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Educate to Eliminate 2011
HI All So thanks to everyone who has said they will come down to help out. Also to the support people, NZ Fire service, Island Bay Marine Education Centre, WCC Citiops, Wellington Waterfront ltd and Macs brewbar. We are expecting a big team from VUCEL (including most of the MOvember team, so you can see how we are all going and donate some coin to a worthy cause)
So the plan -
Please arrive between 0930 and 1000 (see photo 1), drop your gear off and you will get a pass for the Barnett St car park (see photo 2).
There will be a safety brief at 1030 and divers will enter the water between 1100 and 1130.
Steve Meads from Blue Wellington will be the safety guru and will take names before you get in and check you off when you get out. Please don’t enter the water if you haven’t given him your name…Snorkelers and kayakers also need to give their names…no one gets left behind! 
The first group in will be the buddy groups of Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and Gareth Hughes MP.
If you want to be in the “under the wharf rock walking” team. You will need a wetsuit (or not if you wish, but the only way to get there is via the water) and sturdy shoes…and mind the rats :)…and PLEASE we need at least 2 kayakers (thanks Hud I got your email)
If you want to be on the surface rope pulling or de-crittering teams we will have rubber gloves but gardening gloves will also help.
Max dive times will be 50 mins so all divers should be out of the water by 1230.
Depth and area of dive will be included in the safety brief.
After the dive the nice young men of the NZ Fire Service will hose you and your gear off (gears before beers after all) and then off to Macs Brewbar where they will have a few platters for us and we can spin a few yarns about the size of the rats!
Any questions please don’t hesitate to email or call me. See you all there!
Hedgpeth’s polycera
Polycera hedgethi - found in Wellington harbour. I have never seen one before and I would love to hear from anyone who has seen or photographed on anywhere in NZ
New Truck
The Dive Guys have a new truck for diving operations. Check out the pretty cool art work on it. All photos taken by me and from Wellington Dive sites!
Crew Dive
GREAT dive last night…well I enjoyed it :). Pretty poor vis but heaps of life, Stargazers, nudis, seahorses, crabs…the list goes on. We will try again for the South Coast next week!
Xmas BBq
Well what a great day, the weather played the game, ronnie the ray was seen by a couple of groups, Sam saw her first Nudi!…Great Stuff. Merry Xmas and a safe diving New Year!
E2E November 2010
Well the weather didn’t dampen what was a great turn out. A big thanks to everyone who came down. A big thanks also to The Island Bay Marine Education Center, The NZ fire Service, the Wellington City Council, Mac’s Brewbar, Forest and Bird.
Educate to Eliminate November 2010
With the huge success of the May Educate to Eliminate event we are running another one. This time we have involvement from The Island Bay Marine Education center. They will have a touch tank so regular people can see the great things that we see when diving. Again we are looking for Divers, last time we got to 21 inclu…ding our “almost” new mayor Celia Wade-Brown. We are also looking for more topside people to help with everything from rubbish collection to handing out flyers in conjunction with Forest and Bird and The Wellington City Council. So please pass this to friends and family or anyone you think could help out.
FREE Mag!
Nothing is free right? wrong!…pop in to our shop and get your free copy of NZ Dive mag…I’ll have a long black from Salvation cafe cheers
Conservation Week promotion with the Wellington Lions/Ricoh
An absolute cracker of a day for picking up rubbish at island Bay. Thanks to Matt from DOC for organising it and inviting us and others from FoTMR along.
Our 1st Birthday!
Well we survived 12 months…now lets try for 12 more! Come and help us celebrate. Shark Bay for the the Dive at 11am then the Realm for drinkies!
COME AND CELEBRATE THE RESERVE’S 2ND BIRTHDAY
Saturday the 28th of August the Taputeranga Marine Reserve turns 2. To celebrate there will be a gathering at Island Bay. Bring your Dive gear, snorkelling gear, Kayaks or just cameras and sturdy shoes. It will be cold so bring a good thick wet suit.
