Pure Adrenalin Vol 1, Issue 3 by Andrew Schofield

Pure Adrenalin 252 Walker Street, Townsville, Queensland, Australia News from above and below the waves:  eLearning - The Future of Diver Training  Gear specials  Go places, meet people, take photos!  Upcoming trips & courses  Refresh yourself

 Mantis Shrimp  Meet Sandra

Inside this issue: Specialty of the Month - Digital Underwater Photography

Upcoming Trips and Courses

Refresh Course - 3 when and why?

But just what is eLearning, and what can it do for you? eLearning is a method of transferring most of the required theory training for a number of PADI courses in the comfort of your own home and at your own pace. Instead of the traditional classroom situation, in which you watch some videos, go through Knowledge Reviews

tal Underwater Photography, and even pro-level Dive Theory via eLearning.

PADI eLearning

with your Instructor, maybe write quizzes and exams, and then get to get wet, eLearning allows you to complete the theory (videos included) at home, and visit your local dive shop for the in-water training when you’re ready to go on. For people on the go, the ability to complete the theory training allows you to tailor the course to your needs. Over the past few years, PADI has brought more courses online. Currently you can do the theory for Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Enriched Air Nitrox, Digi-

Course fees for the eLearning portion are paid directly to PADI online. Depending on the course, there will be an additional payment to Adrenalin for the in-water sessions as well. Unlimited access to eLearning materials is another perk of the program. No more manuals to lug around, just log back on to refresh your memory. PADI plans to roll out more courses in the future as eLearning is proving so popular. We’ll soon be announcing new course scheduling that will allow eLearniers to seamlessly integrate to our existing courses without them having to redo any of the theory, thus saving time and money. For more information, check out https://www.padi.com/ elearning-scuba-registration/ helpme.aspx or give us a call.

Gear Specials this month

Creature Feature 4

Now with fuzzy layers!

We’ve come a long way from the days when (mostly) young men threw tanks on their backs, strapped knives to their legs, and jumped into the water for an adventure with little or no training.

3 The Equipment Corner - Winter Warmers

Crew Who’s Who

July 2010

PADI eLearning - The Future of Diver Training

The last 40 years has seen massive improvements in equipment, safety, and training in the dive industry. In an effort to maintain it’s lead in the global dive training arena, PADI introduced eLearning a number of years ago, and many other agencies have since followed.

 Time to warm up!

Discover Scuba Diving for $20

Volume 1, Issue 3

Sharkskin is a revolutionary technical water sports garment suitable for many different active water sports . SharkScubapro Novaskin torch garments come in a large range of both sizes and styles

Web: www.adrenalindive.com.au

providing the equivalent warmth of a 2.5 – 3mm neoprene wetsuit.

Members can apply their 10% discount to all Sharkskin products in stock.

Sharkskin is also odour and itch resistant, non chaffing, has outstanding sun protection (UPF 30+), is abrasion resistant, mildew resistant, lightweight and dries much faster than neoprene.

If you’re not already a VIP Member with Adrenalin, why not come in and sign up, or send us an email and we’ll sign you up.

For the month of July, VIP

Members get great discounts, standby rates on trips, and regular specials on gear.

Email: info@adrenalindive.com.au

Tel: +61 (07) 4724 0600

Volume 1, Issue 3

Page 2

Specialty of the Month - Digital Underwater Photography Someone once said that a picture tells a thousand words. They’d obviously never seen a picture taken underwater! A thousand words would rarely do justice to a view of what we, as divers, are privileged to see every dive. Want to save your breath next time you’re trying to explain what it’s like “down there” to a non-diver? Or how about showing off a great shot to dive buddies? Or maybe you just want to use

photography to capture that special dive experience for yourself? Underwater photography is one of the most popular diving specialties, and the rise of digital underwater photography has made it easier and more fun than ever. The PADI Digital Underwater Photographer course gets you going quickly with today’s modern digital equipment. Digital Underwater Photog-

raphy is not just for divers. Snorkelers can take the course too. It’s a 2-part course, each with it’s own certification. Level One can be conducted in our purposebuilt training facility, or on the reef. Level Two is completed on the reef. To book a course, or to find out more information about the course, or any of the other specialties we teach, give us a call, send us an email, or drop in for a chat.

