. She was diving with Octopus at the time and Chris and I were simply diving to see what the underwater world in Saint Martin was like. Obviously we loved it, hence purchasing the business, but it also meant that we have a special connection with Madam J as she truly has been with us since the beginning of our Octopus Diving.

Mark and Jenn are super fun to dive with, always pointing stuff out and having a laugh underwater. They are excellent divers. My favorite day out with them was when we closed the shop, Chris and I went out with just Jennn, Mark and another Chris and we stayed out the whole day. We went searching for some new dive sites, including some of the farther wrecks on the far southeast of the island and some new reefs in the channel between St. Martin and Anguilla. We had lunch in Simpson Bay Lagoon at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club, and it was just all in all a brilliant day out.

We also spent some time with Madam J and Marc AuMarc at the first of an annual Tacousteau night. This is a combination of celebrating great Tacos and also their mentor Jacques-Yves Cousteau. As you can see below we all wore our E.S.S. shirts as well as the traditional Jacques-Yves Cousteau red bonnets.

The food was really tasty and we also watched some of Cousteau's films as well. (I think that Chris looks particularly fantastic in his red hat!)

So, check out their website and if you are interested then you can start to do some E.S.S. as well... you won't regret it.

(Sally wrote this blog entry :) )

The Octopus Family

2009-02-19T14:11:00.006-04:00

I just wanted to write a quick blog about Chris's parents, who were down in January. This was one of the reasons that I wasn't blogging enough. I know that you want to hear about the diving, but... just indulge me a little bit.

While they were here we took them out on the boat twice. They aren't divers (had a bad experience with a discover scuba dive in Kenya I think and we haven't been able to convince them to try it again!), so we took them out for a couple of boat charters. This included going snorkeling at Creole Rock, takinga mud bath at Tintamarre Island, and also cruising aroung the Simpson Bay Lagoon looking at the super yachts. Here are some photos below.

The first photo is of Trevor and Wendy and Chris at Creole Rock before they went snorkeling.

The next photo is Trevor and Wendy on the boat in the Simpson Bay Lagoon.

Some super mega yachts....

Some more super mega yachts.

Sometimes the mega yachts are dragging a small tender around behind their boat, I don't know if you can see it in this photo below. Anway... the tender is about the same size as our diving boat, so it is just crazy how big they are.

Especially in the economic situation at the moment, and all the jobs that are being lost and all the lost money in the stock market, and foreclosures on homes, seeing this amount of money up close everyday is a little unimaginable. I just don't know where all that money comes from? I just didn't know that there could be that many rich people out there. They are beautiful though.

Anyway.... we had a great time with Trevor and Wendy, and we hope that they come back to visit us again soon.

(Sally wrote this blog).

Students... Students... Students

2009-02-16T10:58:00.010-04:00

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last blog. So much has been going on and I have been neglecting my duties :(

There is so much that I want to say, but this blog is going to be about some of the new divers that have been created at Octopus Diving in February...

I would like to congratulate Sonny, Joel and Andrew. All three are medical students at the American University of the Caribbean and they came to us for their open water certification. I was lucky enough to be their instructor as they are... well... special. Under the surface of the water they were great, real naturals. Above... well... as I already said, they are special. For me the course was super fun, there was loads of laughing, joking around, but also some serious moments too. Sonny, Joel and Andrew did give me a pretty hard time, but it was worth it. They are definetely a bunch on divers that I will never forget.

You can see them here celebrating the end of their final exam with a couple of beers.

Here are their mug shots for their certification cards.

Andrew.... (just kidding, I used the other photo for the actual picture identification card, Andrew didn't want to seem like a boozer on his diving certification.)

Sonny...

Joey...

They did a really great job and make fantastic divers. Congrats Guys!

We also did a few advanced open waters. There was Madam J, Mark, Darlene and Mark. The advanced class is always fun, but on this particular group I really enjoyed the underwater navigation part where the students must navigate a square underwater using only their compasses and measuring their fin kicks. We do this at Creole Rock because it is nice and shallow so if the students get lost they can just surface and start again. The moorings at Creole Rock are secured to the sea bed by these huge concrete blocks. These blocks get covered with a thin layer of algae which makes for a really great writing surface. So I simply write N, S, E or W on the block to tell the students which direction I want them to go in. If you aren't an advanced diver I should explain that in the first part of the underwater navigation adventure dive you must navigate in a straight line, and then back again. So I indicate when we are doing the square excersize by drawing a square and then the direction that we are going in. When I went with Mark and Darlene I drew the square and then wrote an "N" so Mark would begin his square by going North. Then for Darlene I wrote a "W" indicating that she should start her square by going West, and she looked at me like "what the heck?" After a couple minutes of confusion everything was cleared up, but Darlene told me afterward that she thought that I was making her do some sort of zig zag, and she didn't think that was fair as Mark only had to a square. It was really funny at the time.

Here you can see Darlene and Mark below. They are both from Boise, Idaho and did a great job!

Madam J and Mark are both members of Les Fruits de Mer, an extreme shallow snorkeling club that is based in Brooklyn, New York. For them I believe they deserve their own special blog, so I will save that for another day.

We also certified Ed and Michelle as Advanced Open Water Divers. They are the crew from Tradewinds - a boat charting company - that is always sailing around Saint Martin, Anguilla and St. Barts.

All in all we have had some great students this February... congrats to all!

(this was written by Sally :) )

Octopus Diving in NY Times

2009-01-25T07:24:00.002-04:00

Hey Everyone... check out the travel section of the NY Times today and you will find an article about affordable Caribbean vacations. In the section about St. Martin you will further find Octopus Diving!

We are really excited about this as it is such great publicity and also we are the only diving center listed in the whole article....

