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.