Start of another awesome weekend.

Tina and I went to the Boat show last Friday, looking for a new dive boat to replace Big Red. In Hall 1, I think I spent around 15 million then moved into Hall 2.
The only problem I have at the Boat show is-
Tina's cheque book can't keep up with me.

There were two boats that really caught my eye and I have asked for detailed quotes so I can make a decision on which boat I will buy.
If you visited the Boat show, you would have seen the Santa Vittoria. She was sold to a mystery buyer on Friday morning, unfortunately it was not me!

Saturday, was less than desirable but otherwise OK. We threw the anchor down at Foggy on Sunday, because the mooring is too far away from the cave for a comfortable swim. The viz was quite good, especially when you have grown men playing with toys and when we did eventually swim over to the cave, the viz deteriorated to a couple of metres, hence we didn't see any sharks anyway. Nice dive though.

At the Pinnacle, there were quite a few fish about, but I had a grandstand seat watching the whales and dolphins swimming by. Several whales breached not too far away.

Tony as you know went skiing last weekend and made a last minute decision to head back down to the snow this week for a few days. I don't think he has even thought about coming home yet. He is really enjoying the snow.

This weekend, we are completing a Wreck diver course, ready to head over to the Philippines and dive the wrecks off Coron in three weeks. I expect great dives on the Valiant this coming weekend with calm seas all round, plus the bonus of good viz.

Another week passes by

This week has been awesome
The winter water temperature is now around sixteen degrees onshore but a delightful eighteen degrees offshore. Only yesterday the highest air temperature for August was recorded and made the after diving ritual of getting out of a wet wetsuit, so much more comfortable.

I know I should be wearing my dry suit, but the water just isn't cold enough yet!

On the surface heading to the dive sites we are spotting Humpback whales, dolphins, Flying fish everywhere and a gigantic Southern Right whale during the week. Visibility has been a hit and miss affair with an algal bloom coming down the coast, probably the runoff from the recent floods up north, with a bonus of more fish than you can poke a stick at.

Several divers were harassed by a large cuttlefish off Bateau the other week, when I arrived on the scene they were trying to kick the poor animal to kingdom come. After a short time, the cuttle came towards me for a pat and a tickle, then continued to follow us for the duration of the dive.

To my dismay, on Wednesday I found a dead cuttlefish floating on the surface near the Shallows south of Norah head. This wasn't the same animal, I hope not anyway- Once the Cuttles have laid their eggs, tended the nest for a short time they eventually die.
Word has it the giant cuttlefish (Sepia aparma) only live for two to three years, so they have to cram a lot into their short lives.

Heading down to the white wet stuff...

Tony is taking a small group down to Perisher Valley this weekend, The water will be a bit harder down there, but he doesn't care.
The boards been waxed and his ski gear is back from the cleaners so its all a go!

I expect, Tony is planning a trip to Japan this year, he wants to ski the big slopes.
He worked out the costs and found it cheaper to stay and ski in Japan than travel to New Zealand. I just find it ludicrous- It is so cheap to ski Overseas than here in Australia.

For a start the lift tickets are cheaper, the runs are longer, the powder snow is drier and the food expenses are also cheaper even staying in the snow regions!

It is now only four short weeks before we jet off to the Philippines for some incredible diving. I can't wait to get Tina into the water at Puerto Gallera, I know she is going to love the diving. Tina is a big fan of small fish and the macro dive just south of the Atlantis resort will be a buzz dive for her.

I am running an Advanced diver class this weekend and the weather is looking good!

Winter time is definitely here

I know winter is the time most folks, tend to snuggle up with the doona, light the open fires or turn up the air conditioner, but this is also the best time to dive the east coast of Australia.

The air temperature is around 13 to 15 degrees whilst underwater, the temp is 18 degrees. Alright, I know there are places a little cooler out wider- I was out on Wednesday morning on Pro-Dive 1, when I looked at my gauges, the water temperature was reading 16 Degrees.

I thought, this is a little bit cool but, the vis was awesome.

After the first dive, we decided to come in closer to escape the cold westerly wind blowing. Just as we entered the water, I estimated the visibility to be around thirty metres in the cave at Terrigal.
In the haven, we still had around fifteen metres vis. I think partly because, all the sand that has been shifted away, has exposed the mud and when the weeds scrape over the soft clay bottom, it stirs up the bottom creating a fantastically eerie effect, with the final metre in pitch blackness.

As I swam along in the gloom, a large Wobby shot out when I approached a little too close for his liking- I can tell you, I got more of a shock, than he did!

So Yep, winter water is here.

