Pisces Divers

SAS PMB

Today a couple of OMSACcians took to the water to see if the PMB is still as awesome as the rumors claim… Among others, our group consisted of Myself, Jolene, Naomi, Stephen, Irene, Stephen Sr., Wynand and fearless leader Justin “Silver Fox” Johnson leading the expedition aboard the H.M.S. Pisces.

We launched at around 11h30 with calm seas and cloudy, yet thankfully dry skies. A full 3.2 second boat ride and we were ready to drop anchor and get wet! Today was an auspicious day for me seeing as it was the long-overdue first dive with my recently upgraded video lights which I made from modern day sticks and dung: PVC and… well… elbow grease!…

So a quick roll and into the drink we went, passing a mild thermocline and descending on Justin’s accurately placed shot taking us to the middle of ye olde wreck at 20m. The first part of the descent sported some low viz, but once we went through the thermocline it cleared up to a very decent 10m+ at around 13 degrees, depending on behind who you’re swimming

A quick inspection confirmed that the new lights were holding up and I proceeded to do a few zig-zag passes over the deck and through the swimthoughs, followed closely by keen-photographer Potgieter. Over the period of the dive we managed to do multiple passes as well as a fairly complete parameter swim of the wreck which is looking gorgeous as always.

Alas, much as we would have loved to stay down there forever, after about 30 minutes, it was time to start heading up, stopping for a quick smoke at 5m before returning to the dreary, gravity-ridden world above sea level…

Total dive time was 36min, max depth 20.4m and avg temp 13deg.

Now. Let’s all return to work tomorrow. Joy.
Martin Els

Cow Sharks at Pyramid Rock

Danie De Kock and I met up at Pisces Divers and decided to head out to Pyramid Rock for a morning dive. The weather was great and the ocean looked awesome from the road. When we got to the water the surf was rather hectic. Danie managed to get into the water quite quickly, but I got pummelled on the rocks by the surf. We did a short swim out and descended amongst the kelp. Danie took point and did a good job navigating the site. The water was a really great temperature (I haven’t downloaded the dive data yet) and the vis wasn’t bad. A pajama shark about a meter long actually bumped into Danie during the dive. Then we found the sharks. I should actually say they found us because they appeared and disappeared like ghosts in the water, at times just looming shadows floating past us. With a dive time of just over 40 minutes and so much to see (despite being my most challenging entry and exit thus far), it was still an awesome dive!

Maggs

Night Dive at Long Beach

I met up with Carel, Pieter, Nick and some students at Pisces on Friday evening. The wind was howling and the ocean was looking quite rough, so we headed for Long Beach. The sun began setting while we got our kit together, so we went in with our torches on. The swell was quite big on the surface, so we went under rather quickly, and got amazing dive conditions. Pieter and I were buddies while Carel and Nick took care of the students. We managed a 56 minute dive in lovely 14 degree water with 4 to 6 meter visibility. With loads to see, the hour passed by really quickly, making the dive an incredible experience. The teeming life didn’t however erase the eeriness of the night dive, but it was still a great experience!

Naomi

Diver’s night

I caught the train to Pisces Divers and decided I was not going to dive because all along the coast there were big waves. But after fish & chips and a lot of friends arriving, I decided I must join them. Never dived at this site (Jetty in Simons Town, near Bertha’s), but it did not disappoint. Loads of Beaked Sandfish, a Sponge Crab or two, a Pleated Toadfish and a lot of baby Shy Sharks. Congratulations to Graham on his first night dive.

Naomi

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This was the 1st year that OMSAC have joined in Divers Night – last year there were only 3 divers. This year there were 20!

Worldwide last year, the event saw 2749 divers on 218 dive sites in 20 countries so a great event to be a part of. Thanks to Tony and Claire from Learn to Dive Today for organising.