Celia Wade-Brown will be leading a paddle to the Island and Kirstie Knowles from Forest and Bird will be there to answer questions about the marine life. Other members and Trustees will be there to talk about the snorkel trail and Stephen Journeé will give free snorkelling lessons and or lead a guided snorkel around the area.
If you don’t have snorkelling gear, go see Tim at Island Bay Divers after 1pm and he will sort you out for FREE!
Trustees will be onsite from 12:30pm water activities will start from 1:00pm. Meet in the car park near the “Welcome to Island Bay” sign. Bring your lunch and enjoy an afternoon on the South Coast and Wellingtons Jewel.
Any questions, especially if the weather looks uncertain on the day, please contact Steve on 0276 836 249 or email info@thediveguys.co.nz
Poor Knights
Winter is truly the best time for diving Poor Knights. Crystal clear water and only 16 degrees…as opposed to Wellingtons 10. Loads of lovely nudibranchs, Eagle rays and more fish that you could poke a stick at…not that we did J
PSI Dive wear
Check out our retail page for this great new range of casual dive wear. Made in New Zealand by divers for divers.
Get Into Wellington
Living up to its title of best weather in NZ as voted by me, wild windy Wellington looks great on a nice day….get out there with your cameras…pick up some rubbish and take some photos.
Best Fish Guide
If you read yesterdays paper or saw the news (28 May). You may have seen that the fisheries dodged a bit of a bullet with MERSK shipping reported as having dropped their contract to move Orange roughie, Toothfish, shark and whale. Even though this report was not wholly correct it does send a message to people that the world is watching.
Educate to Eliminate
21 divers, 160 kilograms of rubbish, fantastic supporters and top-side crew, and great weather turned the educate-to-eliminate Taranaki wharf cleanup into a great event.
The event kicked off with a briefing from Steve at 10am. The first buddy pair in the water at 10.35 included Wellington City Councillor Celia Wade-Brown, followed closely by 19 other divers braving the murky conditions.
Amongst all the standard cans and bottles we (sadly) expect to find in a clean up, was a shopping trolley, a luggage trolley, a camera tripod, various plastic bags and rusting metal objects, all contributing to the pollution of the harbour. The best news of all is we found the owner to the bike thanks to the article in the Dominion Post. The cans and bottles under the wharf form an unnatural habitat for a wide variety of critters. Octopus, fish, a nudibranch and loads of starfish and many other creatures were rescued and returned to the water.
The event ended with a few beers and some nibbles (provided by MAC’S Brewbar). A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in this event. We had a great time! We hope that you did too!
We are back on Facebook Click here to become a fan….don’t make me beg
How Cool are Octopuses
I dropped into Salvation Cafe Sunday morning, for my usual cup of coffee, and was told a story about a Wellington man who had a close encounter with an Octopus. I found the link and had a look…very cool. Octopuses are very inquisitive I have had a couple of close encounters myself, and now take care when I get the wonderful opportunity to photograph them. If you are lucky enough to have an encounter with an Octopus here are some things to keep in mind;
v Don’t back them into a corner
v If they are awake keep a bit of distance
v They are inquisitive NOT dangerous so they wont hurt you
v If an Octopus comes in for a closer look and you are not comfortable with it gently push it away from its head not from the tentacles.
v Enjoy the encounter cos they are really cool
Here is the link for you to have a look at.
Fourth Element
The Dive Guys now stock Fourth Element undergarments. Great for all water sports not just diving. Come in and try some gear on and feel the difference.
Kayak Diving
It was the usual picture postcard Wellington Wednesday morning. We had a plan in the pipeline that only four people of reasonably good mind and body should take on. Today was the day, pity we weren’t of reasonably good mind and body or we may have thought twice about it. The plan was simply get four Kayaks, put our dive gear on the back and have a paddle out to the F69 marker buoy. When we get there…dive!
We picked up the Kayaks from Fregs Kayaks in Wellington; they threw the trailer in for free, and we headed of to Island Bay which was our put in point. The wind was a breezy northerly which made the trip out pretty quick. All knowing, however, that the trip back would be anything but.
