Farewell Orca.

As I'm embarking on a new chapter in my life, I'm going to be finishing one too, my job at Orca. Working here for the last two years has been amazing. I've learned how to do business administration, finances, social media and obviously a lot about diving. I've learned how to fix regulators and how to clean BCD's properly. I've also learned that life is what you make of it and you can't pass up an opportunity. When I think of how little I knew about the diving industry and how shy I was to even answer the phone, it seems so far away. I can really see how far I have come as a person and that's all because of you.

So thank you to all of the Instructors for showing me guidance and helping me out when we were desperately short for staff. To the Dive Masters for having a joke and a laugh with me, for annoying me and always being there. To the Rescue divers for carrying a ton of kit around and doing everything you can to help out. To the shore support and to all of the people I've made an impact on. You have all shaped me into the person I am today, somebody that I'm proud to be.

Thank you to Gary for giving me the opportunity that nobody else would. Not only did he give me a passion for diving, a social group, a place where I felt safe, he gave me a reason to believe in myself and a reason to keep on fighting every battle. Nobody has ever taken a chance on me like Gary did. I'm so so so grateful to him for that.

I'd like to thank Rhonda for always being there when I need her and for all of her effort on my OW-MSD courses. Thank you to Jamie for being the DM on my OW and for bringing out my inner -weirdness...and for giving me abuse over the phone every week. To Nicole and Katie for being good friends who I can trust and be girly with. Thank you to Nick for calling me and Gary every day and cheering us both up. Thank you to Steve and Carole for inspiring me to be who I want to be. Thank you to Gill and Marcia for making me laugh so much on Thursday nights and for making me believe that everybody is worth something. Thank you to every single person at Orca. I can't say it enough. There are so many of you that have impacted my life and made me feel happy, loved, annoyed, frustrated and part of something unique and special. I'm truly going to miss working here everyday.

So what now?
I'm going to be working as a Section Planner at Network Rail. Then hopefully I'll be able to fund a few months travelling next year. I'm going to find the thing that I'm meant to do, something that drives me and something that I'm passionate about. I'm going to live my life in the way that I want, where I can look back when I'm 80 and think "wow I had some adventures". I'm want to inspire people and help then. And definitely dive in as many countries as possible.

But don't think that you've seen the last of me. I'll be back diving as much as possible so until then, farewell Orca.

May Catch Up!

CATCH UP!

After not writing a blog for the last few weeks, we thought we'd give you a big catch up on what we've been up to!
We've so far certified 22 Open Water divers, 100 DSD's, 36 specialty courses and 12 continuing education courses(AOW,Rescue,DM) as well as 8 EFR's! Our Master Seal Team of 8 have all completed their course and will be missed! The new Seal Team started last Thursday and they're all looking forward to the aqua missions!

Over the weekends, we've done:

• Full Face Mask
• Drysuit
• Wreck
• Deep
• Search and Recovery
• EFR

The week days have also been jam-packed as we've been working with Purleigh Primary, Cold Norton, Basildon Academies, South Essex College, Writtle College and we've been to meet a few new schools including Castledon Secondary! As well as this, the US Air-force have also been working hard to complete their Open Water courses! 

We went to the Red Sea to do Reefs and Wrecks liveaboard! Gary, Rhonda, Pete and everybody else had a lovely time. The dives were beautiful and the staff were very nice. We're now looking forward to the Maldives trip in August! There's still space if anybody wants to book onto it!

We've been to Scuba Fest in Cornwall and had an amazing time, the visibility was better than ever! 12+ metres on both days! We say lots of Cuckoo Wrass, Spider Crabs, Lobsters, Octopus', Starfish, Sun Starfish and even some Lesser-spotted Catsharks! As usual, we all went out for dinner on the Saturday and congregated at Gary's caravan on the Sunday! The weather was great on both days but there was a fair bit of rain on Sunday. So after a fantastic weekend of good food, even better diving and great company, we all headed back home on the Monday, ready for work the following day!

As the season is starting, a lot of people have been starting to buy new kit so we're always getting deliveries! We've now sold 2 Bare dry suits discounted from £1200 to £700!! We still have some dry suits on sale at all different prices so for more information, give the centre a call!