So, if you don't get the Times delivered you can click on this link to see the report:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/travel/25stmartin.html

Also if you are interested in another article that was recently written about us in an English newspaper you can click on this link:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Taking-plunge-dream-life-Caribbean/article-290119-detail/article.html

Chris called the local newspaper in his home town of Plymouth, England and suggested it could be a great article - they agreed and we got a full page report !!

Despite the reccession and the doom and gloom we are still busy and out diving and snorkeling everyday which is great, there aren't many dive centres in St.Martin who can say the same.

Chris has his parents staying here and they leave tomorrow so we are off to Tintamarre this afternoon for lunch on the beach, looking forward to some r&r in Tintamarre...

Thats it for today so have a great Sunday and we will blog again very soon, any comments are greatly appreciated.

Team Octopus.

Whose Kevin?

2009-01-23T14:47:00.005-04:00

This is Kevin. Read below....

Some of you that have been diving with us, may have met Kevin. Kevin is 9 years old, and he lives down the street. When Chris and I bought the shop back in June, we spent the first week going through the entire shop and getting rid of any rubbish. This included masks, snorkels, fins, wetsuits etc that weren't up to the standard that we want to give to our VIP customers (that would be you!).

Kevin walked by one day and Chris said "hey... have you ever tried snorkeling?" At this point Kevin came in and Chris tried one of these old masks on him, and sent him on his way with his new mask, snorkel and fins. This was the beginning of the relationship, and after 8 months I don't think that a day goes by without Kevin coming into the shop at some point. He passes the shop on the way to school and back again, so usually stops by.

Kevin is a really sweet kid... and I love when he comes into visit, but.... (there is always a but, isn't there?) he is also a fusser/fiddiler. So, he has to pick everything up and look at everything. If you are on the computer, he wants on the computer. If there is a stapler on the table, all of a sudden he is stapling together your tax returns and the receipts of your cash customers (never good... :) If you don't watch him carefully he will some how have refunded clients on the credit card machine, or called Zimbabwe or something. So... it is important to keep an eye on him.

Somehow Max convinced him that Santa Clause still exists. So Kevin sat down and wrote Santa a letter, came in and used one of my stamps, and then told me to post it. I told him I would. Of course I read it, I mean, we had to find out what he wanted. (in the letter he explained to Santa that he was in the apartment with the red bike outside that had the flat tire). Max had all the intention of buying him the "grown up walkie-talkie" that he wanted, but when he went to CostULess, there was nothing there. So after Christmas Kevin came in and said to Max "I know Santa doesn't exist because I didn't get my walkie-talkie." So Max told Kevin that Santa came to Max's house to drop it off because Kevin wasn't there and Max will bring it in soon. This is still going on... oh la la.

So... if you ever come here, and you see a little kid (usually in his green school uniform) that is Kevin. One day we will teach him how to dive, but right now he is lucky if I don't tie him up!

Here are some photos.

The first one is of Kevin snorkeling in the rinse tank. He brought me a little crab and then decided to put some water in a container for the crab. But when he put the water in the container he also let the crab into the rinse tank!

This is Kevin.

This is me and Kevin.

This is what Kevin has to say... "this is my friend Sally!"

(this blog was written by Sally)

Octopus at Octopus

2009-01-23T14:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went snorkeling at Creole Rock with a family of three. There was Jack (8) and his folks Jon and Mindy. They are a really nice family from Minnesota. Although Jack got a little cold, we had loads of fun. Plus... we saw a huge octopus.

We were just snorkeling around and all of a sudden I saw this thing fly through the water (well... I guess swim through the water is more appropriate). It was tan colored and had a huge bulbous head with all these tentacles behind it. I immediately tugged on Jon's fin so that he could see as well (I think I scared him a little) and that is when the Octopus settled down. It was only in about 3 feet of water, so I really had a good chance to look at it up close. They are so super cool.

The octopus was a pretty big one, the head must have been about one foot across. Once it noticed that we had noticed it he took the shape of some anenome. I will try and find a picture on the internet... hold on. I couldn't find a decent one on the internet, so I just taken a photo of the anemone from the Creature ID book by Humann and Delouche.

It's not the greatest photo, but this is what the octopus turned into. You couldn't even recognize it unless you noticed the two eyes peering up at you.

It was interesting that if I moved back a few feet, the octopus would move a little, but if I went any closer, it became the anemone again. I just couldn't believe how it could change itself so quickly. We called Mindy over, and she couldn't see it. I was literally pointing to it, almost touching it, but she couldn't see it.

It was also interesting that there was a grouper following the octopus. I suppose it was waiting for any leftovers if the octopus decided to eat a conch or anything.

All in all, it was a great octopus experience. (I hope that you can appreciate my pun, I know my dad will get that!)

(this blog was written by Sally).

Jean-Philippe is back!

2009-01-17T14:15:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to write quickly that JP is back! I know that anyone that met JP and dived with him is going to be happy, because he is fantastic!

JP worked here at Octopus from December 2007 - July 2008. Chris and I took over the business on the first of June, and JP came with it. We were really impressed by him and he was super cool with us taking over and had so many great ideas about improving the center that we were gutted when he told us he was leaving. Even before we came here JP had already made plans to work in France as an instructor for the summer and then travel to the Phillippines. He said if he knew that we were going to be so cool he wouldn't have made those plans, but one of JPs great qualities is that he is a man of his word. So we understood he had to leave.

We contacted him about a month ago, as we knew he had left the Phillipines, to see if he could come back to us. He said "yes" and there was much rejoice. He is a real asset to the team.
Here are some photos to remind you of JP if you met him already, or to give you an idea of what he is like, if you haven't already.