After ascending we did find getting gear back on the Kayaks with out dropping weights and such back to the bottom was not as easy as it looked. This is where you buddy comes in very handy. The trip back was a grit your teeth and crack on deal. Alex and Franz took the “head to Taputeranga Island then through the sheltered bay” deal. Mike and I went head to head with the wind.
Wreck Course
On Saturday and Sunday The Dive Guys held a wreck Specialty. With poor conditions on the South Coast we were forced to seek an alternative to the Yung Penn for dives 1 and 2. We found it at Taranaki Wharf. A bit murky but did the trick. Congratulations to Luke, Jess, Liam and Rochelle for passing with the last dives on the F69.
Seaweek 2010
Wellington turned on a typical day of sun and wind, but that didn’t deter the throng of divers and beach walker’s turning up last Saturday for Seaweek 2010. A clean up of Evans Bay was organised by Blue Wellington and Forest and Bird, attendees were, amongst others, all the Wellington Dive shops. The Dive Guys and Island Bay Divers teams did a great job and pulled in a good haul. Also a BIG thankyou to NIWA for sponsoring the BBq. Well done Kirsty and the team.
Thumbs up for Thumbs Up
Recently we have been working with a group called Thumbs Up. Thumbs Up is an organisation looking after young people with disabilities. We have been snorkelling with them, starting in the pool with a couple of sessions, to get their water confidence up. This culminated in the open water snorkelling this week at scorching bay. The weather was a bit overcast but the water was warm. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much we are going to do it again in a couple of weeks.
Island Bay
If you have never been to the Kelp forest in Island Bay you are missing out on a real treat. Swimming through 10m high fronds followed by Spoties and blue cod is a pretty neat experience. How to get there; park up in the area by the Island Bay sign, opposite the bay from the bait shed. Set you compass to pretty much due south but aim for the eastern side of Taputeranga Island. At high tide you will be in about 11-12m of water. Happy Diving.
Conditions
We have had some great diving conditions of late. With 10 to 12 meters vis and a visit by a pod of Dolphins which Brett and I were lucky enough to get amongst. No photos or videos as they were quick and we were in awe. Next time perhaps.
FIJI 2010
Learn to dive if Fiji or just dive. 8 nights at Plantation Island from $1999 plus boat and shore dives. Contact The Dive Guys for more details. Bookings close March 12th 2010.
White Island
Just a reminder that the White Island trip is the 5th to the 8th of March. Please ignore the dates in the newsletter. All other details of the trip are as per the newsletter.
2010 trips
Watch this space for some pretty exciting trips coming up in the new year. On the list is White Island and …wait for it…FIJI. More info coming soon keep an eye on the IWA (In Water Adventures) page.
Go Eco
Big news, The Dive Guys is officially a Project AWARE Go Eco operator. As you can imagine we are pretty happy about this. So come to us for dive gear and training but don’t expect to see spear guns or catch bags. We will do a good deal on an INTOVA camera and a half PADI Digital underwater photography course…we take our Go Eco operator status pretty seriously.
F69 Dive
What a great day for a dive. After all the unsettled weather we picked the best day for it. The water was around 12C and vis was about 5(ish) meters every one had a great time. The idea of the week must have gone to Kim…the hottie with a hottie…
PADI eLearning now available!
The Dive Guys now have access to PADI’s e-learning facility, allowing you to complete the theory portion of your course in the comfort of your own home…For more about PADI e-learning click here or click on the picture link to go straight to the PADI site and begin your Open Water adventure right now!
Dive Trips! Dive Trips! Dive Trips!
Here at The Dive Guy we’ve decided to ignore the recession completely and organise a whole heap of dive trips to all sorts of cool places.Fear not though…they’re all domestic and they won’t break the bank. Explore the West Coast with a day trip to dive Kapiti Island or check out the well-known wreck of the F69 off Wellington’s South Coast. If you want to go a little bit further afield join us for a weekend in Napier diving with the sharks and exploring the local area…they tell us the aquarium water is now up to a balmy 14 degrees and the sharks are getting hungry! Check out our trips page for all the details…
