News
Make your dives count – with BSAC’s free Sealife Tracker app
With UK divers having made the most of the improved weather this summer, why not add another dimension to your dives by helping scientists track species around the British coastline.
BSAC has co-created a free new app – Sealife Tracker – that will enable divers to help monitor the spread of invasive species in British seas.
Available to download now from iTunes, the the Sealife Tracker focuses on around a dozen non-native species of fish, invertebrates and plants which pose a potential threat to the indigenous marine life in our seas and the marine environment around our coastline.
With this easy-to-use tracker, divers and snorkellers can identify any of the species they may see on their dives and then upload details. Information uploaded via the Sealife Tracker – and it can also include photo which you can upload after a dive – will be goes towards essential research data which will be held on a central website.
The Sealife Tracker can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store and has been designed to work on all the main Android and iOS platforms – so where your phone goes, your Sealife Tracker goes too!
And, to help you identify any of the species while actually on a dive, there is a downloadable ‘species guide’ which can be printed off and laminated to take with you underwater.
The Sealife Tracker has been developed in conjunction with the University of Bristol, the Environment Agency, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Scottish Natural Heritage.
For more information, go to http://www.bsac.com/page.asp?section=4439%A7ionTitle=Sealife+Tracker+app
For a week at the end of February I was invited to sample the diving with Orca Dive Club based at the Breakers Diving and Surfing Lodge by courtesy of SOMABAY.
Somabay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds. Somabay caters for scuba diving as well as many other sports, including windsurfing, golf, sailing, go-carting, horse riding and many other activities.
All the activities are of a world-class standard and any or all of these can be booked directly from The Breakers.
I took Easyjet from Bristol (UK) to Hurghada. Easyjet are not by any means my favourite airline but the flight was cheap and direct (except for the surprise extra £48 I was charged at the gate for my carry-on bag).
I was met at Hurghada airport by a driver and car and taken to the Breakers 28 miles (45Kilomaters) south along the coast. Once at the hotel I was too late for an evening meal and so a basic meal was delivered to my room. That and a beer from the fridge and I was fast asleep.
Early the next morning after breakfast I arrived for my rep meeting at the Orca Dive Center for 8.00am. I was immediately made to feel welcome, and after brief introductions I got some dive gear from the store, had a chat with my dive guide Mohamed and got ready to try the house reef situated at the end of a very long wooded pier where all diving gear and divers are taken out by buggies.
Once at the end of the pier, a helping hand from staff makes sure your gear is set and then it’s a short walk to the very end where you can either climb down a ladder of simply jump in the water next to the reef. The house reef extends both north and south giving a very easy and safe dive with plenty to see. At this time of the year the water temperature was a constant 22 degrees Centigrade and there was little or no current, so there were no issues in swimming back to the pier.
Quite a few divers were in dry or semi-dry suits, but being from the UK and used to the cold I found a 3mm wetsuit with a 3mm neoprene vest quite comfortable. Even after 50 years of diving I still find that first dive of a trip slightly nerving until I am actually underwater and then all becomes relaxed and I ease into auto diving mode. There was plenty to see with many of the Red Sea favourites along the way.
After the dive and a buggy ride back to the hotel for a very good buffet lunch I was back in the water, once again on the house reef for an afternoon dive.
Check in for part 2 tomorrow when Jeff gets on a day boat and dives a few of the off-shore reefs.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
In an interview recorded exclusively for Scubaverse.com, Jeff Goodman interviews Jeremy Higson from Sea to Sky about the itineraries the tour operator offers in Oman.
For more information about diving in Oman, contact Sea to Sky now:
Email: hello@mysetaosky.co.uk
WhatsApp: + 39 379 236 7138
Website: www.myseatosky.co.uk
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