Get out for a dive, enjoy the winter water before its too late. Hurry before the fishlife it attracts, goes away for another year.

What a busy week

The HMAS ADELAIDE was officially handed over to the NSW government on Friday. I was fortunate to be invited to attend the ceremony and gave a short talk on the benefits of the project to people around the world but especially to the people of the NSW Central Coast.

Divers are going to love this vessel as a dive site in twelve or so months time.
Because of the lack of information coming to light, I have been in contact with John Lawler from the Victorian Artificial Reef Society.
They have been very helpful and have gratefully assisted me all through the process to find out what I will need to put in place before the vessel hits the bottom.

Pity the local artificial reef society are not so helpful!

I have built up such a vast network of information and names for future reference, whom I can call on to discover more information as I feel I need it! So much so, that I was invited to come down to Victoria, to go over the HMAS Canberra. This is the sister ship to the HMAS Adelaide. She is tied up to the customs wharf at the Granary in North Geelong, having been prepared for sinking, sometime in August 2009.

John Lawler drove all the way to Melbourne to pick me up and Peter Fear from the S.C.U.B.A Doctors at Rye, accommodated me in his home. Valerie even cooked me a Roast Pork dinner without garlic. How good is that!

I am forever in their debt and will return the favour in due course. Great people and wonderful hosts.

I have never been to the Mornington peninsula but, I can say without a doubt, I loved the place. The weather was awesome, not a cloud in the shy, flat seas- a bit on the chilly side for me but, the area is awesome.

Instead of driving, I decided to go over on the ferry, this is a great trip, well worth the journey on its own!

I booked a cab to North Geelong and found the Canberra tied up to the wharf.

After I met John, Jason and Alan- (I was so very thankful for their assistance to get me onto the vessel) they took me for a private inspection- I will definitely return the favour whenever I can.

We toured the vessel from stem to stern, probably some places you should never look in a grand old lady.

I was led by John Lawler, Alan Beckhurst and Jason Salter from Queenscliff Dive Centre, together these men have been the driving force behind the venture and the vessel has been prepared wonderfully.

I had a great time exploring every inch of the vessel- This is the same area that divers will be swimming around in a very short time.

What I admired most about the group- they were able to retain so many items onboard, this will make the dives more enjoyable for all divers.

I could not imagine anything worse than, the vessel be completely stripped of every possible item. This would simply leave a sterile oasis, but the society members were able to persuade the Project team to leave quite a lot in place like, the washing machines and dryer in the fore peak laundry along with the ironing presses. There are several shower bases, sinks and an almost complete galley.

Down below- the huge gearbox, fuel filters, water purifiers, air receivers, telephones, gauges, dials, buttons, switches all still there whilst on the bridge, divers will be able to sit in the Captains Chair.

There will be so much to see, touch, explore and to fiddle with.

I earlier estimated, divers would have ten to twelve dives to fully see the ship, I have now raised this estimate to twenty dives at the minimum.

The vessel has been cut in such a way to allow vertical accesses from the engine room and from every angle, divers will be able to find an exit, quite easily.

I just cannot possibly wait until the HMAS Adelaide hits the bottom, this is going to be one awesome divesite.....

I would like to thank;

Peter and Valerie Fear from the SCUBA Doctors

John Lawler, President of VARS

Jason Salter, Queenscliff Dive centre

Alan Beckhurst, Mornington Dive club

and the cab driver Sanjit, who kept me talking and managed to make a $40 fare to $78!

Great news always follows good news

Well for a start the sun is shining today- so it must be a great day.

One item I wanted to cross off my list was, the new dive gear from MARES. I asked the new Rep. Mark Wilson, to come and see me. I wanted to discuss the new gear and iron out any options we could offer you.
Great guy, full of enthusiasm, his product knowledge is awesome.
He talks almost as much as me, perhaps that's why I like him.
I gave Mark the opportunity to talk to you all and he jumped at the offer.
Mark will be our special guest for July club meeting. Come along and meet him, he is a great guy.

I also updated the Pro-Dive website with all new information, photos, videos and at the same time, reloaded the online store with more products.
To get the online store kick started- I have left many prices to the pre price rise .
Some items are now 40% cheaper than in the store.
Regular pricing will be restored at the end of the month.

The diving this week has improved, visibility has gone up to around 7 to 10 metres in places and the water has become a bit cooler, but still a pleasant 18 degrees.
This cooler water has a side bonus though- It is bringing the whales in closer, we are having a few closer than normal encounters, which is quite awesome.

