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Kirk Green
Aquatours Goes Tec
Kirk Green, Director of Aquatours completed a DSAT Tec Deep Course with us learning the latest techniques and equipment configurations. During the course he visited many of the old haunts we used to dive as BSAC Advanced Instructors. This will enable Kirk to inform visiting divers of what is now involved completing tec courses and tec diving with us. Kirk's Tec Team page...
Tec diving
Happy Domonic Maskell
Never Too Old
Domonic Maskell acheived something he has been wanting to do all his life, while on holiday in Jordan with his wife Janette he discovered the underwater world with the help of Tariq Othman. Janette enjoyed a couple of days out on the boat while Dominic realised his dream. more info...
Underwater with Tariq
Matthew
Another Prize Winner
Matthew Montgomery is the latest entry from Dive Aqaba to win a Specialty of the month prize from PADI International, he achieved this by completing his Wreck Diver course last August while completing his Divemaster internship programme with us. Matthew's page...
Matthew on Laila One
Gary diving in the UK on the Kiara
New Team Member
Gary Austin will be joining the Dive Aqaba Team in December. Already a Divemaster and qualified Tec Diver he will be working on his instructor qualifications while with us. He brings a lot of experience to the team having been diving for over 20 years in the UK, Channel Islands, Red Sea, Malta, Belize & the Cayman Islands. more info...
Gary on the Fleur
John Hurrell
New Tec Diver
Congratulations to John Hurrell on completing his Tec Level One course in just three days. A lot of hard work in the water and theory back at the dive center while the noise of the refurbishment (see news item below) was an added distraction. For his accomplishment he has been placed as an honorary member of the Dive Aqaba Tec Team. Tec team pics...
On the Cedar Pride
DC outer overview
Dive Center Gets a Makeover
Refurbishment work started on the Dive Aqaba Center on 29th October, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience to our current guests and we will be keeping them happy with barbeques while the work is underway. Meanwhile all the dive kit is left locked downstairs on Laila One. makeover pics...
Let the work begin
Violater giving us the finger...
Marine Park Violations
People that should know better are continually making severe violations of the Marine Park Rules. This makes the job of the Aqaba Marine Park staff harder. We at Dive Aqaba feel that although this is negative input on the reef here we should place these pictures on our website to inform everyone of the culprits who may be then brought to justice. violation pics...
..his anchor on the Japanese Gardens!
Phil on Taiyong
Tec Team Goes Rebreather
Philip Barawitzka and Rod Abbotson proved the feasibilty and usefulness of rebreathers on the reefs and wrecks of Aqaba at both recreational and technical depths. We are planning to be able to run rebreather courses at recreational level by the summer of 2008 once we have found a source of appropriate CO2 absorbant.
See rebreather pics...
Rod on Cedar Pride
Archie &Martin
5th Year Running
Archie & Yvonne Covell organised another successful trip to Jordan for their club including divers with special needs. We also arranged an underwater wedding for two of their members, see article below, A great time was had by all and planning has started for next years trip. See more...
Ash & Linda
Bride & groom underwater
Underwater Wedding
Kenny and Linda got married on the wreck of the Cedar Pride on 30th September with the help of Scuba Diving For All and the Dive aqaba team. Ashraf invigilated the ceromony underwater complete with dog collar! As usual best man and groom were kept waiting at the alter while the bride prepared. See wedding pics...
Underwater wedding party
Shore diving clean up in Aqaba
International Clean Up Day 2007
This September Dive Aqaba organised a special clean up dive to concentrate on removing old fishing line from one particular area. The dive was conducted as a shore dive with a team of Divemasters and above for safety reasons when dealing with this much fishing line. Further dives are planned to revitalise this area which has still good coral cover and great marine life. the full story...
Fishing line recovered
Receiving his certificate
New PADI Instructor
Ahmad was successful at his Instructor Examination in Hurghada after having completed his Instructor development course here at Dive Aqaba. He aims to help divers in Amman get certified by conducting all the knowledge development and confined water sessions in Amman then bringing them down to Aqaba for the open water dives. more info...
Happy New Instructor
Testing light systems
New Deep Tec Site Discovered
The Dive Aqaba Tec Team have discovered a new area to the South of the Power Station Wall. The site has been named after team member Dorit Yoseph as she became the first female technical diver in Israel to gain Advanced Trimix certification and now the first female diver in Israel & Jordan to dive to 100m plus. more info...
Dorit after 104m dive
April diving
New Team Members Arrive
April Burt (pictured left) and Suzanne Conway (pictured right) arrived safely in Aqaba to join the team on 11th September. They are both Marine Biologists bringing a wealth of experience to help with our Coral Watch project. April completed her Divemaster Course with us and Suzanne, already a Divemaster, is helping with guiding divers and went to gain Instructor with us. more info...
