Scuba diving blog

And now for something a little bit different!

And now for something a little bit different:  late August, September and October dive schedule!

 

And now for something a little bit different!  Due to various requests, and our desire to provide as many motivating and exciting reasons to dive as possible we have put in place the following schedule for September and October (imho the best time of the year to dive on the Cote d’Azur):

 

Night dives:                                       Thursday 8th, 15th and 22nd September

(€10 supplement over normal per dive price)(RDV 7.30pm)

Ownership of your own lamp is compulsory, we are running a special off on the excellent Alu Solo Black (a very cool matt black “light sabre” to illuminate your underwater adventures), please ask for further information

 

Deep dives (morning only):        Sunday 28th August, 4/11/25 September and 2 October

(Standard per dive rate)

Reserved for clients with Advanced and Deep Specialty.  Weather allowing we will target sites that we dive less frequently such as Dromadaire to Enfer, Sec A Pierre, Masque, Deux Chariots, Seiche St Pierre Avancee.  Deep Specialty can be organised for those that do not yet have it over these dates.  Another good reason to invest in a lamp!

 

Island Dive Days:                             Saturday 27th August and Saturday 24th September

(€20 supplement over normal price for two dives plus lunch)

Two dives around Les Iles de Lerins with lunch on St Honorat in between.  We will be organising a group rate to eat a set menu at La Tonnelle restaurant if both days have at least six clients who reserve.

 

Var Dive Days:                                   Saturday 10th September and Saturday 1st October

(€35 supplement over normal price for two dives plus lunch)

One dive on Les Peniches d’Antheor and one dive on Les Pyramides off L’Ile d’Or.  Stop for lunch at Port de Boulouris in a local restaurant.

 

All of these dates are subject to the usual conditions regarding weather and we reserve the right to amend dates if necessary for your safety, comfort and enjoyment.  All reservations by first come first served confirmation.  Any cancellations or changes within 72 hours of the date will forfeit one of two dives from their dive pack or a 50% deposit payable up front.


PADI Award, Discover Rebreather, Dive Against Debris

Diamond Diving wins another PADI Award!

Award 2016

We are very happy to have received an Award from PADI EMEA at the recent Paris Diveshow for our exceptional implication in the diving industry.

A great reward for our work over the past seven years since our first Award as best French newcomer in 2009.  A big thanks to our clients and to the PADI EMEA French team!

Our next Emergency First Response Course is organised for the weekend of the 27th and 28th of February, so if you need or want to learn some extremely useful primary and secondary care skills just e-mail or call.

We will be cleaning up the local dive environment next time on April 17th so let us know if you would like to join in.  A free dive in return for your conservation efforts!

And finally we are organising another “Discover Rebreathers” day on April 30th with our long term partner, Jean-Francois Andre.  We always have excellent feedback on these events.  Maximum eight places and the price is 85 Euros per person.


Become a PADI DiveMaster in 2016 !

PADI DiveMaster : Looking for a challenge this year ?  Look no further than the adventure, opportunity and privilege of becoming an entry level PADI Professional with us in the South of France !

Often we train people up over six week full time internships, but for those that are time poor due to professional and other commitments we are running two ten day intensive PADI DiveMaster courses.

The dates are the 5th to the 15th of May inclusive and the 11th to the 20th of November inclusive.  You will be trained to the usual high standards that we insist on by Alex and Noemie, providing excellent preparation for those considering going on to do their Instructor Development Courses.

The price is €1285 per person including all study materials (Crewpack), all diving costs and equipment hire if necessary.  We’re offering an early booking discount of 10% for those able to confirm before the end of January.

During the course you will become familiar with the PADI system and develop professional level dive theory and physical.  You will also develop excellent skill demonstrations, assist on client training courses and much much more.

To check prerequisites, or to book your place send an e-mail to info@diamonddiving.net or call Alex on +33(0) 615305223 or Noemie on +33 (0) 675780168


PADI Instructor Training in Oman

We are delighted to have recently launched a collaboration with Nomad Ocean Adventures to provide PADI Instructor Training in Oman.  Nomad is a real “Diving Safari” base camp.  It has everything in place to provide a fun and enriching learning great experience.  The perfect place to get you on the right track for a career in the scuba diving industry.

