Divewise Weekly...

2011-11-09T03:42:00.000-08:00

Been a while since our last blog so big apologies – my only excuse is “We have been crazy busy”

Lots of things going on so will try and bring you up to date..........

The usual summer holidaymakers came for their pleasure dives wanting to explore the beautiful waters of Malta, the fabulous wrecks we have from 14 meters down and breathtaking reefs, swimthroughs and caverns too – good to have new faces and regulars plus the crazy characters too

We also have the 2 sister Islands Comino with its Blue Lagoon and Santa Maria Caves then Gozo with the Inland Sea, Blue Hole, Coral Caves, Fesse Rock and Billinghurst Cave plus much more

Lots of people have come to do their Open Water Course after completing their theory & pool sessions back home then save the dives for the warm clear sea, Advanced Courses have kept us busy too along with Deep & Wreck Specialties......these are our favourite ones to teach and have beaten the amount of courses we taught last year along with Enriched Air – Thanks to you !

Groups of divers have visited us from the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden & Finland and many other places this year and had a great time – they have become friends on Facebook and sent us their photos which have been lovely to see

A group of 18 year old students arrived from Norway and were all excellent divers after only just passing their Open Water Course – some of them completed their Advanced whilst here and didn’t want to miss a great opportunity – well done to you all, a pleasure to teach you and enjoyed your company

Keswick Scouts from Cumbria came back again after enjoying their first trip last year, 12 of them completed Open Water, Advanced, Deep & Wreck Specialties and kept us all very busy – Bill Walker who organises the trip was very happy with their achievements and already talking about another group next year.... they created a great buzz around the place and missed them the next day after they had gone – they did leave behind a lovely box of shortbreads and chocolates – thanks guys!

Now as Nov starts we have 14 Candidates on the IDC all learning to become PADI Instructors – we also offer the EFR Instructor Course along with the MSDT so they can go away and teach Specialties as well as the basic Open Water, Advanced & Rescue Courses.....it all kicked off yesterday with their Orientation at 4pm with Alan then it’s going to be a full on 2 week course to prepare them for the Instructor Exam on 18/19^th ....... watch this space for more information on their course and lets wish them well !

Finally…. a big THANK YOU to our team this year – you were great and miss you as you leave one by one as our season ends……keep in touch and take care til next season or til we meet again

2011-08-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

Open Water Courses by the dozen this week……..before the Summer comes to an end we have lots of people either starting, half way through or finishing their Open Water Courses this week

We said goodbye to Rick and Britt from the Netherlands who had a great time, Elitsa from Bulgaria who had a great dive on the HMS Maori afterwards - along with Phil and Aoife from Ireland who are coming in on Monday for some pleasure dives hopefully at Cirkewwa to enjoy the archways and Madonna Statue then off to Anchor Bay for some variety

Cedrick, Pauke & Eline all started today whilst Kyle, Leighanne, Saki and Robine are halfway through and are continuing tomorrow to finish

Nick and Laura finished their course last week and are now starting their Advanced on the house reef with Navigation after Comino was cancelled – we had Wreck and Boat planned but I am sure we will be able to run another trip soon to continue their course and choice of dives

Luckily we got our new laptops and head phones on time as we have had to run 3 – 4 languages at the same time so the students can fully understand everything and keep up with the course at the same level – awesome to see them all sitting together and learning the same thing

We have also had a few Scuba Divers Certificates this year and hopefully the divers will be able to enjoy diving in their home country or finish the course on their next holiday – Discover Scuba’s were in abundance this summer and lots came back for pleasure dives on the Maori to explore the wreck and see other marine life – hopefully they get the bug and plan a diving course on their next visit…..

I remember my course back in 1999 – so long ago......... and remember doing the theory and pool in Manchester, the following weekend when I was taken to Stoney Cove for the Open Water Dives in February I was adamant I was not going in – it was so cold and everyone was coming out red faced and freezing but I knew it was not for me….. I waited for our holiday in July and did my first 2 dives in Malta then the last 2 in Jamaica later that year……

I progressed steadily through various courses and braved the cold in Stoney Cove and Capernwray in the summer months of course - but grew to like the diving in the UK and all the other destinations I have been lucky enough to visit……as a retired Assistant Instructor I am quite happy contributing my knowledge and experiences verypassionately to new divers and enjoy diving here in Malta when I get the chance….. the Imperial Eagle and Bristol Beaufighter are my goals for this year

This is me on the left as a Divemaster and was assisting Steve Martin on my sister's Advanced Course - the deal was I had to try skiiing the following year which I absolutely loved but never had the chance to do again........I was so glad to get down the biggest slope at the end of the week still in once piece

2011-08-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry there has been no daily blog for a while but as you can imagine we have been pretty busy being the height of summer...... All going extremely well and enjoying each day as it comes !! Today it is 33 degrees with a gentle breeze so keeping the divers in the shade during their briefings, encouraging them to drink plenty of water and hosing the odd diver down.....

Met lots of lovely people over the last few weeks and more still to come as August is soon at an end and we get more of the dive groups visiting in Sept / Oct whilst now it is families, couples and language students

Carlo, Jacques and Aldo are all doing their Divemaster training and hopefully Ivan and Marta will join them after they finish their Rescue Course today with Pau.....

Max and Coral who are already certified are working towards their A. I Course and are in the pool with Alan today to go over skills and fine tune them - when the IDC starts they should be able to demonstrate them naturally and professionally to impress the PADI Examiners and provide our divers with high standards of teaching and making it fun

We are doing Comino again today followed by the HMS Maori - the Rib has been in full swing servicing lots of recreational divers and technical too - tomorrow they are off to the HMS Southwold for the guys who have just completed the GUE Tech 2 Course so all gases have been prepared today and all ready to be analysed - later the boat will go to the X127 and Maori as a double wreck tour for the divers doing Wreck Specialty

Quiz of the week - do you recognise which member of staff this is as a toddler - 1st one to guess will receive a Divewise Mug

Staff Day

2011-08-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had our annual Staff Day, where we close the centre and the staff get to go diving on whichever dive site they choose. Obviously it has to be on the Maltese archipelago!

Viv took advantage of the centre being closed and stayed home with Jack to have a well earned rest while Alan played boat captain and Sascha was the allocated driver for the day.

This year we went to two dive sites.

The first dive was a local dive site, the Beaufighter.

Darrell took his camera to document the underwater portion of the day, and made sure he got plenty of photos . . . until Steph stole it . . . Then everyone headed off to the Blenheim Bomber . . .

Anne, Aaron and Steve Hill shook the dust off their twin-sets so they could take advantage of making a deco dive.

Ed took his torch so he could hunt for the resident Morey eel

And sure enough we found him . . .

Steph and Ed demonstrated how useful their snorkels are on a 40m dive while doing their safety stop.

After the dives everyone stopped off in Marsascala for a huge lunch followed by a nap in the van on the way back – just because we could!

Jr Open Water and Jr Advanced Upgrades

2011-08-03T23:25:00.000-07:00

Congradulations to Connor

and William
who have just upgraded to the adult version of their diving certification now they have turned 15.

We have had lots of teenagers coming in over the last couple of weeks to upgrade to the adult version of their certification as they turn 15 and want to reap the benefits of diving deeper.

With a Jr certification the maximum depth limit is shallower than the equivalent adult certification allows you to go. For Jr Open water the maximum depth is 12m, whereas the adult certification allows them to go to 18m. For Jr Advanced the maximum depth is 21m whereas the adult certification allows them to go to 30m.

Some people appear to be unaware that the Jr Open Water and Jr Advanced certification that they trained for when they were in their early teens doesn’t just automatically upgrade to an adult certification when they turn 15. It’s important people know this because insurance companies will not cover you if you dive deeper than what your certification allows so you must have an upgrade before you can dive to the depths the adult certification allows.

The upgrade can be done in one day and consists of a tune up, where they go in the pool with and instructor and go through all the 20 skills they did in their Open water course to make sure they remember how to do all the skills. Then they go out into the sea and do a dive to the relative depth of their new certification with their Instructor. A new pic is then processed and an up-to-date photograph is taken for their adult certification.

Anne Japan Back in Action

2011-07-30T23:43:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Marco who completed his advanced yesterday and is now free to explore many of the deeper shipwrecks Malta has to offer!

Anne Japan has been in the UK for a while. She arrives back in Malta today and will be back at Divewise on Monday just in time for some of our Japanese students who have long been awaiting her return so they can learn to dive in their own language.

Kenji’s English is good enough that he didn’t need to wait for Anne Japans return. He completed his Open Water course with Darrell yesterday and was Darrell’s first Open Water student so it was a big day for both of them!

People Come and Go ... and then Come Back Again!

