2007 - Where is the time going????
2007-02-07 @ 04:44:36
We had an excellent Christmas week. Familiar faces joined us for their traditional festive dives.
Though the weather was less than cooperative just prior to New Years Eve, we enjoyed full boats and great camaraderie from the staff and guests alike. While we all worked on Christmas Day the team managed to get a little time off to spend with friends and family. On Christmas Night, Pete arranged the bonfire party on the beach. Everyone was dragging themselves away from the TV and cold turkey to have a beer or 2 and watch the now famous Fireworks by Freddy. Once again he survived- Freddy has a different approach to fireworks…
Steady numbers through January punctuated with Dive Chronicles Digital Jam week. A firm Sunset House favorite, our 27 contestants saw some fabulous images and some familiar faces from last year. It was great to see Victor from Victoria, British Columbia here again, bringing with him a wonderful enthusiasm. His mountain bike stories from Saltspring Island would scare you to death, but it takes a lot to intimidate this young “old man”!
There was, once again, some great support from the Manufacturers and Resorts with some very enviable prizes awarded for Best Video, Wide Angle, Macro etc. This year Sandy and Brad attended and with the help of Cathy Church and her team of Pro’s, we all able to provide a great week for all.
The reef at Sunset continually delivers great results for all levels of diver. Night dives are as good as anywhere and location convenience makes the dive popular with everyone. Sundays are still our high volume dive day with dozens of residents and guests alike enjoying this great little shore dive. We’re pretty fortunate to have this dive site as our back yard and because of this, we see guests returning year after year. Buy a package and unlimited shore diving on this gem is included at no charge.
Last month saw Steve Hudson,
(the renowned mega yacht instructor and Course Director- his words-not mine), in town with his Boss on their incredible mega yacht. Sunset Divers were the Operator of choice and we were able to do some very fast guiding on u/w scooters covering 6 sites each dive.
We are crossing fingers for the M.Y. Lone Ranger to stop by to renew old acquaintances’ during their continued circumnavigation of the globe. After a mammoth crossing from Asia they are in the Caribbean. Always fun to work with the super yachts.
Boat news this month is much the same. Rob is painting one of our newer boats which we secured from Cayman Brac. We have 3 new v-hulls exactly the same as Sea Ray -our Stingray City boat.
Tom working hard at sanding the deck
The plan is to get them all renovated to pristine condition this year and with luck we will have two of them completed for Total Sub in April. On completion we will then have 7 boats operating, all to suit a variety of conditions.
New Captains this month will be Kevin and MikeB. We have had some interesting seas to contend with dockside so with a few more months of unruly water the boys will have to be on their game. It’s a tricky little dock on occasion.
Training developments include Freddy and Jax obtaining MSDT status so congratulations to them. Peter and MikeB recently became SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructors.
Dennis Pulley, SSI’s head of Instructor Development came down and conducted an Instructor Trainer program where yours truly joined the ranks of SSI’s Elite. Sunset Divers will now be able to offer the full range of SSI recreational courses.
Watch this space for more details of future SSI programs and support.
We are currently in discussion with Dave Hinman, our Course Director about a Fall IDC so all you PADI Divemasters out there who want to come and qualify to teach in paradise, please contact us.
One of the highlights of the last month was diving with Nick, Darol and Patrick from the States. All wheelchair bound, though it didn’t stop them having a great time. They dived like they partied- hard and we all enjoyed their time with us. With luck they’ll be back.
Jax is on vacation right now. Snow boarding and racing snow mobiles in Big White, Kelowna. Back next week refreshed and ready to roll.
Freddy is heading to a big wedding in the US and Pete and Lissy set course for New Zealand on a trip of a lifetime- boating fishing and diving strong on the agenda. Watch out New Plymouth…
GM Dee will be in Chicago next week for the Dive Show and along from sunny California will be Keith our Marketing guru. Go say hi and better yet book that vacation. We know how cold Chicago gets- don’t fight it! I’ll be in New York for the March show and then a little break until Long Beach CA in the summer. Remember you can obtain great deals and ‘show specials’ at these events and it gives the dive consumer an ideal opportunity to meet the Resort staff and have all their questions answered.
Until then have a warm safe winter and book your winter vacation now- were ready to show you a great time.
