Sunny, hot, good vis.

Its all go at the moment, the water temp is on the rise, vis is good all round and heaps of people wanting to dive. We have had great diving on the Lerm, long Island and locally over the last week.

Our new location is proving a hit with its accessibility etc, with an big increase in air fills. Both boats are now full for tomorrows dives, but there is a couple of spaces on Saturdays local trip and one for Sundays Lerm dive, next weeks Live-aboard is full but we do have local trips going out.

This will be my last blog posting for the year, so have a great New Years eve, don’t drink to excess and see you next year.

Safe Diving

Brent

Yesterday Andrea and I headed out to the Outer Sounds with a group of very keen Discover Scuba Divers on board. Plan was to dive Long island Marine Reserve and finish off with a picnic lunch at Ships Cove.

Due to strong Northerly winds making our anchorage at Long Island a bit bumpy and not ideal, we went to plan B and moored up in the lee at Motuara Island. As it turned out plan B was a better option than plan A, with the group enjoying well over an hour in the water on their very first scuba dive. The visibility was around the 10 meters mark and the water temp up to a balmy 16.5 degrees. We saw 4 Eagle ray’s on our swim along the reef and a very healthy population of Blue Cod, proving that the ban on Blue Cod fishing is working.

Picnic at Ships Cove

We finished off with a very nice picnic in the shelter of Ships Cove, although we had to fight of  the Weka’s for a share of the lunch. All in all it was a very pleasant day, finishing with an after work dive with the Go Dive staff and club members for Christmas day scollop’s.

The dive conditions are excellent at the moment so make the most of it. Have a great day tomorrow and hope to see you sometime over the summer break.

Safe diving

Brent

This last weekend was the first that we haven’t been out diving since September, partly due to our Lermontov dive being canceled on Sunday due to high winds, but also due to everyone catching up on last minute Christmas shopping. Blenheim was awash with Christmas shoppers over the weekend keeping the divers away from their kit. I actually got to spend some time with the kids for a change, which was nice.

This week is looking pretty good  with good numbers of Discover Scuba Divers booked and the weather looking good right through to the big mans day out. We are heading out to collect some scollop’s on Wednesday 5.30pm, so if you are after some nice fresh Kai for Christmas day, give me a call.

I hope to post another blog before Christmas, but if not have a good Christmas, dive safe, don’t get to dehydrated and hope to see you in the New Year if not before.

Brent

Go Dive

With the North West blowing nearly to gale force and the west side of the Sounds being out of bounds, we headed off to the east of Tory channel to explore some new dive sites and collect a few Koura for Christmas. This area is very different in its geology and aquatic eco system to the Cape Jackson side of the Sounds that we tend to dive on most occasions.

Due to the nature of the coastline which is exposed to the southern oceanic swells you have to choose the right day to visit, but the rewards are quite worth your while. The coastline is littered with sea caves carved out by the relentless movement of the swells, the bottom is covered in large boulders smothered in rich marine growth which is home to a huge bio mass of reef fish and invertebrate life.

THE SUN SHINES THROUGH STEVE’S PASSAGE (PHOTO BY STEVE WALKER WHO HAD TO TAKE IT TO PROVE TO GUY IT EXISTED)

On this occasion the sea was as flat is it gets close in to the cliffs, and we managed to dive two areas that we hadn’t been to before. For the first dive we sneaked the Go Dive boat into a huge bowl like amphitheater which which was punctuated by sea caves and swim troughs. We named this area Steve’s passage in honor of Steve’s misguided attempt in navigation, which resulted in Steve  and Georgie accidentally finding the passage which lead right through the rock wall to the open ocean on the other side.

For the second dive we managed to find another area not far from Steve’s Passage with an average depth of 9 metres, and with excellent visibility which resembled a huge underwater garden, hence Guy was given the honor of calling it Tory Gardens.