2011-07-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

Darrell arrived back last week. Darrell did his IDC with us in May. Since his return he has been gaining lots of experience teaching Discover Scuba's and Open Water courses and is going to be working here for the rest of the summer with not much intention of going back to the UK for the winter either. If you are interested in Photography he's the person to speak to . . .

Morty completed his Divemaster course yesterday and came to Toni's to say goodbye before Alan took him to the airport. He's planning on returning in September to gain more experience, and there will be plenty of opportunity for that as September has been fully booked for about 2 months now!

We had a group of DSD's yesterday that did their dive in rather poor visibility because of the wind however they all said they had an amazing time and even managed to find an Octopus. Two are coming back to dive the Maori later this week.

Since it’s cooled down a little bit Jack has been eager to get out and about . . .

And he’s certainly making sure his demands are not being ignored, ‘Come on mum let’s go!’ . . . .

Meanwhile Phil and Darrell are getting equipment ready for the 14 DSD’s we have this morning! Luckily the water has calmed down a lot since yesterday so the visibility will be much better for them.

Welcome Back Steve!

2011-07-24T23:43:00.000-07:00

We have a new member of staff with us that I have forgotten to mention in the last few blogs. Steve Hill has come over from the UK for 6 weeks to give us a hand during the busy season now that his college has closed for the summer. Many of you may already be familiar with Steve as he comes out every year during the summer to get a tan and his annual fill of physically demanding work!

Helen is back after doing her DSD last week to do her Open Water course. Sarah is starting her off with some theory and the RDP . . .

Morty and Peter are doing Search and Recovery today. Morty has to do Search and Recovery as part of his Divemaster course as the skills you learn on this course such as knot tying and appropriate search patterns are very useful in many aspects of diving.

Let’s hope they find all the various things Steve has lost!

Shiny New Gear

2011-07-23T23:54:00.001-07:00

The house reef has calmed down now so that means all the Open Waters can get in the sea today. We also have James a DSD going off to the Maori with Joe who needs to try out some shiny new gear.

Speaking of new gear, we have just got some new aqualung fins in that look very smart . . .

These fins are going to be saved for certified Open water divers and above so they stay in good condition.

Phil has added the finishing touches to our new wash basins . . .

Now all he needs to do is to paint the Divewise logo on the welcome area!

It's a Bit Choppy Today . . .

2011-07-22T23:41:00.001-07:00

The wind has been picking up the last couple of days on the house reef so there’s a change of plan for the dives this morning all divers are now heading to Cirkewwa. Our 7 Open water divers luckily have plenty of classroom and pool sessions to keep them occupied so the bad weather isn’t a problem for them.

Morty spent yesterday helping out Aaron with his courses, which means running around getting cylinders and kit, entertaining everyone and sorting out problems both above and below the waves.

Two of these people, Mickey and Matthias, have expanded their range of the underwater world by completing their advanced course so they can now go off and explore some of the amazing shipwrecks that Malta has to offer that were originally too deep for them.

Louis also qualified as a scuba diver yesterday just in time for him heading back to France tomorrow.

Pau was on a mission to sort the pool fins that are forever getting mixed up with all the snorkelling, taster dives and pool sessions we have. They are now neatly organised . . . we’ll see how long that lasts!

Squeaken Squeak!

2011-07-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

Jack has a new toy, a rather loud one to be precise. He’s extremely happy about it but it’s been driving Viv mad!

On Wednesday we had Megan, Elizabeth and Hannah doing their bubblemaker. They took to the water like fish I don’t think I’ve seen anyone so relaxed in the water as these guys were.

We have another team of bubblemakers coming in this morning to go critter spotting in the confined area.

Last week’s group had an awesome time but there was a bit too much excitement for one little guy.

Morty our new divemaster has been working hard with Nev the past few days doing some long days in the water and some long evenings in the classroom . . .

Yesterday Peter, Coem and Justus did a DSD with us. Peter is a qualified Open water diver but wanted to come along to refresh his skills. They were naturals in the water. It’s a shame they couldn’t stay longer and get qualified but they made sure they got another dive in and went off with Pau and Steve in the afternoon to explore the Maori.

It's All About DSD's!

2011-07-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

Fran’s sister Ale, who is over here learning English, came and did a DSD about a week ago and went on to do her Open Water which she completed yesterday. Congratulations Ale! She has also been lending a hand around the dive centre because we can’t get her to sit still and relax!

We had the kids from the bubblemaker here yesterday doing the DSD with their dad. Dad number two will be here today to do his DSD experience while Fran takes the kids snorkelling. Speaking of DSD's we have a grand total of 19 today along with pleasure divers and Open Water courses. I think it might be one of those days where the kit room is emptied!

Friday Morning Bubblemaker Sessions

2011-07-16T00:40:00.001-07:00

We had a gang of young divers yesterday that came over from the Westin to do a Bubblemaker. The Westin is promoting the Bubblemaker experience for all the kids staying at the Hotel. The experience is held at 9:30 every Friday morning. Because some of the kids that are interested are younger than 8 so aren’t old enough to do the Bubblemaker we still get them in the water for a snorkelling session where they can look at the fish and crabs in the confined area and watch their siblings swimming around on scuba.

One of the little guys yesterday was determined to be like his older brothers and wear a wet suit for the snorkelling despite the fact that it was a little bit too big . . .

Yesterdays gang all had an awesome time and the older ones are back again this morning with their parents to do DSD’s and will be doing yet more snorkelling tomorrow!

Alan got an odd collection of Balloons for his birthday yesterday.

Jack is not amused by them . . .

Alans Fake Birthday . . .

2011-07-15T00:26:00.001-07:00

Yes the rumours are true . . . it is Alans fake birthday today.
He hasn't turned up at the centre this morning so he must have something good planned! Everyone's hoping another birthday means another excuse to eat cake.

Yesterday we had an awesome excursion to Comino on the boat. Jan, who did a DSD with us the other day came along to get a feel for some real diving. He had a go at driving the P31 and explored the Santa Marija caves along with all the other pleasure divers. Everyone had a go at feeding the fish which are getting pretty greedy now.

We’ve had lots of visits from EC language school over the last few days. A group of kids from Russia went out on the boat snorkelling on Comino yesterday – if you call finding the highest point on the boat and jumping off it snorkelling! The group were also here the other day doing taster dives. Their leader said she’s never seen them smile so much on an activity before – that’s got to be a good sign!

Goodbye Jenny!

2011-07-12T23:28:00.001-07:00

Now that summer has arrived it has been rather crazy the last few days so I’m going to have to catch you all up.

My parents came to visit last week and decided to give diving a go as did Ed’s brother. They all had a great time exploring the house reef. . .

We’ve had some confusion over the phrase “make sure you put everything back in your box”. Guys we do have to fill the cylinders again between dives . . .

Jack has had some trouble dealing with the heat. Viv has been keeping him in the office to keep him cool and out of mischief however yesterday when we had both a Gozo and a Comino trip . . .

Jack spent the day expressing his jealousy by eating through the wetsuit hangars . . .

Nev has found an Unidentified Floating Object (UFO) on the house reef which is seriously troubling him. I will keep you up to date on what he thinks it is . . .

Sadly Jennys month with us has came to an end the other day. No she didn’t cry thou I think that’s because she was too concerned aouth the fact she hadn’t had time to pack with all the dives and Specialities she’d been trying to fit in! We threw her a BBQ on her last night . . .

Steve was in charge of the BBQ . . .

Luckily Harriet is still in one piece!

And Aaron signed her paperwork so now she is a qualified Divemaster! Woohooo!

Hopefully we will be seeing her again in August to do the Instructor Development Course – if she can fit it in befer going back to uni.

Neoprene Pocket Shorts

2011-07-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that one of the only down sides to wet suits is that most of them don’t have pockets. Given that not many of us actually live on the coast, and cycling in scuba gear above water is not the most sensible of ideas, it makes sense that most diversz have to drive to the dive site. Which leaves us with one problem, where to put the keys? . . .

Not only are our keys a problem, there are various other pieces of equipment we might want to takes such as a backup mask or wet notes or a torch. If we had them all hanging off our BCD's we would look like Christmas trees and it’s not so easy to pull stuff out of BCD pockets.

For all these problems there is potentially one solution . . . The NEOPRENE POCKET SHORTS!

Here they are being modelled by Ed . . .

They are pretty much identical to the types of pockets you get on a dry suit. Make sure you get a pair that fit properly thou, you don’t want them falling down when the pockets are full!

Alan is going be wearing these magic shorts today. He’s taking them down to Polynesian at 65m to really test their durability. We will have to wait for him to report back on this one . . .

Zombies and Aliens!

2011-07-03T09:33:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Kaya who has taken some tome off working on the film set to do her Open Water course which she completed today. She and her dad are planning on doing some diving together when they next get a day off from shooting Zombies . . .

