Horizon News April 2008                The newsletter of FIVE STAR IDC CENTRE New Horizons Dive Centre

NEW SEASON TIPS
If you haven’t dived for a few months or are not that experienced in UK diving you should prepare yourself and your gear before diving from a boat out at sea.
If you have been out of the water for sometime then a Scuba Tune Up would be appropriate. In a swimming pool with an instructor you would practise all your important skills including buoyancy control, mask clearing and emergency procedures – when did you last practice these? It is a bit late to worry about this at 20m on a dive you need to use them!! Next dates; Thursday 01st May 19:10 at Lymm Leisure Centre and Wednesday 07th May 19:30 at Sandbach.
To enjoy and get the most from your diving good buoyancy control is the most important skill – and not always easy to achieve in a drysuit. On the Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality you will learn more about correct weighting; streamlining and being able to hover motionlessly. This will improve your air consumption and allow you to stop and observe things underwater without stirring up the bottom and damaging marine life. This course is suitable for divers of all levels and is a great preparation for the season. Next course Saturday 31st May at Capernwray.
For all out UK trips we require that each buddy team (preferably each diver) carries a delayed SMB and should be able to use it safely. Many dive centres abroad also make this mandatory – this is for YOUR safety. The correct deployment of delayed SMBs is crucial. Why not do the SMB Diver Speciality course on Saturday 31st May at Capernwray where you can learn and practise the correct use of SMBs and Delayed SMBs under the supervision of an Instructor.

Is your equipment serviced? Your equipment should be serviced annually, please bring your regulators in for service if they need it.
Our First Advanced Nitrox course gets of to a good start.

Report by Pete Surridge
'It was another first for New Horizons when 4 'eager to learn' divers took on the exciting challenge of the IANTD Advanced Nitrox course at the start of April. Under the expert tuition of Julie Morrissey, and following a day of classroom based Knowledge development sessions and a Pool session we braved the 'cool' waters of Stoney Cove to put the use of Twin tanks and Stage bottles into practice. The challenge was on for us all - after years of diving on a single tank of air or Nitrox we had to develop new skills, different buoyancy control and new diving techniques. Gas switches, simulated out of air scenarios and practice decompression dive planning were some of the skills we had to develop. I don't think any of us would say it was easy as we were all used to diving in our familiar equipment and familiar style - but all of us would admit that we learnt a great deal about ourselves, and our skills over the weekend - and most of all we had a great time learning it. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to continue learning to enable them to extend their bottom time in a safe and controlled manner. We're all looking forward to the next opportunity to put our new skills into practice. A big thank you to Julie for her patience and guidance throughout the course.
The next course starts April 27th and we have 1 place available.

Ex School Kit for Sale
It’s the time of year where we are selling off some of our school kit.
Drysuits
The school drysuits are the Azdry Cordura pro suits. These are a very durable and reliable suit. If you buy one of these suits all the seals will be checked to make sure they fit you well. We have a full range of sizes for sale ranging in price from £85 - £295.
BCD’s
Aqua Lung Wave BCD’s, these have been our school BCD of choice for many years now. They are both reliable and durable. They would be ideal for someone after their first BCD or for someone that wants a jacket to use a couple of times a year on holiday. Prices are from £59 - £89.
Regulators
We use the AquaLung Titan LX supreme regulators. These are a balanced diaphragm regulator that is very popular. It offers a nice easy breath from a compact second stage, all regulators come with alternate air source, triple consoles and having just been serviced. The cost is £249.

Upcoming courses
Navigation Speciality 10th May
It ‘s always good to be able to find your way around a dive site, go and see all the features that you wanted to and then come back to the correct spot to exit. This course helps you to better understand your compass, develop skills, incorporating natural navigation, using and how to take compass bearings as well as use of the nav finder. All in all a good way to avoid long surface swims.

Digital Underwater photography course 20th May 19:00
These courses are designed to give you a good knowledge of the techniques of digital underwater photography and the option to practise taking photographs in the confines of a swimming pool and/or the open water whilst gaining PADI certification. The techniques you will learn are the crucial basics for taking digital underwater photographs in the open water and producing results that you can be proud of. Areas covered include digital cameras and accessories; general digital photography and shooting underwater; maintenance of underwater camera equipment; composition; exposure; focusing and white balance of your photos. You can use either your own camera system or rent one from New Horizons.

Rescue Diver 15th June
Open to Advanced Open Water divers with a current first aid certificate, this course enables divers to increase their confidence in self rescue skills; to develop techniques for rescuing others and to learn how to manage emergency situations. This grade is a requirement for the prestigious certification of Master Scuba Diver and a prerequisite for the Divemaster course. As an extra benefit we offer the PADI Oxygen First Aid specialty as an optional specialty certification along with the Rescue Diver course.

Borneo trip report by Rachel Higgins
On March 1st, 16 intrepid Divers set off for the hot & steamy island of Borneo to experience some of the best diving the world has to offer. Expectations were high and we were not disappointed. Even the tiring journey of almost 2 days, could not dispel our excitement for the 1st dive of the trip on arrival at Mabul Island, our tropical paradise home for the next 9 days.

Over the following week or so, the ’Muck’ diving around the islands of Mabul & Kapalai continued to deliver a plethora of the weird yet wonderful critters that this type of diving is famous for. Gliding along the reef in the 28 degrees balmy waters we sighted numerous species of nudibranch in all their technicoloured glory. The frogfish ranged from Giant to Warty and the Ribbon Eels were both black & blue. Thanks must ultimately go to our guides, Melvin & Sani, who’s eagle eyed searching delighted us with Leaf Scorpionfish, Pygmy Seahorses and even the elusive Mandarinfish, to name but a few.

The walls of Sipadan Island awaited us after our first night in resort, and it was worth the wait. Cries of ‘the best dive I’ve ever done’ could be heard over the frantic munching of egg sandwiches during our mid-morning coffee break on the beach. 20ft from the waters edge the drop-off plummets to a depth of 2000ft, enticing us back for our 2nd dive of the day. Sipadan’s famous population of Green turtles escorted us constantly, their numbers never falling below double figures on any dive. White Tip’s lazed in the shallower depths of the reef, Grey Reef Sharks patrolled its walls. While one group was being courted by a shoal of 100 Bump-head parrotfish the others were high five-ing at a close encounter with a Leopard Shark. Other sightings included schooling Barracuda 1000+ strong circling below the surface, an Eagle Ray and an unsubstantiated Manta, not to mention a very helpful Black Horse who would do anything ‘for you’. No one failed to spot the Yellow Margin Triggerfish. Everyone’s fins are a little worse for wear after that one. The most daring amongst us ventured into the depths of Turtle Cavern, a graveyard for turtles and even a dolphin who sadly had lost their way at night.

Our final days were spent exploring the steamy jungles of mainland Borneo, visiting the famous Gomantong Caves & Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary. The caves were reminiscent of a scene from an ‘I’m a celebrity bushtucker trial’ more Cockroaches and guano (bat poo) than you can shake a stick at. Finally though, homage must be paid to Marnie & Mo who fearlessly braved leech infested waters in the dead of night to be rewarded with a rare sighting of the elusive Pygmy Elephant……Poo!

New Horizons Snorkel & Dive Centre, 51 - 53, Park Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6TX

Tel: 01625 611108
Fax: 01625 611969
info@new-horizon.co.uk www.new-horizon.co.uk