Dive Times June 2012 Newsletter

Dive Times

Photo: Adam Illingworth

Issue 51 June 2012

Kia Ora,

Winter time is a great time to be thinking about frosty mornings followed by sunny days with little wind and great visibility. Well that’s how the weather used to be. The old two-piece 7mm was the exposure protection of the day with some warm leek and potato soup sloshed into the gloves at half-time. How things have changed. Many of our customers are now using drysuits or supplementing their one-piece neoprene with space-aged layering products like Lavacore and Sharkskin. If you are contemplating an upgrade into gear that will keep you warmer then we have good stocks of all of these products and remember we have a heated pool for you to try most of these products out. Our friendly staff are looking forward to assisting you into the latest gear over the next few months. - Dave Watson

Recreational Courses NEWLY CERTIFIED OPEN WATER DIVERS Dive Otago would like to congratulate all of our recently certified open water divers, Crete Whaanga, Samuel Dooley, Finley Burrows, Josie Burrows, Hayden Hughes, Karsten Shotbolt, Genevieve Coffey, Moritz Hofmann, Sam Paddon, Josie Crawshaw, Janelle Drinkwater, Douglas Stewart, Julia Clement, Gemma Wilson, Bailey Lovett, Sherman Weatherall, Shaun Aitcheson and The Baxter family!

AWARDS Also a BIG Congratulations to Emma and Jen who both received awards from PADI for outstanding customer service and professionalism in PADI scuba instruction as acknowledged below: “Instructors Jen Clent and Emma Young were outstanding in regards to delivering and demonstrating all the course materials. It was a commendable effort from

Congratulations to our very own Adam Illingworth who won the Novice Highly Commended prize in the new Dive New Zealand magazine with this stunning photo he took of a Grey Moray Eel at the Poor Knights Islands.

both of them. Both instructors were clear and precise when communicating with the group both above the surface and below the surface. I would recommend both instructors to any person who is thinking of obtaining their PADI Open Water Certificate. Good job ladies.” - 8th May 2012 DISCOVER SCUBA DIVING Congratulations to Barbara Hawkins for completing her Discover Scuba Diving. Barbs has worked at Dive Otago for a number of years now and we recently persuaded her to take the plunge in the pool where she took to it like a fish to water.

Well done Barbs!

OPEN WATER COURSES - STAR SECONDARY SCHOOLS PROGRAMME Over the Easter holidays we had pupils from Kavanagh College, South Otago High School, Gore High School, The Catlins Area School, Southland Girls High School all completed Star Open

COURSES COMING UP • • • •

Discover Scuba- July 4th, August 1st, Open Water - July 7th, August 8th Advanced - July 26th, August 23rd Rescue - September 26th

Dive Times

Issue 51 June 2012

Photos: Jen Clent

INSTORE NOW

WET OR DRY, HOT OR COLD, LAVACORE HELPS CONTROL YOUR CORE TEMPERATURE LONGER AND WHEN WET MAINTAINS NEUTRAL BUOYANCY. Hoods $59 Vests from $139 Long Sleeve Tops from $179 Full Suit $399

Water Diver Courses. They all worked really hard over the 4 days and completed their Open Water Course and their unit standards.

Do you know any senior secondary school pupils who want to learn to dive? Dive Otago provides partially or fully funded PADI Open Water Courses for senior secondary students.

Simply ask your school’s STAR Coordinator, Careers Advisor or Emma at Dive Otago about your options!

We still have a few spaces available during the next holidays and Students can also join any of our monthly weekend courses.

OCEAN HUNTER BREATH HOLD COURSE Adam Illingworth We kicked things off with a Friday evening class session, learning all about physiological and psychological aspects of breath holding, safe diving practices, freediving equipment, diet & hydration, and then finished off with breathing exercises learning how to breathe up before a dive, post dive breathing and some stretching exercises. Saturday we started off with some more breathing exercises, stretching the lungs, and getting some extra oxygen running through the system. Then went onto some static breath holds progressing our way up to 3min holds, moving onto weighting, duck dive, finning and rescue techniques. After this all of us realised how much more we could be getting out of our dives by using proper technique.