Those of you who have chosen to work in the diving industry at some point in your life will know that diving isn't the most highly paid of jobs. To put it plainly we do it because we love it! Because of this Sarah has started growing her own vegetables – sensible idea. She brought one in today and I have the uncanny feeling these really aren’t tomatoes . . .

A Child's Perspective of Diving

2011-07-01T02:56:00.000-07:00

Jenny and Phil have finished mapping the house reef after a couple of days of attempting different methods. Now they are back to heavy lifting and assisting the Instructors. There’s no rest for the wicked!
Simon William left yesterday after a week of diving. See you in October Simon, hopefully we will all have a bit more energy by then!

Our search and recovery divers Tim and David are off to Zurrieq with the pleasure divers to practice various search patterns and learn when it would be appropriate to use each type. Fabio and his 10 yr old son had two awesome dives at Cirkewwa yesterday. His son was so excited about getting to 12m and said the dive made him feel like he was in a video game!

With Summer Comes Taster Dives . . .

2011-06-29T05:19:00.001-07:00

So the Mapping project has begun . . . Jenny and Phil have been attempting to map the House reef for Jenny’s Divemaster course. It involved a lot of planning and forward thinking. They have now spent numerous hours snorkelling and diving the reef to familiarise themselves with it and have started drawing their map. Let’s hope when it comes to Jenny leading dives she can follow it!

Another person who has been familiarising himself with the house reef is Alex Gwerdener.

Nev’s technique of now you can see . . . now you can’t seemed to be helpful in getting Alex to depends soley on his compass so he knows what it’s like to navigate in low viz conditions. Luckily he didn’t have to do the Navigation dive with the towel on.

Yesterday afternoon we had our first 7 Taster divers of the summer from EC language school. They all got a T-shirt to wear,

and scuba gear of course . . .

Then they had a quick run through of how to use the gear,

then it was off to the confined area

where they were let loose to get used to using the equipment . . .

Anne Japan's Back!

2011-06-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Lawrence who qualified as an Open Water diver yesterday! It only took him a year! After his Open Water Dive 4 at Zurrieq yesterday he has said he’s not going to take such a long break from diving again and is going to be back after his holiday to do his Advanced so then he can start to explore the bottom of the reef at Zurrieq.

We have had lost of Japanese trying diving the last week. Izumi, Miho and Yui did their first diving experience the other day. Luckily for all the Japanese Anne Japan has just arrived back in Malta so everything will soon be clear for anyone who's a bit lost because of the language barrier.

Nev’s been spending more and more time in the water. I actually think he spent more time in the water than out yesterday when him and Gary did a wreck penetration of the Um El Faroud. Warren had the challenge of planning and leading his deep 4 dive to the Faroud dive which was a complete success he even managed to deal with the current that started picking up on the way back to the reef.

Huggins!

2011-06-25T23:10:00.001-07:00

Alan has been encouraging everyone to branch out with new ideas to make our customer service even better. Jack has decided along with his many other roles (see a previous blog) he is now going to offer an expert grooming service, which will solve the problem of the tangled mass that is diving hair!

The only down side to this service is that you may have to squat down so he can reach you with the brush and he does have to replace the brush regularly because of the damage he does to the handles!

Before the night dive on Wednesday Phil ran up to Huggins to grab Pizzas for everyone to keep them going. For those of you who are not familiar with Huggins, shame on the instructor who forgot to tell you about it! Chances are though if you were here just for diving you have spent many an evening in Huggins. Huggins is a Pub located about a 5 minute walk from the Dive centre. If you have been diving with us we will give you a card to take there and you will get 25% discount off the bill, yes that does include your pints of Cisk!

More often than not the staff will come and join you once they finish up at the centre, especially Nev, Alan and Pau when the football's on!

New addition to the Divemaster Crew

2011-06-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to our Divemaster crew for 2011. Marec is going to be running around like a mad man helping customers with their gear and instructors with logistics during the busy summer period. And there’s no rest for him under the water either as it will be his job as much as the Instructors’ to make everyone has a good and safe dive, which will mean keeping track of everyone’s air consumption helping people with equalisation problems and retrieving any equipment that might not have been attached properly. It’s a hard life, but he will get plenty of experience from it!

Simon Williams has returned for another week of diving to escape from the real world, bringing with him Marmite!

With us being so busy the last week I don’t think I’ve had introduced Phil to you all yet. Phil is a rescue diver and is going to be working here all summer. So if you are coming out soon this year then he will probably be one of the first people you meet as he spends a lot of time in the kit room getting peoples equipment and tidying up the centre. He also does some diving getting in with the instructors and seeing how courses and pleasure dives are run so that he will fly through his Divemaster course when he turns 18 next year.

Night Dive with the Film Crew

2011-06-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

It was man vs dog in the office this morning as Jack managed to stealthily nick Alan’s undersuit just as he was putting it on . . . Jack won initially but then Viv came along and got them back no problem! Progress is being made!
Tom and Derek are here doing some pleasure diving at the moment. They are living proof that underwater photographers do come to Malta. They love taking photos of wrecks and spent yesterday exploring the Um El Faroud. Sini is taking them on a tour of Anchor bay today so they should get some good shots of the cave and marine life there as well as the picturesque film set Popeye Village which is situated on the water edge.

The Film crew came for a night dive on the Maori on Wednesday. Because they are still filming world War Z on the road down to the Maori there are green screens, truck loads of equipment, dusty cars and loads of other props all over the place. Luckily they arranged for the film set security to look after the vans while we were all in the water.

The staff attached strobe lights to the back of their cylinders to make sure everyone stayed together. Mori and Phil completed their Night Speciality while Ken did his first ever night dive as part of his advanced course.

There was lots of life with, rays, cuttle fish and flying gurnards hanging out on the sand, shrimp peering out through portholes with their glowing pink eyes, sea hares moray eels and disputing octopus on the reef, also plenty of bizarre looking fish. Let’s hope the next night dive is just as good!

Say Hello to the Divewise Divemasters for 2011

2011-06-18T23:27:00.001-07:00

Conditions on the house reef have been perfect the last few days. The water is glistening and the visibility is great. So perfect conditions for our new divemaster Jenny who arrived last week. She has just completed her rescue course and started Divemaster yesterday.

She is living with Fran Pau and Steph and will be working hard for the next month. It's going to be a steep learning curve for her and a brilliant experience. She may also be learning how to use a dry suit so she can continue diving when she goes back to Scotland.

Mori is also going to be starting his Divemaster as soon as he has enough dives. As are Justyna and Lieven whenever they have some free time away for the Westin front desk!

Part of their training will be to help out with the Discover Scuba and Open Water Courses, and we have lots of them going on all the time to keep them occupied.

Speaking of DSD’s, Sarah and Jan enjoyed their DSD so much the other day they decided to squeeze in another dive to the world war 2 shipwreck in Valetta Harbour, the Maori before they flew home a couple of days later.

ID My-Gear

2011-06-18T00:17:00.000-07:00

Working in a busy dive centre I have come across a recurring problem . . . My gear always seems to go walkabout. Whether someone has mistaken it for their own and put it in their box, or it has ended up being hung up among the school equipment. Sometimes it even ends up in the store cupboard! Don’t get me wrong it always turns up again but the inconvenience of having to hunt around for it and borrow other equipment if the search takes a bit longer than expected can be a pain.

Some of you may have also had this problem when you’ve taken your gear abroad and someone’s been in a rush and has packed something of yours for their dive thinking it was theirs. This causes a problem for you when you come to do your dives for the day.

I have discovered a neat solution to this problem. It’s called ID My-Gear. I’d never seen it until I came to Divewise and I have to say it really solved the problem of my forth element top keep disappearing and it made it much faster for me to find when it was misplaced.

I may have gone a little over the top with the BCD though!

Search and Recovery Speciality

2011-06-17T00:04:00.001-07:00

The water is glistening today, good dive conditions? I think so! Jilia is doing her 4^th dive since her Discover Scuba Diver course at Qwara today. Her buoyancy is getting better and she’s getting more and more confident with every dive. Lots of divers are off to the Maori for training and pleasure diving, let’s hope the seahorse is out and about.

Irina and Ross both had their first underwater experience yesterday with a Discover Scuba Course. They were both naturals in the water. Let’s hope they keep going with it now they’ve had a taster . . .

Andy and Mori completed their Search and Recovery Speciality last week. They also got some additional practice searching for a real lost object on the house reef – Alan’s Reel!

The skills they and other divers have learnt in the course proved very useful to divers during the beach Cleanup on Wednesday. They learn various different search patterns and when to apply them during a search on the course. This made planning how to cover their cleanup area most effectively much easier for those who have done the course. They also knew the safe way to raise objects when they were dealing with some large/heavy objects they came across during the cleanup.

Divewise Annual Beach Cleanup

2011-06-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

We had a very bizarre morning yesterday. Staff, pleasure divers, divers here doing courses and snorkelers from the Hilton, Intercontinental and the Westin Hotels all grouped together in a big team effort to clean up Dragonara reef, Casino Reef and the Roman Baths.

