 Bridget at NDAC Chepstow Great weekends diving at NDAC Chepstow in preparation for the next club trip to Scapa Flow in August (well not quite as Capernwray in June is first!) Preparation: What preparation and why NDAC Chepstow? Well in Scapa Flow, a few of the team are diving Twinsets in a technical configuration, something that they do not do or have done regularly as you tend to see us on single cylinders as that is the industry 'standard' for recreational diving. Twinsets setup in a "Technical Setup" require practise and for Scapa Flow time at depth to get our bodies use to Nitrogen loading - all part of our own personal development as you never stop learning and every day is a learning curve even for those of us who have been diving for many years. Why Not Stoney? After all it is nearer... Well lets say Why not NDAC Chepstow?
There are lots of diving options for Advanced Open water divers and above, for our open water divers a great day can also be had. So just because we talk about technical and technical dive preparation the site is well setup for ALL recreational diving so why not join us next time?                 Speciality Instructor - Tracey Roberts - Adaptive Techniques We at Dive Rutland are committed to serving all needs of divers and pride ourselves as taking the time and approach to make reasonable accommodations for any known conditions.
This includes becoming HSA instructors, Ocean Reef Full face mask instructors, bettering our understanding of SEN needs and how to accommodate them. We believe that diving is for everyone and are pleased to announce we are now a PADI adaptive techniques dive centre with Tracey leading adaptive training as we have always done.  Well, this school homework was a little different and its that impressive from one of our younger divers with their permission we are sharing it.. Its really poignant and shows real maturity.. There is hope for our oceans yet! So, what is this homework that has us all going wow... To create a cushion or wall hanging that represents the beach Lets generalise now.. I bet most would have instantly gone to a happy place with ice-creams, sandcastles, buckets, spades and happiness. Well as we know divers always look at the world a bit differently well Thomas immediately thought of the plastic waste that he has seen both in and around the water. Dragging his family along on a rainy night for a walk against debris at the nearby Rutland Water, he produced this piece. A harrowing piece that tells a story to those that take the time to look, consider, and feel. Thomas’ plea to protect what you love moves beyond the pristine beach, but in to the ocean itself. We’ve seen Blue Planet, heard what is at risk, so now we need to answer a child’s plea. Make better decisions and clean up after yourself, keep our ocean cleans and save our precious planet.
Art Teacher not impressed but personally I love it, so our congratulations go to Thomas for "Thinking outside the box" and producing something that has a very clear message. In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught. ~ Baba Dioum, 1968 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
 Every week on Malapascua one of the dive centres on the island hosts a Debris Free Thursday clean up operation between 4.30 and 5.30pm. This weeks turn being Villa Sandra, and a bonus of a free beer for taking part. So, in keeping with the Dive Rutland 100% Project Aware ethos that on every dive trip, plastic is collected we decided to join in - they were a little surprised to have an additional nine helpers. Off we trotted through the back streets of the island... eye opening is the phrase that was used by most... with a cockerel tied to nearly every other tree, and the bigger families having pigs to. It was definitely a different sight to the resort and quickly brought us back down to earth after the luxury of this week. In just one hour THIRTY TWO kilograms of rubbish was collected, then all separated into different bags to allow us to take a little pressure off those that work in the sorting facilities on the island.    The local children would run up to us, pass us some rubbish that they had collected for us and then high-five us when it went into the bag, and there was quite a few that followed us along the way! Not only do they help, but the local community does have an initiative in place to collect recycling where possible and it is educating the next generation. Great work team!   Some of you may have noticed, that over the last few years here at Dive Rutland, there have been some changes (loads I hear you say). We have concentrated on building a high quality diver training centre in fact we like to think of it as a ‘Diver Training Centre of Excellence’ The club decided last year that they wanted to go and dive Scapa flow in its anniversary year of 2019. That raised a number of questions about what our future technical offering should look like, particularly as Tracey decided she wanted to refresh and update her skills in preparation for the trip. Tracey chose to refresh her technical skills with Garry Dallas, a RAID instructor trainer. Which raised the question why another agency, well it wasn’t necessarily at that time about the agency it was about finding someone who she was happy to work with - a bit like when a diver comes into the dive centre and wishes to learn to dive, its a bit like an interview to answer the question… Do I like you? Can I work with you? Will I learn what I want to learn? Well the answer with Garry was yes and he came highly recommended by Charlie who is also a RAID instructor. It was not about the agency at that time. During the time with Garry, we established that the values and ethos of RAID are similar to those of us here at Dive Rutland. A small agency (in diving terms) with high standards, some may say they even match Dive Rutland’s. Here at Dive Rutland we believe that learning to dive is not about ticking boxes, its about producing divers that are safe, with the right mindset and most importantly the skills required to do the type of diving they choose. In life you never stop learning, why should diving be any different. You might hold a particular qualification it doesn’t mean to say you should never revisit those skills originally learnt - things change - hence Tracey revisiting hers. We are pleased to announce that Dive Rutland has become a RAID dive centre with the aim of offering RAID technical courses. Want to know more? Stop in or give us a call  All of these pictures were posted by Shark Guardian on Facebook on 7th May 2019. With the following words These are sharks caught LEGALLY using fishing nets on the Great Barrier Reef. This shouldn't be happening in our world but IT IS. There are at least four sawfish on this boat and they are one of the MOST ENDANGERED sharks. This is not okay. If this is as repulsive to stomach to you as it is to us, the smallest thing you can do is sign the petition below to try and remove the three remaining industrial sized gill nets from the water. Humane Society International Australia have won battles with the Australian government before, and they will do it again. If this isn't bad enough can we also point out that the sharks on these boats will have their fins removed and sold into the shark fin trade. Australia, can we also point out that sharks are NEEDED to keep your reef HEALTHY, just a reminder as you seem to have forgotten! Shark conservation has become an increasingly important practice due to the negative effects of human activity on these amazing creatures. Human actions include overfishing (for shark fin soup), capture and killing for souvenir purposes, and practices that protect humans-something that is increasingly common with the advent of movies which sensationalise the danger of sharks. This sensationalisation of sharks has led to many dive ‘experiences’ which further threaten their normal way of life, both in the wild through baiting and through capture and captivity in shark tanks. Like all marine species, they are also victim to bycatch, capture in ghost nets, and marine debris-particularly plastic. An endangered species is defined as a population of a living species that is in danger of becoming extinct because the species has a very low or falling population, or because they are threatened by varying environmental or prepositional parameters. One Third of all shark species are considered either Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered as listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 70-200million sharks are caught each year and in some areas have seen up to a 90% decline in their population. These incredible creatures play a vital role in many marine ecosystems-some of which support human survival The time to ACT is NOW, so what are you going to do to protect our oceans?
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