Weekly Catch Up!

We had our 1000 'like' on Facebook this week, from Arron Steward, who won an Advanced Open Water course! So keep your eye out in the future for some more possibilities to win something special! 

On Tuesday we had another deep pool night as per usual, with Open Water, DSDs, Scuba Review and Dry Suit courses all running all through the evening. Throughout Wednesday and Thursday, Gary, Rhonda and Carol went to Nemes to work with students from Basildon Academy, who all completed their PADI Open Water courses over the two days! Whilst there, one of the students completed three dives towards his Advanced Open Water Course as well!

It was a quiet Thursday evening at SWF pool, as we are waiting for new courses to begin in upcoming weeks, so we used this opportunity for the trainee Dive Masters to master their skills in the water. And finally on Friday night, Rhonda taught an Enriched Air Course in the dive centre as Kelly is going away overseas, and wanted to take advantage of the free nitrox on board the liveaboard she will be staying on!

We had a very busy weekend! Ian S. took an EFR course on Saturday morning for six students, who then on the Sunday, went to open water for their Rescue Course, while Gary was working with three open water students on their theory on Saturday morning.

At the same time, Rhonda was working with Dani on her Open Water qualifying dives. While Dani was doing her dives, her partner Andy took advantage to have a couple of dives on Saturday with Richard, one of our trainee Dive Masters, and again on Sunday with Gary.

The students from our last rescue course, had rescheduled a dry dive at Whipps Cross, which was on Saturday. Firstly they were all given a talk on Decompression Illness (DCI - what happens to your body when you're surfacing from a dive), Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO - a hole in the heart) and Barotrauma (injury caused by change in air pressure). Everyone was then asked to change into 100% cotton clothing before they sat in the chamber and the air was compressed. This is to make you feel as though you are 40m deep. When the compression was decreased to seem 9metres deep, you are then given pure oxygen to breathe from. Throughout the time spent in the chamber, they were given lots of tests to show their reactions and the differences chemicals can make to the body at different pressures. Everyone thought it was very interesting and educational, but a lot of fun too!

And we're back!

Sorry for the lack in blog posts over the past few weeks, it's been an extremely busy summer for Orca Scuba Diving Academy and the staff!

First of all, we know it's only September, but we would like to mention our upcoming Christmas Party, which is open to everyone! This year we will be going to Three Rivers Golf & Country Club, for a Las Vegas themed night, with drinks and meal included! It is on Friday 27th November, and will be £45pp. If you want to join us, you will need to pay us a £10 deposit by Saturday 3rd October and the remaining needs to be paid in full by Friday 23rd October. The following is included in the price:

• Evening commences at 7:30pm
• Pre-dinner reception drinks
• Four Course Christmas dinner
• Free House bar open 10pm - 12.00am
• Christmas Road show Disco

For any information, call the centre on 01268 520111 / 07960 148520.

The summer started off with a fantastic trip to the Red Sea, where we stayed on the liveaboard Asmaa, which is part of the Emperor fleet, sailing out of Hamata and heading to St. John's via Fury Shoals. With a complete cross section of divers on board, with newly qualified advanced divers to instructors, this trip was suitable for all levels. Orca took up half the boat, but we were lucky that the other half was full of great people, as this can sometimes be a concern for people who go on holiday by themselves and are apprehensive of who they may be sharing their time with! There was lots of wall diving, shallow reef diving, with all kinds of marine life to be seen. One of the highlights of the trip, was Gary's ultraviolet torch for night diving. After seeing it on TV, Gary, who loves scuba gadgets, managed to get hold of one for the trip, and it lived up to his expectations!

On returning from the Red Sea, there was no time to rest for the Orca Team, as we carried on our busy training schedule. With numerous courses over the summer, Orca has had a very busy year so far with over 50 Open Water, over 35 continuing education, over 70 Speciality Courses and over 400 DSDs! And we still have ongoing courses and plenty of time for anyone to complete by the end of the season (around November), just give the centre a call and we will fit you in!

Now the summer holidays are over, Gary is back working in local secondary schools, where he mentors some of the children. He will also be starting an after school club at Basildon Academy in after October half term, where he will be running PADI Open Water Courses for those that attend. We have also started planning next year's Writtle College trip back to Egypt.