After another of our “expertly” drawn maps was constructed everyone volunteering got split into groups with an Instructor to guide them.

Everyone was briefed on where they would be collecting rubbish and they were each given a bag.

The snorkelers headed off out on the boat with Phil. Their job being to collect any floating rubbish and - if they are good at duck diving – some rubbish off the bottom.

The divers went off to their allocated section of the Reef with their guide and collected want rubbish they came across along the bottom.

Dragonara reef seemed almost void of rubbish, probably because our divers pick up rubbish they come across as they dive.

However there is always something that needs clearing away that can't be tackled on a normal dive . . .

No prizes for guessing who brought back the biggest piece of litter . . .

After all the hard work . . . everyone involved was rewarded with a buffet of sandwiches, cakes, fruit and every non-alcoholic drink you can think of, courtesy of the Westin Hotel.

Naturally Nev made sure anything left over was stored safely in the fridge for later . . .

Mori's First BCD, Fins and Regulator . . .

2011-06-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

Mori's shiny new gear arrived on Monday . . .

He sensibly went for compact and lightweight equipment so that he can take it arround the world with him without having to to what a lot of divers do when they have to fly with their gear and sacrifice clothes for dive equipment!

He's bought the hotshot fins, the zuma BCD and the Micron Regulator, all from Aqualung.

He got it all assembled and went in with Ed, Fran, Steph and 5 Discover Scuba Divers to test it and make sure it was all working properly so he could use it on his night dive Speciality course that he started that night . . .
He reported that it's all working great and he loves finally having his own gear to dive in . . .

Daves Digital Underwater Photography Speciality Course

2011-06-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

Ben completed his Open water course with a dive on the Maori yesterday, while Dave and Jack attempted to revive a strange plastic looking person that was found lying unconscious near the basins! Anyone recognise this person? . . .

Dave has been diving with us since 1991 and so has gained quite a bit of experience over the years of holiday diving he has done. Before getting stuck into his rescue course Dave did a Digital Underwater Photography Speciality course at the Maori and Ghar Lapsi. I’ve already done a blog on the course itself but I thought I should share some of the photos from his course with you . . .

Sarah showing correct positioning . . .

During the dive at Ghar Lapsi they came across a lost fishing net that had become entangled inthe marine flora. Ghost fishing (Lost fishing gear that continues to fish for years entangling marine life and killing it) continuse to be a huge problem in all of the worlds oceans.

Many divers group together to clear as much of the gear as they can from sensetive marine ecosystems. Our instructors make a habit of clearning rubbish off the dive sites if they come across it during their dives. You can also do this wherever you happen to be diving at the moment. We also do an annual clean up of the house reef which you can get involved in.

Luckily there didn't seem to be anything entangled in this one except seaweed . . .

If you want to find out more about the Digital Underwater Photography cours e see my earlier blog on it . . .

Pat's Crazy Month at Divewise . . .

2011-06-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Our visiting Instructor Pat leaves in the next couple of days. He’s had a crazy time while he’s been here taking lots of technical courses and teaching a lot of recreational courses. Chances are if you have done a course with us in the past couple of weeks you have met and probably been taught by Pat.He will be back in November to help out on the Instructor Development Course.

The Swedish group came for a week of diving. During their time here they covered most of the dive sites with Pau, they even managed to fit in two trips to Gozo!

Annika a member of staff at the language school did her Discover Scuba dive with Howard on Sponge Bob Day and has carried on to do her open water course, which she will be finishing with the final exam tomorrow.

Aaron had a hilarious time with one of his DSD students, Paulo, on Tuesday. He was apparently a natural in the water and LOVED having his photo taken!

Jack took over Nev’s job of inspecting the basins while he Nev was in the UK. "Yep looking good guys i could sure eat out of these things . . .

But then again i could eat out of anything . . ."

He also did some merchandise testing.

"Yeah I can see you, these ones are good!"

The Divewise Dance

2011-06-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Ruichi who completed his Open water diver course with Pat yesterday!

He did so well all the staff did the Divewise dance with him . . .

There’s not only Ruichi who has been working hard Reinhold has just completed his Advanced course today, finishing off with his first Nitrox dive.

While all this has been going on Jack has reverted back to his Pikie ways . . . watch out shoes, socks and underpants!

Unfortunately I have no pictures to share with you from day 2 of the Side Mount course because we had a slight technical problem with the camera!

However they got plenty of practice doing skills in the deep (unheated) pool which sickeningly is currently warmer than the sea, with Daryl’s computer reading 25deg! Toasty!

Side Mount Course, Day 1

2011-06-05T01:49:00.001-07:00

First they invaded and successfully destroyed Sarah’s clean classroom

Then they headed outside to play with their box of goodies . . .

Their first new toy was the razor harness

Steve selected his model for the course . . .

They had to adjust the harness so that everything that attaches to it will be easily accessible . . .

It is defiantly one streamlined piece of kit! You get the option of switching to low profile D rings if you prefer.

Nowadays all people who do the side mount course with Steve must purchase the razor harness as in the past when people used to turn up with whatever harness they owned he found it very difficult, even impossible to teach the skills he wanted to because the equipment simply made the skills impossible to perform. In the end most course participants ended up buying the razor harness after the course anyway. So now to make sure everyone gets the most out of their time on the course he insists they purchase the harness to begin with.

Then there was the pouch . . .

The Bat wing came next . . .

The way it is set up depends on whether you are diving in a dry suit or a wet suit . . .

Jason also contributed to the work load . . .

Until he got distracted by the mystery of his missing sandwich . . .

I wonder who that was . . .

Then it was time to suit up assemble the equipment

And head to the pool . . .

Where, after Steve had made sure they had attached the side mounts correctly . . .

They were let loose in the pool to work out how much weight they need to add

I for one was very jealous.

Boo boo was in awe at how good his buoyancy was with the side mounts saying its definalty a winner for him!

So you Have Some Spare Cash to Finally Get Some of Your Own Dive Gear, But What to Buy? . . .

2011-05-31T23:15:00.000-07:00

So you’re an Open Water diver. You’ve done quite a few dives now and are thinking about purchasing some equipment. Problem is diving is and equipment intensive sport. And good equipment doesn’t always come cheap.

People who are relatively new to diving often ask what equipment is worth investing in initially as very few people can afford to buy all the equipment in one go. Each diver who own their own equipment will have different opinions on that to buy first but the general consensus is that a mask, a dive computer and an exposure suit are probably the most popular and sensible choices.

To enjoy your dives you want a mask, and an exposure suit that fit properly. Rentals cannot always guarantee a good fit. If you’ve ever had a leaky mask because there isn’t one that fits your particular face shape or you have to wear contacts while diving because you can’t rent a prescription mask that will correct your vision perfectly it can put a bit of a dampener on the experience.

Having a wet suit that is too loose means you end up getting cold quickly. Not so much of a problem when diving in the warm waters of Malta but if your home means colder waters you want a good fitting suit to keep you warm. At the other end of the scale having a wet suit that is so tight it involves you holding on to a pole while your buddy lifts you horizontal in the air in an attempt peel the suit from your legs is a hilarious experience but a rather sweaty unpleasant one to be doing every time you want to dive!

The dive computer is just as important if not more important. Yes you can plan your dives using the RDP, however many divers have an instructor or divemaster plan their dives for them and just stay at the same level as them. Divewise do recommend that divers hire a computer for every dive if they don’t have one of their own as it’s much safer for every diver to have their own computer that records their exact dive profile as we are aware that many divers do not sit there before a dive working out their maximum depths and times for that dive and then working out their required surface interval after their dive. Having a computer makes planning a dive and diving the plan easy and makes you a safer diver.So this makes buying a computer a sensible first choice.

Steve Bogaerts Has Arrived . . .

2011-05-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

Sponge Bob day was a success! Everyone enjoyed the Discover Scuba Diver course and we saw some promising talent within the group.

They’re now looking forward to diving the Maori one afternoon this week after they finish work.

Marco, Ian and Helen are off to explore the wrecks at Cirkewwa today now that the wind has calmed down up there. Helen is very excited to see the Squid egg sac’s on the Rozi.

Steve Bogaerts arrived yesterday to give himself plenty of time to settle in before the Side Mount course begins on the 4th. Jack gave him a once over before deciding he was ok to be let into the centre . . .

Navigate the Faroud? Challenge Accepted!

2011-05-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

Ian completed his deep speciality yesterday managing to plan and lead a dive to the Faroud successfully. He’s a born instructor he was even helping everyone get out of the water. Well done Ian! The whole group were good on air and managed to get to see the bow of the wreck which is spectacular. Marco stood on the front of the bow looking into the blue then dived off the front appreciating the sheer size of the wreck. It really is breathtaking.