(Sally wrote this blog)

A Great Advanced Open Water

2009-01-16T09:54:00.004-04:00

I thought that I would write something more geared towards classes today, specifically Advanced Open Water classes as I recently certified three divers as Advanced students, and it got me thinking... what makes a great AOW?

As you may or may not be aware and Advanced Open Water class is the second level of certification with PADI, it involves making five dives with an instructor, each of which are specialised around one particular theme. For example there is The Night Adventure Dive, The Underwater Photography Adventure Dive, the Search and Recovery Adventure Dive to name a few. There are two obligatory Adventure Dives.... Deep and Underwater Navigation. The other three are chosen by the students.

For me, the Advanced Open Water is about taking divers and increasing their confidence and ability underwater. It is about creating self awareness and producing divers that take responsibility for their own safety and for their buddy's safety. I believe that we accomplish this by task loading, through practicing good diving techniques, and by talking to our students. For example in the Underwater Photography Adventure Dive we go through all of the motions of being a safe diver... and then we throw a camera into the mix, or for Peak Performance Bouyancy we ask students to control their bouyancy, and then we make them jump through hoops... literally. In order to take photos... search and recover lost items... navigate a square using a compass... or other tasks underwater, it forces the students to practice safe diving AND something else. I believe that it is important to stress this to the divers.

"Your compass work was great, you came back exactly to the same place... but did you notice that you left your buddy way behind?"

"Wow, these photos are fantastic... but did you notice that you lost control of your bouyance and kicked up loads of sand?"

Also, for me anyway, I believe that a good AOW class teaches the student to take responsibility for their diving. It isn't always true that you can trust every instructor or dive guide, as much as we wish that to not be true. This is why at Octopus Diving we have all of our students dive with a computer and have them take the responsibility not run into any decompression time while doing the Deep Adventure Dive. We make them take control of the three minute safety stop and tell us when they have finished completing it. We have them use the computer to make sure they ascend at a proper rate, and to rely less on the instructor or the dive guide.

The Advanced Open Water is also about self rescue and self preservation. Divers need to take control of their assessment of how safe a diving center is, how safe the diving boat is. We do this by stressing the questions that divers should ask when they go somewhere new... these include:

1. Can I look at your compressor?

2. When did you last change the air filter?

3. Is there an O2 kit on the boat? Can I see it?

4. Do you have a way of communicating with the shore if there is a problem on the boat?

5. When was my regulator last serviced?

These questions should not be frowned upon by diving centers if you ask them. So I stress my students to, I mean after all, this is your LIFE and your HEALTH and SAFETY at risk, so don't be afraid.

Chris and I also have a general rule that we tell all of our students, whether it be Open Water, Advanced, Rescue or Divemaster.... "if the boat and the equipment look like #%@! then it probably is."

Unfortunately there are diving centers that try and save a buck or two by not changing the filters in their compressors as often as they should, resulting in hydrocarbons and other contaminants in the air. When we breath this cotnaminated air at increased pressure due to our depth in the water column, we can have serious problems. Chris and I have left jobs because of bad air. We take it very serious. Chris always asks... "how was the air?" and he is religious about changing the filters. It isn't just the guests that breath the air, it is us too, and our instructors.

We had a diver the other day with a small test kit that attached to his low pressure inflator so that he could test the quality of the air he was breathing... (of course we passed with flying colors) but we were impressed with him, he was taking his own safety into HIS hands.

So, if you are an open water student looking to complete your Advanced Open Water, then you should look for some of the things mentioned above when you take your course. If you are an instructor then you should think about mentioning some of those things in your course.

OK OK OK, enough of the serious stuff! I know that the rest of you just want to know ... whats going on down there? Well... lots of diving and lots of fun. Here are photos of our three most recent Advanced Open Water students who did a great job! There is... Kelly, Cyd and Mike.

Here is a photo of Kelly and Cyd underwater that I took during their Underwater Photography Adventure Dive. They were really great students, look at the bouyancy control.

The diving was great and we had loads of fun at the same time.

Also, some of you might be excited to know that there were whale sharks spotted on the Dutch side. I didn't see it, and neither did any of our instructors, it was spotted by another diving center. Apparently it was a juvenile... but REALLY BIG!

So fingers crossed we will get some more.

ok. I got work to do! Less typing... more diving!

(this was written by Sally).

Some photos from Tintamarre today!

2009-01-07T15:03:00.012-04:00

We didn't find any dolphins at Tintamarre today, but we still had some really great dives.... here are some photos.

The tugboat was beautiful today as the visibility was great!

I put this photo in (of me), to show that taking photos isn't just about having a great camera, but it also about the ability to take photos as well. You can see that the photographer has included his lovely yellow fins!

This is Oscar, the videographer I was talking about in my blog a couple of days ago.

Oscar filming me at the Tugboat!

Not sure what Oscar is doing here...

Max blew this perfect bubble ring, but then didn't get out the way for me to take a better photo!

This was a lobster at Moonscape.

Remi and Daniel, our divers from Paris, France!

Tugboat from another angle.

Max on his head at the Tugboat. Somehow.... when a camera is around, Max starts doing all this weird stuff. Bubble rings. Oh wait.... there is another photo I should up load.

This is Max doing the Moonwalk, at Moonscape.

Remi by the Tug.

Remi looking inside the Tug.

Daniel looking around the Tugboat.

A shot looking up as the divers are getting on the boat. The vis was really nice, so I thought I would snap this shot.

Well.... that is all for now. I spent most of the end of the second dive trying to get a bubble shot. I am really trying to get a shot of a bubble coming up, with my reflection in it. So far this is as close as I have gotten.... can you see me?

(sally wrote this blog).

Dolphins... at Creole Rock!

