Scuba Board

Finally I have some more time to sit down and write a little on my blog. I just joined the Scuba Board Forum and found it quite interesting. It gives you access to hundreds and thousands of divers for different organisations with VERY different opinions. You get to ask those questions you have always wanted to and you seem to get a rather funny and mixed response. There are those with nothing better to do then directing you and telling you how good they are and how bad you are and that you need to do 20 million more dives before you can do the next course and all the while all they are doing is splattering junk all over the screen. Then you come across the rare few who have some very important insight and real experience to share and who shed real light on the topic you are trying to enquire about.

All in all I think if you can filter through the junk and take the good it’s worth joining and asking those random questions, you just never know what the response could be. Like today for instance, a guy is looking for a diver to help him out tightening some screws at the bottom of his pool… The response was amazing, everyone and his dog seemed willing to throw on their gear and jump into his pool! Just shows you us divers will use absolutely any excuse to get wet!!

Dive Safe and Keep Health

Thistlegorm

Red Sea - Egypt
Location: 27°42'00"N; 34°05'00"E
Description: Steam Freighter
Length: 126.5m
Width: 17.5m
Depth: 16 - 33m
Visibility: 20 - 30m

The Thistlegorm was discovered in 1956 by Jacques Cousteau and is the most famous wreck in the world. It sank on the 5-6 October 1941 when it was hit by a German bomb that blew a hole in the port side, igniting tank ammunition that was in the hold. The explosion ripped the roof of the ship backwards. The stern section of the wreck lies almost horizontal to the sea bed; the remainder of the wreck is nearly upright. Inside the wreckage, tyres, tanks, motorbikes, Bedford trucks, waders and wellington boots can be seen. Penetration is possible around the bridge and blast area. The large prop is still in position and the guns on the stern are in excellent condition. Artillery litters the blast area. A bath tub can be seen towards the bow and a toilet near the stern. The sea life is impressive with possibility of seeing tuna overhead the resident turtle. Expect this to be very busy, especially once the day boats have reached it; it is likely to be chaos both on the surface and under the water.

I dived it last in August 2006 and it truly is amazing. I did the dive with a group of re-breather divers and we managed two 1hrs20min dives back to back. If you really want to enjoy it make sure you take a flashlight with you. Most divers manage two 30 to 35 minute dives on the wreck. In rough sea conditions or current the descent is tough but once you penetrate the wreck it feels like another world, a time lost. On you rascent try go through the captains cabin on the deck you get a surreal feeling finning through.

Air permiting and always dive a buddy or guide try take a look at one of the locomotives which is around 100m away on the seabed port side in line with the the 10.3 inch gun on the Stern. Amazing

Guinjata Bay - Mozambique

Guinjata Bay is situated 30 kilometers south of Bara point. It consists of a few resorts which all operate from Guinjata Bay beach. The bigger resorts are Guinjata Bay Resort, Jangamo and Jeff’s Place. All Offering accommodation from campsites to fully furnished houses. Guinjata Bay has got a huge beach area with all the resorts build on the dune next to it. The area offers a huge beach and is also one of only a few places where one can still drive on the beach.

Climate Guinjata Bay is situated in a sub-tropical climate which means rainfalls all year around but with most of its rainfall between October and February. This means nice warm temperatures all year round with minimum temperatures around 15’C on winter nights and day temperatures up to 38’C in summer. The water temperature ranges from 22'C degrees in the winter to 28’C in the summer.

Marine Life The Bara, Tofo and Guinjata area is well known for its bigger fish. There are plenty of gigantic manta rays on a number of reefs with some great shark dives in and around the area. Most of the dives are ADV dives with an average depth of about 25 meters which means lots of game fish and even some Sailfish and Marlin hanging around. There are also a lot of frog fishes around and if you like colorful things you must go and look for some sea apples. Guinjata also has the very famous green tree dive! There are about 10 green tree corals, each standing between 3 and 5 meters tall and about 5 meters wide. Awesome to see!!!

Facilities All the dive centers have compressors and air banks onsite. For Rebreather divers pure O2 is hard to come by so you would be better off taking a 15L O2 and a whip with you... There is emergency oxygen available and the closest hospital is in Inhambane. The houses are all fully equipped with bedding and kitchen equipment, power is supplied by generators and is switched off between 23:00pm and 06:00am.

General The Guinjata Bay area offers a great variety of options when you are looking for accommodation. There are some big houses for groups and families, campsites for the adventures types and smaller units for the couples and singles. Guinjata Bay Resort and its surrounding lodges have got some up market rooms and offer great packages. This is a malaria area and we advise that you speak to your doctor or pharmacists about the necessary precautions.

Stingray City - Grand Cayman

There are actually two Stingray City sites (one is referred to as Sandbar), both located in the North Sound. They were inadvertently created in the mid 80’s as fishermen returning to port anchored in the calm waters of the sound to clean their catch, casting bait overboard. Southern Stingrays, who hunt by sense of smell quickly discovered these new ‘restaurants’ where they now dine primarily on handouts of squid provided by visiting divers and snorkelers.

Ideal for extended diving and snorkeling, both locations are situated in shallow water. Stingray City averages 12 feet in depth while Sandbar is slightly shallower with depths ranging from 3-10 feet.

Collectively, they are frequented by 30-40 friendly stingrays every day who are eager to make your acquaintance and find out what you brought for them to eat.

If ever there was a true "must-do" for water enthusiasts, this is it. Stingray City.

Sodwana Bay - South Africa

The town of Sodwana Bay lies hidden amongst the coastal dunes at the northern edge of the St Lucia Wetland Park. The dive sites of Sodwana Bay represent the most southerly hard coral reef systems in the world. Located at the centre of a vast marine reserve, Sodwana Bay is widely regarded as the scuba diving capital of South Africa.

The reef systems of Sodwana play host to a myriad of tropical fish and are frequently visited by the larger pelagics. Pristine hard coral structures reveal numerous overhangs and swim-through's that are accentuated by many vibrant and colorful soft corals. Whilst potato bass, turtles and monster moray eels are not uncommon, don't be surprised by a pod of bottlenose dolphins or the unforgettable presence of a whale shark either on, to, or from, the dive site.

The dive sites of Sodwana Bay are named in accordance to their distance from the launch area - from Quarter Mile to Nine Mile Reef. Most of these sites boast a number of separate dive options on the same site. The majority of dive sites are relatively shallow, with an average depth of around 15m although several deeper sites are available for those with experience. Visibility is seldom below 15m and often exceeds 20m in the winter months. Temperature ranges from 20 - 28 degrees Celsius.

For shark enthusiasts, Two Mile Reef becomes the seasonal resting area for female ragged-tooth sharks during the first months of their gestation period until the end of February while the summer months also present divers with the best chances of a whale shark encounter.