July 2010 Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Schedule of Events Thu

Fri

Sat

Reef

Reef SS Yongala SeaEsta (2) SeaEsta (2) PADI DSD

Reef SS Yongala Reef SS Yongala Reef Reef SS Yongala SeaEsta (2) PADI OW SeaEsta (3) SeaEsta (3) SeaEsta (3) SeaEsta(3) SeaEsta (2) PADI DSD PADI OW SeaEsta (2) PADI DSD & Refresher

& Refresher

Wheeler Reef

& Refresher

Wheeler Reef

SS Yongala Reef SS Yongala Reef Reef SS Yongala PADI OW SeaEsta (3) SeaEsta (3) SeaEsta (3) SeaEsta(3) SeaEsta (2) PADI DSD PADI OW SeaEsta (2) PADI DSD & Refresher

& Refresher

Web: www.adrenalindive.com.au

Digital Underwater Photography Specialty

& Refresher Email: info@adrenalindive.com.au

Tel: +61 (07) 4724 0600

 Mon, Wed & Sat join us on a day trip to the historic wreck of the S.S. Yongala - Australia’s best dive!  Tues, Thurs, Fri and Sun - come snorkeling or diving at fabulous Great Barrier Reef  Join us on SeaEsta for a great 2-day, 2night liveaboard trip to the GBR & S.S. Yongala departing Fri night and returning Sun afternoon  Join us on SeaEsta for an extended 3day, 3-night liveaboard trip to the GBR &S.S. Yongala departing Tues night and returning Fri afternoon  PADI Open Water course starts every Mon & some wknds  Refresher courses and PADI Discover Scuba Diving every Mon & Sat - call for bookings  Shop open 7 days

Volume 1, Issue 3

Page 3

Refresher Courses - When and Why It’s been a while since your last dive. Your equipment is gathering a bit of dust in the shed. Maybe it’s been 6 months, maybe 6 years. Why not dust off that gear, and get back into the swim of things by refreshing your dive skills? Many of us can’t seem to find the time to do the things we used to love to do. Life gets in the way and we never seems to be able to make the time. There truly is no time like the present. A refresher course will get you comforta-

bly back into the water in only a couple of hours, and can be scheduled any Monday or Saturday at Adrenalin. A Refresher course is a great way to remind yourself why you got into diving in the first place, and will remove any anxiety you may have if it’s been a while. It’s a good idea to refresh your skills anytime you feel like you wouldn’t feel 100% confident in just going out for a dive with a buddy. For people who’ve done 100’s of dives over the years,

but not gone for a year or two, it’s a great idea. If you got certified on a holiday and haven’t done any diving since, it’s time to put that ticket to use. Give us 3 hours, and we’ll give you back the underwater world. A Refresher course reviews basic dive theory and runs you through the 20 basic skills you learned in Open Water. Follow it with a reef or Yongala trip to get the most out of your experience.

Get back into the swim of things

For booking information, give us a call, or drop in.

Discover Scuba Diving - $20 Special Learning how to dive is a wonderful adventure. Some people think it takes weeks or months, is incredibly difficult, and very expensive. Those of us in the know understand that these are common misconceptions. There is no better way to take the mystery out of diving than by trying it yourself. That’s why we’ve decided to try to introduce as many people to our wonderful sport as possible by offering introduc-

tory Discover Scuba Diving experiences at our purposebuilt training facility on Walker Street for only $20 this winter. For the rest of the winter, we’ll be running one hour complete DSD experiences with a PADI Instructor every Monday and Saturday for only $20 per person, so why not bring a friend? It couldn’t be simpler to learn what millions of divers around the globe have found

out for themselves - what a wonderful activity diving really is. So if you’ve never blown bubbles yourself, or you have friends or family members who you’d like to share your passion with, this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Just drop into the shop anytime, or give us a call, or send us an email to arrange a session for you, or someone you want to experience the joys of diving. Gift certificates are also available at Adrenalin.

