The day begins with a fresh breathe of Adventure- Briefing
Good Morning/Afternoon everyone, my name is Muneera Sallies and I will be your dive master
for this dive. I would like to inform everyone that we are in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park. This
is a world heritage site and marine protected area, meaning we do not touch the reef or any fish
underwater. We do not take anything out of the ocean, besides our memories and pictures, nor
do we leave anything behind. Please keep yourself in a neutral buoyancy to avoid kicking or
damaging the reef at all.
On this dive we will be going to 7mile. The Northern Wall at the northern most tip of Seven Mile
Reef drops down to about a depth of between 22 metres max and 17 metres average depth and
it feels pretty much like you are going down the side of a massive mountain face. Only at the
bottom of this face you’re almost always guaranteed to find large stingrays. This is truly a really
great and unforgettable dive site. Think of two large, craggy, beautiful mountain peaks – now
imagine them totally submerged underwater filled with all kinds of fish, coral and plant life.
The Amphitheatre looks like a large sinkhole that drops 3-6 metres lower than the rest of the
reef.
We will be doing a drift dive, which basically means that we will be following the current at a nice
and steady pace which goes from North to South, which is why we will be doing a drift dive from
the North to South. The water temperature is normally at 25 degrees but with the colder
seasons we could expect around 23 degrees with low wind and swell possible slight swell, but
the bottom conditions should be very calm.
We will have a dive time of about 55 minutes or 50 bar low on air. So, if you reach 50 bar which
is the little red section on your gauge, this means low on air so come and show me and your
buddy that you are low on air and you are going up. You can decide between your buddy team if
you are going up alone or with your buddy, then inform me so that I know who is going up and
staying down.
Some possible sightings
Fish of every kind are found here, Goldies, snappers, scorpion fish, goatfish, potato bash,
trumpet fish and more often than not – grey reef and ragged tooth sharks are spotted around
the Castle Rock
I am now going to divide everyone into buddy teams….
Lost buddy procedures:
If you find that your buddy is missing, come to me and show me “my buddy is missing”. I will
hand the buoy line over to an experienced diver, go up to the boat and see if I can find your
buddy. If he/she is not there I will come back down, terminate the dive and we will start
searching for your buddy. If you find that you are the lost buddy – simply go up 1 meter, do a
360-degree turn looking for any fin flashes or bubbles going to the surface. If you can’t see
anything then do a slow, controlled ascend, skip your safety stop and surface. Call the skipper
to come pick you up. Even If you have more than 100 bar of air you may ask the skipper to drop
you on the buoy line and you may rejoin the dive.
Boat procedures: From here we will go down to the boat and stand opposite our BCD’s. We will
level-out the boat and the tractor will push it in while we keep it level. Once the boat is floating
will ask the ladies to jump on first. the skipper will then drop the motors and ask for the guys to
jump on as well. Once on the boat we will put on our life jackets, slide our feet into the foot
straps and continue to launch through the surf. We will then stop and take off our life jackets
and make our way to the dive site. Once there we will help you with your weight belts, fins and
masks. Then we will help you with your gear. Once everyone is ready, the skipper will give us a
count of 1, 2, 3, GO. On the word GO, all fall backwards into the water. You may decide if you’re
going to do a positive or negative descend. I will be doing a negative and will watch as the last
diver descends. If you happen to descend faster, please keep am eye on me and do not swim
away. Once everyone has descended, I will ask if everyone is OK and when we are ready, we
will begin our dive together making sure that no one drifts away on their own
Throughout the dive I will ask everyone to check their gauges and if you have 100 or more
please indicate that you are okay and if you have reached 50 bar it means that you are low on
air and will need to do a slow ascend making your safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes. If you
don’t have a dive computer, along the buoy line there is a black painted section at 5 meters.
Stop at that mark and sing happy birthday to yourself 3 times, using your full name, which will
cover the 3 minutes at your safety stop. Then surface and inflate your BCD and indicate for the
skipper to come and pick you up.
Emergency Procedures- In the unlikely event of an emergency there are emergency
procedures, an oxygen kit, a radio and a first aid kit in the console of the boat as well as on the
beach. However we are all professionals and will treat the dive as such
Hand signals: I’m now going to run through the different hand signals – Question and answer
are you OK? Yes, I am OK or no something is wrong, point to the problem and we will sort it out
under the water. Once the problem is sorted just show me that you are OK. This is the signal for
going up, for going down, if you are low on air, and throughout the dive I will be asking you to
check your gauge. If you have more than 100 bar, simply show me you are OK. If you are on 50
bar you need to signal that you are low on air, and going up. For those of you with computers,
when your computer reaches 3 minutes from Deco you need to show me that your computer is
three minutes from Deco. So that I know that you know to slowly start making your ascent.
Again, just a reminder that this is a heritage site so please remain neutrally buoyant as all times
in order to protect the marine life and ourselves. Please feel free to ask me any questions and
lets have a great dive
