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.
Showing posts with label St.Maarten Scuba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St.Maarten Scuba. Show all posts
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Check out http://www.octopussnuba.com/
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
August update
Its a beautiful day today here in St.Martin, the sun is shining and the sea's are calm. All is about to change in the next few weeks.
Check out this link: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
As you may know its hurricane season and we are having a spell of tropical cyclones passing through with one large depression expected in 7 days time, so fingers crossed. We have our Hurricane action plan ready and our boat is planned to be lifted out at a minutes notice if needs be.
A Hurricane plan is difficult, how far do you go? How much food do you really need? What if the roof blows off the house, or we lose our sea wall defence again? Its a very difficult decision to know exactly what to do, but after Hurrciane Omar last year we are now even more prepared mentally and physically and each person in the team knows thier job.
I just checked the website again Aug 12th 1400hrs and in the last hour the storm on the West coast of Africa has just intensified considerably..........
We have had another extremely busy week this week, with 8 open water certifications in the last 10 days which is just amazing considering that we are still in a reccession and a fully booked schedule again.
The new boat is on its way from Florida and scheduled to be here in a week or two, the new engines have been ordered, once fitted we are ready to go - can't wait! Lets hope it doesn't get blown away in the storm...
The SNUBA operation is full steam ahead, the contract with Club Orient is signed and sealed and they have used Sally's awesome photographs on thier website with a great link to our website: http://www.cluborient.com/waterSports.php
SNUBA will be available to all aged 8 through 80 and is so easy compared to Scuba, just a 15 minute briefing and you are in the water, no heavy tanks or weights, just a tube to the surface and some fins and you are diving!!
The new website www.octopussnuba.com will be up and running in a few weeks after Sally makes some finishing touches to it.
I have had the go ahead from Mercury to train as a Technician at thier manufacturing facility in Miami. This now means that any downtime will be kept to a minimum if we experience technical problems with the boat. I leave in September for a week for an intensive 4 day course.
Sadly, Jean Phillipe has left Octopus Diving, he will be missed by the Staff and Customers alike. We are currently seeking his replacement on the PADI Website. Bon chance JP !!
We have some Freinds staying at our apartment at the moment, Heather and Laura. They are old Friends and instructors from Stuart Cove in the Bahamas. After living with 3 girls for less than 72 hours, I have now learnt the do's and don'ts of "foundation" (after enduring a make up video last night for an hour), I never knew just how complicated foundation can be, I now understand why it takes them so long to leave the house!
They are off for ladies night at the movies tonight so I get some peace, if they ever get there!!
Heather and Laura if you are reading this - we will miss you when you leave !!
Trip Advisor is looking very healthy with a total 51 reviews, 5 stars and of course we are still number 1 attraction on St.Martin.
The review from the Schneider Family is great. This family of 4 came on a private boat charter and thier youngest Daughter 4 years old was snorkeling at Turtle Reef and saw turtles - we couldn't get the mask and snorkel off her all day - she loved it. Then we went to Green cay and she saw Eagle Rays and Sting rays. We took them to Pinel Island for Lunch and then headed home - a fantastic full day boat charter and the highlight of thier week on a Caribbean Cruise.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html
Thanks to the Schneider's for a great day and also to our instructor Christian for being a great Snorkel guide.
We will keep you updated with Hurricanes so watch this space.
That's about it for today,
Have a great week
Chris.
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.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Compressor
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.
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.
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