September Newsletter

Oh Gust!   

The phrase where the month of August got its name from, I’m certain. 

Howling winds in the 20-30 knot range.  One day from the east, next day from the west. It’s like watching a Wimbledon tennis match. With the ball never being out.  

I was sitting out on the reef (on a boat, obviously – otherwise I would sink) in the middle of this tennis match one day when I saw the whole town of Margate (to the south of us) come flying past me, trailing a couple of cars, a block of flats and only three houses (weird that – thought there would have been more), a semi truck and a Metro train, complete with conductor hanging on.  Knowing what month this was though, I wasn’t too worried or surprised, because I knew the next day it will be blown back down south again. And it was, followed by the whole town of Richards Bay (to the north of us).

This time round, I must admit, Margate looked a bit worse for wear, and the conductor was missing.  The next day Richards Bay tumbled back north again, and so on.  

This is not a Tale of Two Cities, albeit perhaps a tall one.

But I do think I am getting the point across. Am I? 

Historically it’s always been a risky time for attempting to dive, as the weather can really throw you a curve ball and the sea can get a bit “on”. We did however succeed in fulfilling nearly all of our obligations to our customers to get them out there, under there and back again safely.  

The current was predominantly reverse, and the visibility ranged from 6-20m, most days being 8-10m.   Temperature was, for August, a warm 21-22 degrees Celsius.  

We also experienced some huge westerly groundswell, especially on the 24th, when I recorded 7m swells out at sea. It was very impressive to watch waves 6-7m high break three deep along the entire length of the Shoal, bowling top to bottom on the Pinnacle Ridge, all the way down to Eelskin. It looked like the surf zone.  

If you are wondering ‘so where did you dive?’ and before you start accusing me of exaggerating – which I NEVER doJ, we did a baited shark dive in 35m of water. Any reef structure shallower than 25m had waves breaking on them. Very impressive and something I haven’t experienced in years – and oh yes, the launch was a slight adrenalin rush too!

(That is a VERY high spray off a broken wave … Picture courtesy of Mick Clarke)     

 

All being said a good busy month for us with a lot of dodging waves and wind!

Now don’t let this put you off, come experience an adrenalin rush – at no extra charge!

Besides, we are now officially in Spring, so spring out of your chair and get rushed!

 

Enjoy our oceans,

Basie

The Aliwal Shoal, a wonderful first

I distinctly remember the first time I came to visit what is colloquially referred to as “the Shoal” by your average local diver. It was a last minute decision that would have a far reaching influence on my life. No really, I mean it!

Basically, my travel companion at the time (you know who you are) and I were travelling through Southern Africa in the winter of 2011. It was early July, we were in Lesotho and it was cold, really cold!

Trying desperately to warm up by a fire, we got to talk with some people who advised diving the Aliwal Shoal. We were looking for an excuse to expedite our return to a warmer part of Southern Africa, this seemed like a superb opportunity.

Long story short, a couple of days later, we booked with Aliwal Dive Centre and arrived in the late afternoon, eager to dive the next day. We weren’t very experienced divers at the time and it was going to be our first time exploring the Indian Ocean.

That morning, we took to the beach and were greeted by the legendary surf here. The local skippers are either savants or totally insane, but they make wading through it look like the simplest of tasks. After reaching backline, it was a matter of minutes before we were back-rolling into the blue. Destination: Raggies cave.

 

 

Seeing ragged tooth sharks for the first time is spectacular, seeing so many at once is extraordinary! The cave was alive with them. Visibility was a reasonable 10-15 meters and we were enjoying ourselves tremendously. We felt on top of the world, which is ironic because we were below the surface of the ocean - but I digress – and reluctantly tore ourselves away from our vantage point as the time to surface drew near.

Sitting on the boat feeling al happy, I did not yet know this specific dive would be a pivotal moment that would impact my future career as a diver tremendously. We’re now in 2013 and I’m back in Umkomaas for the 4^th time. I’ve become a Dive Master here, made some good friends and consider this place to be my home away from home.

If the world is my oyster, the Aliwal Shoal is my pearl! I hope to see you very soon at the launch site! And after the dives, I'll explain to you why French fries aren't really French to begin with! My name is Johan, I'm from Belgium and I'll be a dive master here for a little while longer.

Dive Show 2013

Dolf and I represented Aliwal Dive Centre at the Dive Expo this year. Neither of us had done this before and did not know what to expect. Apparently this year the dive show was a lot smaller than it has been in its previous years. The Dive Expo used to be part of or run in conjunction with the National Boat Show, so the break away from the boat show could be negative or positive. Obviously it could be negative because the show no longer has the number of visitors that it used to have, or it could be positive because now only the niche market comes to visit and all efforts are focused onto the right people.

 

 

For me the show proved to be very beneficial. It was great to meet people face to face to whom I had previously only spoken to via email or telephone. It was also wonderful to see old faces and remind everyone that we are still going strong. I picked up a new BC at an incredible price; a case of in the right place at the right time (Thank you Hilary).

So to all of you who visited us at our stand, we hope to see you here soon to redeem your vouchers!!

 

-Matthew