Based in Dibba, Musandam, Nomad is easy to get to via a flight to Dubai followed by a relatively short land transfer.  Once here you have everything at your disposition to prepare for your Instructor Examination (IE) in the best conditions.  This includes a great climate, on site swimming pool, accommodation and all meals included in the package price.

gopro_padi-com_flashgraphic_june

As soon as the small amount of stress and anxiety of the IE is over we return to Nomad for Specialty Instructor Training. This gives you the opportunity to appreciate some of the truly excellent local diving , and optimise your chances of clinching that dream first job in the industry as quickly as possible.

dibbah-oman - whaleshark

In 2016 our Course Director Alex will be running two Instructor Development Courses in January and October.  For a quote and further information e-mail info@diamonddiving.net or call +33 (0)615305223.


Cote d’Azur floods

We were sprung out of our beds early Sunday morning by Noemie’s Dad calling and asking us if we had seen the news, and explaining just how bad things were.  Needless to say we feared the worst and driving down the hill from Antibes into Golfe Juan that morning was a humbling experience.  Fortunately the dive centre escaped completely any water damage, and the boats are absolutely fine.  Many of our neighbouring commerces have had their basements completely flooded with stocks and stores written off.  Mud everywhere.  The local baker has lost all of his ovens and working equipment.

The clean up in Golfe Juan-Vallauris and other affected towns is full speed ahead and it looks like the French government is throwing everything at this mess to minimise the negative effects on homes, lives and businesses. This includes putting tax and social charges bills on hold until the businesses concerned get back up on their feet and a fund generated to pay out ahead of the insurance companies processing the claims.  Our thoughts and condolences go to all those that lost their lives in this tragedy and their families.  All this devastation generated by around an hour of the most intense rainfall I have ever witnessed.

On an environmental note this kind of weather disturbance is clearly not going to go away.  So as a community I believe passionately that divers have a responsibility to speak out and make others face up to this very “Inconvenient Truth”.

Diving conditions are expected to be asbsolutely fine for the weekend so for anybody thinking of a late season long weekend break our message would be don’t hesitate…

 

 

 


INON Level One Underwater Photography Course

Learn Beginner to Intermediate Underwater Photography at Diamond Diving with INON UK’s Steve Warren

INON UK’s Steve Warren, co-designer of the INON UK Level One Underwater Photography Course, will be teaching the program exclusively at Diamond Diving on the Cote D’Azur in May. Steve will be running two courses, the first on 2nd and 3rd of May and the second on the 4th and 5th. Running the course over two days keeps it laid back and allows plenty of individual attention.

The INON UK Level One Underwater Photography Course is designed to fast track divers with limited experience of photography on land or underwater to early success.  The course provides the knowledge, practical skills and hands – on experience to remove the element of luck from underwater photography and help the diver consistently achieve pleasing pictures. The INON UK Level One Underwater Photography Course recognises that underwater photography is not a diving specialty, but a photographic one. Over six theory sessions, four photo dives and extensive debriefs of each students achievements, Steve will demystify taking pictures under the water. Students will learn wide – angle and close up techniques, how to use flash to achieve even and backscatter free images and a few creative lighting skills as well.

The INON UK Level One Underwater Beginners to Intermediate Underwater Photography Course is the first to be endorsed by a leading manufacturer of underwater camera equipment. This is how Gavin Parsons desribed the course for   “Diver Magazine.’ I’VE BEEN A PHOTOGRAPHER since I was 11 and a professional photographer both on land and under water since 1994. 
I have seen quite a few underwater photography courses for compact camera users, and while I would hate this review to end up sounding like an ad, I believe this is the most professional, intelligent and well thought-out I have come across so far”.

Steve rarely runs Level One Courses himself these days, so this is a rare opportunity to learn from the co-designer. With extensive media credits gained since 1994, including filming underwater for BBC and ITV shows, an extensive back catalogue of magazine articles and project managing a number of dive books, Steve is well regarded in underwater photography circles.  He is a contributing author to Martin Edge’s  ‘The Underwater Photographer’, considered the best manual for underwater photographers and co – founded the “Visions in the Sea’ underwater photography conferences. Steve will be teaching underwater using his trademark radiophones to ensure each student gets plenty of personal coaching during the photo dives. Maximum class size is four.

For more details, please contact Alex Diamond.


2015 PADI IDC dates & Project Aware Dive Against Debris

Dive Against DebrisWe will be running three full PADI Instructor Development Courses (IDC) next year.  Each IDC will have an Instructor Examination following immediately on from it.  The 2015 PADI IDC dates are:

28th March to 10th April, 30th May to 12th June, 3rd to 16th October

After each IE we will be having some serious fun with a three day Specialty Instructor Training course, that will really set you aside as a new professional serious about their future career in the scuba diving industry.  For more information click here.