We did some dynamic drills swimming underwater distances of 25m putting technique to practice. With the weather gods working against us we went out to Goat Island in the afternoon and did some drills to 10m working on our duration at that depth.

Sunday we again warmed up with some stretching drills, then some warm up static holds and a final attempt at our maximum static hold. I managed to pull out 3:25 with apparent room for improvement. We did some dynamic drills again, going for maximum distance on which I managed 60m, we were then shown tips for continuing training in our own time.

We spent the afternoon at The Blue Lakes of St. Bathans which was reported to be 50m however we were unable to find deeper than 15m. This didn’t stop us doing some drills to 15m focusing on getting the extra depth and duration. The knowledge that came from instructors Mike and Byron was extensive with an obvious amount of experience. Overall everybody had a blast and greatly exceeded their expectations.

Well done to all involved - I hope the training continues.

The Shop At Dive Otago we believe that great advice and support are worth their weight in gold when it comes to purchasing dive equipment you want to last for years and years. We have loads of knowledge and experience about which products last and which products fall apart in our tough southern conditions (and believe us there are plenty of duds out there). You can come in and try things on so you get the perfect fit and best of all you can try the goods in our pool before you buy.

We do not have an online shop (yet) but we do have some great online catalogues and websites you can browse to get you excited before you visit the shop. Have a look at the goodies below, we stock a lot of this product and if we don’t we can almost always order it in for you.

Find these at www.diveotago.co.nz/shop The Aquanaut Buyers Guide (Scuba) Click here The Oceanic Website (Snorkelling) Click here Beuchat Catalogue (Spearfishing) Click here

Dive Times

TRIPS COMING UP • Milford Sound – July 2012 (2 spots left!) & February 2013 • Mikhail Lermontov - (taking expressions of interest for an October 2012 trip) • Northern Delights – Hauraki Gulf, Poor Knights, Rainbow Warrior. March 2013

Dive Trips MILFORD SOUND – 6TH TO 9TH JULY 2012 Only two spots left on this trip call the shop if you are keen.

If this trip isn’t on your diving bucket list it should be! There is something very majestic about diving in Milford Sound. Our transport will drive you over one of the most beautiful roads in the world, over a mountain pass and through a tunnel. As our boat takes off, you look out at arguably one of the most picturesque views in the world. Dive through a layer of blurry fresh water, which is stained with tannins from the forest trees, and when you reach the clear salt water below huge trees of rarely seen black coral greet you, as well as an abundance of various marine life. When you exit the water, giant waterfalls surround the boat. Yes, it is a truly majestic experience. Only $699.

Issue 51 June 2012 MIKHAIL LERMONTOV Register your interest before the end of June to come to dive the Mikhail Lermentov in October over labour weekend.

Tertiary Training February Diploma students have had a great first term, the

weather has been awesome which has meant the groups have been able to get to a variety of sites including Moeraki where they dived on Fish Reef amongst the kelp forest with carpet sharks, octopus, big schools of fish, crayfish & kina just to name a few. Some were even lucky enough to snorkel in their surface interval with a pod of dolphins!

We have even managed to dive the Tyrone wreck, Otakau Wall & Harington Point so a great introduction to our local sites.

The marine life has also been great with a few 7 gill sharks spotted and some amazing encounters with Hooker Sealions and loads of sea hares at Wellers Rock! Term 2 has started with Divemaster training and the groups are spending a week each over in Milford Sound which everyone is super excited about.

We have spaces available on both Diploma and National Certificate full time programmes starting in August so if you or anyone you know might be interesed send a quick email to gopro@diveotago.co.nz and we will send you an information pack.

Big congratulations to our newly certified Open Water Scuba Instructors who all flew through their Instructors Examination at the start of May. Well done guys from the team at Dive Otago Ltd.

