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april 1st 2009...
The hunt for the Diamond Bannerfish....'Poisson D'avril'
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! 

 

march 2009...
Farewell to Emily our newest Divemaster....

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!

 

march 18th 2009...
St. Patricks day..... Divers in Green!
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).

 

march 1st 2009...
St. David's day celebrations with the Red Dragon
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.

 

february 2009...
Martin completes his Divemaster training
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.

 

february 2009...
Seychelles in 100 Dives to do before you die!
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!

 

february 14 2009...
St. Valentines day....Divers in Red (or pink!)
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?

 

february 2009...
Do Not Disturb...Divemaster in training
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..

february 2009...
super keen student
Thomas Bannister poses with Instructor Lillian and his four certifications

Medical student Thomas Bannister couldn't resist the opportunity to learn to dive while he was working in Seychelles on attachment to the pediatric department of Victoria hospital....

Not only did he complete his Open Water and Advanced Course but also completed two specialties at the same time.. An action packed visit for the young student from Christchurch!

january 2009...

The New Year also saw the start of two programmes at the International School Seychelles; for the nine year olds the chance to try scuba in the safety of a swimming pool with the PADI Seal team programme got five youngsters in to the swim of things with instructor Theiry Vandamme.

The Snorkelling programme attracted another five keen participants under the guidance of Instructor Tony Marie-Jeanne who all got to explore the shallow reefs of Bay Ternay Marine National Park...

 

january 2009...

The first PADI rescue course of the year was run this January with four keen divers participating in this supervisory course.

Tired but happy... the four participants in the PADI rescue course 

 This is the one PADI course that has very little reef diving and concentrates on developing the techniques and skills to provide assistance to another diver and so has a lot of surface work and dragging each other up the beach in simulated rescue scenarios... as the book says 'its Serious Fun!'  Well done all four!

january 2009...

We recently received some superb images from visiting photographer Andrey Nekrasov. Andre visited in April last year having won a trip to Seychelles in a UK photo contest which Underwater Centre / Dive Seychelles sponsored.

While Seychelles is not renown for its coral reefs, his images have certainly captured their vitality and diversity of its inhabitants. Nice work Andrey, we hope you come again soon!

Image of a young white tip reef shark and photographer Andrey Nekrasov 
january 2009...
saturday 31st...

Even hard working diplomats have to get some time off and British High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet is an avid diver and frequent visitor to Dive Seychelles; he is also becoming something of an underwater photographer as his recent trip to Brissare rocks showed.

Images from Fergus  taken during his dive on Brissare Rocks.

january 2009...

Two visiting UK vessels kept us busy over Christmas and the New Year, submarine HMS Trenchant and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary support vessel Diligence.

Not only were we happy to take the half a dozen qualified divers out on dives but we were pleased to certify 21 open water divers and introduce them to life outside of the submarine.... where you can actually see what's going on around you!

Some of the happy team of divers from HMS Trenchant and the support ship RFA Diligence pose by their flags during their visit.

december 2008...
sunday 24th... Christmas eve...
The staff and trainees welcome in Christmas in style on Beau Vallon beach

Christmas eve and all was well with the world as the big day approached and the staff and Divemaster trainees at the Underwater Centre / Dive Seychelles got into the Festive Spirit, complete with Santa hats and a Christmas tree on the beach... 

Well that's what you do at Christmas isn't it? Oh yes, all helped by a little Seybrew and a glass or two of wine!

december 2008...
our last Divemaster intern for 2008..
Darren Two-tanks... a one-man scuba recovery system!

The last of our 2008 Divemaster interns Darren Henn qualified this December and goes onto to uphold a strong family tradition with both his brother and mum being PADI Divemasters!

Darren was a very popular intern, especially with the ladies who appreciated his offers to carry their tanks (as well as his own) and so 'Darren Two-tanks' became a very popular young man!

Now Darren has to shoulder the even heavier responsibilities of leading divers on their underwater tours as he now enters a career in professional diving. Our best wishes go with Darren and we're sure we will see him in the future!

Older Blogs Blogs from before December 2008
Last updated May 07, 2009

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