Suzanne diving
Twin set diving
New PADI Tec Basics Course
Dive Aqaba can now teach this new PADI Distinctive Specialty course. The course provides an intro into technical diving in a short period of two days. Not only do you get to try diving with a twin set. This courses also gives you credit for continuing your technical dive training, you will receive a certification card and it also counts towards your Master Scuba Diver rating. more info...
First PADI Tec Basics Course
Marine park rescue
Aqaba Gulf Diver Rescued by AMP
After surfacing with a problem from the wreck of the Cedar Pride the diver was left to defend for himself as his dive guide returned to the the wreck. The Dive Aqaba staff alerted the Marine Park Rangers as the diver struggled to swim ashore with his tank now falling out of the cam band. They quickly picked the diver up with their boat and transported him ashore to safety. more info...
Aqaba Gulf diver saved
Preparing to dive
Ladies First - Trimix in Aqaba
Dorit returned to Jordan after completing her "Taiyong Diver "DSAT distinctive specialty course with us, this time to make some Trimix dives with us. She is certified with TDI for Normoxic Trimix more info...
Descent check
Graduation
April will be back!
After completing her degree in Marine Biology April will join the team again this September to continue with her professional diving education and get her colour back! Coming along will be her friend Suzanne who is a PADI Divemaster. more info...
April & Alison in Aqaba 2006
Matthew
Another Black Belt!
Matthew Montgomery will be the tenth diver to gain this high award with Dive Aqaba this year. It takes commitment and a lot of hard work, especially as Matthew was completing his Divemaster course at the same time!! Well done! He also helped us with several underwater clean up events during his stay with us. more info...
Skills circuit
Underwater clean up
Blue Coral Clean Up
Our team completed a major clean up dive at this great dive site, it is now looking a lot better. Lots of trash was recovered, we suspect mainly from the building project onshore here, including a large plastic ground sheet (luckily in time to save the coral beneath) and a huge lorry tyre recently dumped. more info...
Plastic bag on coral reef
Marine park boat delivers clean up bags
Joint Clean Up at Black Rock
After several major holidays in the area with much local beach use, a clean up dive was needed. With the help of the Aqaba Marine Park a joint operation was undertaken with Seastar Watersports cleaning from the shore led by PADI Instructor Thaer Juqman and Dive Aqaba from boat led by PADI Course Director Rod Abbotson. more info...
Clean up dive briefing
Tec diver cutting fishing line
Tec Team Award
Our tec team received an award from Project AWARE for it's commitment to looking after the environment, cleaning the parts of the reef other divers cannot reach down to depths of 75m and beyond, monitoring the health of the deep water fan corals and mapping the reefs from 40m down for future reference. Visiting tec divers are welcome to help us with any of these missions. more info...
Project AWARE Technical Dive team award
Sea fan lined gullies
Tec Exploration in Big Bay
Our tec team has begun systematic exploration of the deeper areas of "Big Bay" between Kirk's Forest and Kiwi Arch. A great deep seascape was discovered deep off Yellowstone Reef. The team will now try to link up the area with the deeper sections of the Blue Coral dive site. more info...
Deep seascape
Laila one dive boat ready to go again
Laila One Refurbished
We have currently refurbished our boat Laila One to offer more comfort for all on the journey and surface intervals. New features include a comfortable seated shaded are on the sundeck, new sunbathing mattresses and a new larger diving platform. New fridge and new cooker to keep the chef happy and uphold our reputation as the best dive boat catering in the Red Sea! 2007 work on boat pics...
New sundeck on Laila One
Ben
Specialty First Prize Winner
Benjamin Wood won first prize for May by completing his Night Diver certification in the Specialty of the Month PADI Competition. He received a 100 pound voucher to spend at his local PADI Dive Center and a Peak Performance Buoyancy DVD. Ben is the third winner in 2007 from Dive Aqaba which makes 12 winners in total for our center. more info...
Ben cleaning
Return from 100m
100 metre Trimix Dive
Tec instructors Rod Abbotson and Everette Ingram completed a trimix dive to 100m at the Power Station dive site. Another first for Dive Aqaba in Jordan. We and can now offer trimix to appropriately certified divers. We have a reliable supplier of medical grade Oxygen and Helium and have upgraded our blending facility. more info...
First Helium tank
Lara with camera
Specialty Prize Winner
Lara Steward won a Night Diving video from PADI as a runner up prize for the Specialty of the Month PADI Competition in April. The specialty was Search and Recovery Diver. The second winner in 2007 from Dive Aqaba which makes 11 winners in total for our center. Lara will be entered in the grand draw for a diving trip of a lifetime prize. more info...
