Could it get any better?

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

New Reefs

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.