Its Sponge Bob day today! Steve is brining all his work colleagues to Divewise, some already divers and some complete beginners who will be having their first dive experience. Once everyone is qualified to 12m with the Discover Scuba Course they are heading off to the Maori to see their first ship wreck.

Hopefully we will have lots of photos of Nev’s briefing for the Discover Scuba Divers . . . the skys the limit for the list of bad jokes he’s probably rehearsed!

Finish off your Open Water Course with a Speciality and Make yourself a More Competent Diver!

2011-05-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Giovanni who completed his open water course on Thursday!

A lot of people who finish their open water course out here often then head home to colder waters which means they don’t dive for a long time because the conditions are a bit less favourable. But you had so much fun on your Open Water course, why would you want to stop! The solution would be to learn about appropriate exposure protection and how to use it. Most people who learn to dive in Malta automatically learn to dive in a wet suit.

However there are a small few who have planned ahead and do their Open water dives in a dry suit which means they master their buoyancy skills in this suit which makes them much better divers to begin with as it is much easier for them to dive in a wet suit than to go from wet suit diving to a dry suit.

Also because they have done their Open water course in a dry suit they only need to do one more dive after to complete the dry suit speciality. So they get their Open water course and the speciality which means they can go and hire a dry suit back home and keep diving so they don’t lose all the muscle memory they have acquired during their open water course.

There’s not only the dry suit specialty that can be done this way. Lots of new divers comment that they struggle with their buoyancy as it is one of the more difficult skills to master. Doing the Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality combined with the Open water course will give you more time to focus on these skills and will improve your diving no end.

The Annual Bar-BQ

2011-05-26T02:35:00.001-07:00

Busy day for the boat today. The sea has calmed down over night making conditions prefect for lots of boat diving. Justyna, Lieven and Marco kicked off their day with an early morning dive on the beaufighter and said it would be a great dive to do in the morning before they go to work . . .

Nev returned to work the other day after being really ill the past week. He’s not allowed in the water for a while so he’s been wandering around like a lost sheep looking for something to build, his other passion in life!

Not to worry Nev Alan has the perfect job for you . . .

On the 23^rd of Sept we are holding our annual Bar-BQ that you’re all invited to. I know, this sounds like ages off but believe me it comes around fast! Nev’s new building project is going to be the most important feature at the Bar-BQ, the BAR! We are going to have a non-diving fancy dress theme. So we need your help with ideas to make sure we pick a good one.

So drop us an email or contact us on facebook with your ideas!

Atristic Entertainment at Divewise

2011-05-25T00:26:00.001-07:00

The bad weather is starting to calm down gradually so divers are off for an adventure on the Um El Faroud, while some lucky new divers are doing their Discover Scuba Diving experience up at Cirkkewwa to avoid the rough water on the house reef.

Liam, member of Viv’s family have been sharing his artistic talents with the Divewise Staff, much to Jacks humiliation!

Jacks spent the other day expressing how he feels about diving and smoking ….

He’s now lying in wait for some gullible person to open the cabinet so he can get at Alan’s boots!

Nev is back on his feet after a week of being very ill but he won’t be getting back in the water for a while so he’s probably going to think of something new to build to keep him occupied!

Nitrox Speciality Course – it’s a matter of time!

2011-05-22T23:09:00.001-07:00

If you’re into wreck diving you may have already discovered that diving wrecks generally involves diving closer to your limits. You don’t tend to find great big tankers in 10m of water. If you did there wouldn’t be much point in diving them because most of the wreck would be above the surface! Wrecks tend to be found below 20m that way ships passing above them are not going to run into them.

Because our no decompression time decreases the deeper we go we don’t get to spend much time on the wrecks before we have to come up to avoid going into decompression which would put you at risk of getting the bends.

So for those of you who like to go deep and are fanatical about diving wrecks it can be quite disappointing when you only get to spend 7 minutes exploring the site before you have to head for the surface again.

The solution to this problem is to dive on Nitrox. Nitrox increases the time you can spend at a given depth and so allows you to spend more time in the deeper dive sites so you can really make the most of your dive.

However diving on Nitrox requires special training and no dive centre of filling station will supply you with Nitrox unless you are certified to use it. The Nitrox Speciality course teaches you about diving on Nitrox so that you can safely extend your bottom time and get the most out of your deeper dives.

Divewise is a Nitrox filling station and so we can train you and take you diving on Nitrox. After the course you can do all your dives on Nitrox if you like, like many others choose to do.

So for those of you who like to dive wrecks, dive deep and what to spend more time diving then the Nitrox course is certainly something worth considering.

Diving on Gozo

2011-05-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

The wind has been picking up and so this means rough water on the house reef . . .

Pau and Ed are concerned that all the rocks they’ve moved over the last few days will end up back in the confined!

The rough weather meant that yesterday our pleasure divers had to go to Gozo to dive the Inland Sea, Blue hole and Azure Window. What a shame for them!

The Inland Sea and tunnel was first. For those of you that haven’t done this dive it is certainly worth considering on your next visit. The 3m deep Inland sea isn’t so impressive but once you drop down at the entrance of the 80m tunnel that leads to the sea you can’t not be impressed. The tunnel is so big a double-decker bus could drive through it. The dramatically shaped walls of the tunnel harbour lobster and a variety of other marine invertebrates, though you need a torch to seek them out. There is some impressive changes in the light in the tunnel especially when the boats pass through the tunnel which make for some spectacular photographs.

The long walk to the Blue Hole for the second dive was challenging in the heavy gear but it the dive made it well worth the effort! There were plenty of fish, groupers, a really big nudibranch and Jimmy and Frederick even saw a Conger eel in the Coral Gardens!

Digital Underwater Photography Speciality Course

2011-05-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

Someone once said to me. Why go diving to experience this beautiful underwater scenery and not take photographs of it? The truth is a lot of people new to diving want to take photographs so they can remember what it was like and share their experiences with non-divers.

However the reality is that taking photographs underwater is a lot different to taking photographs on land. Buying a waterproof disposable camera and taking it underwater normally results in very blue or very green blurry pictures, which in no way portray the experience that you had underwater and are rather disappointing to look at. What’s even more annoying is the deeper you go the worse the pictures seem to get.

Learning some basic rules about taking photos underwater will help solve a lot of these problems almost instantly, and the people you’ve been showing your pictures too will finally start to see the underwater world they way you see it.

After you have learnt these tricks you just need to practice and play around. The DUP course teaches you the basic tips and tricks you need to learn to dramatically improve the quality of your underwater pictures and it also gives you the opportunity to play around with your camera and get familiar with the settings that work best with a given depth and water condition. It also gives you an opportunity to ask questions about Photoshop and other photo editing software.

So if you are interested in sharing your experiences with others or just creating nice memories for yourself this is a course defiantly worth considering.

The Cowry Trade

2011-05-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

While Pau and Ed were clearing rocks from the confined area the other day they decided to collect shells for the hermit crabs in the fish tank so the crabs have a greater selection of shells to choose from. They also tried to catch fish for the fish tank . . . trying being the operative word I think they managed to catch one but it managed to escape again.

Hermit crabs are plentiful in Malta and are not protected so it’s ok for us to keep some in the tank. However there are a number of species that you commonly see while diving in Malta that are protected. The sad reality is that nobody knows they are protected because there is no information around to make people aware of this and many new divers want to take shells as souvenirs when they go diving so we always have to remind them to look but not touch.

One species that tourists commonly like to take is the Cowrie. The Cowrie is a Gastropod Mollusc that has a very beautiful shell and is often sold to tourists as jewellery although this is illegal in some places.

The shell (cowry) has had many uses throughout history. Its most significant and long-lasting use was currency. The shells of cowries (especially Monetaria moneta)

were used for centuries as a currency in Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania and other parts of the world. It was still being used in some parts of Africa up until 1921.

The shell has also been used for other purposes which give it additional value such as, in decoration, ornamentation (Egyptian tombs), divination, and in games (i.e. the pawn in chess).

The cowries were caught in nets, dried in the sun allowing the inner flesh to rot, piled into heaps and then transported across the Ocean in the ships ballast to be traded.

The Maldives were noted as the centre of the cowry trade over a period of 4000 years, from the earliest records of Arab merchants to the accounts of adventurers and later European visitors. They were even traded in Africa for slaves during the slave trade. In 1900 30-60,000 shells would buy one male slave.

These uses have endangered many species of cowries and so they are now protected in many places. In some countries it is now illegal to even pick up certain species of living cowrie.