2009-01-07T14:29:00.002-04:00

You read the title correctly. Yesterday we had 4 Dolphins at Creole Rock. For Brie (from France) and Steve (from Washington, DC) it was their first experience underwater, so they were having a great time anyway. But the dolphins made it magical!

Four dolphins approached the divers and then started to swim around them. They were so close that the divers could have reached out and touched them if they wanted (of course they didn't!). It is the first sighting of dolphins this season (and for Chris and I are first time since we opened in June). But according to local divers there are loads of dolphins in January, February, March and April, especially around Tintamarre! So we are really excited.

What made the dive so cool with the dolphins, was that Oscar was on the boat as well. So, I will ask Oscar's permission to post the video on Youtube.com and then put a link on the blog site for everyone to see! Too cool, huh?

The only downside to the whole dolphins at Creole Rock, was that I wasn't on the dive! But... it makes me hopeful that I will see them in the future, and soon too! We went looking for them at Tintamarre today, and we didn't see any, but the season is upon us!!!!

(Sally wrote this blog)

Interested in getting an underwater video?

2009-01-03T14:15:00.002-04:00

We have recently had a new member join the Octopus Team... Oscar.

Oscar is an underwater videographer from Holland as well as a PADI Instructor. Chris met Oscar in Island Water World (a marine supply store) one day about a month ago and after a long chat swapped details with him. Then a few weeks later Oscar approached us and asked if we think there would be any interest for underwater videos on our dive trips. We said we weren't sure, but possibly yes. Turns out there is.

If there is room on the boat we try and get Oscar on as well. We still will take no more than 6 people on the boat, so Oscar does count as one of those.... we don't want to crowd the diving. If there is room though, Oscar is there to film everyone's underwater experience. He then edits the footage after the dive to have the DVDs ready in less than 24 hours. So far we have had great feedback. His videos are great, with original music from a local artist, and everyone seems to like him. You should check out his website www.st-maartendivingvideo.com. His company is called St. Maarten Diving Video N.V.

I wish that I knew how to add video to the blog, but I'm not there yet.

It is totally voluntary, and even if Oscar is on the boat there is no obligation to buy his DVD. Also, Oscar works for himself, not for us. We just think that it is an extra service that we can provide by having Oscar on the boat. He went out this morning and filmed the two dives, and the two couples that he met are coming in tomorrow to look at the video he is producing. If they like, they can purchase it, but it is cool because they get to see it before they decide!

So, if you would like to make sure that Oscar is on the boat the same day as you, just let us know and we can make sure that he is.

Don't forget that I am also available for underwater photographs if requested. So now we can offer photo and video to help keep the memories of Octopus Diving going!

(Sally wrote this blog).

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

2009-01-02T14:34:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time! It has just been really busy here over the holiday season, and we have been diving diving diving,so I haven't been blogging blogging blogging! You may be able to tell that the last blog wasn't written by me, it was written to a much higher standard than my usual ramblings on.

I was diving at Creole Rock the other day and I was thinking how awsome it would be if I could blog while diving. I think that it is in these moments underwater that I come up with the most profound thoughts. However, right after the dive, I never seem able to recapture the thought.... kind of like when you drink too much red wine, and then the whole world makes sense, but the next morning you can't remember how.

We really have been working hard though. The season picked up dramatically (just like everyone said it would) around Christmas, and that is continuing. We have nothing to compare it to, this being our first year in business, so we are always skeptical at believing what "they" say.

I did want to blog about the last dive of 2008, and the first dive of 2009! The last dive of 2008 was spent on the Gregory with 3 advanced open water students. (Nikita, Derek and Mike) and three divers (Ruud, Brian and Melinda). It was a dive late in the afternoon, so the sun wasn't super high in the sky, but it was still a great dive. There was a shark and a HUGE eagle ray. Plus all the fish that normally congregate aroundt he stern of the Gregory. Everyone was in really high spirits and we had so much fun on the boat ride back. It was a really calm day, so there were hardly any waves and we could really speed up. It was a great last dive.

Then... the next morning we had the most perfect conditions for the start of 2009. Not a cloud in the sky, beautiful, calm waters, we did two great dives in Tintamarre. I was lucky enough to be diving with G and John, two super divers from San Diego. We spent our surface interval at Tintamarre beach covering ourselves in mud, and then finished up with a dive on the Tugboat! It was just perfect.

So, I am taking it as a good omen for the year to come. Great diving, great conditions and really great people as well!

Alright, its time to get the tanks ready for the night dive tonight! Fingers crossed we see an Octopus feeding!

Oh.... and happy new year to everyone! Especially to the new followers of the Blog, Ashish and Cathie and Greg! Now the ratio of my family members and actual divers following this blog is starting to even out! Yeah!

(this blog was written by Sally)

2008-12-27T09:34:00.003-04:00

With Christmas out of the way and the New Year on the horizon Octopus Diving is wishing everyone a brilliant festive season.

Team Octopus enjoyed an awesome Christmas roast, with champagne and all the goodies.

But now its back to the diving and Octopus Diving is as busy as ever as we enter the New Year.

Courses continue, and we would like to congratulate Sofia and Joey for passing the PADI Open Water Course on Xmas Eve.

We also have three other Open Water candidates that are on course to be finished before 2009 is upon us.

As a Dive Centre we are always looking for ways to give back to the nature that provides us with our livelihood and so it is with great pride that we can announce that Octopus Diving will be working with the St Martin Marine Reserve to study the marine turtles around the island. Look out for more news on this in the New Year.

Enjoy the festive season and have a great New Year.

Team Octopus

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS OF SHOP

2008-12-16T14:28:00.004-04:00

Well... I am really happy to finally be posting pictures of the shop before and after our renovations. As many of you know Chris and I bought the business on the 1st of June, and since then we have come leaps and bounds in renovating the shop and generally raising everything to our extremely high standards.

