+27 84 448 1601 carel@diveinn.co.za

Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

Wow, these days the time flies. My idea was to blog every month about something and now I note the first quarter of the year is already gone. Thus the heading for this blog is Dive Inn first quarter update 2017 and almost a follow up on Dive Inn Cape Town 2016 blog of January. Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

My sightseeing tours are still doing very well with me doing about 8-12 tours a month and the rest followed by Scuba diving. Scuba diving, PADI training, Dan First aid training or nudibranch hunting. So far this year my computer states 58 dives and 60.2 hours underwater.

98 percent of all the tours and dives are still private with 1-4 people per day. I normally do not mix booked guests unless the weather force my hand and then also only with confirmation with my current guests.Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

In February we had a great Scuba dive trip to Aliwal Shoal and stayed and dive with Aliwal shoal scuba. For 2 days we drove down the coast to Protea banks and dived with Aqua Planet. Protea banks were the first time we dived there and it was really great. We did do a baited dive, followed by a deep reef dive. In future I would mostly do a baited dive on Aliwal rather than protea BUT we did see Zambesi (bull) sharks here. Unfortunately the Tiger sharks did not come by. The water was much clearer and the current very strong. On the 2nd dive we spotted a school of

Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

Hammerheads

Hammerheads and were an awesome sight to see. Day 2 we did only one dive in great viz and drifted 4.8 km on the 50 minute dive. Thus stay with the dive master as if you do not do it you will be lost in a flash. ALSO the clear warm water can let you dive too deep so easily so keep a look out on your computer and air usage.

Aliwal we had good viz as well with our one and first dive to the Nebo wreck low viz. The low viz was on the wreck itself, midwater was a nice blue but our Cape Town guys were still able to enjoy the low viz dive. Think the DM’ts on this dive was a bit worried. The rest of the 9 other dives were good, nice colours and I was still able to find some Nudibranchs. This time we had no ragged tooth sharks compared to our trip 2 years back where raggies were almost in my Nudibranch pics.

Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

Nudibranch

The next trip to warmer waters will be in September/October to Mozambique you can book by sending a mail to: carel@diveinn.co.za.

Last week we had a big group from Ukraine and Dive Inn went in partnership with Kimo and Tammy from Redsea Jol for the Cape Town stretch of the tour and dives. They just came from Sodwana and Aliwal.  It was a tough schedule but a great one to see our wonderful city.  We had Great white shark cage diving with Marine dynamics, followed by a drive to Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa.

Next day was seals and sharks with Shark explorers and penguin viewing. Day 3 was a Cape Peninsula tour with 3 doing an extra seal dive. I chartered Tony form Learn to dive. Day 4 Winelands tour with 10 again doing Blue and Mako shark diving. Day 5 ended most of the touring with a Cape Town city tour. The weather did not play along thus the guys went up the mountain on their off day the Saturday.  Organising, touring and diving with such a big group were a first for me but a great experience.

Most of my other tours the last 3 months were in, around, above or under Cape Town. The furthest we ventured was to the game lodges at Sanbona between Montague and Barrydale. We were fortunate enough to have spotted lots of different animals above and below water. Underwater we were even lucky to see rare Nudibranchs and have been

Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

Nameless

spotting a new well camouflaged and very small Nudibranch.  At this point we do not know the name of the species.

The beginning of the month the Submerge Diving Magazine published some of my photos in their “Viewfinder” section. Go get your copy or even better subscribe. I am very satisfied with the outcome of the published photos.

Dive Inn first quarter update 2017

This in short was Dive Inn first quarter update 2017. I hope to get a more interesting blog out in May with more Photos of the rarer Nudibranchs species or even new ones we have been spotting in Cape Town.

Happy Diving, Traveling and Touring

 

 

 

Eyes – The window to your soul

Eyes

“each of a pair of globular organs in the head through which people and vertebrate animals see, the visible part typically appearing almond-shaped in animals with eyelids”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye

Eyes are also the window to the soul it is said by some.

Eyes

Galaxy eye

Eyes of underwater critters, animals and humans can have loads of different colours, sizes and shapes and fascinating to eye.

Underwater my favourite eyes to take photos of are that of the Klipfish. Some of them have stunning lines with colours. Some of the rays got lids over them like a veil and lets the eye melt in with the skin colour.

In our DAN first aid course we also advise students if you have an eye injury to close the other eye as well as that injured eye will always move in sync with the other eye. Also have eye protection when working with injured people is a good barrier to have with gloves.

For taking photos of the seeing organs is not always the easiest as you need to get very very close to get the perfect shot. On land it is just as difficult but every now and then you get a good opportunity with a friendly subject who let you get close to their eye. For that reason the 100 mm Macro lenses are much better suited than my 60 mm.

Eye

Lesser guitar fish Eye

An eye do have the ability to mesmerize you; I can vouch for that as I got hooked by my wife’s stunning blue orbs years ago. In them you can also see the mood of most creatures.

Not a lot of critters in the wild can survive blind after being blinded. Our humans have been able to adapt with other sensory organs taking over and with technology being able to help and the old way of reading with Braille using ones fingers. Most currency also assists the blind with some braille markings on.

Eyes

Ostrich eying

Thus in short with Dive Inn Cape Town our eyes are needed a lot for the above water and underwater touring we do to observe the wonders Cape Town holds in our oceans, from the top of Table Mountain to the route to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope plus the stunning Stellenbosch & Franschhoek winelands.

 

Nudibranchs – Cape Town

Nudibranchs – Cape Town

Nudibranchs

I’m absolutely mad about nudibranchs, and scuba diving in cape town gives me the opportunity to hunt for these amazing creatures.

Cape Town’s cold waters may not have the many colourful fish found on coral reefs. Instead, we have incredibly colourful reefs, which are perfect for a macro fanatic.

So, what is a nudibranch? Hmmm, short and sweet, it’s a slug – a sea slug. But not your common dull garden-variety slug – no, nudibranchs are usually rather colourful and attractive, showing incredible variety. Nudibranch itself means “naked gill”, because the gills are on the outside of the body.

And while we all commonly refer to all sea slugs as nudibranchs, technically they are only one type of sea slug – there are many others!

Nudibranchs - Cape Town

GasFlame Nudibranch – Bonisa nakaza

In Cape Town we have around 75 known species, according to our naturalist and nudibranch fundis. For most of them we have nice common names. We also have the scientific names for those who like to tick off species lists.Guido Zsilavecz has written a book “Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula of False Bay”, which shows most of the known species. While in Georgina Jones’ book “A Field Guide to the Marine Animals of the Cape Peninsula” the more common ones are shown.  And in-between all the other animals found in our 8-18 degree waters.

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