A week late due to bad weather over the final weekend of Dive Fest the Pirate Wine and Cheese Cruise was a perfect send off to Dive Fest 2009. A good size crowd enjoyed a sample of excellent wines and cheeses on Board “Stingray” from Dive Dominica. DJ Jeffers had the crowd dancing to some classic beats and without a doubt the night was a great success. Perfect weather and starry skies, good company and conversations as we headed down to Scotts Head before turning around.  Many thanks to the staff at Pirates who served the crowd with charm and good humour and also to Captain Dan and the staff of Dive Dominica. Personally I got to enjoy a wine and cheese cruise for the first time in years as there was no Dive Fest event the next day!

Despite a huge Caribbean-wide weather depression the weather held off and the ocasional showers did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.  While fewer corporate teams showed up for the actual races, by sunset the crowd  was huge and Club DVD kept them dancing till late. Cars were parked halfway to Scotts Head on the new seawall and traffic was not a problem with the new system. Congratulations to Dominica Coconut Products for winning this years Kubuli Canoe Races!! And To Kubuli for taking second place and CCP for third place.

Due to inclement weather on Saturday night the wine and cheese cruise was postpponed to next Friday night, July 24th.  That gives you more time to get your tickets!!!

Wow! With the new Sealife DC1000 camera, good visibility and healthy reefs it is amazing what even novice divers can do.  After 3500 photos were sorted to about 100 contenders for the slide show, then final 10 and top three. Congratulations to Karen Anderson for her photo of wrasse predating damselfish eggs. Karen wins the complete Sealife DC1000 Pro Kit with Camera, housing, Wide angle and strobe.

1st place to Karen Anderson! Congratulations!

Second place goes to Agne Marudinaite for this excellent wide angle shot that really made maximum use of one strobe to light the scene. Agne wins a Selife Camera DC1000

2nd place Agnes Marudiniate.

Third place goes to Sheena Toor for this wide angle shot with diver as background. She wins a canyoning adventure for two from sponsor Extreme Dominica, and lunch for 2 at Corner House Cafe in Roseau.

3rd Place goes to Sheena Toor for this wide angle with diver.

Honourable mention goes to Lise Van De Camp for this excellently timed photograph of her husband backrolling into the sea.

Honourable Mention goes to Lise Van De Camp

We had heard that one of the main reasons the mermaids were coming to check out Dominica was because our offshore waters, lakes and rivers have such pure water.  Like seahorses they are very particular to a healthy environment.  We believe that this has now been confirmed  with this authenticated photographic evidence. We all know the cleanest best tasting water is Loubiere Spring Water, need any more proof! Man I’m thirsty!

Mermaids enjoy a Loubiere Spring Water break.

Dr Alex Brylske, senior editor of Dive Training magazine gave a presentation at The Fort Youb Hotel to the members of the Dominica Watersports association and some staff from the Discover Dominica Authority amongst others.  Called “Interpreting the Coral Reef Experience on Dominica” it was an educational experience for everybody from Divemasters to marketing executives. Helping to shed light on the new direction that tourism is taking and showing how Dominica is poised to take advantage of this. Thanks to Dive Training magazine.

Dr Alex Brylske presents to Dominica's Tourism Industry

Kids psoing for a photo with the mermaids at Sunset Bay

There was great turnout today at Sunset Bay. 11 kids and adults for the Discover Scuba, 7 for the Sealife camera shootout competition, a boatload of divers for the dive, lots of kids to have their opportunity to have a photo with the mermaids.  On top pf all that the 4 local kids who got certified since last years Dive FEst were presented with their C cards and in a surprise were given a small token from Jewellers International! A great day and the usual wonderful hospitality from Sunset Bay. Thanks Frederique and Marcella!

Sealife DC 1000 camera demo at Sunset Bay

NEwly certified kids with the mermaids.

The Sealife camera tryouts and One day shootouts continued at ALDive today. An excellent turnout with quite a few young divers eager to try underwater photography. Diving just offshore led to some good photos of frogfish, upside down jellyfish, and of course MERMAIDS!! A good time was had by all!

This is a Sealife Camera DC1000

Mermaid and young fan at ALDive

The first Sealife camera demo for Dive Fest 2009 went very well at Cabrits Dive Center. With two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon the cameras were kept busy. At the same time a boat went out with Jerry Beaty from Dive Training Magazine along with the Minister of tourism out for a fun dive.

Sealife camera demo

Kelly the Brazilean swimsuit model posing for Sealife cameras.

This year there were two Victorinox/Swiss Army 500m dive watches being raffled.  One for Divemasters and Instructors and one open category.  Congratulations to Ursula Lawrence who won the professional category and to Frederique Huard who won the open category. In the biggest surprise of the night Delphis Ltd. stepped forward to declare a third category of  “full time DMs and Instructors” sponsored by Delphis.  After a few names were drawn Delphis had to step forward and (blindly) drew out the name of Curt Benoit! Congrats to Curt a longtime dive industry employee and ambassador.

Winner of the 500m Dive watch from Victorinox/Swiss Army 500m dive watch, Curt Benoit. Sponsored by Delphis Ltd.

Winner of the 500m Dive watch