So... BEFORE outside.

And AFTER outside.

What do you think? I think it is awsome!

(Sally blogging)

As promised.... here's a photo of Kelly

2008-12-15T09:08:00.003-04:00

Here is... from the left (Kelly, Maxime, Chris, Me and a really weird looking Craig). You can see that we eat healthy lunches of ribs, chicken and macaroni and cheese!

Thanks for all your help Kelly, let us know if you ever need a reference!

PS you left your bathingsuit! Max tried it on, but it didn't look right :)

Coolest Octopus Ever!

2008-12-14T13:58:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone. I just got back from diving Le Pont (the Bridge) and it was a really cool dive. Ijust wanted to blog about it right away. I was diving with Camilla, Jim and Justin (from Wilton, Massachusettes) and there was just so much to see. We saw a huge stingray, a giant Loggerhead turtle, loads of lobsters, and... the coolest octopus ever! Of course, it is just my luck that I took my camera out yesterday and not today, but I don't care. Even though I may not have a physical picture of the coolest octopus ever, I have a mental one that I will carry forever.

An octopus (plural octopuses, octopi, and octopodes) is an amazing creature. Did you know that they can grow up to 1.3 meters? Or that they can lose a limb in order to avoid an attack by a predator? They are also amazing at camouflaging themselves and can change colors instantaneously. The one we saw today was the Common Octopus, or Octopus vulgaris.... (I don't think that the latin name is very suiting). The Octopus was so awsome today because it was all splayed out on the side of one of the little wrecks at Le Pont. You could see all eight limbs and the giant bulbous head with pink eyes. At first it was a rusty brown color, but then, once it saw us, it flashed white... green... brown... white. It was too cool. I think I scared my divers as I screeched in my regulator.

Other news.... We would like to congratulate Kelly for finishing her Divemaster and entering the wonderful world of diving professionals. She did a fantastic job during her internship here, and we will miss her. If she sends me the photo she took of all five of us, (Craig, Max, Chris, myself and Kelly) then I will post it for all of you to see.

I also have some photos to post of the dive we did yesterday (when I did have my camera) at the Gregory. The visibility was just perfect, about 100ft, and everyone had a great dive. We were diving with Emma (from Wales), Karen and Jack (from the American University of the Caribbean) and Dominic (from Britanny, France).

From this photo you can see how great the visibility was. The Gregory is an upside down barge and lies at about 55 feet.

Are those Chris' long legs? Yes.... I believe they are. The man in black!

This was actually taken at Le Pont. There are always so many lobsters here... and big one's too! But we never ever take any, or else you wouldn't be able to see them when you dive with us.

This hawksbille turtle was posing for me, for ages. You can tell he is a Hawksbill because of his "beak" and also the darker shade of green on his shell.

OK. I'm filling tanks now, so I better get back to it! We cascade fill here, (that means that instead of turning the compressor on and off everytime a tank is full, we close one tank, and then immediately open the next tank, without turning the compressor on and off). Anyway... with cascade filling you have to be attentive or you will miss it, and the compressor will automatically shut off at 3,400 PSI. Did you know that by cascade filling you can extend the life of you compressor by years? I didn't think that you did know that, I wasn't aware of it either, until I purchased my own compressor and found out how expensive they are! Now I am extremely aware of anything that will extend it's life.

Thanks for reading.... I should really say.... thanks for reading, mom and dad. As I think they are the only person that do read my blog. So thanks mom and dad. Miss you and talk to you later!

(this blog was written by Sally).

Parents visiting, new sign... diving!

2008-12-08T09:22:00.000-04:00

I haven't written anything since Thanksgiving....sorry. I don't want anyone to think that is because we haven't been diving, but I was a little distracted as I had a visit from my parents.

As you can see in the picture above there is (from the left) Chris, me!, my dad (Wes) and my mom (Gilliann). They had a great time here and it was really nice to see them. A little hard to juggle running a business, diving all the time, and having fun with my folks, but we managed it. My parents don't dive. My mom is just a happy snorkeler, which she did a lot of while here with us, and my dad had a bad experience once. He went on a resort course (Discover Scuba Dive) in Mexico... I think... and he couldn't equalize properly. His group of divers was really big and the instructor didn't take any notice of him, so he kept descending as he didn't know what else to do. In consequence he had a really painful ear.

For me, hearing stories like this really makes me cringe. It is criminal the lack of safety and attention that some diving centers and instructors give their divers. I always try and teach my students to make safety their number one priority when diving. Although there are thousands of fantastic, safety conscious diving centers out there, there are also some that are way below par. So.... if the tanks are out of hydro date, ASK FOR A DIFFERENT ONE. Take a look at the compressor, is it clean? Ask them when they last changed the filter. Look at the boat. Our motto is... if the boat looks like *&#%! then it probably is!!! For Chris and myself, one of the best parts about finally owning our own center is we get to have the equipment, the boat, the compressor and everything else at the extremely high standard that we want. Hey... we are diving with the air and using the tanks a lot more than our customers are, so you can guarantee that we want good, clean air! It is more expensive for us, but worth it!

Anyway... enough rambling about safety, I'm sure you want to hear about the diving! We went to Tintamarre yesterday with a group of four divers. It was fantastic. The waves were a little large on the way out, but Max made everyone feel safe on the boat. Once we were under though, there was no current, great vis and lots to see. At the tug boat we saw.... a big loggerhead turtle, then immediately after there was a nurse shark just cruising by. Then once we got over the reef and headed towards the tugboat we saw a giant southern stingray in the sand, followed by an eagle ray right above it. It was a great dive!

Craig has been teaching like crazy... not like a crazy man... just lots of classes. Well, maybe he is a little crazy sometimes, but in a good way. He's really into spontaneous bouts of singing and dancing at the moment which is always entertaining. Here is a picture of Craig teaching his students below.

