Dive Picton news blog

Sunday at the Lermie

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:57:09 +1300

The weather forecast said it should be grim but the actual conditions on the wreck were fantastic!

Flat oily seas in Port Gore and sun.

Little bit of a shame that the visibility wasn't as good but none the less we had 2 great dives. Very cool to find the book of practical russian and get the divers to learn some words! Great narcosis checker when down a bit deeper to try and recall the russian word for bike! or chocolate or bouyancy?

Either way its great fun. We are also standing behind our policy not to remove anything from the wreck- lets leave it there for all divers to find and wonder at what was going on at the time of the sinking!

Thanks to Oren, Ray ,Stefan and Hanna for the great day!

Sunset Crays

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:43:24 +1300

Last nite we had to take advantage of the perfect evenings that we have been having lately so we shot out for a sneaky dive.

Within 15minutes we had settled on a spot that turned out to be awesome!.

Heaps of Jason mirablis nudibranchs (sonic the hedgehog) fish everywhere and topped off by getting some crays which is never a bad thing!

Awesome night- long may they continue.

Underwater photo bonanza!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:40:05 +1300

THis week, Rosario Del Gardo completed her Underwater photography specialty course with some diving in the inner sounds. Fantastic conditions, warm water and some very cooperative marine life meant for 275 images been shot over 2 dives! Thats a pretty quick shutter finger.

Check out the vis

Well done Rosie great to get some good conditions finally!

Doin it at Durville !

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:51:00 +1300

Well it would seem from the lack of blogging action that we must have given up diving! Rest assured we haven't! Its just been busy with summer coming full on and s%#t hitting the fan that we haven't sat down and shared our thoughts for a while.

Flying in to Catherine Cove on the Float Plane

So its now 2010, a new decade for diving and i thought i'd kick off the blog session with our trip to Durville on Monday.

My beautiful wife Dale organised a surprise overnight night mission to the island flying in and out on the float plane, staying in a beachfount luxury unit and a day out spearfishing! Wow what more can i say!

This is the ultimate way to get around the sounds, only 20 mins from Picton and we were standing in Catherine Cove discussing where to go shorkelling!

Arrival on the beach!

We were greeted on the beach by Robyn and Aaron McCokindale, the owners of the Wilderness Resort and shown to our room. Once sorted out with the "Durville Cure" massive breakfast with all the right carbo loading you need, we were off up the eastern side of the island heading to Cape Stevens.

An ok moki with Stephens Island behind us

We shorkelled all over Bill Hook bay then south to the Rangitotos before heading in closer to grab some musselss and a few stargazers into the catch bag then home where Aaron prepared the awesome seafood ensemble you see below.

Thai curry Paua, Moki sashimi, Honey Chilli Mussells and Crays

It was a fantastic day out, Durville island is awesome, the Wilderness Lodge is a great place to stay and eat, Aaron is a guru chef and the Picton Floatplane has got to be the best way of getting there!

We are going to organise 2 trips back to Durville before winter. One will be a diving mission and one will be dedicated to shorkelling and free diving.

Thanks so much Dale, you are a legend, best gift i have ever got (except for our daughter Jessica and the new girl on the way!)

We are back for 2010 so keep watching this space!

Cheers

Ben

Labour Weekend Specials!!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:26:53 +1300

Cressi Facile wetsuit $100 off. was $589 now $489

Suunto dive computers min $100 off

Still lots of merino lined suits in plenty of sizes with 25 – 40% off!!

Inntova cameras 30% off!

Vagary Watches $50 off

Plus lots of other bargains!

See you there!

Open EVERY DAY 8am - 6pm!

Dive Otago rocks the Mikhail Lermontov!

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:59:31 +1300

Yes we know this was a while ago but we had to still say thanks to all the team at Dive Otago for an awesome weekend staying out at Cape Jackson once again! Diving was wicked with the find of the weekend a massive case of old Sprite cans. Stashed in a secret spot on the wreck for future tours - "oh, look what we found" :)

The guys and gal were terrific divers and made the most of the weekend by diving every chance they could get, except when we visited the Skywalker Rock on the Queen Charlotte Wilderness Park and a couple of people showed that while they can go deep inside the wreck they are no too fond of heights!!!

Cheers to Euan, Adam, Nat, Dave and Baz!

Aquarium Collection Dive!

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:36:39 +1300

Join us on Tuesday 9am as we help replenish our local Aquarium supply of critters! Due to a mutual relationship with the friendly fellas and ladies down at Picton's Aquarium we are on a mission to donate some sea life! Keep an eye out on the Dive! Reports for some great Aquarium deals and activities!

Bula from Fiji

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:01:19 +1300

After the fantastic 4 days away at the Knights we continued on with the diving buzz and jumped a plane to Fiji. Heading for Savu Savu and the chance to spend 9 days kicking back at our friends place in the Nukumbalavu Road!