GO DIVE MARLBOROUGH MOORED AT STEVE’S PASSAGE (PHOTO BY STEVE WALKER)

All in all we had a perfect days diving, with good vis, calm conditions, dived a few new spots and collected a few Koura for Christmas. On the way back we were reminded of the 45 knot gale that was blowing once we left the protection of the cliffs, this reminded us of how lucky we are to have such a great selection of dive sites to choose from.

This was our last scheduled  Club Dive before Christmas, but I am sure we will get back to this area from time to time in the new year when the conditions are good to continue our exploration. Maybe you might even get to name a dive site if you come along.

Safe diving

Brent

Looks like it is going to be a windy weekend with North Westerlies forecast up to 45 knots. Thats good and bad, good that it is in a lot of places an off shore wind that causes an upwelling, bringing clear water to the surface. For this reason places like the East side of the Sounds and down the coast to Kaikoura have good vis at the moment. The down side is that Port Gore and places like Cape Jackson are going to be out of bounds for the weekend.

Luckily we have no Port Gore trips this weekend and have scheduled a Kai Dive to Wellington Bay, which I expect will be clear and is protected from the wild and windy conditions. There is still a couple of spaces on this trip if your keen.

Inner Sounds diving is also an option, I had 6 metres vis at the Fish Reserve on the mornings DSD dive. Water temp though is a cool 14.5, might stay in my dry suit for another few weeks I think.

CLAIRE ON HER DSD THIS MORNING

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA: DSD VOUCHER

The Discover Scuba Dive is an excellent way for people to enjoy a dive without committing a lot of time or money to an Openwater course. On completion the experience and fee can be credited towards their PADI Openwater course if they choose to continue on with Go Dive Marlborough.

Normal cost for the DSD is $185.00 or $150.00 to Dive Club Marlborough members and includes a boat dive and personal tuition with one of Go Dives Instructors. It is as easy as calling me on 0800 GODIVE and a DSD voucher will be sent pronto.

Have a goooooooood weekend and safe diving.

Brent

Congratulations to Go Dives latest PADI Openwater class who graduated yesterday with their final dive at Karaka Point .

The group of 9 students were on a Scuba Camp from Wellington, they started their course on Saturday and worked hard over the following 4 days to achieve their openwater certification.

OPENWATER STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

Thanks to Ron for organising the group and to Go Dives staff, Nine, Becky, Mike and Andrea who all had a hand in their development over the 4 days.

Safe diving

Brent

The 1st of December is officially the start of summer, however someone should have woken the weather gods to this fact as I think they must have been asleep.

Fortunately they seemed to have woken from their hangover on Saturday and gave us a near perfect day for the first day on our Lermontov live-a-shore trip. Although Sunday was a brief step back into winter we still managed two good dives on the Lerm, followed by an interesting roller coaster ride back to Port.

Blending gas at the Lermontov Lodge

Congratulations to Mathew who completed his PADI Openwater course with Andrea while in Port Gore, doing the last dive of his course on the Lermontov. Katie managed a few dives of her Advanced Openwater and Lee-ann getting a good introduction to diving on Nitrox . Steve and Georgie were cut loose, planning and performing dives on their own in less than average vis, navigating perfectly (in all most every case) up and down the wreck. Phil and Erika, visitors from Aussie, had a good look over the wreck using twins and slings.

Fish Reserve Blue Cod

So far this week the gods have blessed us with perfect summer weather, which is a blessing for the group of 9 students currently completing their PADI openwater course. Local vis is pretty good at the moment, I had a nice relaxing dive with some DSD participants yesterday in the Fish Reserve where there seems to be a few new Blue Cod turned up, either that or they have put on a lot of weight recently.

We have our monthly Kai dive next Saturday, where we will be heading out to Wellington bay in pursuit of come Koura (crayfish) a few spaces left so be in, we hope to finish the day off with a barbecue back at the shop.

Have a good week.

Safe Diving

Brent