The Diamond Bannerfish, a seasonal visitor to Seychelles!

April the 1st came quietly to Seychelles but with it news of the return of a fish species found only seasonally in the area, Heniochus cubicus or the Diamond Bannerfish.

Eager to give the day's divers a bit of a challenge the centre team prepared some laminated photos of the fish for inclusion on the pre-dive briefing and the divers were all keen to see if they could add this rare fish to their personal fish-check lists! The divers on this dive were a multi-national crew from Canada, the UK, Germany and South Africa, all keen to be the one to find this elusive species first!

The divers searched diligently on their dive around Grouper Point, an area where the Diamond Bannerfish was supposed to have been seen before, but despite their efforts no-one could find the elusive species.

On returning to the base the Centre team had to come clean and told the crest-fallen divers that the local name for the fish was 'Poisson D'avril' which literally translated from French is April's fish but in its common usage is April Fool! 

	The adventurous divers after their search for the 'Poisson D'Avril!

The term comes from the 16th Century when Charles IX declared that France would now follow the Gregorian calendar, starting the new year on January 1st instead of April 1st (the Solstice); French legend has it that anyone who didn't follow the calendar were called 'Fools' and were invited to fake parties or had other tricks played upon them. French children continued the tradition of pranking each year by taping a fish to their friends back and when discovered calling out "Poisson D'avril"! 

Some think that the fish connection came about as on April 1st the sun is leaving the Zodiac sign of Pisces..... others say its because fish were thought to be dumb and easy to catch (? maybe in the 16th Century!!). Whatever the origin our team of divers were delighted to have been pranked in this way and have a new entry for their log-books if not their fish-lists! 

Emily Upward leaves us this month at the end of her Divemaster training and internship programme and she will be sorely missed by all at the Centre. Like Martin, Emily came to us after volunteering with Global Vision International, but instead of the accelerated programme Emily chose to do a full internship giving her hands-on experience of all the PADI courses. She even got to assist Instructor Theirry with the Seal Team programme for the youngsters of the International School, which from the photo above she seems to be enjoying as much as the kids! 

After a breif visit back to the UK, next stop for Emily is South Africa, volunteering on a game park, so not much chance to use her DM qualifications but we are sure she will find somewhere to dive soon!

The green team celebrate St. Patrick's day, at this time without the Guinness.....

Theme days seem very frequent at this time of year and none is a better excuse to party then St. Patrick's day.... especially as the Seychelles Brewery was set up by Guinness and still brows the 'amber nectar'!

There was not much Guinness drinking going on at the Centre, in fact none at all, until after the dive, but the divers did enter into the spirit of things with a sporting array of 'Green Ware' for the dive to L'Ilot, also celebrating the sites claim to fame in the '100 dives to do before you die' guide (see below).

Divers with the Welsh Flag (and hiding the gold on black St. David's cross!)	The crew from Red Dragon (very appropriate for St. David's day) prepare for a visit to the Ennerdale wreck...

St. David's day was a dual celebration not only with our traditional flag waving and special dives but also by the return of visiting super yacht Red Dragon and their crew of keen divers... very fitting to have all these red dragons around the centre on St. David's day! 

The Red Dragon crew were keen to visit the wreck of the Ennerdale and as luck would have it conditions were calm enough to get them out to this seldom dived site.

Martin had at work on the theory side of the DM course with instructor Theirry

Martin Bury became the latest Divemaster to qualify with Dive Seychelles / Underwater Centre this month.... he came to us after completing a stay with the volunteer organisation Global Vision International helping to monitor Seychelles coral reefs. 

Martin, from Germany, completed the gruelling intensive 10 day Divemaster Course in record time and hopes to put his new found skills to good use.

The new Ultimate Dive Destinations supplement from Sport Diver

Three Seychelles dives dives have made it into the new 'Ultimate Dive Destinations' publication by the UK based Sport Diver magazine, the magazine of the PADI Diving Society. The three dives listed are L'Ilot at the North of Mahe, Shark Bank, a favorite long range site off north west Mahe, and whale sharks dives which happen from August to October each year.

L'Ilot is a regular dive for us and gives divers of all abilities plenty to keep them happy. Shark bank is best suited to more experienced divers as depths reach 30 metres... being a long range dive we only dive it in good conditions as the site is prone to currents.... but these bring in the bigger pelagic fish and make shark bank something special!

As for whale sharks around Seychelles a quick scroll through past posts will leave you in no doubt that this is definitely one of the best places in the world to meet this enigmatic sharks...

Thank you Sport Diver for recognising that Seychelles really does have world class diving, as well as fantastic scenery and beaches!

Divers in red (or pink) showing off the latest garb for valentines day

St. Valentines day produced its annual amount of silliness with divers turning up in all sorts of strange red or pink apparel....

I guess its the 'Superman' influence that makes people were their undies on the outside but pink ones....really?

Emily trying to concentrate on her book work!

Emily is our current Divemaster intern and she is studiously working through all of her Divemaster theory in preparation for the many exams that the course involves...

But she keeps smiling and is happy to assist all our visiting divers and by March she will have flown the coup as a fully fledged Divemaster with a wealth of experience to go with it..