Congratulations to Georgie, Steve, Mitchell, Warren and Arnaud, whom over this past weekend successfully completed their PADI Rescue course.

The Rescue course is a physically and mentally demanding program covering a diverse range of topics from equipment problems to physiology and O2 administration. The goal of the course is to identify personal limitations, strengths and weakness, so in the advent that you are involved either directly or indirectly in a diving emergency you have a better understanding of how to respond.

DIVE RESCUE SCENARIO

Over a period of 4 days the team went through a variety of exercises and scenarios, ranging from missing divers, unconscious diver, beach exits and administration of oxygen, to mention just a  few. The course was not all work and we managed dives on the Long Island Marine Reserve and a scallop dive.

As always a few mistakes were made, including a few near drownings where the rescuers had to be rescued, but that is standard for the rescue course and all part of the learning process.

Thanks again team for training with Go Dive, I hope you never have to put your rescue skills into practice other than identifying and then eliminating problems before they become a hazard.

On another topic, GO Dive is now on Facebook, so become a fan and visit our wall for a on-line chat.

Safe Diving

Brent

Its been a  pretty settled week weather wise, with the visibility ranging from 8 metres on the Lermontov, up to 12 metres on Cape Jackson and around 6 in the Inner Sounds.

Unfortunately tomorrow looks like rain and wind so we have had to cancel our Lermontov trip, the Inner Sounds look like a safe bet though. Sunday will be the day to get out and it should be good everywhere.

We finish off our Rescue course this weekend, and start preparing for our next Port Gore Live-a-Shore trip late next week. I can still fit two more on this trip if you are keen.

Have a good weekends diving, the shop will be open all weekend so pop in for a chat and meet Becky our new girl.

Safe Diving

Brent

I have just returned from a 7 day expedition to the Lermontov Lodge where Go Dive hosted a great bunch of hard core wreck divers.

Technical diving is the way to really get your teeth into the Lermontov and these guys enjoyed 13 deco dives over 7 days, using twins, slings and nitrox gas. Part of my brief on all these trips is to tell everyone any artifacts that are obvious stay on the wreck, however anything deep inside her and beyond recreational diving limits are fair game and best recovered so everyone can enjoy it.  As New Jersey wrecks divers and some being Andrea Doria veteran’s it didn’t take to long before some very nice artifact’s were being recovered. 

Mike and Jon beside their collection of Lermontov artifacts

Mike Dudas of Dudas Diving and Jon were the main contributers to the recovery of the artifact’s and generously distributed their collection around the group so everyone went home with some very nice pieces, we even had one of our evening meals from a beautiful Morflot dinner set.

Captain Hank and his arsenal of wreck diving tools

 Other than a small submersion event with our tender barge, the handheld VHF radio spending a lonely wet night on the road in, a partly broken compressor and the Lodge Weka taken a dump on Bobs bed, every thing went according to plan.

Thanks guys for diving with Go Dive I hope to see you all back again some day. Also to Guy, Andrea and Mike, Go Dive staff for your sterling effort in keeping the food coming and the cylinders full.

Safe Diving

Brent

How about a trip to Vanuatu?, I have been talking to the guys at Nautilus Dive Centre in Villa about coming over for a trip for a few days and then shooting up to Santo for another couple to dive the President Coolidge and Millon Dollar Point.

I have dived up in Villa and Santo a number of times now, the diving is on tropical terms pretty good with the Coolidge being up their as one of the best wreck dives in the world. It is an easy destination to get to and there is plenty to do for non divers.

I have set some preliminary dates and done some costings for the Villa leg of the trip, waiting on some costs for the Santo leg.

July Monday 5th travel to Villa

July 6th to the 10th,8 dive package diving around Villa

July 11th fly to Santo

July 12th, 13th, 14th dive the Coolidge and Million dollar point

July 15th fly to Villa

July 16th fly home

Costs for the 8 dive package with accommodation at the Nautilus Lodge would be $875.00. Flights at the moment are around the $600.00 mark ex Auckland. The Santo leg would be around the $900.00 mark, inclusive of dives and accommodation at the Deco Stop and another night back in Villa on the way home. So thats approx $2375.00 plus food for a 11 day trip, there will be a few extras etc on top or if you wanted to upgrade your accommodation that would be an option to. All up I reckon we could have a really good dive holiday in the middle of the NZ winter for less than NZ$3000.00.

If you are keen then get in touch with me and I will put your name down to receive more info and a confirmed price. Plan is to leave the travel to Villa and back again and accommodation upgrades for individuals to arrange so you can then choose how long to stay etc, i.e miss the Santo leg.

cheers

Brent

Last weekend we spent another perfect weekend over at the Lermontov Lodge diving the Lermontov with Paul Trainor and his group from Wellington. 

Also along was Arnaud Deboel, who had along his new Cressi Apnea freediving wetsuit that he had just brought from Go Dive. Scuba diving in a freediving suit is a relatively new idea in NZ, but common practice in Europe, I had my doubts about how warm the suit would be. Following is Arnuad’s review of his new suit.

“I was searching for a suit that I could use either for freedive , either for Scuba and I think I found it!

This wetsuit is amazing; it’s like a second skin. I was a little bit worried last weekend because it’s only a 5mm and I tried it for the first time on a Lermontov dive in a 12°C water but after a few seconds I felt even warmer than usual with a 7 mm suit. I could even took 3 Kg off my weightbelt and the freedom of movement is quite unusual.

Just have to be a little bit more careful when you put it on and when you take it off. The inside part is glued so it make it easier to tear”.

I was pleasantly surprised with how Arnaud found the suit so warm, especially given most his dives were at 30 meters which at 12 degrees would have been pretty nippy in a normal wetsuit. On the negative side and only if you are a rough bugger, the suit is prone to tearing if you do not soap when donning and be very careful when taking it off.

Another suit that we have just got into stock is the ladies MEDA’s this is a very smart 2 piece 7mm wetsuit that we had specially imported. We have had the mens MEDA’s in rental for over a year now and it has proving a very warm and robust suit. We have sold a number off the ladies suit all ready and at $550.00 are a good price.

Another good weekend, summer must be on its way after all.

This last weekend we started our Dive Club Marlborough Rescue course, we headed out for the two days starting with the Koi on the Saturday, and since the day was so nice and we had a few extra rec divers on Sunday, I decided to head for the Long island Marine Reserve to continue the course and for a couple of pleasure dives.

Visibility at our special dive site was well over 12 metres with crayfish of 6 kg’s plus enjoying the sunshine while bathing on the kelpy rocks. It is quite special to see how these crays have adapted to life in a marine reserve and have no concern when divers check them out.

For the second dive we headed over to Motuara Island reef, where some of the group dived for the first time in a Macrocystis Pryrifera kelp garden. All in all we had a very pleasant weekends diving and learned some valuable rescue skills along the way.

Our half price sale has now finished, a big thankyou to all who took advantage or our special prices. Although the sale is finished we will continue to offer very competitive prices on all types of equipment, so check Go Dive out if you are after new kit of any description.

Next weekends Port Gore Lermontov trip is now full and the weather is looking like it is going to behave itself again. The next Lermontov Lodge trip with space is now not until the 4/5/6th of December with Jan fully booked also, so if your keen to see what all the fuss is about give me call or email.

Safe diving

Brent