In Malta the following species are protected:

MOLLUSCA

Erosaria spurca

English Common Name: Spotted Cowrie/Porcelaine Juane

Maltese Common Name: Ba`bu`a Ttigrata

Luria lurida

English Common Name: Brown Cowrie/Mediterranean Cowrie

Maltese Common Name: Bahbuha tal-Ghajnejn

Schilderia achatidea

English Common Name: Agate Cowrie

Maltese Common Name: Bahbuha

Zonaria pyrum

English Common Name: Pear Cowrie

If you want to find out some of the other species of marine fauna that are protected see the link below:

http://www.projectgaia.org/documents/LN_161_1999.pdf

Anyone Fancy a Rock Lifting Contest in the Confined Area?

2011-05-17T00:18:00.000-07:00

Pau and Ed have a very important job to do today. No it’s not diving, or building. It’s much more important than that. Its rock lifting! They are clearing all the big boulders out of the confined area to make the bottom flatter and a bit deeper for the students as some parts of the pool are too shallow. They managed to move a grand total of 7 boulders yesterday. Let’s see if they can beat that record today.

Viv is taking a few days off because she’s not feeling too well. Although knowing Viv she’s probably still cleaning the house or something like that! She has kept Jack home with her so everyone’s shoes and socks are safe, for now . . .

A big welcome to Sascha arrived last night. He is originally from Austria but is now Swiss. He is going to be working at Divewise for the summer. His will mainly be helping out with Techwise, Divewises sister company however he is also a recreational dive Instructor so will also be doing some work with Divewise when we are really busy.

Giovanni from EC school did his first dive ever with us yesterday. He actually managed to hover in the confined area his buoyancy was that good! He enjoyed it that much that he is coming back straight after language school today to do his start his Open Water Course.

The PADI World Welcomes Two New Instructors!

2011-05-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Darrell and Sini both passed their IE on Saturday! It was hard work and very stressful for all involved but they did it and they will remember it as a brilliant experience. They went out to celebrate being new Instructors that evening. Darrell heads home today but will be back again soon and will no doubt be doing a bit of teaching on his return. Sini will be back in this week to start teaching.

All the stress of running an IDC, and the pressure of coming up with new jokes seems to have finally caught up with Nev so he’s not feeling too well and he’s taken the day off to recover.

Patrick Sartorius arrived from Holland on Saturday. He became an Open Water Scuba Instructor in November. Having done his training with Divewise he has come to work with Divewise for a month for a break from the colder waters of Holland. Now that it is getting busier we defiantly need the extra pair of hands. He speaks Dutch, English, French and German.

We had some guys in today to install the booster pump in the compressor making it more efficient.

The Instructor Examinations Begin . . .

2011-05-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

Friday was the big day and it came around fast, ‘too fast’ Darrell and Sini would say!

Yesterday was the first day of the Instructor Exams. They spent the last two days of the Instructor Development Course cramming in as much in-water practice as they could, including the briefing’s that accompany the in water teaching.

Nev went with Darrell and Sini to the Victoria hotel in Sliema early Friday morning so they could sit through the introductory presentations by the examiners. Then they were back at the centre to do prepare their equipment for the Pool Exam. The afternoon meant theory exams and presentations.

Today they have gone to Sirenes for the Open Water Exam. I think Nev’s more nervous than them, he looked like he was having kittens this morning! Hopefully all will go smoothly, Good luck guys!

Mark completed his Navigation Speciality yesterday and successfully lead Pau and Darrell back to the exit point. He is now as good at navigating under the water as he is at navigation on the water.

Ed got into all sorts of trouble on Thursday’s dive. Unconscious on the surface . . . unconscious underwater . . . Luckily Les was there to rescue him on each occasion and is now a certified rescue diver!

Divewise Curry Nights

2011-05-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, Dive Life who have come over to dive with us from Manchester went out for a curry, Divewise style.

We do curry nights a lot for diving groups. We take the groups to the local curry house called the Emperor of India. The curry there is fantastic and they have a great range selection of both meat and vegetarian curries and you can request how hot you would like the curry.

I think the curry was a bit too hot for some . . .

The service is a bit slow sometimes, particularly on weekends because it is so popular however we have got around this problem by ringing in the orders of food at lunch time so the food is ready to be eaten when all the hungry divers arrive after a long day out diving.

If you fancy a curry night with us when you’re out here diving then just let us know and we can arrange it for you.

A Full Pool Means an Empty Kit Room!

2011-05-10T23:51:00.000-07:00

The new canopy went up on Monday that will shade the wetsuit and BCD basin. The extra shade will be greatly appreciated in June when the temperature soars for the summer months. Now our unprofessional building team can relax from the building work . . . no wait forget about relaxing we have more diving to do!

We had 14 DSD’s yesterday in addition to our normal mix of pleasure divers. So the pool was full . . .

And the Kit room was empty . . .

Mondays boat trip to the Beaufighter was a great experience for everyone.

Mark and Les put all their training to the test doing the Deep wreck dive on Nitrox so they had more time in the wreck.

Lots of Diving = Lots of Food + Lots of Sleep!

2011-05-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

We had another birthday to celebrate yesterday. Little Frans! (also known as the Cookie Monster) It was really just another excuse to eat cake and given she’s Italian there has been lots of cake the last couple of days!

Darrell spent yesterday doing his Emergency First Response Course with Howard. Steve comes to the centre to help out where he can on the weekends I don't think playing dead for a day was really what he had in mind . . .

Fran had a relaxing day yesterday in the sun teaching a Discover Scuba Diver course.

While Stanislas came in to complete his Open Water Diver theory. He has a bad back at the moment but is hoping to get back in the water again on Tuesday to continue his course.

On that note, Olaf completed his Open Water course yesterday and went on to start his advanced. He spent a lot of time in the confined overcoming anxieties about the mask skills during the course. We don’t have a photo of him at the moment because he’s determined to get a haircut first. Given it kept getting caught in his mask during the skills training I think he has a valid point!

Les and Mark are in for a treat today . . . Now they have completed their Deep, Wreck and Nitrox Specialities they are being treated to dives on the Imperial Eagle and the Beaufighter from the boat. Obviously it makes sense after doing these specialities to go for two deep wreck dives on Nitrox! Fran’s been bouncing around all morning, she’s so excited to be the one taking them. They are actually feeling a bit rough this morning . . . No they havn't been out drinking last night, all the deep diving and classroom sessions they've been doing are starting to make them feel sleepy! There's nothing like taking a nap in the Maltese sun between dives to sort that out!

Soon to Be Instructors Face All Sorts of Challenges!

2011-05-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

The candidates on the IDC are progressing well. Nev’s been working them hard to make sure they’re ready for the Instructor Exams. They had some pool training the other day where lucky Darrell got to have Pau and Ed as troublesome students.

They had plenty of problems for him to sort out.

But with a bit of practice and some wise words (and awful jokes) from Nev . . .

Darrell got the hang of solving their problems and getting them to master their skills.

Yesterday they had some more videos and discussions in the classroom with Nev. Darrell was having a great time . . .

however Sini is still determined not to have her photo taken . . .

Then it was off to do some practice teaching in the Open water with Fran as one of their problematic students . . .

And the Maltese Summer is Here as is a New Hotel!

2011-05-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

Jacks been greased up. Viv’s covered him in serum to protect him from the pesky mosquitoes and sand flies that are starting to come out in force following the sand storm the other day that marked the start of the Maltese summer.These pictures were taken during the day would you believe. It went dark enough for the street lights to turn on!

The dive centre was dominated by Al Hewitts Kit yesterday as it was all hung out to dry ready for them heading home in the early hours of this morning, after a hearty meal at the Emperor of India of course!

Howard and Pau have been working on the basins and the canopy. This is probably the cleanest they will ever look!

We have a New Hotel for 2011 available to view on the Divewise Website. It is call the George Urban Boutique Hotel. If you fancy staying here we can usually organise slightly cheaper prices than those advertises on their website.

Click the link to see it in our list of hotels . . .

http://www.divewise.com.mt/Services/DivewiseRecommendedHotels/tabid/101/Default.aspx

Four Wrecks in one Day – Think You Can Handle It?

2011-05-04T01:06:00.000-07:00

Fancy a bit of a diving challenge on your next trip to Malta? Or maybe you only have one day free to go diving and want to see as much as you can of our underwater world before you leave because you don’t know when you’ll next have the opportunity to dive here?
Yesterday the boat went to 4 wrecks.
First was the Imperial Eagle. A ferry that carried 70 passengers and 10 cars between Marfa Harbour on Malta and Mgarr Harbour in Gozo in the 1960’s and 70’s. The statue of Christ is also located a short distance from the wreck. Next was the Charlotte Louise. A vessel belonging to Captain Morgan Cruises featured in a number of films, including the Count Of Montecristo. The cause of its sinking remains a mystery. It was found sunk in its moorings at the Strand, Sliema on 4th Nov 2007.

Followed by the x127. A water lighter sunk in WW2 when the submarine base it was moored at was bombed.