I have also noticed a few ardent divers have started to hibernate already.
I suppose after a couple of weeks of crap weather, this has the tendency to slow everyone down, but you shouldn't follow suit.

This will be a great season, The water temperatures up north are still quite warm, this means we will get the warm water down here over winter.

The weather bureau is forecasting water temp to be around 1 to 2 degrees above normal.
The last time we had water that warm was in 2000, when the Olympics were staged in Sydney.

I am looking forward to the Philippines getaway in August, I need a break and the wrecks in Coron will be just the tonic I require. Tina is coming over to Puerta Gallera with me so I can show her the amazing fish life off Verde Island. When I was there last year, I was astounded with the variety and complexity of the marine life.

The new macro outfit will get a workout I can assure you.
Back to the dive centre and Tony has just refilled the aquarium with sea water and patiently waiting for the nitrate/nitrite cycle to complete. He will then restock the aquarium- Should look great in a few months time.

Finally the HMAS Adelaide- Don't fear we will get the ship, I have great faith in the system, all we need is for a person to hang their shingle on it and amazingly it will appear.
Trust Me, I have been through something similar to this before.

Bye for now and see you soon underwater
Bob

HMAS Adelaide plans "scuttled"

Reading in the local paper this week, there is a SHORTFALL of $3 million that is suspending the scuttling of the decommissioned HMAS Adelaide off Terrigal.

“The argument for the creation of an artificial reef on the Central Coast is an absolute no-brainer - it will go ahead,” Mr McBride said. He is also adamant, the issue will be resolved within weeks.

As you are aware- The HMAS Adelaide was to be sunk as an artificial diving reef off shore by September 2009. However, final stripping and cleaning has not yet begun, especially with final preparations predicted to take at least six months, based on other artificial reef projects.

As I drove across the Anzac bridge last week, you can quite easily see the old navy frigate. There are no workers scurrying about the decks, no sparks flying off grinders- all is quiet!

The windows are boarded up, there is no entry onto the vessel at all- so needless to say, the deadline is well and truly gone.

Digging a little bit deeper and I seem to come to the crux of the matter- it appears the history of Federal funding is at the core of the financial dispute-

In 2002, the Howard government gave the HMAS Brisbane to Queensland at no cost when the then Premier, Peter Beattie refused to pay.
In 2006, the Howard government gave the HMAS Canberra to Victoria at no cost, which has amounted to an estimated $7-8 million, which by the way is still not complete.
In 2007, however, HMAS Adelaide was given to NSW with a commitment of only $3 million.

So the QLD and Victoria government had their costs waived.
The NSW state government wants the same deal- Federal government is Labour, State government is Labour, Where is the issue?

I agree with his earlier statement- This should be a "No-brainer" (The Entrance State Labor MP, Mr Grant McBride)

Everyone I have spoken to and you know, I talk to a lot of people- from accommodation houses to petrol stations, they all agree-
Sinking the HMAS Adelaide off the coast will be a major boost for the coast.

The artificial reef has the potential to generate serious tourism dollars just in a marketing sense alone. The employment issue will be a side benefit in itself. I estimate, we will need to employ four more staff to work with us.

If we can't get two Labour government departments to work together, then how can we expect them to govern the country?

Surely, we can all work together and prosper, or can we?

Atlantis Beach resort

One of the best outstanding value for a first class dive vacation in the world today.

Stay, eat and dive in style – safe, enjoyable and affordable holidays; Built by divers for divers, its one of the most popular resorts in Asia.

Divers return time and time again to explore the thirty plus dive sites just minutes away from the resort. It is often quoted as one of the most outstanding resorts in the Philippines.

Guest Rooms Features:

Climate controlled air conditioning, Fully stocked mini bar, Supply of emergency toiletries, Adjustable ceiling fans, En-suite facilities, Solar heated hot water, Cable T.V. with free movie and sports channels, In-room safety deposit box, Coffee and tea making facilities in suites, Wireless Internet available in all rooms, DVD player in suites

I stayed in the Seaview Terrace:

This room affords stunning views of the Verde Island passage and has, quite simply, a huge private terrace from which to soak up the tropical sun. The room has two reduced queen size beds making it ideal for friends sharing or small families.

Atlantis also has a Massage Room

Just above the swimming pool where you can unwind from a hard day’s diving and add the perfect finishing touches to your vacation. I didn't partake of the manicures, pedicures, body scrubs but maybe I will give them a go when I return in September.

The archipelago is home to more than 3000 species of fish and 448 species of coral – where else can you combine unbelievable muck-diving with pristine coral reefs and shoals of schooling fish?