Safe Diving
Mike
Mike can be contacted atmikep@sunsethouse.com
The Captains Blog is sponsored by Ikelite Underwater Housings- The Sensible Choice.
http://www.ikelite.com
Though the weather was less than cooperative just prior to New Years Eve, we enjoyed full boats and great camaraderie from the staff and guests alike. While we all worked on Christmas Day the team managed to get a little time off to spend with friends and family. On Christmas Night, Pete arranged the bonfire party on the beach. Everyone was dragging themselves away from the TV and cold turkey to have a beer or 2 and watch the now famous Fireworks by Freddy. Once again he survived- Freddy has a different approach to fireworks…
Steady numbers through January punctuated with Dive Chronicles Digital Jam week. A firm Sunset House favorite, our 27 contestants saw some fabulous images and some familiar faces from last year. It was great to see Victor from Victoria, British Columbia here again, bringing with him a wonderful enthusiasm. His mountain bike stories from Saltspring Island would scare you to death, but it takes a lot to intimidate this young “old man”!
There was, once again, some great support from the Manufacturers and Resorts with some very enviable prizes awarded for Best Video, Wide Angle, Macro etc. This year Sandy and Brad attended and with the help of Cathy Church and her team of Pro’s, we all able to provide a great week for all.
The reef at Sunset continually delivers great results for all levels of diver. Night dives are as good as anywhere and location convenience makes the dive popular with everyone. Sundays are still our high volume dive day with dozens of residents and guests alike enjoying this great little shore dive. We’re pretty fortunate to have this dive site as our back yard and because of this, we see guests returning year after year. Buy a package and unlimited shore diving on this gem is included at no charge.
Last month saw Steve Hudson,
(the renowned mega yacht instructor and Course Director- his words-not mine), in town with his Boss on their incredible mega yacht. Sunset Divers were the Operator of choice and we were able to do some very fast guiding on u/w scooters covering 6 sites each dive. We are crossing fingers for the M.Y. Lone Ranger to stop by to renew old acquaintances’ during their continued circumnavigation of the globe. After a mammoth crossing from Asia they are in the Caribbean. Always fun to work with the super yachts.
Boat news this month is much the same. Rob is painting one of our newer boats which we secured from Cayman Brac. We have 3 new v-hulls exactly the same as Sea Ray -our Stingray City boat.
Tom working hard at sanding the deck
The plan is to get them all renovated to pristine condition this year and with luck we will have two of them completed for Total Sub in April. On completion we will then have 7 boats operating, all to suit a variety of conditions.
New Captains this month will be Kevin and MikeB. We have had some interesting seas to contend with dockside so with a few more months of unruly water the boys will have to be on their game. It’s a tricky little dock on occasion.
Training developments include Freddy and Jax obtaining MSDT status so congratulations to them. Peter and MikeB recently became SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructors.
Dennis Pulley, SSI’s head of Instructor Development came down and conducted an Instructor Trainer program where yours truly joined the ranks of SSI’s Elite. Sunset Divers will now be able to offer the full range of SSI recreational courses.
Watch this space for more details of future SSI programs and support.
We are currently in discussion with Dave Hinman, our Course Director about a Fall IDC so all you PADI Divemasters out there who want to come and qualify to teach in paradise, please contact us.
One of the highlights of the last month was diving with Nick, Darol and Patrick from the States. All wheelchair bound, though it didn’t stop them having a great time. They dived like they partied- hard and we all enjoyed their time with us. With luck they’ll be back.
Jax is on vacation right now. Snow boarding and racing snow mobiles in Big White, Kelowna. Back next week refreshed and ready to roll.
Freddy is heading to a big wedding in the US and Pete and Lissy set course for New Zealand on a trip of a lifetime- boating fishing and diving strong on the agenda. Watch out New Plymouth…
GM Dee will be in Chicago next week for the Dive Show and along from sunny California will be Keith our Marketing guru. Go say hi and better yet book that vacation. We know how cold Chicago gets- don’t fight it! I’ll be in New York for the March show and then a little break until Long Beach CA in the summer. Remember you can obtain great deals and ‘show specials’ at these events and it gives the dive consumer an ideal opportunity to meet the Resort staff and have all their questions answered.
Until then have a warm safe winter and book your winter vacation now- were ready to show you a great time.
Safe Diving
Mike
Mike can be contacted atmikep@sunsethouse.com
The Captains Blog is sponsored by Ikelite Underwater Housings- The Sensible Choice.
http://www.ikelite.com