After getting the mandatory fleecing as a tourist in Nadi with a $100 garden tour we jumped on a seriously old and small plane to Savu Savu. That was like going in a time machine back 100 years which was awesome!

We lazed by the pool, did some stunning dives in the Somo Somo straight and out at Namena Island, did some cultural coconut cracking and met some really nice locals.

We eluded the local police who may have busted us for riding on the back of a ute, we found a corporate guy whose office was basically on the beach who served us big bottles of beer in between dealing with clients in America. We danced at pub with a live island band, ate raw fish, snorkelled off the side of the road and pretty much chilled out.

Thanks very much to Chris, Kerry and Sam Sullivan who were awesome hosts with the best collection of $2.00 dvds that you will ever see!

Also cheers Stefan for hooking us up in Nadi-Vinaka

Looking forward to next years tropical escape!

Merino Lined Wetsuits

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:38:58 +1300

End of line special! 40% off Trident merino lined one piece wetsuits - only on sizes still in store - about 8 left!

POOR KNIGHTS

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:14:40 +1300

With the exception of a three hour flight delay (go the $30 flights Garth and Tex!) the trip started off smoothly and while there was a lack of musical taste in the van (DIY hits rules!) spirits were high for our journey north.

What could have been disaster with the weather turned into an awesome few days diving in the far north! With the first day dubious for the Knights we all jumped into the new Ford Transit and road tripped up to dive the Canterbury with the wonderful Northland Dive. As Stefan took the front seat with his gadgets, unfortunatley there was some serious debate as to who was better at giving directions - the Dale Dale or the Tom Tom but when the sexy french accent came on the debate ended fairly suddenly. Although Cora was right when saying there should really only be one woman allowed to tell our husbands what they should be doing!

As we headed out on the boat 007 (wicked!) we had an exilerating boat ride through some humungous waves saw most of us pooping ourselves while Shane (skip) had not a worry on his face. sweet!

The Poor Knights recieved us the next two days after another rolling boat ride (and a green Stu!) with 30m vis and awesome marine life. Mike showed great restraint in not wanting to hunt and eat all the glorious marine life in this marine reserve! Awesome work Janine as a new diver kept up with the gurus in fine style. Suspicions of Ben Jr being a little narced as he thought Dale's ok signal meant, yep it's fine to go to 46metres!

On Sunday after 3 awesome dives we were treated to an amzing cook -up by Jo (thank you again!) with Thai Curry, Meatballs, and homemade pavlova! And of course the trip legend was crowned.

Congratulations to "The Garth" who is now the new Trip Legend! He was a convincing win with nearly 100% on the quizz and scored extra points in the 'crawling question' when asked What gives better directions - a Dale Dale or a Tom Tom? He replied "It doesn't matter as Ben doesn't listen to either of them!"

Also congratulations to the 'booby' prize winners:

Restraint Award: Mike

Inseperable Award: The Garth and Tex

Coordination Award: Janine

Look on the Bright Side Award: Stu

Happy Award: Cora

Gadget Man Award: Stefan

Deep Diver Award: Ben Jr

Thank you guys and gals for making it an awesomely fun trip and cheers to Noel and Jo from Yukon Charters and Shane and Julia from Northland Dive for taking us out to the awesome sites!

See you again next year!!

POOR KNIGHTS DIVE MISION 2009

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:35:49 +1200

Here it is-lock in the 10th-14th September as your Poor Knights Island dive mission!

This is an awesome trip with some really stunning diving.

More details to come as we firm up this years package.

Who will be Trip Legend?

This was us heading out to the Sugarloaf-what a day!

Keep an eye out for more details coming soon!

Another Russian wreck mission

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:39:17 +1200

Fridays weather forecast was awesome for heading out to Port Gore to dive the Lermie again. The first time in a while as the weather hasn't been that flash to head out there.

Mike and Kathryn happy as after 2 great dives

We had a keen crew including a mixed bag of Pictonites, Blenhiemers and some Americans and French to keep it interesting!

It looked to be an interesting first dive after we dropped a Bio fin over board! Ben attempted the dive on one fin but luckily we found it again lying on the deck of the Lermie! The funniest part was Sebastian who found it didn't realise that Ben had only one fin on and thought he had scored a flash fin!

We did 2 great dives, visibilty was a little down but the wreck is as cool as ever to dive.

Congratulations to Mike Black who was able to complete the final 2 dives of his advanced openwater.

Thanks guys it was great. Look forward to the next mission.

First Time for Everyone !

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:53:12 +1200

Today (Saturday) i had the pleasure of introducing Karleen and Patricia to the underwater world! Starting out with the short DSD vid then up to the pool for some familialisation (is that how you spell it?) of the gear then out to the Koi wreck for a dive.