Issue 51 June 2012

Dive Times

Another Anthea Ibell supermodel shot from Kimbe Bay last year....

A big thanks to Don Silcock for this great shot. Check more of his work at www.indopacificimages.com

Graduate Stories ANTHEA IBELL Diploma in Professional Scuba Instruction 2008 The Our World- Underwater Scholarship Recipient 2011/12 The Our World- Underwater Scholarship is an experience based diving scholarship that provides funding to a young person between 21 and 26 for one year. This funding from Rolex and the associated sponsors covers travel within their own region and around the world to do volunteer work, work experience and training.

The Scholarship started in North America in 1973 and has since grown to Europe, 2001, and recently Australasia, 2007 and is aimed at people who have a passion for the ocean but don’t know what profession they want to pursue. The scholarship provides the opportunity to gain experience in various areas within the diving industry and beyond.

Before the scholarship Anthea completed her PADI Open Water Instructor course at Dive Otago and was working part time as a dive instructor and research assistant while studying toward her Bachelor of Science in Zoology, with a Minor in Archaeology, at the University of Otago in New Zealand. During her scholarship year she aimed to gain experience not only in the areas that she is studying, through marine research and underwater archaeology, but in a range of other areas including educational outreach, conservation and laws and enforcement around marine protected areas. Anthea travelled through Australasia, Central and North America, gaining knowledge and skills about not only the diving industry but many areas that affect the oceans.

For more information or to apply visit www.owuscholarship.org and owussaustralasia.org.

Anyone is welcome to contact me either via my email (anthea_ibell@hotmail.com) or through Dive Otago

READ MORE GREAT GRADUATE STORIES ON OUR WEBSITE: http://www.diveotago.co.nz/graduate_stories

Dive Times

Issue 51 June 2012

Photography tips by Tracey Channon Tip #1 Backscatter: It’s happened to us all - we finally find that elusive creature we have wanted to take a pic of for ages and the photo is ruined by the dreaded backscatter. What is it? Backscatter is caused by strobes or internal flashes lighting up particles in the water – and well guys let’s be honest sometimes in our environment there can be a lot of particles in the water.

7.

So here are a few tips to reduce the backscatter in your photos: 1. Use your flash diffuser (the white plastic thing that probably came with your housing) 2. Use an external strobe if you can (the closer the flash is to the lens the worse the backscatter will be) 3. Use good buoyancy 4. Stay down current of the photo subject 5. Shoot against a reef – this will mean the backscatter if present won’t stand out so much 6. We have also found that reducing the intensity or output of your flash helps reduce backscatter Worst case scenario you can remove some backscatter in Adobe Photoshop or similar afterwards.

• Use the lasso selection tool to select small, fine areas of backscatter and eliminate using the remove dust and scratches tool.

• For larger areas, magnify the area and use the healing tool or clone tool – also great for getting rid of those annoying bubbles that distract from your subject.

DID YOU KNOW - divers and non-divers can complete the theory portion of your PADI Underwater Digital Photographer course online with PADI Elearning for only $130 USD (approx $170NZD at time of print)

do you want to

CHANGE your

DIRECTION?

Love Your Job, Your Lifestyle and Your Freedom Become a Divemaster or Scuba Diving Instructor on a student loan. You’ll do things others only dream of. Whether you work in a local dive shop, at a dive resort or on a liveaboard dive boat, the adventure of a lifetime is yours for the taking.

Imagine having a job where you actually look forward to work in the morning. Sailing into incredible sunsets could be the rule, not the exception.

Diploma and National Certificate courses starting in August!