On Sunday October 19th we ran our second Project Aware Dive Against Debris of the season.  Very successful and huge fun had by all as we collectively recovered another 30 kilos of rubbish messing up the environment of one of our favourite confined water training sites on the Cap d’Antibes.  Thanks to Daniela, Tim, Paul, Eric, William, Fabrice, Oscar and Ruth for their fine efforts!


Next IDC, last IDC, latest dive centre news

Long overdue time for a little update.  In April we had an excellent Instructor Development Course with two young candidates, one French and one English.  Manu did very well at the Instructor Examination in Marseille and is now working in his second season for a dive centre in Sicily.  Josh also did exceptionally well and has returned to his studies in Marine Biology at Newcastle Univeristy.  He’ll be becoming a PADI Instructor hopefully with as strong a performance as Manu next Spring.

The next IDC starts a week tomorrow, on May 24th with the two free days of preparation we offer to candidates to get them as up to speed as possible with skill demonstrations and their theory.

Aside from that a big well done to all those who have completed courses with us since April…Deep Diver, Dry Suit Diver, Advanced, Open Water, Scuba Diver…congrats and thanks to Helena, Malin, Tom, Giorgos, Tristan, Jenny, Soledad and Ludovic.

Congratulations to Tristan Croizard on the best marine life sighting of the early season period…a very large tuna zooming overhead on the drop off of Le Grand Boule on his Advanced Open Water qualifying dive.

And finally The Master Scuba Diver Wall of Fame is now in place in the dive centre….who will be next to gain a prestigious place here??!!

We look forwards to seeing you all soon.

 


Reasons to dive with us in 2014….

A new video showing off our premises, boat, proshop, smiling and v professional staff, happy clients, sealife and all the reasons why you should choose to come to do a PADI course or some fun dives with us in Golfe Juan this year! For more compelling arguments check us out on TripAdvisor


Wining & Diving South of France

We had a great write up in the February issue of Sport Diver magazine in the UK.  For those of you considering doing a course or some fun diving with us, this really gives a good and faithful insight into the diving with us on the Cote d’Azur.  The article was the second in a series of articles called “Wining & Diving” was put together by Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown, and the latest installment, just out, talks about California with a great cover photo by Nick of Caroline in one of the famous kelp forests.

Wining & Diving France Sport Diver Feb 2014

To see more of the great work that Nick and Caroline do please click here to visit their excellent website.


DiveMaster Internships and Instructor Development dates

DIVEMASTER INTERNSHIPS AND INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT COURSE DATES

DiveMaster Interns

We have a number of vacancies available for our highly sought after DiveMaster Internships this season.  Ideally you will already be a qualified Rescue Diver with RYA Powerboat Level 2 or equivalent.  Effectively you become a working member of the team for two months, getting trained thoroughly up to DiveMaster level and getting a solid start and experience in the dive industry.  Part of a small team, you will benefit from being in contact with experienced Instructors, including a Course Director on a daily basis.  To be considered please send us a CV together a covering letter outlining your motivations and why we should consider you above other candidates.  The periods for the Internships are mid April to mid June, mid June to mid August and mid August to mid October.

Once again for 2014 we are running a full Instructor Development programme with six IDC’s scheduled.  It is also possible to reserve stand alone Assistant Instructor, OWSI, Staff Instructor, Emergency First Response Instructor and Specialty Instructor courses.

The dates (including two day IDC preparation and Instructor Examination) are as follows:

22nd Feb to 9th March, 12th to 27th April, 24th May to 8th June, 20th September to 5th October,

13th to 29th October, 1st to 14th December

The dates for our Specialty Instructor courses and 11th to 13th March, 29th April to 1st May, 10th to 12th June, 7th to 9th October and 16th to 18th December.


New PADI Instructors!

On Sunday we enjoyed a successful end to an emotional and intense two week journey and three new PADI Instuctors entered the world! We’d like to share the success of Christophe, Benoit and Fabrice with you, as they worked extremely hard with a smile and a great attitude throughout the course.  With one of them off to Sri Lanka, and the other Mexico, we have an idea of the international opportunities that becoming a PADI Instructor open up to you.

New PADI Instructors

The dates for our 2014 IDC programme are as follows (including two day prep and exam):

22nd February to 9th March, 12th April to 27th April, 24th May to 8th June, 20th September t0 5th October, 14th October to 29th October, 29th November to 14th December

Each programme also has a three day Specialty Instructor Training Course (commonly known as MSDT package) following on after one or two rest days.  We pride ourselves on the added value we offer candidates during this programme.

More details coming soon, but for further information call +33(0)615305223 or e-mail info@www.diamonddiving.net.