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We Fish you a Merry Xmas…
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!! From Des, Val, Kristy, Andrew, Rick, Scott & all the Descend crew!!
Xmas Party
We will celebrate Christmas in style this Saturday with the Descend Christmas party at the Albury Club – 519 Kiewa Street. For those that didn’t book but would still like to join us for a drink come on down anytime after 6:00pm. Remember to dress to impress as the club has a strict no jeans policy. Drinks at bar prices. Hope to see you all there!
Xmas Hours
Well the countdown is well and truly on with approximately 18 more sleeps till Santa comes. We are stopping for a break over Christmas and will be closed for the public holidays, however we will be open the days in between. Our full Xmas trading hours below
Xmas Club Dive
The Pit is fantastic at the moment, clear and warming up. Join us for a Twilight Dive followed by chicken and champagne on Tuesday evening 20th December. Bookings are essential.
Time: 5:30 @ The Pit
Cost: $10/ head + gear
RSVP: prior to the 20th
Jervis Bay Cub Weekend
Its almost full with 5 places remaining. Remember to confirm your place we need a $100 deposit We’ve got about eight divers already booked so if you want to join us call us now.
Open Water Courses
If you know someone that would enjoy diving with you why not give them a gift voucher for a dive course this Xmas? We also have a huge range of snorkeling sets from as little as $50/set for full silicone. Great quality at a great price.
Congratulations
To Andrew and Andrea on the safe arrival of Mitchell Andrew Weppner on 24th November. We are thrilled that Sophie has a baby brother to adore.
Descend Christmas Trading Hours
Our hours over the Christmas period are as follows;
Saturday 24th – 9:00 – 12:00
Xmas Day – closed
Boxing Day – closed
Tuesday 27th – closed
Wednesday 28th – 8:30 – 5:00
Thursday 29th – 8:30 – 5:00
Friday 30th – 8:30 – 5:00
Saturday 31st - closed
New Years Day – closed
Monday 2nd – closed
Tuesday 3rd – 8:30 – 5:00
We wish all our customers a safe & happy Christmas & New Year…
Jervis Bay..
Australia Day falls on a Thursday next year so why not take the Friday and join us for a long weekend in JB. We’re travelling over on Thursday, diving Friday & Saturday and travelling home Sunday. The dive shop have their own house for divers accommodation and it’s nice & cheap at only $40/night, four share. We can take a maximum of 13 divers and its first in with a $100 deposit who get a place. 5 places still available!!
Club Package Includes;
3 x nights accommodation
2 x double boat dives
Extra cylinder for 2nd dive
Extra air fills for boat dives
Only $325
Cavern Sinkhole Course
A big Congratulations to Kylie Clarkson, Mark Padmore, Ross Hall & Chris Lethbridge who completed their cavern/sinkhole course 20th November in Mt Gambier. For a look at some pictures of the weekend select the link below;
http://www.descend.com.au/training/gallery/PhotoGallery.asp?whichcategory=Cavern/Sinkhole%20Course%202005&AreaID=17
Solomons Update
We have been overwhelmed with bookings for our 2006 trip. We currently have 24 lucky travellers booked with deposits paid. There is a slight possibility we can get one or two extra places but that will be at an absolute maximum. Solomon Airlines have already had to charter another plane for our Drescend group to get from Honiara to Gizo. If you really, really want to go this is your last chance.
Perhaps the article below by Stan will convince you.
Solomons - By Stan Bugg
Gizo: A Place Worth Revisiting. By Stan Bugg.
Descend’s 2006 trip to Gizo invokes fond memories of my visit in 1995, when Brian and I chose the Solomon Islands for a budget overseas trip. An attractive package offered a ten-day sojourn to Honiara for five days, then Gizo for another five days.
Gizo is a couple of hours light plane flight north of the main island of Guadalcanal.
Luggage allowances were tight, (and actually enforced ) but we were well prepared.
Gizo is a sleepy little frontier-like town with the worst roads and the friendliest people you will find.
We stayed at Gizo Hotel. At the time it was undergoing serious renovation, and we were accommodated in what was somewhat cryptically called the "old section." The view from our window allowed us to look enviously upon the new section as it took form before us. Prospective Descend attendees will be pleased to know that the new hotel is completed.
If I can offer you an enduring tip based on a lot of experience it is this; do not travel to the Pacific for the gourmet food! Fresh produce can be in short supply, and much of the hotel and restaurant food has been imported from Australia and New Zealand.
With this rule foremost in our minds, and having endured the somewhat ordinary food at Honiara, we were pleasantly surprised at its quality in Gizo. We ate excellent meals at the Gizo hotel and at the PT 109 restaurant. For lunch we bought fresh fruit at the market on the waterfront. Several general stores sell canned food and drinks.
Our dive operators were Danny and Kerrie Kennedy of Adventure Sports. (I think they now call themselves Dive Gizo) They were perfect hosts who looked after all of our needs. All of our gear was washed, hung to dry, then locked away each night. Boats were comfortable and fast.
For a small extra charge, the boat crew would do a superb BBQ lunch on a nearby island between dives.
Diving conditions were excellent, with water temperatures of 29oC, and visibility of 20+ metres. Currents were negligible, and surface conditions were superb.
In our short stay we dived a variety of sites, but most notably:
Grand Central Station. A corner of the reef where currents converge, which in turn attracts big pelagics and reef sharks. Depth was 3-35m..take your pick.
Joe’s Wall. A 300m deep dropoff with 60m visibility. You can pick your depth between 3m and whatever!
Toa Maru. A Japanese freighter on its side close to shore. Depth is from 10m to 35m, making it suitable for divers of all levels.
Grumman 6F6 Hellcat fighter. WW2 fighter in 10m, which we dived over lunch.
We enjoyed our short time in Gizo, and have often discussed another trip, if only to see if the new Gizo hotel is as good as it looked at the time.
Other considerations:
Malaria is prevalent throughout the Solomons.
All water should be boiled.
It is very hot, and you need to hydrate aggressively.
But best of all, the exchange rate is approx 5 S.I dollars to one Aussie dollar.
Copyright sbugg 2005
Christmas Club Dive
Twilight Dive followed by chicken & champagne !!
Friday 21st January
Meeting at The Pit at 5:30pm
Bookings Essential
All Welcome
Cost $10/person + gear
Christmas Gift Ideas
For Christmas Gift Ideas please select the link below:
GIft Ideas.doc (DOC 347 K)
Article URL: http://www.descend.com.au/newsletter/200512716482.htm
Descend Underwater Training Centre
Shop 1 826 David Street
Albury NSW 2640
Australia
Tel: +61 2 6041 1405
Fax: +61 2 6021 6732
ABN: 83 251 221 741
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