Finishing off with the Maori. Launched in 1937 the Maori assisted in defending Malta in the war and attacking Rommels supply lines. It is of Historical importance as the British committed every possible unit to hunt down the German Battleship, Bismarck in their determination to avenge the sinking of their battlecruiser, Hood. The Maori was the one who located the battleship and was involved in the pursuit and destruction of the ship in May 1941.
The Maori was later attacked by enemy German aircraft and sank at her moorings in the Malta Grand Harbor on 12 February 1942 with the loss of one of her crew.
See our website for more information on these wrecks:
http://www.divewise.com.mt/DiveSites/tabid/72/Default.aspx

We even managed to have all the divers back by 4pm! Many of the divers joined on two of the dives including Big Al’s group who did the Imperial Eagle and the X127. A number of divers did 3 of the dives. We have yet to welcome a group of diving enthusiasts who want to take on the challenge to do all 4 dives in one day. Think your up for it? Give us a ring, or an email and let us know!

Jacks Hording Addiction

2011-05-02T06:50:00.001-07:00

Jack was occupied all yesterday with hording Nev’s shoes . . .

‘Now all I need is one more and I’ll have one for each foot!’

‘Oh yeah and some socks!’

Here’s what Jack currently hording . . .

Big Al’s group went to Comino today. They brought some banana for the fish. Apparently the infamous fish at Comino have got so used to being fed they have turned into fussy eaters and weren’t to impressed with one particular banana.

Darrell went along with them to help on the boat and relax drinking tea at the Blue Lagoon.

And Another IDC Begins . . .

2011-04-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining and another Instructor Development Course is dawning. Darrell and the other candidates will be having their orientation for the start of the IDC this afternoon to get the paperwork done and to break them in gently before all the hard work starts early tomorrow! Good Luck to all of them and I’ll be keeping you updated on how they are getting on.

The Open Water Course, Deep Speciality, DSD’s and check divers are all exploring the house reef and are then all off to the Maori for a pleasure dive today.

More DSD Fun!

2011-04-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

We have just got a shiny new Gas booster for the compressor which will make our gas use more efficient.

Nev’s basins are looking very smart now they have been painted with some form of easy clean paint they will be up and running soon so long as Nev doesn’t keep getting distracted by all these people wanting to learn to dive!

He and Sinni were busy with more Discover Scuba Divers today, which gave Nev plenty of time oppertunities to crack more bad jokes and fool around.Don't get me wrong Sinni's no better . . .

First they went to play in the Westin Hotels pool along with a Bubblemaker course. Then it was into the sea for some proper diving . . .

I think some of them were a bit too relaxed about it . . .

Then some high fives

and pats on the back for doing such a good job . . .

Waves So High You Could Catch a Fish!

2011-04-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Finnish group have been great all week. They said goodbye the other night and headed home, possibly to better weather! However we did’t have time to rest. Big Al Hewits group arrived from Manchester the following day for some Scuba diving madness. Darryl Kattenhorn also arrived in time for the for the May IDC which starts on Monday.

Our boat diving programme came to a halt while the weather has been bad. It’s been so rough the ropes holding the boat keep snapping. Jason Sarah and Alan had fun re-securing it with Jason flying around inside the boat and Alan and Sarah slipping and sliding on the side while they’re tied the lines. Alan was even lucky enough to catch a fish in one of the waves! (obviously i didnt have the camera at this point!). They finally got the boat secure again . . .

Luckily the sea is starting to calm down again now and the sun has been shining today so the boat’s been freed from its confines.

Some of Ken’s group were feeling a bit rough after a late night celebrating the other night. One of which was still determined to dive much to the delight of the rest of the group who got to watch him suffering and breakfast that morning. Lucky for him he seemed to have acquired the ability to recover rather quickly.

Discover Scuba Diver Course (DSD)

2011-04-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

You’re on holiday and you decide you want to give diving a go.

You meet your instructor and they say, “So you want to do a DSD?”

Hang on . . . say what? I want to try diving, I don’t want to do anything technical, what is this strange “DSD” I’ve never heard of it!

All this funny lingo that divers use can be very confusing in the beginning. Nearly every person who enquires about diving asks what is a DSD? Given we have so many happening at the moment I thought I’d explain . . .

For a lot of divers their first underwater experience came with doing a Discover Scuba Diver course (DSD) which is essentially a try dive.

In PADI’s Discover Scuba Diver course you have a briefing which introduces you to the equipment and explains what happens to your body when you go diving . . .

you get used to how the equipment feels and where everything goes . . .

then its off to the pool to get used to breathing underwater

Once you’re relaxed you will do some skills with your instructor

Then it’s off for your first dive on one of the Maltese reefs . . .

PADI’s Discover Scuba Diver does two things. It allows you to give diving a go without committing to a full beginner level course before you even know if you like it. However the wonderful thing about the Discover Scuba Diver course is that if you find you really enjoyed the experience and you successfully complete the 4 skills in the pool before your dive you will get a certificate that lets you go diving to 12m with an instructor anywhere in the world.

If you liked it so much you want to get the full licence to go diving which will last the rest of your life then the DSD course also credits towards your beginner level course so you get money off because you have already completed the first part of the course.

So the DSD gives you the chance to try diving in a safe environment and it also gives you the option to carry on diving if you find yourself hooked on it!

So Thats What a Force 7 Wave Looks Like . . .

2011-04-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

Anne Japan has been introducing yet more Japanese to the underwater world and they are loving every minute of their Open Water course.

The check dives yesterday afternoon had to be cancled unfortunately due to the bad weather on the house reef and the bad traffic which meant that they couldn’t get to an alternative dive site easily. However the divers that went out in the morning got to get plenty of diving in at Cirkewwa and Gozo.

Today all Instructors are go! (Apart from Sinni who has the day off) There is a force 7 wind so the waves are hammering the house reef. The boat seems to be coping well. Our 30 morning divers are heading off to the calmer waters up at Cirkewwa.

New Boat Diving Programme

2011-04-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

We are starting a new boat diving programme for this summer. It has been running the last two days and has so far been very successful.

We will be providing ‘quick diving trips’ to local dive sites such as the Maori, Beaufighter, Imperial Eagle, Devils reef and Scot Craig by boat. So there’s no need to worry about carrying heavy gear at rough or slippery entry and exit points, simply put your gear on, roll in and enjoy your dive.

If you are one of those divers who actually breathes air on the dive then diving in this way will maximise your bottom time on the site as you don’t need to worry about wasting air swimming to and from the site to the shore. So the quick diving trip programme will give you the option of a much more relaxed style of diving.

Why not give it a go next time your here?

Nothing Will Stop Mori, James and James Getting in the Water . . .

2011-04-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

It’s been a hectic morning with the Finnish invasion here bright and early to get ready for a day on the boat. They are off for some spectacular dives in Comino.

Mori, James and James were meant to be off for some diving in Zurrieq this morning however they encountered a number of obstacles. First a coach had crashed (can just see the coach over the top of the wall!)
so they had to wait in traffic . . .

And wait . . .

When they got there the conditions weren’t favourable so in the end they went to the X127 instead.

Mori then discovered he’d packed two left feet!

But got in the water anyway and got some more of his advanced course done, while James completed his Deep Speciality so it was his job to plan their dive. James Mclaren also went to do his final Open water dive. He completed the dive with a perfect hover, which shows the time he spent practicing yesterday has really paid off.

Somebody Stop That Finnish Girl!

2011-04-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

The weather's been a bit gloomy today . . . I feel Jack anticipated this . .

Nev and Howard have still been working hard on the basins and they are starting to look rather smart.

JC’s group are all leaving today. They had one last celebration in Huggins last night and gave a very grateful Pau a lot of leftover food to eat through. Hope to see you guys again soon!

After having gained some experience as an open water diver, Mori is continuing his diver education by doing his advanced course with us. He went to the Maori today to do his wreck dive with Anne. They went there on the boat so it was also his first experience diving off a boat.

For the last few days I’ve been trying to get a photo of our Finnish Assistant Instructor, Sinni. She only works here in her free time and I've got the impression she hates having her photo taken . . .

If anyone could catch her it would be much appreciated!

Dave Mallard and the X127

2011-04-21T04:40:00.000-07:00

We’ve had a Finnish invasion today. 16 divers from Finland have been here doing their check dives on the house reef with Howard, Sini (who is Finnish) and Pau, before a good week of diving.

After doing a DSD the other day James has decided to continue his training and become an Open Water diver so he spent all of yesterday in the classroom getting through all the theory as the pool and house reef where a little rough for his safety, this morning he has been in the pool for his confined and this afternoon he is off for his second open water dive.

Dave Mallard is off to visit his beloved X127 today. He has spent a lot of his life researching this wreck and it took him at least 10 years to discover its true name. Divers formerly named it the Corelita.

The water lighter played a vital role in WW1 and WW2 transporting troops, horses, water etc to and from an island they used as a base when the allies were attacking Turkey in an attempt to knock them out of the war.