We are also really happy to have Kelly here at the moment. Kelly is completing here Divemaster with us, she is from North Carolina and is well on her way to joining the professional world of diving. She is definitely a great addition to the team while she is here, and I appreciate it as it is always nice to have another girl around!

Alright, enough for now. I want to post some before and after shots of the shop, but am waiting until tomorrow as we should be getting some new signs for the shop today. Nice.... new.... sign designed by Julien. He does all our fliers, business cards and now sign. The sign will look like the one below, just a whole lot bigger!

It is ten, and the divers and snorkelers are back in about an hour and a half, so I better get back to work and start crossing things off of my list.... It's a long list!

(Sally wrote this blog, can't you tell).

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2008-11-27T16:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It doesn't feel much like Thanksgiving in St. Martin. First of all, it is 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Secondly, I am surrounded by French people (who don't really celebrate Thanksgiving) and lastly, I got attacked by another bat last night!

However, we do have lots to Thankful for, here at Octopus Diving. So I thought that my Thanksgiving Day blog should be about that.

We are thankful for....

All the great people that come to dive and snorkel with us.

A fantastic night dive last night with Patrick, Stan and Fabrice.

Our great staff, Max and Craig.

Our dive boat, Arvor. We take care of her and she takes care of us.

We are definitely thankful that the St. Martin government has repaved the road in front of the shop. This has been so great because now there is so much less dirt and dust in the air.

That they not only paved the road but also put in a speed bump which is slowing everyone down (the new road made them all drive faster, you see).

The sun is out, the weather is good, and the diving is great.

Our contractor Raymond says that once we get the "ok" from Le Marie (the local council) he can have our new dock built in two weeks..... Yeah!

The great people in Grand Case, like Reverend Hodge (owner of Les Alizes), Emile and Jacqueline (owners of Sky's the Limit in Lolo's), Ronald, Dominique and Marc (owners of the kitchen shop), and there are so many others in beautiful Grand Case.

On a personal note, I am thankful that you are reading this blog. And I am also thankful that I get to live my dream life with my dream husband in the Caribbean. I highly recommend it!

Happy Turkey day everyone, remember to say thanks!

(This blog was written by Sally)

Congratulations Students

2008-11-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged in a couple of days... mostly because I had a day off yesterday. It was wonderful AND no one saw anything too totally awsome while I was at home. Plus I got a well needed haircut!
I just wanted to say congratulations to some of our newly certified students. Alan and Niklas (pictured above) successfully completed the PADI Open Water Course under Craig's expert guidance. As they cruised around Creole Rock they were lucky enough to see stingrays, turtles, cleaner shrimp and an octopus and handle the parrot fish's gooey sleeping bags...not bad for a first dive....oh and they managed to complete the neccesary skills without any hitches. So congrats to yet another two Octopus Diving trained PADI Open Water Divers.

The visibility around the bay is unbelievable at the moment, at least 50 feet at our local sites. This is resulting in the divers seeing the full range of marine life that inhabit this part of St Martin. Currently we are getting beautiful Blue Spotted Rays crusing along with the divers every time we go to Creole Rock, and of course at Turtle Reef the hawksbill's turtles are out in force. It seems like they are just as interested in us as we are in them.

With Max having joined the staff the shop is in full swing ready for the busy season. I will be updating the website soon, once I get some good photos of Craig and Max, so keep watching that space.

That's all for now, I will write more later.

(this blog was written by Sally, except for the part about "Craig's expert guidance"... he wrote that! It is true though.)

Six eagle rays - Building Dock

2008-11-15T08:36:00.000-04:00

For those of you who were feeling bad for me because I didn't get to see the Hammerhead shark the other day, you can feel a little better because at Creole Rock yesterday... I saw not one, not two, but SIX eagle rays all together. Further, I didn't just see them for a split second or far in the distance, they were close and hung around for about 10 minutes. We couldn't believe it! The eagle rays, combined with the really great visibility made it so perfect. I stayed in the shop in the afternoon, but Chris said that he saw an eagle ray again in the afternoon trip!

Chris also went to the Tugboat in the afternoon, around Tintamarre and although the visibility wasn't great above 5 meters, below 5 meters he said that it was fantastic!

On other news... we just had a contracter in to make drawings for a pier which we are going to build in Grand Case by the boat. After OMAR we lost so much sand and the steps got a little wrecked and both Chris and I feel that it will be worth the investment to build a small pier with a floating dock at the end. This way customers will be able to just step onto the boat in absolute ease (plus it will be a lot easier to load the tanks onto the boat!). It is a big investment though, so if you are reading this..... COME AND DIVE WITH US! We will need a lot of divers to pay us back for this investment!

I also wanted to inform everyone that it is illegal to kill bats, they are protected. This means that when you call the exterminator to get rid of the bats that fly into your face in the middle of the night, they tell you there is nothing they can do. In case you were wondering.

(Sally wrote this blog).

This is what happens when I take a morning off!

2008-11-13T10:12:00.000-04:00

it isn't often that I am not at the shop or in the water. Looking back on my hours working here, it is usually around 75 plus a week, sometimes up to 80 hours! (Not that I'm complaining). So... when I get the opportunity to have a sleep in, I take it!

And I will say now that I really needed it. Mostly because the night before I didn't sleep well at all as a bat landed on my head at 02:45 AM! Yup... a bat! We have a bat problem at our apartment. So far they haven't been too much of a nuisance, just a couple flying around the room. The exterminators on the island say that there isn't much they can do as this hasn't happened before (I find this hard to believe!). I was deep in sleep (as I am most nights after diving) and all of a sudden WHAP! I completely freaked out. Chris said "what's wrong? What's wrong?" and I just looked by my pillow and there was the bat! Chris also jumped up at this point. The bat must've been flying around the room when it hit the fan and then was propelled onto my face! The joys of island life!