Over the past weekend, we had our busiest weekend of the year so far with Rhonda at Nemes completing Open Water dives with Travis and Robin. At the same time, we welcomed back Ian Syvyer, who has been away working with other commitments, and over the weekend he taught the PADI Rescue Diver course. Whilst this was happening, Nick was completing a confined open water course, and Gary was working with a mum and daughter on Sunday, who were having a Dry Suit Orientation before their upcoming open water dive. Gary was also working with Travis, practising his Search and Recovery skills for his Advanced Open Water Course, and finally working with Tiffany and Michael, who work at a US Airforce Base, and were completing a DSD. Gary is hoping to visit the base soon, so the pair can complete a PADI Open Water Course.

Next year we have two very exciting trips, which are sure to book up fast! So to book or to find out any information, don't hesitate to contact Gary on either number mentioned above.

Belated Sunday Catch Up!

As we have mentioned before, Fred has got a film unit in this month, and so we haven't got any access to the deep pool. However, as ever in the world of showbiz, the film was delayed a week, and so we were able to get in the pool Monday night!

Tuesday was a special event for Marie, celebrating her 70th birthday with two friends, doing their DSDs! All three ladies had a fantastic time, and ticked off another activity on their bucket list! The next thing on their itinerary is white water rafting at the weekend!

We had a very busy night on Thursday at South Woodham Ferrers pool, with three open water courses and a big SEAL Team in the water completing Inner Space Aquamission. This Aquamission is all about buoyancy and is based around the NASA diving pool - which is used for astronauts space training! Although our students didn't get to do any space walks, they did have fun going through hoops of all shapes and sizes!

This weekend we had a full on couple of days! Writtle College Red Sea trip students (batch number 1!) were at Nemes in Kent, completing their PADI Open Water Courses along with Andy Day, who also joined in! Saturday for Writtle College students was spent completing dives 1 and 2, whilst Kevin Nicholls completed scenario 1 for his Rescue course. Whilst on Sunday, the Writtle students and Andy completed dives 3 and 4 to qualify for their open water certification, and Kevin completed scenario 2 for his rescue course. Well done to Zoe, Paige, Angelina, Ben, Carly, Andy and Kevin!

We also had Carol Vickers at Nemes on Sunday with Lazar, who was completing dives 1 and 2 of his PADI Open Water Course. A big thank you to all the staff for their help this weekend: Carol, Gill, Ian H., Jamie, Nadine, Rhonda, Richard and not forgetting Nicole and Janie for their help during the weekend!

A message from Gary:

"Whilst diving at the weekend, I've noticed that sometimes experienced divers are intolerant of students and newly qualified divers. We all started at the beginning, and all worked to the level we are now. I know when I first started, I made many mistakes but did have good divers around me that made sure I was safe, and who were understanding. If a student is coming along a line at an inline dive site, it would only be courteous for an experienced diver to move to the side or above, giving the right of way to the student divers. It is normally very easy to identify students, even in low visibility. The same consideration should be given to training on a platform. Unfortunately, we have had experienced divers landing on us, not looking what they are descending on to and also, doing a safety stop on a line, divers coming up not looking where they are going, and divers bumping us off. This same courtesy goes on to the entry and exit points. Priority should always be given to people exiting the water.

When I was a student, even though I was looked after by very good divers, they never let me forget embarrassing moments or pictures."

This week, we are in SWF pool Thursday night, and at Nemes on Saturday and Sunday, with 11 open water students. Any members of staff who are available to help at the weekend, please call the centre to let Gary know you can make it and on what days.

Don't forget - we are still looking for more people to help with the Bourne Mill clear up on the 21st June! Please get in touch if you can make it!

Sunday Catch Up

As it was half term this week, Gary’s had the week off school too! (From his mentoring at Basildon Academies, the After School Club and the BTEC Sports class). However, of course Gary has used this free time productively to attend meetings and catch up with admin work in the office.

Tuesday and Thursday were both busy nights in the pools, as students were preparing for their weekend dives. Although on Wednesday, Carol and Steve went to Stoney Cove to complete Steve’s rescue course! Well done to Steve on completing and Carol for her first full certification!

