Descend Downunder

Descend aboard Ocean Trek - Easter 2007

Descend’s new Tunnel Project..

Descend has just won another tunnel project this time situated on the sunny Gold Coast. The Council of the City of Gold Coast (GCCC), in conjunction with the South East Queensland Region, has invoked its drought security plan. An important component of the drought security plan is to plan for emergency bulk water options in the event of continuing low rainfall across the region. 
A significant part of this project involves the completion of two tunnels for the intake and discharge of seawater and brine water, respectively.  The tunnels will be driven with two Herrenknecht AVN2800, Slurry Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM's).
Due to the fact that the tunnels will be driven underneath the ocean floor, a hyperbaric chamber will be installed on each TBM along with a Medical Airlock on the surface should any emergency situation arrive. The chambers are there to facilitate any compressed air work that may be required where ground conditions are such that the inflows of groundwater are unable to be catered for by   conventional means.  Descend will be training the tunnel workers required for this project.

Descend returns to Hong Kong..

On top of all that Des has set off to Hong Kong to train further workers on the Link200 Joint Venture tunnel in Hong Kong. Des is running a Hyperbaric workers course and a Lock Attendants course over the two week duration. (And we hear he’s doing plenty of shopping at the night markets).

Club Night at The Movies..

Join us for Spiderman 3

Join us for a Movie/Dinner deal to see Spiderman 3 followed by dinner at the Regent Café.

When: Saturday 12th May

Where: Meet at Regent Café Cinema Centre, Albury

Time: to be advised

Cost: $22.00 for movie/dinner deal

Bookings essential on 60411405.

Philippines information Night..

The countdown is on with only 16 weeks till we depart for the beautiful Sangat Island to dive WW11 shipwrecks. We still have 3 places available so if you would like to join us book now, by filling in a booking form and forwarding your deposit to Always Dive Expeditions.

Like to know more?

Sit back and relax

Join us for our information Night

When: Friday 15th June

Where: Descend – Nibbles provided – BYO drinks

Time: 7:00pm

RSVP: By 13th June on  02 60 411405 or email kristy@descend.com.au

Beach front Sangat Island

Sangat Island  18th - 29th August 2007

The small fishing town of Coron will be your base to Asia’s best wreck sites. Here you will see some of the Philippines’ most spectacular scenery, ranging from huge limestone cliffs, underwater and land caves to thermal lakes, hot springs, jungles and rivers. It’s remote, rarely visited by tourists, which helps to keep it one of the philippines best kept secrets. For the wreck diving enthusiast, this is your chance to dive one of the worlds premier WW2 wreck sites, all easily accessible from Sangat.

Sangat Island Resort has bungalow style accommodation overlooking a white sandy beach with the opportunity to use their complimentary kayaks to paddle in the crystal clear water.

 Only $2,850 Per Diver

 $2,350 Per Non Diver

 Plus $330 pre-paid taxes per person - Only 3 places remaining - Book NOW!!!

Lloyd Congratulations..

A huge THANKYOU to all our volunteers who helped Lloyd on his BioSub Project. Without you it wouldn’t have been possible. It was a huge success and we are so dam proud of you Lloyd.

Select the link below for some great pictures of our volunteers on the project.

http://www.descend.com.au/training/gallery/PhotoGallery.asp?whichcategory=Bio%20Sub%20Project&AreaID=17

MY SEA WEEKEND – AMY ALEXANDER

I can finally say that I’m officially one of you! It took me a bit longer than most, I’ve completed my training over two courses, to be honest at times I found some things a bit overwhelming, my main struggle being dealing with the whole hood, claustrophobic situation J but it’s all good, I ended up getting that under control and after a few extra pool sessions in the March course I was set for the sea weekend and was determined that I would complete it!