Setting up the kit
Team
Double Specialty Winner
Ahmad Al-Smadi won a prize in the PADI Specialty of the month competition for March after completing his Underwater Navigator course. Ahmad also won in December by completing his Enriched Air Diver with us. This makes him the first diver in the competition to win two prizes. He will also be entered in the grand draw at the end of the year. more info...
Ahmad
Rob with Lion fish
New Tec Diver
Congratulations to Robert Bal on his achievement in completing his DSAT Tec Level One Course. A lot of hard work was rewarded by a visit to the Taiyong Wreck at the finish of the course. This will count as the next dive for his full Tec Deep Diver certification which he will be completing with us later this year. more info...
Rob on Taiyong Wreck
Materials prepared
New Dive Site
Our Tec team have installed a new mooring at a location north of the Power Station wall dive. The site has a gentle slop from 6m down to 50m so is suitable for all types of dives. Therer are some very nice pinnacles here. The picture on the right is of a scorpion fish gloating in the abundance of small fry on a 10m pinnacle just south of the mooring. more info...
Guardian Scorpion fish
Mathias family
Mathias Family
Congratulations to Chris, Thea and Abigail Mathias for completing their PADI Open Water Course on their second visit to Jordan. After completing a Discover Scuba Diving experience with us ealier this year Chris and his two elder daughters returned to gain certification as divers this Easter. A great time was had exploring the wreck of the Cedar Pride on their final qualifying dive. more info...
Chris,Thea & Abigail
SDI team
SDI Visit 2007
Andy Papacosta visited us once again with a group of divers from Scuba Dive Instruction. All again had a great time and Andy will be organising more trips here in the future. Those with handicaps found the diving easy from Laila One and of course once in the water... more info...
Pam & Andy
Dorit Tec Diver
First Female "Taiyong Diver"
Dorit Yoseph became the first female diver to complete the DSAT distinctive technical diving specialty "Taiyong Diver". Completing two successful missions on this deep wreck. Air was used as a bottom gas and EANx50 for decompression using V-planner backed up by Suunto Vytecs and Scubrapro Smart Tec computers. more info...
Dorit on Taiyong
Surprised Everette
Instructor of the Year 2006
Everette Ingram IDC Staff Instructor has been awarded the accolade of Specialty Instructor of the Year for 2006 in the PADI International territories which encompass UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Mediterranean islands, Africa including Egypt and the Seychelles, Russia and the Middle East! Well done!! more info...
Instructor of the year
Award from PADI
Top Specialty Centre in Jordan
Dive Aqaba has been recognised by PADI as the leader in specialty diver training in Jordan. Peter Dreissel presenting the award to Everette Ingram IDC Staff Instructor and Rod Abbotson Course Director. You can expand your experience and explore your interests with our specialty courses. more info...
Boss
Paul
New Tec Divers for 2007
Paul Davies and Kim Christensen are the latest divers to gain technical diving certification with Dive Aqaba by successfully completing DSAT Tec Deep courses. This will extend their range of diving and open up a whole new world of exploration and new experiences. more info...
Kim
Blue Coral
New Mooring at Blue Coral
The Aqaba Marine Park have reinstalled the mooring buoy at the dive site Blue Coral. The mooring is in 16m at the head of a gulley. The site consists of three giant fingers of coral running from 10m out to 50m depth. Dive Aqaba have already removed, fish traps fishing line, old nets and are starting to clean the rubbish on the site generated by the building work on the beach. more info...
Marine Park Boat
Gary
Gary Draycott Successful at IE
Gary Draycott recently became a PADI Instructor at an examination in Thailand. He is working on a new dive centre in Tanzania, East Africa. Gary hails from Nottinghamshire in the UK and works as a tour leader with overland travel groups where he met us at Dive Aqaba and transformed his life by completing an internship with us. He joined our team again for summer 2007. more info...
Gary
Gas Blending
Geared Up for Tec
We now have 5 twin sets consisting of 3 twin 12 litre alumininium rigs, 1 x twin 10 litre aluminium rigs (for those who prefer a lighter set and 1 twin 15 litre steel rig for those who are: a) heavy breathers, b) prefer to get some weight off their belts or c) like to descend quickly! We have also found a new gas supplier based in Aqaba for both Helium and Oxygen ensuring a reliable supply. more info...
Twin sets
Marine Park Boat
New Mooring Buoys
Through negotiations with the Aqaba Marine Park we have now arranged for new mooring buoys to be placed at Kiwi Reef and Blue Coral sites for both recreational and technical dives. Also Steve Grace from the palace has installed a new mooring to the north of the power station in 15m creating a new access point for diving this great area. more info...
Alongside Laila