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Hello from Africa Blue,
These last few months, the weather has been so unpredictable. Normally this time of year we experience those crisp mornings, flat seas and great viz. However, we have had a mini Tsunami, a cold spell that has broken recorded temperatures, snow in Port Elizabeth – need I go on. However, don’t despair – when we have been diving it has been spectacular – with sightings of sharks, mantas and loads of turtles.
The Raggies have also arrived so now is the time to sign on for a Shark Speciality course. Most people have such a grave misconception about the shark – and the shark speciality is important to educate people that the shark is not the man-eating monster, films like Jaws make it out to be. Infact, it is man deccimating the shark, not the other way around and there are some very vital issues to be considered with regard to shark conservation. In the wild, these animals have come under extreme pressure through overfishing and many species have experienced sharp declines. Probably due to this fact, it was recently discovered that female hammerhead sharks can reproduce without having sex. What is man doing to cause nature to change its natural order of things in order to survive? Sign on for a Shark course to learn more about these facinating creatures.
We have 2 Sodwana trips coming up: Thursday, August to Sunday 19 August and the second trip will be from Thursday 27 September to Sunday 30 September. These trips fill up quickly, so let me know soonest if you want to come. Details will be sent out on email.
We have decided to try and avoid the frantic Christmas rush & silly season with the Mocambique trip. So we have scheduled it for 03 January. It is still school holidays, so time for the whole family to chill out and do some bonding and diving.
The Red Sea trips are also filling up almost as soon as the emails go out. The trips in June and July are full. So we have put on another trip in September, and just by word of mouth this trip is nearly full. There are only a few spaces left, so if you want to do this trip visit our website on www.diveafricablue.com to find out more details. Please note that a deposit confirms a booking – unfortunately, we cannot not accept verbal confirmation
Regarding forthcomming courses – you will be receiving emails on each course shortly. Here are some dates to watch out for:
• OPENWATER FULL-TIME (In the school holidays) – 11 July
• SHARK SPECIALITY – 12 July
• ADVANCED COURSE – 17 July
• WRECK SPECIALITY – 24 July (We do need a minimum of 6 people to do this speciality)
• DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY – 01 August
• OPENWATER PART-TIME – 06 AUGUST
• STILL TO BE SCHEDULED – EFR, RESCUE & DIVEMASTER
Please contact us if you are interested in doing any of the above courses.
For all the budding photographers and not to exclude the experienced ones, there is going to be a “Winter Shootout” on Aliwal from 26-28 July. There are going to be 4 categories – Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced and Rare with some great prizes. Further information can be downloaded from their website www.scup.co.za.
And for a non-diving activity – we are climbing Kilimanjaro this year in October or November. So if you are interested in facing up to the challenge, let me know. I will be emailing details as soon as a date has been set.
Our new website is up and running – so check it out on www.diveafricablue.com. As well as a new look, the picture gallery has been re-designed and we have added a weather button. So now, there is no need to surf the internet to find out what the weather is doing – you will be able to go to the Africa Blue website, press the weather button and then plan your weekend and activities, which hopefully will be diving related.
Well divers, that is all for now. Hope to see you underwater soon!
Yours in diving,
Beryl
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