We had our sea weekend on the 14th/15th April. As we were driving down to Queenscliff I was wondering what the weekend would bring and also racking my brains to see if I had forgotten anything, I swear I double checked that trailer about 10 times (slight exaggeration). We established that Kirk had forgotten his regs (luckily we had a spare set) and between the two of us had forgotten the camera! But besides that we had everything J

Our first dive was at the Cottage Gardens, the shore dive with the dreaded stair climb coming back out! As I was getting in the water I was feeling a little unsure, wrestling with the waves to get my fins on and then being knocked over with all my gear on wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. I was NOT going to bail out on this weekend! As we headed out to the reef I was starting to relax (a little) we went through our skills and everyone did really well so that left a decent amount of time to have a look around. All I have to say is WOW! The pain of trudging up those steps and being knocked over by every wave getting in was worth it, there were a few nerves but I was too distracted by everything around me to notice them. I was amazed at how tired I was even just after the first dive and I still had two more to go for the day!

We didn’t stop all day, between dives we snacked on biscuits and chocolate, very good diving food J Our next two dives for the day was a second shore dive at Cottage Gardens and then after a very quick lunch, our first ever boat dive at the Kelp Beds where we got to a depth of 17m. This dive was my favourite for the weekend, the visibility was fantastic and the surface was completely flat. I was feeling a bit nervous before the boat dive, but I was really hoping that it would go well. The dive went really well, my buddy and I did start following the wrong group but Kirk soon got us back in with the others. Typical of me to do something like that.  I did my first safety stop at 5m, I however carried out my stop a varying depths ranging from a depth of 6m up to 2m, I didn’t surface but I was pretty close to it. What did I learn from this experience? I clearly need to do some serious work on my buoyancy control! So it was more of a safety bob than a stop J Once we were back in the boat I was pumping with adrenalin and beaming at the fact I had just completed my first boat dive without any “moments” or stuff ups! Oh yeah!

Now for FOOD!!! I, along with everyone else was starving. Once we had washed all our gear and got a quick shower and change we were off to the pub where I proceeded to devour my chicken parmi (with Scott and Kirk helping out with the chips).

When I went to bed I was that tired that my foam mattress actually felt comfortable which was a sure sign that I’d had a big day. I felt like I was still on the boat as I was going to sleep, I’m sure you would all know what I’m talking about, I need to get used to the whole boat thing.

The next morning was a 6:30am get up, and everyone discovered that I’m not much of a morning person; I would say I’m more of a morning zombie than a person. Scott took great delight in tormenting me for the next hour, including the boat trip out to the Dragon’s Lear

where I was starting to feel ever so slightly seasick. “Get out the way I’m getting in the water!” I just wanted to get off the surface so I’d stop feeling sick, I am very proud to say that I didn’t vomit J (I’m sure you probably didn’t want to know that) I had my first encounter with a puffer fish, which went rather well, only got spiked a little bit. Scott and Kirk seemed to enjoy shaking it up. Second safety stop went a lot better than my first one; I actually stayed at 5m for the amount of time that I was supposed to.

We ended the weekend with a short dive back at Cottage Gardens where Chris one of our new divers led the dive; just as well he did because I have absolutely no sense of direction. We did our last hike of the steps afterwards and I was feeling pretty stuffed. This had been a great weekend but a tiring one – all worth it though. Before waving goodbye to Queenscliff we filled out some final pieces of paperwork and did the presentation of our cards and certificates, big smiles all round J I learnt a lot at this weekend and I’m looking forward to getting more experience and seeing all I can in the diving world.

A few mental notes for next time:

-   Get some muscles so I can carry my gear by myself (I did it once to prove a point – nearly killed me!)

-   Don’t let Kirk eat curry the night before we have to travel 5 hours back to Albury, not enough ventilation in the van to allow for that! 

Congratulations..

A big congratulations to the following recently certified Open Water Students…..

Adam King, Chris & Bridget Wallis, Barry Nichols and a special congratulations to our very own Amy Alexander. Well done to all and we hope to see you back in the water soon.

Easter - Jervis Bay..

Once again Ocean Trek exceeded our expectations and Descend Divers enjoyed a wonderful trip over Easter. If you enjoyed this trip why not join us to The Philippines?