So... back to the point. I had a really nice morning, slept late, did the laundry, did some dishes, watched a little bad TV and then came back to the center. When the morning group of divers came back they were really excited. They did the Fusheng and The Gregory. On the Fusheng they saw two Caribbean Grey Reef Sharks and.... a Hammerhead! Can you believe that I missed the Hammerhead? I can't. Still bitter about it. As you can tell. I would describe it more, but I wasn't there, was I?

That's what you get for sleeping late! Hmpf!

(this was written by Sally)

The Porpoise and Gregory

2008-11-11T14:28:00.000-04:00

Had a fantastic day yesterday, a little busy so I didn't have time to blog, but it is great to be busy. In the morning we went to Creole Rock and Turtle Reef with some snorkelers, first time divers and also certified divers. The first time diver, a french girl called Elise, had a fun time. I really love seeing people underwater for the first time. It reminds me of how much I loved my first breaths underwater.

The highlight of the two dives in the morning was a Loggerhead turtle eating a jellyfish. This is something that I had never seen before. At frist it looked like he was just chomping on air... but then as I looked closer I could see this transparent substance with some purple on the edge, and that when I saw the jellyfish. He actually made it look kind of tasty! It was cool because we all stayed really still and watched him eat for about five minutes. When we got back on the boat I was relly excited and we were all talking about it, then Philip said "what turtle?" And I said "the one eating the jelly fish, the one we were looking at for 5 minutes." He hadn't seen it. I couldn't believe it. He was looking directly at it! It's like not seeing your mom come in with the birthday cake and candles. I told Philip he seriously needed to get some prescriptive lenses for his mask.

Then in the afternoon we went to the Dutch Side. This was the first time that I went to dive The Porpose and The Gregory since hurricane Omar and I was relieved. The Porpoise is on it's side. See before and after photos here.

So you can see that she has tilted about 45 degrees to the starboard. Think of the power that must have done this! She lies at a depth of about 95 feet, sothe waves must have been BIG. Also, look at the sand around the ship, there is a crater around it now. It is still a really cool dive, even more so now that we have seen the before and after.

We also dived the Gregory, and the most significant difference that I noticed was that a lot of the beautiful sponges around the wreck have been destroyed. There was lots of wildlife still though, spade fish..... stonefish.... lots of horse eyed jacks...

There was also a turtle, but I didn't get the photo. What is of note at the Gregory is now there is a bigger hole in the side of it, making it easier for divers to go inside. Although, we still all agree here that only very experienced divers (i.e. one's with wreck diver speciality, Divemaster or Instructor level) should go inside.

But I did maanage to get this cool pic when I went inside.

Some other fun photos from that trip are as follows....

A Jelly with some divers in the background

Chris not letting me take a photo of him, so showing me his butt instead! (I know... charming. Isn't my husband handsome? If you could only see his face!)

Max's siloutte coming up the shot line!

Helen and Sim.... DIVERS!

Well, that is all for now. Hope you are enjoying the blog. If so sign up! So far the followers have increased from six to seven, however the seventh is Sim... as pictured above.

This blog was written by Sally

More photos of DEMA '08

2008-11-06T14:43:00.000-04:00

I only bet $1. I swear....

Some Photos from DEMA in Las Vegas

2008-11-06T13:34:00.000-04:00

These are just some photos of DEMA 08 which was in Las Vegas this year. In the pictures you will see me (Sally) and also Peter and Kim (from the Scuba Shop here in Sint Marteen / St. Martin www.scubashop.net)

They are super nice people and looked after me at my first ever DEMA.

Creole Rock Delivers...

2008-11-06T12:59:00.000-04:00

Hello... not sure if anyone is reading this blog yet. We have 6 followers so far, but I have to admit that two of them are my parents, so I'm not sure if that counts. But four others is pretty good .... okay, one of them is me. Alright, alright, I'll tell the truth. The other two are really good friends of mine and the other is one of our old divemasters, Chuck (By the way... thanks for the blog support). But... I am going to persevere in the hopes that the "followers" of the Octopus Blog will increase. Plus this is a great way to let my parents know what is going on here.

It is lunch time right now and Chris and Craig have just gone out on the boat with some snorkelers and divers. I went this morning to Creole Rock and Turtle Reef with two really nice French Snorkelers and it was amazing. The best I have seen it since the hurricane OMAR. Visibility was great and we saw two turtles (both Hawksbill, one was a little baby and the other was bigger). We also saw an amazing eagle ray. They really seem to stick around if you are snorkeling, but when you see the eagle rays on scuba they get scared more easily. I adore eagle rays, seeing them while snorkeling is really nice too because you get the full benefit of seeing their spotted backs. We also saw a giant southern sting rays and just millions of fish. For me, I love the little herring fish, you know... the ones that are small and silver and travel in a group. When you swim into them they all separate around you and you are encircled in a silver cloud of fish, it was too cool. I really wish that I had had my camera with me.

Creole Rock was just fantastic today! It is also really great getting there in the morning, where there are no other boats, just us and the wildlife.

Other events here at Octopus are that our cat Max came back from the vet yesterday. Well, most of him came back but he left two small parts at the vet. Well, they weren't really that small actually, but that is another conversation. He is recovering and doing fine. The vets in St. Martin are really great, and not expensive either. Just in case anyone is thinking of moving here and they have pets....

Things really seem to be going back to normal here after OMAR. We are looking forward to the busy season as we see more and more potential divers walking by!

OK. Enough for now. Keep watching this space!