First Class Facilities

60 Individual purpose-built equipment storage cubby-holes keep your equipment dry and organized
Spacious comfortable boats
Fresh beach towel every day, snacks and drinking water
Hot water shower in the dive shop
Multiple compressors for Air and Nitrox
Your equipment is carried to and from the boats for you
Local Dives at 9, 11, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm (night dives available every day)
Choice of dive site each time

Small groups (no more than 6 people)
Most dive spots within ten minutes of the resort

When are we going?

August 24th, we jet off to the Philippines. First we fly down to Coron, staying at Sangat Island to dive the wrecks then, we come back on the 29th and head to Puerta Gallera for a week.

I am getting more excited about the trip and will be enjoying the warm water even more so.

HMAS ADELAIDE

How hard is it to generate money?
Must be pretty hard if you are a govt. dept.

Spending money on essential services is a given.
Hospitals, transport, power generation all require govt funds, but what about money generating projects- Telstra, Freightcorp, TAB, Lotteries and the likes, they all generate funds for the govt.
So we need more money generating ideas that the govt can easily administer.
But, there were other avenues to generate funds and the NSW Rees' govt, seems to have forgotten them, now the election process has ended.

You would have read in the local newspapers-Artificial reef project is dead.
People in the know- know of someone who knows someone in their political arena that has firsthand knowledge that the project has ground to a halt.

The Rudd govt isn't cooperating with the Rees govt.
No money left for this project.
Schools and Hospitals more important.

I don't know about you, but when a federal govt minister deeds a gift to the state govt with a price tag of $3M, this isn't a small gift.

The Rudd govt wants to stimulate the economy. Perhaps Kevin Rudd should talk to the NSW govt and ask them why they are "white anting" this project.
By holding back on the release of funds to prepare the HMAS ADELAIDE for scuttling. They are not stimulating they are procrastinating!

Unless of course, the NSW govt is so skint they can't afford to spend money to stimulate themselves so the result is- we are going down the gurgler, so why deepen the pool.

The scuttling of the HMAS ADELAIDE will help to stimulate the NSW Central Coast economy to the tune of $17.2M.
This easily relates to $1.72M in GST earnings in the first year alone.
What other project does the NSW govt have up its sleeve, that will return a four possibly five fold return in the first year?
I can't seem to find one- Can you?

Have our local state members gone to sleep on this issue?

In the meantime, I have invested more money in another dive boat as you are aware.
I am now purchasing a larger compressor to handle the expected extra workload. All this infrastructure has to be in place, up and running on day one.

Air compressors don't arrived two days after order, they take ten to twelve weeks to arrive.

Boats need work, they can take just as long to arrive or be approved.

Plus, I don't even know if I will be fortunate enough to get a licence to offer diving on the HMAS ADELAIDE once it has been sunk- There are at least four other, established operators that would like themselves chosen- instead of me.
This is a huge gamble that may or may not, pay off!

The sinking will generate more money than its investors care to imagine, plus the ongoing schemes.

I would love to be in the position to say to the NSW govt- I will buy the wreck, sink it, have all the insurances in place, pay a fee to the govt to set up an exclusion zone, then collect all the fees operators would have to pay me.
I believe as an investor, I would be looking at a minimum fourfold return in the first year with an estimated threefold return each year after that.

Who wouldn't jump at the chance to invest.

The answer is quite simple.
The money was available to spend before the election, the NSW govt. needs get up the courage to follow their conviction and follow through with this deal.
They will spend approx $5M to have the vessel on the bottom, ongoing costs are to be borne by the operators, the govt will reap the whole benefits of the GST plus, the fees paid to them by operators.
This is a WIN WIN situation for the NSW govt.

Accommodation outlets, petrol, food outlets, tourism operators plus others will benefit for years to come.
So why is the artificial reef (HMAS ADELAIDE) dead in the water?

What a week.
The weather turned nasty again and we had to abort two more dives due to the visibility.
It all takes time getting gear ready, checking out the surface conditions only to find a dirty layer just off the bottom, by mere metres is quite annoying.
The top layers are very clean, at Soldiers Pt the top 3 metres had 10 plus metres viz, whilst on the bottom the viz was lucky to be 1 metre.

I certainly scared something more than myself, when I touched what I thought was the bottom, it swam away a lot faster than I did!

The whales swimming north made up for lack of good viz.

The long weekend is always a joy.
We have 19 people heading away this weekend to dive the Great Barrier reef.
Some for the very first time, so it will become quite difficult to get them back into the colder water around here over the winter months.
Quite a task but one I am happy to contend with.