It was then converted to fuel lighter to supply the submarines with fuel at the submarine base on Manoel Island in WW2. It was there that it got bombed and sunk. It now sits on a 20deg slope in Valletta harbour.

He is trying to clear out the accumulating sediment in the wreck. Progress is somewhat hindered by the fact that it’s quite small so only one diver can get inside the wreck at a time and its rather dark in there so you’re never quite sure what you are bashing the spade against when filling the bucket with sediment. From his last dive there he worked out he was removing about 6 buckets per dive. So it’s going to take a lot of dives to get most of the sediment out!

Seahorse Ahoy!

2011-04-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

The water basins have been coming along nicely. Nev and Howard have been branching out to make a seating area next to the basins so that there can be an area for technical divers to put their gear which will give the recreational divers more space for their equipment.

JC’s group are off on the boat to Comino today to dive the Santa Marija caves with Pau. The water around Comino is very clear and there are loads of fish that collect in balls around you if you take bread to feed them. It’s an amazing experience. They’re sure to have a great day.

Simon Read is leaving us today. He had an amazing time doing his wreck diver speciality and getting to explore all the wrecks. He’s very greatful to Sarah for finding him a seahorse. Unfortunately his wife has said she is not so grateful because he won’t shut up about it so she will probably be sending him back out here soon to keep him quiet!

Hannah is getting close to retirement she's not been drivable for a few days now after breaking down and its looking like we may have to find a replacement for her.

Fancy Surfing in the Confined Area?

2011-04-18T03:22:00.001-07:00

Ed’s been really busy the last few days with open water courses. The hotel pool has now been cleaned out from the winter so we are starting to use it for the Open water and Discover Scuba courses and given its too cold for holidaymakers to use yet it’s nice a quiet which is great for training.

The weather on the house reef is bad today. Dive sites across the whole island appear to be blown out so it may be a dry day for our beginner level divers today. So Nev has been off on a mission to find somewhere for JC’s group to dive.

JC’s group went to Zurrieq for a night dive last night in the valley. For those of you who have never done a night dive the marine life at night is very different.

A lot of life that appears stationary during the day becomes active such as sea urchins, and a lot of marine life that stays hidden from view during the day comes out at night. Simon Read said that everywhere they looked they saw sea hare’s Morey eels, Cuttle fish and large schools of fish.

Sea hares are a type of sea slug. They are not as colourful as Nudibranchs and are normally a lot bigger. They get their name from the two rhinopore’s on their head which look like the ears of a Hare. Unlike in terrestrial slugs that have light sensors like our eyes on the ends of stalks on their head, the sea hares rhinopores act like our nose and detect smells or tastes in the water to help the sea hare locate its food.

I Want Whatever They're Having Please!

2011-04-17T01:27:00.001-07:00

All the Divewise staff attended the PADI forum last night so it was a long day for everyone, but the free cake, drinks and Richard Howes jokes kept everyone going. Then it was off to Huggins to say goodbye to Phil Short who has been out here updating Tech divers and teaching a rebreather course the last couple of weeks, JC’S group were also there watching the football.

Amazingly they were up bright and early for more diving adventures. Today is the Faroud, they look so excited you wouldn't believe they’d had a late night!

Mori who did his Open Water with Anne Japan the other week is here today gaining more experience and fine tune his newly found diving skills by doing some pleasure diving with us.

Lineda is letting off some steam by doing a few days diving with us. It appears to be doing her the world of good , I don’t think she’s stopped smiling since she got here!

Bad Weather, But We're Still Diving!

2011-04-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had an entertaining journey back from Cirkewwa with Simon Williams, Simon Read and Malcolm Dubber in the back trying to untangle a reel that hadn’t been wound in properly. Once they’d done with that they moved on to making an in-van communication system using string and two paper cups!

Today is rather wet and gloomy, however it has not been able to deter our divers from getting in the water . . .

JC’s group that have come over from England to dive with us were straight in the water this morning for a check dive and after a good lunch they have been getting their equipment ready for a dive on the Maori. Nev and Howard appear to have come prepared for the bad weather . . .

You do wonder where they learnt this trick . . .

We got some shiny new 10L cylinders the other day too . . .

Tonight all the staff are attending the PADI Forum which is held annually in Malta. The forum is to update all PADI Professionals on updates and changes to courses and standards so that everyone teaches the right things. The Divemaster course has gone through a lot of changes this year. There have also been some changes to the Rescue diver course so anyone who is going to be doing these courses this year expect them to be a little different than they were when your friends did them.

The Resident Eskimo!

2011-04-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

Fran spent the other day at the Inland Sea on Gozo. They couldn’t get down to the Blue Hole because the road was closed unfortunately but there was plenty to see at the inland sea so it wasn’t much of an issue!

Ed has become our resident Eskimo after being so covered in dust and sand yesterday from working on the new wash basins with Nev.

We were all very lucky the other day at Divewise to get some of Viv’s amazing carrot cake that she’d been promising to make for the last few weeks.

Having now destroyed yellow, red, blue, white and purple bandages Jack paw has finally been freed from the bandages. So he can now bounce around chasing flies as usual.

PADI EMA Award

2011-04-14T00:25:00.001-07:00

Simon Read arrived yesterday for a week of diving with us. His main ambition was to see the Maori as it held a personal significance to him so after his check dive we drove him straight there with a 15L so he could have a long dive on the wreck with Steph. Unfortunately for Nev they didn’t find any seahorses.

Yesterday Richard Howes from PADI EMA awarded Divewise and the staff with a plaque to commemorate Divewise being a PADI member for the last 20 years and on reaching number one dive centre rating in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Let’s see what happens in 2011.

Richard also commented on how Divewise has continued to improve every year despite changes to the Economic climate.

Busy Busy!

2011-04-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was meant to be a quiet day, but like all supposedly quiet days at Divewise it quickly turned into a rather hectic day. Fran had two pleasure dives at Cirkewwa with Cameron and they won’t stop talking about the huge Grouper they saw near the Rozi.

Ed had a very intense day of diving yesterday. He did 4 confined and 3 open water dives for the Open Water course to make sure Gareth Phillips completed his Open Water by the weekend

Malcom and Anastasia loved their DSD and Bubblemaker so much they came back yesterday to do it all again! Anastasia went out on the house reef on the hunt for a cuttlefish that had been seen on the check dives an hour before and Malcom spent another hour in the confined area hunting for crabs and sea cucumbers
under the rocks. To Steph's delight they found a rather large nudibranch under one of the rocks – Malcom didn’t find it quite as impressive as the crabs though.

Jacks back today. Limping a bit but he's a lot livelier now and he’s opted for a yellow bandage today.

Ed, Pau and Jason are out of the water today helping Nev and Dave with yet more hammering, sawing and heavy lifting.

Well sort of . . .

Sarah is back in her little cave servicing regulators and fixing Steph's dry suit that has another hole in it. Luckily this time she noticed it before she got in for the dive!

Poor Jack!

2011-04-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s training proved a success. Fran, Anne and Steph, managed to find the P29 and the exit twice using different forms of navigation. Unfortunately for Fran, Anne and Steph also had practice driving Harriet so they could get used to driving a longer vehicle and learn where the big bumps are in the road. They found the best way to test this was to put little Fran in the back and if they heard Fran shout ‘oww!’ they knew it was a bump that should be avoided!

Jack had a worse day than Fran. Viv took him for a walk and he cut his paw on some glass. Probably a bottle smashed by some idiot that was out drinking last night. It was bleeding quite badly so he had to have stitches so he spent yesterday feeling very sorry for himself. So Viv and Jack have the day off today.

And while Jacks away the Maltese cats will play ....

I would also like to introduce, 3 men on a mission:

Nev

Dangerous Dave

And ‘el tonto del pueblo’ (village idiot) known as Pau

Have been building a new frame to hang out the dive gear

Don’t they look professional . . .

Staff Training Day!

2011-04-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Nev had a helping hand from Dangerous Dave yesterday when he was doing some handywork around the dive centre. Luckily he didnt actually use his diving mask when he was cutting up metal pipes! Thou we did all wonder how he managed to spend all day in the sum wearing those overalls!

Today is our staff training day. We have one every month – providing we can fit it in around all the pleasure dives and courses that are going on!

Sarah has her work cut out for her as she is going to teach Fran, Anne and Steph how to navigate to the P29 ship wreck up at Cirkewwa. This is going to be either really stressful or really entertaining for Sarah. Let’s hope Fran is on a good day for her navigation!

In the afternoon Anne and Steph are going to be teaching a Bubblemaker course under Sarah’s guidance so that she can fine tune their teaching methods.

We also have a new/old member of staff with us for the summer. Jason used to work here 5 years ago and has come back for more Maltese diving, because you can never get enough of it!