(this was written by Sally)

November 3rd, 2008

2008-11-03T16:53:00.000-04:00

Just an update on how the weekend went. We went out to Tintamarre on Sunday with some of the AUC med students. Apparently there was some kind of practice exam in the morning, so of course they were late (no big surprise with the Medical Students). But it was well worth the wait. For most of the divers it was their first dive after their Open Water Certification with us, and I have to say that I was very proud as one of their instructors. Buoyancy was great, buddy checks were fantastic, the descents and ascents were all nice and slow. Nice diving, guys! The viz at Tintamarre was really gorgeous and one of the divers counted 23 box fish!

In the morning on Sunday we went to our two local reefs. The viz still isn't fantastic, but I was really surprised at how many fish there were. There was just shoal after shoal after shoal of fish. it is amazing how resilient the reefs are after OMAR, and it was just so nice to be diving our local sites again. For me, anyway, it is like visiting a friend.

Chris, Craig and I are still making improvements to the center. Chris has just installed a pipe ensuring that the water from the rinse tank goes into a soak away and not into the road. It is only a small thing, but all the small improvements add up. I will post some photos when I take them.... Let us know if you have any suggestions, we always welcome comments. We are thinking about starting a day trip to Tintamarre. This would include 2 dives in the morning, a couple of hours at the beautiful Tintamarre beach over lunch (which we will provide) and then another dive in the afternoon. Is this something that would interest people? We usually stop at Tintamarre for about 30 minutes during our surface interval, but everyone always agrees that they could spend more time there. We would take a mud bath, maybe do some sun bathing, a really cool day for everyone.

That's all for now, I will "blog" more soon.

(this was written by Sally)

Reef condition after Hurricane Omar

2008-11-02T13:13:00.000-04:00

After Hurricane Omar whistled through the Caribbean a few weeks ago many people have wondered what the condition of the reefs are around St.Martin.

The team at Octopus Diving have been out and about around St.Martin since the hurricane and here are the findings so far:

Creole Rock:

The classic spot for snorkeling and Discover Scuba Diving has survived remarkably well considering it was battered by 18 foot seas at the height of the storm. Alot of sand has been removed along with the eel grass, but generally its in good shape and still very diveable. We were there on 30th October 2008 and saw two large Octopus, stingrays and the usual numbers of reef fish. The visibility is eventually clearing to around 20 feet.

Sec De Grand Case / Turtle Reef:

The turtles are still there which is a huge relief, the North West side if the reef has a light dusting of sand, however the south East is in good condition.
Gorgogna sea fans and soft corals are still there and have survived.
Dived on 31st October 2008 saw two large turtles, two huge stingrays and the most fish we have ever seen on this dive site. Vis wasn't so great but still a nice dive.

Tintamarre:

Japanese Garden and Chico haven't been touched and the Nurse Sharks are still there.

Diving the Tug Boat today so will update soon on the condition of it.

Fusheng:

The moorings were missing so the Octopus Diving Commercial diving squad went into action and made a temporary mooring. The condition was a surprise, at 34 metres deep (100+ feet) it had taken a beating from the storm surge, with more debris than usual lying around it.
Its still in good shape and a fantastic dive for Advanced Open Water students - a great reason to do your AOW course !!

Gregory:

Some say the wreck has been moved a few feet from its original position?? Alot of the coral has been damaged but generally we werr surprised how little it had changed. Still a great dive site.

Porpoise:

Haven't dived it yet, but allegadly it has been knocked over?? Hard to imagine that a 100 foot long Tug boat can be knocked over by a wave. We will dive it again soon and let you know how is.

So thats it for todays update. The team at Octopus Diving are out again this afternoon at Tintamarre and are ready for the busy season.

Come down to the newly refurbished shop and check out our excellent deals on all dive equipment.

Happy Bubbles...

Team Octopus.

First Post - October 31st, 2008

2008-10-31T10:04:00.000-04:00

OK. This is our first blog, so please excuse the way that the blog looks, we are still trying to figure it out. We are really excited to be blogging! We wanted a way to let all of the friends of Octopus Diving know what is going on here, both above and below the water. So we intend to update this blog as often as possible (at least weekly but most likely more often) letting you all know about the goings on in St. Martin and dive related activities.

With Hurricane OMAR out of the way we are excited to be back in the water, hitting the dive sites, and checking out all thre is to see here. One really cool change is that the Porpoise (one of our many wrecks) is now on its side. So for us, it is like having a totally knew dive site. Also, we are super happy to say that our local reefs, Creole Rock and Turtle Reef, surivived OMAR with little damage. We are also continuing on with our student certifications. So... congrats to Helen, Sim, Marc and Glen for completing their Advanced Open Water and Open Water certifications respectively.

Sally also represented Octopus Diving at the DEMA Show in Las Vegas. This was our first DEMA, so mostly Sally was taking it all in, going to all the informative seminars, and promoting Octopus Diving and St. Martin in general, as a fantastic dive destination. Unfortunately Chris had to stay in St. Martin and continue to take divers out, teach courses, etc, but hopefully we will be able to go together as a team next year. All in all it was a success, and Sally managed to stay out of the casinos and not gamble away the diving center (which was a concern of Craig's).

We invite everyone to come and check out the new store, as we have totally renovated both the inside and out. Chris and Sim did most of the work, although we did work as a team to get the whole thing done, so thanks to Sim, H and Craig for all their help. The center is now a more relaxed, fun place to hang out, where divers can catch up on all the latest fish gossip, debreif from their dives, or maybe just have a coffee (or a beer) and get to know each other. Chris did a fantastic job and you should really come and see!

Please watch this space... we will keep you updated on the day to day activities here at Octopus Diving in St. Martin.

-this blog was written by Sally (Craig helped a little).