On Thursday afternoon, Gary met with Jim Messenger, who is head of Essex County Council’s Sportivate programme. This is a programme that was born out of the Olympic legacy, with the idea of getting non-active people into sports. This was a very productive meeting, bringing Gary up to speed on new paperwork, but it was also lovely to see Jim again, as he has been a great supporter of Orca for many years!

On Friday, Dave Chapman and Gary travelled to Colchester to Bourne Mill, which follows on from a trip Dave made a few weeks ago. Dave previously spoke to the house manager on the subject of diving in the millpond to clear up the rubbish. The National Trust agreed this would be a good idea, and Dave then got in touch with Gary. So on Friday, Gary and Dave went to Bourne Mill for a preliminary meeting to discuss dates and exactly what the National Trust would like us to do. So on Sunday 21^st June, a team of divers from Orca will descend into the depths of the millpond to clear and survey the topography. This will commence at 11am and finish around 2pm, so anyone wishing to be a part of this or just want to have a look around, please do get in touch with the centre!

This weekend we have been down to Nemes, with the dive team headed by Rhonda over the two days, who was joined by Gill, Joe and Richard on Saturday and Carol and Steve joined on Sunday. After a successful weekend, congratulations to Brenna, Josh, Ben and Dan for completing their open water, and Dan who also completed his dry suit course! Carol also said it was a very warm 16°C in the water that weekend, so no hoods or gloves for the first time this year!

Sunday Catch Up

Basildon Academy’s Monday After School Club is always difficult when students don’t turn up or haven’t done knowledge reviews! So this week’s session was all about catch for some of the students, before their final exam after half term break!

Tuesday was very busy day for Orca! Gary started off at Basildon Academy mentoring and then got back to the dive centre for the Academy’s Sport BTEC group, who was in the deep pool for the first time. After this session, Gary then went back to Basildon Academy for a mentor meeting about working with some new students. In the afternoon, two students and two staff from the Jupiter Centre (a children’s support service), came to the deep pool for their first pool dive! They were working alongside Carol Vickers and Gary was leading the session. This was the start of a busy week for Carole, who also working Tuesday night and at the weekend! All the students completed Dive 1 on the platform, and then it was time to go down to the bottom of the pool! Following up from previous comments about our staff, we received a text from the staff at the Jupiter Centre to say that everyone had a great time and was very pleased with how patient Carole was with one of the students who was a bit nervous. It is always lovely to hear that our staff has exceeded expectations! The day was finished off with pool night in Basildon, where students were carrying on with open water, rescue, drysuit and DSD courses.

When Gary arrived at the dive centre on Thursday, the roof of the deep pool was just about to come off! Being a film studio, there are times when you need a birds eye view, and for this the roof needs to be removed. In the evening however, we were in South Woodham Ferrers pool and had three open water courses running with six students, as well as the SEAL Team completing Safety Aqua Mission.

Over the weekend, Ian S. went to Stoney Cove with Stew and Sam. Being over thirty metres deep, Stoney is an ideal location for Advanced Open Water and Deep Diver Speciality courses. Stew and Sam finished their advanced open water on Saturday by completing deep, wreck and navigation dives. They then completed three more dives on Sunday for their Deep Speciality course. Well done to you both and thank you to Ian S. for your hard work this weekend!

Whilst this was going on, Gary and the team were back at the centre for two days in the deep pool. Nick was running a rescue course (which is not easy when you only have one student!), but this gives members of staff time to get an Oscar by playing panicked divers! Rhonda was running a confined open water course over the two days, followed by an EFR course in the late afternoon on Sunday, whilst Carole was back with another open water student for confined water dives 1 and 2. As well as all of this, Gary was running dry suit courses in the pool, so it has been a great weekend for us!

Upcoming this week, we have the last Tuesday night deep pool at Basildon until July, as Fred has a film unit in for a month! So this will now be moved to a Monday night at Basildon Lower Academy’s pool at Timberlodge Lane. Later in the week, Gary and Dave will be going to have a look at a dive site in Essex for a possible clear up and underwater survey – more details in the upcoming weeks! Next weekend, we will be back to Nemes running open water courses – any staff that can help out or anyone wanting to join in, don’t hesitate to give the centre a call! 