The new Carbon Black regs from Scubapro have also been a hit! They do look very nice and are some of the best regs on the market. They're designed for cold water but can also be used in warm water.

What have we got coming up?

July 9th/10th- For all of our staff and volunteers, we'll be heading up to Gillwell 24 to do DSD's for the whole 24 hours! We need as much help as possible so anybody willing to lend a hand, give Janie a call!

July 16th- we've got PADI's international women' day! Which means that we'll be in the pool from 12-5pm doing DSD's and plays with a twist! We're using the underwater speakers to have a little boogie underwater! As well as this, Chrissie is going to prepare some girly themed refreshments for afterwards! All proceeds go to Cancer Research Uk! So book your space today!

August 6th-14th- MALDIVES! We'll be jetting off to the beautiful Maldives on a boat of 7 so far! Where we're hoping to see plenty of sharks!

August 19th-21st- SWANAGE!! We're travelling up to Swanage to do some pier diving and boat diving! There's definitely a lot to see at Swanage, from wrecks to reefs, from Spider Crabs to Nudibranches!

Guest Blogger Lucy Renaud: Scuba Fest.

My name is Lucy, I'm currently studying Marine and natural history at Falmouth university, but my home town is Essex where I first learnt to dive with Orca scuba diving academy. I have only been diving for a year, but studying here in Falmouth is the perfect place to develop and improve my diving. I absolutely love the life I live here, just a completely different world from back at home. Relaxed, breath taking scenery, down to earth people (mostly hippies) and no better place to explore the mysterious underwater world.....

This is my first year living down here in Cornwall but also my first experience of the dive festival. It is held at Pentewan Sands holiday park, situated on the coast of St Austell. The whole campsite is taken over by us crazy divers !!!!
It's not just for the divers though, there were many activities and entertainment going on over the weekend: A blues band, a marquee full of dive equipment and lots of freebies, experience dives for the newbies to the diving world, photo and a fancy dress competition and of course lots and lots of shore diving. Or if that didn't take your fancy you could take a ride down to Porthkerris and grab a boat dive off of the historical wrecks or the reefs that are full of life.

As a dive group we did 2 boat dives on the Saturday and 2 on the Sunday. I actually only got round to doing one of these boat dives, unfortunately sometimes we all can be nervous when it comes to diving, there are many things we have to take into account when diving, especially a place you have never dived before. As the main man Gary says, if you are not going to enjoy the dive, leave it for another day. Diving is for enjoying yourself, being free and following your passion, its not to be panicked and make you stressed. So I sat out on Saturday, however still loved exploring the dive site and the down to earth people that worked there. I mean that's what its all about diving. Meeting new people that have the same love as you do, learning and teaching them stuff that either you or them may of not known. Getting to know different techniques and experiencing the diving together as a society.
Although I didn't dive on the Saturday I loved hearing from my friends, about there dives and how happy they were after, it filled me with joy. I did get a dive in on the Sunday though, which I'm happy in myself, as It was the first boat dive I have done. It is a lot different to a shore dive. But once you're under, it is so so much more exciting, the life down there, colours and growth makes you realise how important it is to protect our nature. It's what makes our planet keep going. It's not just about the marine life you see, the plant life down there is just indescribable, the Mermaid's glove the shapes it makes and the way it gentle moves with the current. The transparencies of the many anemone's you find on the coral reefs. Even coral alone is a wonderful exotic sight, especially when the light hits it. I saw lots of pink sea fan, which is usually common at depths greater than 10 metres. They are colonies of tiny creatures, so although they may just look like a plant, we must protect them too.

I truly agree that diving is an escape for many of us, and has changed many lives also, I mean myself I would of never of dreamed of living a life down here. In my eyes it is one of the most beautiful places in Europe. But I guess that is why it's important we do follow our dreams, and what more than a better way to do that by spending a whole weekend with like minded people, just exploring the deep blue. I would really recommend  to any of you new or well experienced divers to not miss next years dive festival, come join the life of being a scuba diver, I tell you, it's certainly a better way to life than any other.....