A new breed

A friend of mine from many years ago dropped by. I had not seen this felloow for over twelve years, he was a senior diver from my old dive club when I first joined. I always admired his style of diving and that he always took an interest in new divers and tried to nurture them along the way.
He commented it is hard to get new divers involved in the club and asked what we did to combat this.
The topic revolved around, divers claiming to have dived for ten years but, have not dived since they completed their course or, divers who were very active and ceased diving because, the people they were comfortable to dive with, stopped diving for whatever reason.

I have taken this onboard and have realised indeed, there is a new breed of diver about, one that doesn't take into account the weather, dive conditions, their own mortality or the well being of others.
I said" We need to sit back and educate these people into diving etiquette". This doesn't mean stay out of photographers way or wear your reg on the right side.
Divers need to be educated that it is OK to miss a dive because the diving conditions do not warrant a dive.
The newer divers require understanding and a method that shows them the right and wrong way to enjoy scuba diving.
Why have a bad dive that puts them off diving, when they could simply wait for a good day.

I was under the impression, that dive clubs still nurtured their members. I should have known better, after being a member for some five years of a local dive club.

The change comes about swiftly, so swift that people do not even notice the change.
I remember the night we as a club, voted to buy a boat for members. I distinctly remember some of the older members saying a boat would change the club, I didn't really understand this uat the time until a short while later.
We had fun on the working bee to get the boat ready and the feeling of accomplishment, the first day we put the boat on the water and went for a dive.

I remember this well only too well. We partied through the previous night and I imbibed a bit too much of the local brew and couldn't even dive the next day.
Great times though- It was on this dive that the loan was to be paid, money needed to be collected.
This led the club down a commercial path, even though this is strongly debated, I still believe we became commercial because we started to look for "bums on seats".

Commercial operators do have a policy of numbers to break even, this may be higher than a so called non commercial entity but the priciples are the same.
This is where the breakdown of a clubs community to watch over newer divers, take them under their wings and look after them, breaks down for a while.
This happened to me when I first started diving and is something I always keep in mind when I have new divers in my charge.

By the same token, I believe new divers should take stock of their own experiences, think about their limitations and accept they do need to be looked after, not nursemaided, but given a thorough checkout and then allowed to progress.

Something akin to snow skiing. After paying for your lift ticket and lesson, you join a group that has similar expeiences. The ski instructor accepts that when you join a particular group you can snowplogh, turn and stop.
Some people have a different level of experience so they move to a group that is their level.
The instructors accept your experience, then they take you further.

Divers need this type of help.
We tend to think a diver who has completed an open water class is experienced enough, maybe they move to Advanced. Yes, this shows them what to do, but they still need experience, to dive.

Non profit or as they like to be called Non commercial private clubs, formerly gave this experience freely, I have noticed more and more clubs are becoming commercialised and looking for "bums on seats" to pay for boat costs and the newer divers are missing out on the old style of being taken undera wing.

Some club members become a tad hostile when confronted with this issue. Most believe the instructor or dive store should have trained them better, some clubs do offer training and believe they are doing a good job. This may be so, but clubs need to do more, they need to offer new divers more than ways to buy cheap gear, or ridicule because they purchased colour coordinated regs.

Sometimes. clubs seem to think by advertising how to buy cheap equipment to their memers, they are helping them. This might be so, but divers go to social clubs to gain experiences to dive.

I advocate all divers who learn to dive, should spend a considerable amount of time in the club scene. For profit or Non profit it doesn't matter.
New divers need to gain the experiences they require for diving by diving. This may then keep them diving for longer.

So what was the outcome?

Lets take the new divers and educate them. Certainl, they have learn't to scuba dive, now they need to be placed into a probationary position where they are nurtured by experienced, responsible divers where they will learn how to use these skills to dive.

G' day

Welcome to my blog!
I hope to give you an insight into what we do here at Pro-Dive Central Coast and allow you the chance to interact with us.
Our Dive centre is a PADI 5 Star dive centre.The first and longest established on the NSW Central Coast.
We like the fact, many other local dive centres have done the same, thus bringing the standard of scuba diving on the coast up a few notches.

Teaching people to Scuba dive is a major part of our operation, but that is a small component of our overall success.
We offer divers overseas travel to exotic locations, local travel to sites around Australia. Scuba gear sales and hire.
Our Dive club- "Pro-Dive Exploreres" meets each month for a social get together and offers dives every day of the week.
Being the largest club on the coast, we have people looking for dives each day of the week.
Vist us soon.
Our website is www.prodivecentralcoast.com.au