🎉 *Big congratulations to Marinique and Olivia* — our newest RAID Open Water 20 divers!
Instructor Greg came through from PE (Elite SCUBA — our RAID family from the big city) with their students to certify them. Roxanne and Paul had the pleasure of diving with them.
The water was a balmy 19°C even at the bottom. At Walls we only had 2–3 m viz on the reef, but the top layer was crystal clear. Perfect conditions to knock out the last few skills while still seeing the reef and each other. The students spotted their very first nudibranch — always a special moment! 🐌
On the safety stop paul demonstrated SMB deployment to Roxanne (on her 15th dive).
After a surface interval and some boat sweeties we moved to Twin Peaks for dive 2. The students nailed their S-drills on descent… then we hit some underwater “clouds”. Bottom time was dark and gloomy, so Paul signalled to move mid-water “above the clouds”.
Up there we had ±20 m horizontal visibility! It truly felt like we were flying above the clouds ☁️🌊. The water column above us stayed clean and we could see the surface the whole time. Plenty of zooplankton around, and Paul found some tiny organisms he really wished he had his macro lens for. Tried pointing them out… nobody got it. 🙄😂
The rest of the dive was spent polishing buoyancy, trim and a few unexpected “failure” scenarios played out. Marinique and Olivia handled everything like absolute champs — calm, composed and a real testament to solid training! 💪
After the second dive we wrapped up the last surface skills. Just over an hour underwater and two brand-new Open Water 20 divers on the boat.
They’re heading to Sodwana and Mauritius in the next few weeks — we have zero doubt they’re going to have an absolute blast! 🐠🌴
Well done, ladies!