DIVE GIZO NEWS

Welcome to Juan as Charlotte and Cliff go home to New Zealand -

Welcome to Juan Ignacio Ortiz Casal, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1986. At the age of 18 he moved to Spain and after three years in Salamanca University was a bit tired of classrooms and tons of paper. Looking for adventure he travelled to Brazil where by accident he had his first experience with diving. The following day he enrolled into a Divemaster internship program at Parcel Dive Centre. After two years working as DM and gaining some experience, it was the time to upgrade to Instructor. Following his time in Brazil, Spain, France, Monaco, Cyprus and Australia, he is now working as PADI dive instructor for Dive Gizo teaching PADI courses and a number of specialities including nitrox, deep, drift, wreck and digital underwater photography. And what better place to teach than in the Solomon Islands with its crystal clear tropical waters and wrecks on offer.  So if you’ve ever wanted to experience Solomon Island diving, wanted to learn to dive or upgrade to that wreck speciality, come and say Hola!

January 2011 - Final catch of the day for Philip Cruz with Juan ( right)

Just a great dive with a Hammerhead in Gizo....

Gerard Cole from Haberfield in Sydney finished his trip to Munda and Gizo off in January with an exhilerating experience, cruising along with a hammerhead on his last dive.

Shop security

Nemo, our shop security was seen relaxing on a day off with his sister Brownie at the beach recently. Be assured though, that he is diligent in his job at night in the dive shop!

Update on Luke in Wales- now married!!

An update for those who have dived with Luke Stegall who left May 2010 - he exchanged the warmth of the Solomon Islands following the love of his life, Emma, moving to Wales and had a very snowy wedding in December. We are sure our friends from the UK have caught up with him. Nemo and Brownie miss their 'second dad' and look forward to his return in the next year or so.

Broadreach Explores Munda and Gizo again in 2009 and 2010

During mid July, Dive Munda and Dive Gizo enjoyed another visit by students participating in the Broadreach Youth Program. Broadreach is a U.S. based program aimed at getting young people to extend themselves and provide the opportunities to experience some pretty spectacular things. The Broadreach groups dive at Munda and Gizo followed by a stay in Fiji. The programme also allows the students to participate in village activities, and get involved in some community work around town. Highlights include a visit to World Fish Centre and a day doing PADI Project Aware activities identifying corals and fish. In addition to this, Gizo now has a great collection of colourfull garbage bins. Apart from the diving (of course), the Broadreachers have said that the highlight of the trip was being able to play sport with a bunch of local kids they met at Saeraghi Village while on a culturalexchange visit which included basket weaving, local food cooking techniques, canoe races, custom dances and bamboo band.

For further reading about previous group trip reports to Fiji and the Solomons, please click on the link below- http://www.gobroadreach.com/about/news.asp.for

tANZ and BSP banks have ATM's

The ANZ and BSP banks are providing 24 hr service to customers and visitors requiring access to cash from their overseas accounts via their ATMs. Dive Gizo continues to accept VISA / Mastercard for all services through the dive shop and now have added American Express.

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Spray Glider Project

Dive Gizo continues to be involved in a joint oceanograhic project with SCRIPPS and NOAA deploying and recovering Spray Glider units due south of Ghizo Island. The latest recovery was 15th January 2011.

Check out the web pages for some interesting information on the gliders due for deployment later in the year: http://spray.ucsd.edu/

In the mean time, look who else is checking out the gliders!

Killer whale supervising the deployment of Mission 006 on July 5 08

.Jeff Sherman and Danny during the deployment of Mission 006 on 5 July and recovery of mission 005 on July 19 showing growth from 5 months in the sea.

Spray Glider Recover 2007 and 2008

New Discovery after April 2 2007!

History has revealed itself following the events of 2007 . Enjoy the detailed web link below.For those

Phhttp://www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/other/ranongga.html

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Japanese Lugger on Ranongga

A little bit of History

In the early morning hours of August 2nd 1943, the patrol boat PT109 was sunk after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer “Amagiri” in Blackett Strait, Solomon Islands.

The Captain, Lt. John F. Kennedy, an ex Harvard swimmer spent the next 30 hours supporting and towing his 10 surviving crew members to a temporary shelter known today as Kennedy Island. In addition to the swim after the collision, Kennedy stage a daring rescue attempt, swimming first to Naru Island and then to Olasana Island in search of help and a better food source for his men. His swim of approximately 8 kilometres, through waters patrolled by enemy ships, has long been recognised as a feat of tremendous courage and bravery.

Another historic occasion occurred on the 4th August 2003. A marathon swim marking the 60th anniversary of the sinking of PT109 , and the first of what will become an annual event – The PT109 Swim Marathon in Gizo. 2003 saw 8 participant from Australia, New Zealand, United States and the Solomon Islands. The winner, Suanne Hunt of Australia, completed the swim in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 35 seconds. Second place getter, Paul Ellercamp – a veteran of ocean swims, described the PT109 swim as “the hardest swim I have ever done”.

For information on the next swim visit www.pt109swim.com or www.oceanswims.com or contact Danny at divegizo@solomon.com.sb.

The Sea Hunters II

A number of years back, Dive Gizo received a visit from Dirk Cussler, son of world famous author, Clive Cussler. Dirk was researching a new book for his father, a sequel to the popular ‘The Sea Hunters’. Dirk and co-author, Craig Dirgo came to Gizo to find the elusive PT-109, the WWII patrol boat captained by future US president John F. Kennedy.

An account of Dirk and Craig’s exploits with Dive Gizo can be found the book ’The Sea Hunters II”, including a description of Danny – “A man who looked like the cartoon character Yosemite Sam........"You must be Danny Kennedy”!”

Although the Sea Hunters didn’t find PT-109, it was great fun and really interesting being involved in the research.

Travel and Dive Shows

During 2010 we have attended a number of the Travel shows in Australia which gives us a chance to catch up with old friends and chat with new ones. Sometimes its a chance for old and new staff to catch up as well! Looking forward to meeting you in the near future. Perhaps

with Ross

Protecting Our Reefs with WWF

Dive Gizo continues to joined forces with the World Wide Fund for Nature to protect the amazing reefs in the area. Permanent moorings have been provided at 24 of the dive sites and fish monitoring sites around the area. Dive Gizo and WWF have actively sought funding from various aid and environment programs and used local workers and materials to produce the heavy duty moorings. These moorings are available for use by anyone and will prevent anchor damage to the coral. Dive Gizo thanks WWF for their help with this project and is proud that groups in the Solomon Islands are so active in protecting their spectacular marine environment.