Sunday Catch Up

This year’s dive calendar is beginning to fill up! We have the following booked for the rest of this year:

May 23rd-24th:	Express Weekend, where we will be running rescue, open water, dry suit, DSDs and anyone who wants to jump in at Basildon deep pool
June:	Training at Nemes or Gildenburgh every weekend
July 3rd-10th:	Marsa Alam (Red Sea) trip with Writtle College, to carry on the conservation work we started last year with previous students
July 11th:	Gillwell 24 – 5pm till 5am!
July 25th-26th:	Deep Diver and Search and Recovery Specialities in Chepstow
July/August:	Weekend trip to Swanage TBC
August 5th-12th:	Red Sea trip at Fury & Friends on a liveaboard
October 24th-25th:	Farnes Island weekend trip

We have a few places left for the Farnes Island and August Red Sea trips, so if you’re interested, please get in touch with the centre! As well as all these events, we will be training every weekend until November, but there will be other events added to the list throughout the year!

We will shortly be posting an events calendar as part of the blog, as well as through Facebook events!

Over the last week we have again been very busy, Gary working with Basildon Academies After School Club on Monday, Tuesday night in Basildon deep pool with various courses running and Thursday night at South Woodham Ferrers pool.

This week we have had numerous deliveries from different suppliers, and Gary has spent most of the week trying to find space for the new stock, whilst also sorting out the current equipment!

We have had a diverse weekend with Dave at Nemes on Saturday completing Open Water Dives 1 and 2 on his course, whilst Ian H. and Andy Harris travelled to Stoney Cove on Sunday to complete Advanced Open Water course. Back at he centre however, it was an early start on Saturday to meet the compressor engineer to change the filters and conducting an air purification test. This is one of the many hidden costs of running a dive centre and as the old adage “How do you end up with a million pound in diving? Start with two!” The rest of the day was spent with Nick pumping sixty cylinders, whilst Rhonda Richer and Mark Prior sorted both storage containers! A colossal effort from Rhonda and Mark - thank you both so much, we can now actually walk in and out of the containers!

Next week we will have a photo gallery from Ben's trip to the Red Sea - sorry for the delay, it's Gary's fault!

Belated Sunday Catch Up!

Sorry we were late this week!

We had a slow start at the beginning of last week, so used this time to check and put away kit from the previous weekend’s dives. Gary was back in Basildon Academies for the After School Diving Club on Monday and also had the Basildon Academies’ BTEC Sports class’ last diving pool session on Friday.

On Tuesday, Gary went to the Children’s Support Service at the Jupiter Centre in Hadleigh. This is to run a PADI Open Water course and work with young people who have become disengaged with education system. The first day consisted of the first theory session, paperwork and an overview of how the course will be run. But, there was no pool night on Tuesday evening in Basildon, as Fred had another film shoot in. However, this gave us a head start to begin sorting out the summer kit! As we have just finished a long winter without many dives, all of our kit has to assessed before we can begin using it again. Gary and Janie made a good start with this process on Tuesday and Wednesday last week!

Last Thursday we had a very busy night in South Woodham Ferrers pool for the evening, where Gary was running the SEAL Team. Gill started a new open water course, whilst Rhonda and Dave continued with their current open water courses. And on Friday, Gary was preparing for the weekend just past.

Rhonda spent Saturday with Steve H. at Nemes to complete his Advanced Open Water course. Steve completed his first four dives in the Red Sea on the recent liveaboard trip, however there was no suitable location to do the navigation part of the course where the trip took place. Steve therefore finished this part of the course in the UK on Saturday with Rhonda! On Sunday, Rhonda went back to Nemes with Tony, Richard and Fernando, who are all newly qualified rescue divers, who after helping out as ‘victims’ on a recent rescue course, identified they would all like to become dive masters. Therefore, they spent Sunday with Rhonda logging up five dives, whilst also gaining more knowledge of the site, for future experience.

Gary is off to Cornwall this weekend to the annual Scuba Fest! Orca has been going to Scuba Dive Fest for the last four years and everyone always enjoys their time there! This year we will be diving at Porthkerris on Saturday and Sunday, in a boat called Kitten! If there are any questions about or prior to the trip, do not hesitate to get in contact and next week we will be posting a full review about the weekend!

Nick will be in the dive centre on Saturday this week if you need anything, but we will be closed on Monday due to the bank holiday! Next week, we will be back to normal in the pools on Tuesday and Thursday, so if anyone wants to jump in just give us a call!