Looks like it is going to be a blowy one this weekend, with strong North to North West winds.

STARGAZER IN THE FISH RESERVE

Conditions are pretty good in the Inner Sounds at the moment, we had a good 6 metres on the Koi today and even better in the Fish Reserve. We also sneaked out for a dive on our newly discovered wreck and hope to have more info on this soon once we identify it.

Water temp is still up around 16 and there is plenty of fish around, with stingray being seen on a couple of occassions this week.

Have a good weekend and safe diving

Brent

Go Dive

Two spots on tomorrows club dive up for grabs at $35.00 each.

Call me tonite on 0800GODIVE to book.

See you tomorrow.

Brent

It’s hard to keep exciting developments secret and that’s the case with our latest. Come the end of April "Go Dive" will be closing our operations in Waikawa and over a period of a few months will be reopening in bigger and brighter location smack bang in the middle of Picton. 

Part of the redevelopment will include increased trading hours, multi compressor facility with Nitrox and Trimix, tank testing, regulator servicing and heeeeeaps of off street parking. "Go Dive" will be selling popular brands of equipment like Cressi, Apeks, Dive Rite, Halycon and Suunto at not to be beaten prices and will also be adding to our fleet of 3 boats, a new 14 metre liveaboard which is going through survey at the moment and will be ready by end of April.

"Go Dive" will be Pictons one stop dive shop and will be backed by the regions most experienced team of PADI dive professionals.

Keep an eye on this blog for further updates on the relocation. In the mean time I have a shop in Waikawa full of top quality equipment that I do not want the hassle of moving into storage, so if you are after some kit, come in and make an offer, its got to go, one way or the other.

cheers Brent

Ever heard the kids song "Big Blue Cod" its a version of the Wheels on the Bus song. Well the Fish Reserve that we dive in nearly every day reminds me of that catchy jingle.

The Blue Cod which are now protected in the Sounds, have been under protection in this little bay for many years now and have grown very friendly and make ideal photo subjects. Even though it is a bit of a muck dive, the convoy of Blue Cod that follow you around and literally get in your way make up for the normally average visibility.

Proof that kids and fireworks aren’t a good match (excuse the pun). Scrub fire very close to houses in Waikawa Bay today. Luckily helicopters with monsoon buckets got it under control before it threatened nearby houses.

Photo taken 10 minutes after fire started from outside Go Dive

Easter is only a few weeks away and Go Dive have a number of things going on, if you are keen on getting wet here they are.

EASTER FRIDAY:

PADI Open water course starts, only $450.00 inclusive of all kit rental and club membership

Outer Sounds Trip:Reporting time 8am (Free Underwater Film camera for the first 5 club members to book)

SATURDAY:

Lermontov Trip: Reporting time 7.30am

SUNDAY:

Inner Sounds Trip including U/W Easter Egg Hunt: Reporting time 8.30am (Prize for each egg found)

Hi…the weather has been a bit up and down this week, with southerly’s, northerlies and everything in between.

Visibility has suffered a bit unfortunately with it being around 4 to 5 metres on the Koi and Fish Reserve. Vis on the Lermontov is variable with it being down to 3 meters in some places and up to 10 to 15 metres in others.

Weather for tomorrow looks ok, although a residue 4 metre Southerly swell will put pay to any attempts to dive out side Tory Channel or Cape Jackson. Sunday looks better with 15 knot winds so that might be the day to venture further out.

Have a good weekend and dive safe.

Brent

If you want to make the most of your time on dives, like the Mikhail Lermontov, by far the best way is to plan and implement Decompression Dives.

A misconception of deco diving is that you need twin cylinders or a re-breather and heaps of training and experience. Although training and experience is right to an extent, confident, trained divers on a single cylinder with one side mounted deco cylinder can enjoy a deco dive of at least 80 minutes on the Lermontov, with only 10 to 15 minute of decompression obligation. That’s equivalent to 2 single tank dives on air.

Go Dive Marlborough is running our next TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures course on the 16/17/18/19th of April, we have two places left for those interested. Prerequisite is Advanced or equivalent and Enriched Air Nitrox. Nitrox course available prior if required.

For more info etc give Brent a call on 0800 GODIVE.

What a weekend!. 

Dive HQ Petone , Wellington, joined us this weekend for a day of rust diving yesterday and another today. All up we dived on 3 different wrecks, just missing out on the Lastingham today due to a rough sea and poor vis.

Although the vis on the Lerm is still pretty average on the outside, we had an exceptional dive in the Bolshoi lounge where the vis was reallll good. Out on the Rangitoto the guys and girls enjoyed vis up to 10 meters and nice surface conditions. This is a nice little wreck with great marine life.

On Sat night we all ventured over to the Koi for a fourth dive for the day after a barbe back on shore. Joined by Andrea and Dave who had just come back for a days diving out at Tory where they had 20 meters vis plus.

ANDREA AND DAVE GET READY TO SPLASH ON THE KOI.

(Nice rosy cheeks Andrea, hope that they were due to wind and sun burn  from a day on the boat and not to one to many whiskys down at the Jolly Rodger)

All in all we had a pretty good weekend and I would like to thank Tomo, Rachel, Cameron, Gary and Darren from Dive HQ, plus Chris Bojarski from Melbourne whom made the trip over for the weekend to dive the Lerm and wrecks with Dive Marlborough.  Also to old faithfuls Guy and Mike, what would we do with out you guys.

cheers Brent

.

Watch this space for some major news soon. This is exciting stuff for us and will result in even better service and deals for you our valued customers.

I hope to release the news within the next few weeks so be watching.

regards Brent

Congratulations to Doug Dillaman who today finished his PADI Advanced Openwater course with Go Dive. Doug was lucky enough to complete part of his training on the Mikhail Lermontov and the wrecks of the Lastingham and Koi.

Although the vis was at its worst on Lermontov we had a an enjoyable day, made up by great vis on the Lastingham and a near perfectly calm windless sea. Doug is off next week to dive the Great Barrier reef and the Vanuatu, including the President Coolidge so his newly required skills will be invaluable.

Dives included core dives Deep and navigation, plus Nitrox, Wreck and Naturalist. Doug was Budded up with Mike our new Professional intern candidate.

 DOUG AND MIKE LOGGING THEIR DIVES