Gear Corner - Winter Warmers The water temperature has definitely dropped over the past few months. We’re averaging about 24 to 25 degrees out at the reef and at the SS Yongala these days.

Winter Warmers

Web: www.adrenalindive.com.au

But just because the mercury has taken a dive doesn’t mean that we can’t! All you need to do is make sure that you protect yourself by adding a bit more thermal insulation to combat the chills that otherwise might take some of the joy out of your dive.

A 3mm suit is perfect for the summer, but it usually isn’t enough for winter by itself. Layering a Sharkskin underneath may do the trick, along with a hood and some gloves, or it may be time to break out the 5mm. If it’s time to upgrade your winter dive wardrobe, drop in and let us show you our winter stock. And remember VIP Members get 10% off any gear in the shop. Membership is free. Don’t dive cold, just dive.

Email: info@adrenalindive.com.au

Tel: +61 (07) 4724 0600

Find out what all the hype is about. Try diving today!

It's a different world down there

Creature Feature 252 Walker Street Townsville,, QLD 4810 Australia T: +61 (07) 4724 0600 E: info@adrenalindive.com.au W: www.adrenalindive.com.au Mantis Shrimp

Mantis shrimp or stomatopods are marine crustaceans, the members of the order Stomatopoda. They are neither shrimp nor mantids, but receive their name purely from the physical resemblance to both the terrestrial praying mantis and the shrimp. They may reach 30 centimetres (12 in) in length, although exceptional cases of up to 38 cm (15 in) have been recorded. The carapace of mantis shrimp covers only the rear part of the head and the first three segments of the thorax. Mantis shrimp appear in a variety of colours, from shades of browns to bright neon colours. Although they are com-

mon animals and among the most important predators in many shallow, tropical and subtropical marine habitats they are poorly understood as many species spend most of their life tucked away in burrows and holes. Called "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, "prawn killers" in Australia and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" by modern divers — because of the relative ease the creature has in mutilating small appendages — mantis shrimp sport powerful claws that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Although it happens rarely, some larger species of mantis shrimp are capable of breaking through aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon. These aggressive and typically solitary sea creatures spend most of their time hiding in rock formations or burrowing intricate passageways in the

sea-bed. They either wait for prey to chance upon them or, unlike most crustaceans, actually hunt, chase and kill living prey. Information courtesy of Wikipedia Next month’s creature

Think you know the name of next month’s Creature Feature? Send us an email to info@adrenalinedive.com.au with “Creature Feature” in the subject line, and your guess. The first person to correctly identify the creature wins a prize.

Crew Who’s Who Sandra is Adrenalin’s Office and Marketing Manager and the woman behind our tireless efforts to let the world know about the phenomenal diving in our backyard.

agent, Sandy’s brings heaps of

Sandy’s been responsible for our presence on the Strand at the first Night Market of the year, when we set up an info booth to spread the gospel of bubbles to locals, among other events.

Favourite Dive:

She’s just come back from the Australian Tourism Ex-

energy and insight into the shop. It’s her one-woman mission to get Townsville on the Australian tourist map. My first intro dive on the GBR Sandra de Matos

change in Adelaide where she represented Adrenalin and rallied for Townsville. Coming to Adrenalin with years of experience as a travel

Favourite Creature: Turtles Why Dive? What better way to see marine life?

Pure Adrenalin is published and distributed in conjunction with Adrenalin Snorkel & Dive. All contents are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without express permission. If you wish to stop receiving this monthly letter, please send an email to info@adrenalindive.com.au Web: www.adrenalindive.com.au

Email: info@adrenalindive.com.au

Tel: +61 (07) 4724 0600