Welcome to Underwater Explorers
We are a dive charter company operating in and around Cape Town, South Africa bringing you the best scuba diving that the Cape Of Good Hope has to offer. Latest news
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 16:04 |
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SATS GENERAL BOTHA – 29/08/2010: It had been a while since we were on the GB and we were all excited at the prospect of seeing her again. There was a light south easter and a nasty little chop, but 8am saw us head out to the dive site. As we arrived we were greeted by a Southern Right whale and the divers were cautiously optimistic that we would see it underwater... The viz did not look all that great, but we soon kitted up and headed down the shot line. The murkiness continued all the way to the wreck and we were soon enveloped in inky blackness. The shot had landed just aft of the wheelhouse and after extricating the shot from the nastiest of holes, we headed up to the bow to inspect the plaque that we had erected to commemorate the 60th birthday of the wreck. The plaque was in remarkable condition and the wording still clearly visible. From there we headed down the starboard side, past all the sponsons and eventually ended up at the stern where we saw the prop shaft supports. It was then back onto the deck, but before we could continue much more, our bottom time had come to an end. We commenced our ascent and pulled our first deep stop at 36m. The water was a balmy 12C and the viz low on the ascent, however the numerous seals kept us entertained. Our safety diver was as slick as usual and after monitoring our O2 swap left us to finish our final stops. All in all a great dive on the GB again. Our only complaint is that the shot became lodged in the wreck, with the result that we had to abandon it. This will now require another dive on the GB to recover it. What an excuse to dive the GB again............ This is tentatively planned for the 19th of September 2010, but watch this space for confirmation of the date. |
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Tuesday, 24 August 2010 15:38 |
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TECH DIVE: Hi all. Unfortunately the weather offshore did not play along last weekend (although inshore it was fairly good), with the result that we have postponed our tech dive to this weekend. Keep watching the site for more details. |
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Wednesday, 11 August 2010 15:10 |
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ALIWAL SHOAL 2010 – Hi all. We have just returned from Durbs after spending some time at Aliwal and what a great trip we had. We managed to get all 6 of the planned dives in (generally all 1 hour long) and were treated with 21C water and viz that was constantly in the 10 - 12m range, although on the last day it shot up to 20 - 25m!!!!. Herewith an overview as to all the dives: Day 1, Dive 1 - MV Produce. We dropped down onto the bow section of the wreck and soon saw our first Brindle Bass inside the wreck – it was HUGE. We then followed the wreck around to the bow only to see a further 8 Brindle Bass hovering just off the bow, all facing into the current. The current was north to south, so we soon drifted with the current and over the remnants of the wreck. There are massive “pots” scattered all around the wreck which are home to several large and multi coloured fish. We then ended up on the stern and soon had to bag off, as we were running out of bottom time (despite being on Nitrox) and had become separated from the DM. What a great start to the trip... Day 1, Dive 2 – Inside Edge. The current was fairly strong, so we decided to do a drift all down Inside Edge. As we descended, we saw our first raggie of the trip. Awesome. The reef continued and as we floated along, we saw a turtle resting in a cave, lion fish, rays, moral eels and thousands of colourful fish. We even saw a manta at the surface. Day 1 was finished and we were amped for day 2. Day 2, Dive 1 – Inside Edge. Day 2 did not start off well. We had reports of a very strong offshore current, with the result that the DM suggested that we would have to dive on the shore side of the shoal so that the current would keep us ‘against’ the reef and not blow us off it. This of course meant we had to do Inside Edge again! We had a very similar dive on Inside Edge, although with the current ripping, we soon covered a much larger portion of the dive site. Towards the south there are numerous overhands and peninsulas in the reef, which we used to escape from the current a little. The current then pushed us over the reef and we had a fleeting glance of South Sands, where we saw 4 massive rays hunkered down in the sand. Day 2, Dive 2 – The whole Shoal!! The current was increasing, although steady from the north, so we started at the northern most tip of the shoal at the Amphitheatre and blasted our way past Pinnacles, Chunnel and Raggie Cave and then onto South Sands and the Bay of Caves. It was quite a ride with the scenery whizzing past us. On the drift however we saw numerous raggies and several rays. Just after the Bay of Caves we were surrounded by a school of Pick Handle Barracuda, followed by a raggie. Being encircled by barracuda is quite an experience. Day 3, Dive 1 – Chunnel and Raggie Cave. Conditions had improved and we decided to concentrate on the smaller stuff again. We started at Chunnel and immediately were greeted by a raggie. We did the swim through and viewed the flattish cave, only to see another 2 raggies parking off in the cave. Shortly after this another turtle joined in on the fun. Although the viz was a nice 10m here, when we started our swim to Raggie Cave the viz immediately increased to 25m! It was like someone has poured Blue 52 into the water. Loads of fish and even moral eels were encountered on the way. Needless to say by the time we arrived at Raggie Cave, the sharks were in abundance, the viz was cooking and it was simply superb. From there we drifted south and were soon met by a huge Brindle Bass on our ascent. Another fantastic hour long dive. Day 3, Dive 2 – Cathedral. We decided that for the final dive we wanted something special, so we headed for Cathedral. The viz was just as good as at Raggie Cave and there were even more sharks. The numerous raggies were also joined by a Black Tip Reef shark, which made for great viewing. Although you are no longer permitted to enter the cave, the sharks were plentiful and this coupled with the good viz made it the best dive of the long weekend. As you can see, we had some great dives. Thanks to all of you that joined us and made it possible. Also many thanks to Aliwal Dive Charters for putting up with the demanding Capetonians. It was a great trip and hopefully we will be arranging another one like this (or similar) shortly. I am not sure however if Umkomaas can stand anymore karaoke from a certain diver? Roxette’s “Dangerous” will never be the same again..... |
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Thursday, 05 August 2010 13:11 |
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ALIWAL SHOAL here we come........... |
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