For a free info pack Call 0800 Dive Otago or Email : gopro@diveotago

Dive Times

Issue 51 June 2012

Online video review by Virginia Watson

https://vimeo.com/28263951

https://vimeo.com/34340906

https://vimeo.com/30719106

THE BEST OF MALPELO ISLAND

By Edwar Herreño

FISHING UNDER ICE

By Juuso Mettälä

WE CUT CORNERS “PIRATE’S LIFE”

By Kijek / Adamski 7

“This video was captured between 2004 and 2010 after hundreds of hours exploring one of the most wild places on earth. This is Malpelo Island, Colombia “wild wild west”. sX 1 in a Gates Housing. Enjoy!”

A clever little story told under the ice in a lake in Finland. This one really captures the other worldly feeling you get while ice diving. I loved all of it except maybe the last frame. A magician should never reveal his tricks in my view - still one of my favourites.

This music video uses beautiful hand drawn imagery as an effective accompaniment to a great track.

The rhythmic nature of water is used to great effect to carry the tune as well as the visuals. I recommend watching it a few times

Charismatic megafauna alert!

The Engine Room (filling and servicing) Air Fillers Course Friday 29 June 2012 People who operate dive compressors must, for their own sake, be knowledgeable in the safe operation of the equipment and have an understanding of whether a cylinder is “in test” or not.

This course is designed to meet the practical and knowledge requirements required by the Department of Labour. The Certificate is issued for a period of 5 years and is unique to the Certified Filler. You will need this if you intend to hire Dive Otago’s portable compressor. Course cost is $195, is conducted over a day and will commence at 8.30am on Friday 29 June 2012.

The End We hope you are enjoying keeping up to date what has been going on at Dive Otago. We would also love to hear from YOU! If you have got a story, recipe, joke let us know and we will pop it in the next issue. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

From all the team at Dive Otago!

A pretty shot of the Mole on the PORT OTAGO web cam. Be sure to check it out along with the met service forecasts before you go diving.

Dive Times

Issue 51 June 2012

Dive Centre Name Here Macandrew Bay

Underwater and beach clean up day!

When:

Saturday September 15th 2012

Where:

All Divers - 8.30am at Dive Otago First in first served with free hire of gear and transport to the Bay. All Non Divers - 10am at the Yacht club FREE BBQ weather permitting in the yacht clubs carpark commencing late morning over lunch. We should be finished and back at Dive Otago by 1pm.

Contact: SIGN UP

At Dive Otago or Call 03 466 4370

Dive Times

Issue 51 June 2012

PRODUCT SAFETY RECALL Miflex High Pressure Diving Hoses Recalled Due to Drowning Hazard

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in the US have issued the following product safety recall http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12155.html The Ministry of Consumer Affairs is aware that these products are used in New Zealand and considers this to be a significant hazard requiring corrective action.

STOP USING THIS PRODUCT IMMEDIATELY and return it to your supplier THE HOSES CAN RUPTURE REDUCING THE AVAILABLE AIR SUPPLY TO THE DIVER, POSING A DROWNING RISK

Also sold as Cascade Hoses, Deluxe Cylinder Equalizer (P/N AC366), Miflex Two Gauge Console (HL300/HL300M) and Miflex Rebreather Kits.

MiFlex Low Pressure Hoses are not affected by this recall.

The recall has been initiated by the US supplier of the Italian made products. http://www.xsscuba.com/miflex-safety-recall.html

MED1226966

May 2012

Dive Times

Issue 51 June 2012

Special Newsletter Deals just for you

WORKPLACE FIRST AID TRAINING

Just got fun!

Sign up your workplace for First Aid Training with Dive Otago and we will match any advertised price and every participant earns a FREE Discover Scuba Session! email barb@diveotago.co.nz

LEARN TO DIVE

Free boots and gloves if you book your Open Water Course in July and August.

ADVANCED

Get a friend or family member to book their PADI Open Water Diver Course in June, July, August and get your Advanced Open Water Course for only $375. email courses@diveotago.co.nz

DIVE SHOP

10% off Anything!

Simply bring this voucher into the shop in June and receive 10% off any equipment purchase! Includes everything except courses, packages and servicing. email shop@diveotago.co.nz