Saturday, 25 July 2015

Awful to Awesome in just a few dives!

Over the past few months, we have had an increasing number of emails from people who are interested in Scuba Diving but rather than taking the easy route with a simple entry/exit dive site with a bottom underneath you at all times, these enquiries are for Zenobia Diving for non-divers.

We do occasionally have scuba divers with an Open Water Certification (just passed) who ask to dive the Zenobia and while diving the top of the wreck is, technically, within the Open Water Diver Limits, below are the reasons we do not offer the wreck dives for this level of diver.

1. The Zenobia is a big, deep dive


The Zenobia sits in 42m of water. That is a long way down for people with no or limited experience in the water. With little experience, it can be difficult to maintain the buoyancy required to stay within safe limits and, for non divers, you are reliant on a good, vigilant instructor to keep you safe.

2. You miss all the good stuff


Most of the attractions that make Diving the Zenobia the amazing dive it is, are found between 22 and 35m deep. This means that, as a non diver or an Open Water Diver, you will miss most of these things.

The Bridge? 25m minimum! Canteen Swim through? 27m for the entrance! If you cannot see the main points of attraction on a dive, ask yourself, is it really worthwhile?

3. Confidence and Comfort make a better experience.


There are countless divers that we have taken onto the Zenobia wreck over the years that have previously dived it with friends or other dive centres when they were relatively new divers. While they say they enjoyed those dives, they also admit that they missed a lot of stuff on the wreck because they were so focused on the act of actually diving.

Being so new to diving is akin to new drivers. Until everything becomes comfortable and motor memory, it can be quite a lot to manage, so a lot of attention is paid to the basics and you don't have as much capacity to enjoy the actual site. With experience and confidence, it is a completely different dive.

We all know it is inherent in human nature to want to push that bit further. This is how great discoveries are made but when it comes to Scuba Diving, there is no great rush.

The Zenobia wreck will still be there when you have 20 dives under your belt and an Advanced Open Water/ Sports Diver certification in your hand. These wreck Dives can go from awful to mediocre to awesome in just a few dives so, take your time and save your cash until you can do it properly

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Try Dives in Cyprus with Scuba Tech Diving Centre

Hi all,

On Thursday 2 July 2015, I experienced one of the best afternoon's of my life, when I finally decided to go on a Try Dive with Scuba Tech Diving Centre, in Protaras, Cyprus.



My husband (Grant) and I have travelled to many wonderful countries over the last eleven years and, as a diver with nearly 400 dives, he has tried in vain to persuade me to learn to dive.  However, I have always resisted, until now.

I started off my Try Dive with a comprehensive theory lesson, giving me an overall view of general
health and safety, equipment that I would be using and definite do's and do not's whilst on the dive.  This lesson gave me confidence that I would be shown how to work the equipment I would be wearing before getting in the water and that I would be closely supervised throughout.

Shelley Patient (Instructor), Dawn Bailey (Dive Master), Lucy Corbett (Dive Master in Training) of Scuba Tech Diving Centre and, of course Grant, who is also a Rescue Diver, accompanied me on the dive; therefore, I felt that I was in great hands.

Now for the dive, which we did at Green Bay, the location being just a short drive from the dive centre, and which has a maximum depth of 10 metres.

Well what can I say! It was awesome.  The detailed explanation and thorough checks before I even entered the water, to the instructions on how to use the equipment in waist high water, made me feel comfortable as we set off on my adventure into the sea.

Shelley was brilliant, never taking her eyes off me, making sure that I was at ease, and always close to hand to help me adjust my buoyancy and regularly check that I was happy with my mask and ear pressure.

Once I was comfortable in shallow water (3 metres), Shelley took me to Fish Rock, where I was amazed by the variety of fish, then, I was taken gradually deeper, where I saw the statues and the gnome. I was even privileged to see a turtle and a moray eel.

Best of all I survived to tell my tale.

Dawn kindly took great pictures to remind me of my wonderful experience and I have shared some of these as part of this blog.

So, the million dollar question, will I do it again?  It is a big YES from me, and will be booking my Open Water Course with Scuba Tech Diving Centre as soon as possible.  As you can imagine, Grant is over the moon.