Great conditions, fantastic vis, some scallies for the pan and some cool seal action on the way home- what a way to start the weekend.

Thanks ladies, i hope you enjoyed your experience. Cheers to Jake Brookie for driving the boat.

Cod Cod Cod

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:06:43 +1200

Well it was great to get back out after a few days of high winds and big rains!

Todays mission to the Blue Cod Hole was great as the visibility in Double Cove was fantastic and the Northwesterly wind doesn't bother us in there.

Lots of divers doing different things today.

Congratulations to Matt Hand (check out the hair?) for completing his Openwater course by referral, to the German boys Thomas and Florian wunderbar for your first dive ja? Thanks Stefan and Serena for keeping them safe. Janine what can we say?Another legend diver in the making! One dive left and then Poor Knights! yesss.

So all up a great morning. Hopefully weather cooperates for Fridays Lermie mission.

Also just 9 days until the Poor Knights Mission! Wow looking forward to that.

Cheers Ben

check out the cod threesome! Great shot Dale!

NEW LOOK SIGNAGE!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:44:10 +1200

The outside of the shop has had a mekeover! The awesome photo's of Dale and her friendly blue cod have been enlarged to blast every one with how awesome the diving here in the Marlborough Sounds is!

Make sure you keep you eyes on the road as they can be a little distracting!

Cheers

Ben and Dale

GOING DEEP UNDERCOVER (for the second time)

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:53:47 +1200

To complete the deep dive specialty last Friday we had a target depth of 35metres to go to and explore what what down at those depths. As expected here in the inner sounds there wasn't a whole heap there, in fact on this day it was pretty dam dark!

The water has an incredible capacity to absorb all light and it was even hard to see Mike's massive car headlamp torch down at that depth!

It was also even harder to read our instruction slate which is why a thorough dive plan is really important!

The dive end up sweet as, with our redundant systems being deployed and a safe and comforable dive was the outcome.

Well done Mike who moves one step closer to completion of the advanced openwater. Also well done Serena, first foray into the instructional side of deeper diving- alot differnt to what the book says!

WELL DONE JESSIE-LEE!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:03:27 +1200

Congratulations to Jessie-Lee Fishburn who completed her Final Dive of her openwater course on Sunday. It was a beautiful morning to finish off with good visibility but still chilly ( believe me Jessie knows all about being chilly!)

sorry i look like a dufus but i was pretty excited

Top effort and looking forward to seeing you out there when the weather warms- probably steaming part us on the Genesis with a coffee in hand, eating toast and watching sky tv on the way to the dive site!

Is it summer? Warm weather and people everywhere!

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:55:29 +1200

Sorry about neglecting the blog, hard to type when you're under the water!!

And under the water we have been! All levels of training going on over the past week - Discover Scubas, Night Dives, Open Water Students, Resuce Course! Will let the photos do the talking.

Go gurus! Awesome work Tynesha, Tiare, Florian, Thomas and Chris and thanks for your help Charlie!

Gazing at the stars while scallop hunting!

Night Diving! Awesome work this week Raumoa!

Great stash and well done on the course Chris!!

Massive Weekend!

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:40:08 +1200

Well this weekend was a huge one for the dive crew- things going on ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Serena and Harry graduated with their Dive Instructors and Dive Control specialist ratings, We did a Nitrox Instructor programme, we had a cracking BBQ outside the shop on Saturday followed by some sweet music at Le Cafe followed by shaking booty on the dance floor at you guessed it- Mikeys!

The team also scored some sweet scallops on Saturday-slap on the wrist to Garth and Stu Monson who should have known better (they will tell you about it!)

Then Sunday (today) the posse kicked up dust as we finished off Adam, Buck and Chris as Openwater divers! Yay well done- esp the boys who had been at it for 6 months!

Jessie-Lee you will be there to soon but such a great effort considering your surface area to heat retention ratio!

All up guru weekend..

Can't wait till next Friday!

Thanks Grant for all the help- not long till your Dive Con is all wrapped up.

Congratulations Serena!

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:58:15 +1200

Well it's been a long time coming but after an intense 2 day evaluation we are really pleased to announce that Serena Wilson has passed her Instructor Examination and is now a Diving Instructor!

The instructor rating is a fantastic acheivement, it involves a lot of study, skill practise, dive leadership and overall committment to diving which Serena has displayed over the last 3 months.

Then you have to put all that together for the Instructor Evaluator who is Riaan Woest and convince him that you are up to the mark.

Riaan Woest (SSI Instructor Certifier) congratulates Serena on passing her Instructor Exam

So well done mate! Look forward to sharing in the celebration tonite!

BBQ at the Dive Shop- Kick off around 4-5pm!