Charlestown Diving Academy

Sun is Finally out!

2012-03-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

The sun is finally out, so its time to make a splash and get back in the water.

What other better way to enjoy the water then go for a dive.

Come along and be social with CDA's social club, join Deano and his crew whilst meeting new and exciting people share stories and make a great bunch of new CDA friends and dive buddies.Every Wednesday and Friday night we will be holding something new for our social evenings, so come get involved!

Why not join us on friday 16th for our Diver's Dinner at Mattara Hotel Charlestown. Dinner is booked for 6:30pm.

Come along Wednesday the 21st to Charlestown Hoyts Cinema's to watch (3D) Ghostrider: The spirit of vengeance @ 7:10pm

Consumer Advice:
Supernatural themes, violence and infrequent coarse language
Genre:
Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Running Time:
96 minutes

Rated M

Make sure to let us know if you would like to go for dinner so we can put you on the list

Cant wait to see you all there!

This weekends dives should be a blast with CDA!

Whats on this weekend-

Sat 17th Swansea Bridge- Meet 6:30am

Sun 18th Swansea Bridge-Meet 7:30am

Goodluck to all our Open Water and Advanced Open Water diver's on course this weekend who have already booked in!

Interested in doing a dive course with CDA?

The advanced course this weekend is booked out but dont worry there are plenty more coming up!

There are still a few spots left on this weekends Open Water Course 15th,17th,18th spaces fill fast so make sure to give our friendly staff a call or just drop in to our store.

We are always more then happy to help and book in an appropriate date that suits your schedule and needs.

Upcoming Courses:

Nitrox

Rescue Course

Advanced Nitrox

TDI Deco Procedure's

Solo Diver

Free Diver

Facebook us!!

Tell us where you would like to dive, poast ur diving photos & share about your dive..

SALE!!! SALE!!!

2011-12-21T21:41:00.003-08:00

Happy Holidays from Charlestown Diving Academy
Dear Clair-Ann,
Deano has gone CRAZY!!! he is having a Red Tag sale up to 50%. This might be a good chance to get a good deal just before Christmas!!!! Thursday and Friday ONLY!!!!
selected stock
if it has a RED Tag

CDA trading hours will be...
Saturday 24th open till 12 afternoon dive TDA
Sunday 25th closed
Monday 26th Closed
Saturday 31st open till 12
Sunday 1st Closed

The Team at Charlestown Diving Academy would like to wish you a very happy Christmas and prosperity in the New Year.we appriciate our customers and the friendships we have made over the years. We look forward to the adventures we will take in 2012. We have lots of exciting trips and weekenders in to look forward to and we hope that you will join us!! Don't forget that we have a coffee machine now so we welcome you to pop in and have a chat :)

All the best to you and your family
Merry Christmas

News from CDA

2011-11-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

Wow what a mixed weekend of weather we had...Saurdays dives at Terrrigal Haven had to be cancelled due complete yukkiness ... rough seas and muddy water only to have great diving conditions up at the bay.,. Pete recorded approximately 9.2555m viz at fly point and conditions were pretty similar at Fly again on sunday!
Bill Chambers ran a first aid course at the shop on sunday and according to Tanya ....your chances are not so good should she need to give you rescue breaths....but Martin kindly stepped up to help her out with offers of some of his connections in the funeral industry...nice....

Thurs 1st December 6 - 8pm - Rescue Theory with Deano
6 - 8.00pm - Open Water Theory with Clair
Friday 2nd December - Deanos mystery dive TBA

Saturday 3rd December- Catho 9,00am meet
Saturday 3rd - The Adelaide with Junior
Sunday 4th - Halifax double , meet 1.30 & 3.30 with Junior
Monday 5th December - CLAIR'S BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st - 4th December

Rescue course

Ask any Rescue diver and they will tell you that the Rescue course was the best course that they ever did...why..???
The rescue course is something that takes you from focusing on your own diving ability to being aware of what is goping on with others, this helps in understanding how things can go pear shaped on a dive !!! You will learn to recognise potential problems before they arise and by averting them you can actually prevent serious accidents from occuring all together. You will learn to recognise signs of stress in others and also yourself. Understanding what can escalate into a problem gives YOU the skills to manage your dives better!
On a more serious side...imagine that you are in a situation where a rescue is imminent you have separated from your dive leader and you have no idea as to what to do.....how would you feel!?? The rescue course will give you the ability to DO SOMETHING !!!!!
Now if that doesnt grab you....the best part is that the rescue course is FUN..
Navigation Course
Navigation or Nava-guessing is something that sends fear into the hearts of most divers......if you are one of those people that has little or no confidence with navigating your self around a dive site and a compass is a foriegn object ...then this is a MUST for you. It builds your confidence and makes you more self sufficient as a diver an this imperative! All divers should be self sufficient ...this avoids unnecessary stress and possible problems....ENROL NOW and have the most fun NOT getting lost!

                        Awesome Trips



04 - 11 Feb with Clair
FIJI - shark dive and Reef extravanganzaThis is a value for money trip with all you could want from a dive destination!
Considered to be one of the top shark dive experiences in the world. The soft corals found around the Beqa area are also quite spectacular
$2099 ...3 sopts left.
Click here to view footage

16- 26 August
Bali & WakatobiThis is our primo must do trip of the year. Enjoy diving the wrecks and reefs of Tulumben , Bali and then a flight in a charter plane to Wakatobi, Sulawesi. A 5 star holiday/ dive destination with all the luxuries you would expect, from amazing accomodation, sensational meals, drop dead gorgeous diving and 5 star service
$4895 - 3 spots left
Click here to view video of Wakatobi resort
Click here to view diving in Wakatobi

Philpinnes - Thresher sharks and Puerto Galera with DeanoDate TBA

Truk Lagoon with Deano - date TBAEnjoy one of the worlds premier dive destinations! A graveyard of Japanese ships and planes covered with some of the best soft corals that you will see anywhere...

Tweed Heads -26th -30th January with ClairStaying on the beach front at Coolangatta and diving one of Australias most under estimated dive sites - once known as 'Turtle Island' for the hundreds of turtles to be seen here. Leopard sharks....lots of them are also a major attraction at this time of year
4 nights Accomodation
3 double boat dives
airfills
Price $750
Optional night dive availble

Yes it's definitely a case of
"So much ocean, so little time"

Want a Career Change ? Become a Dive Instructor for Guaranteed employment this Summer
See Deano for Details

ATT:
Our X-Mas dinner is not long away!! $40pp where:Sniddy's 54 Beaumont St, Hamilton NSW 2303

Time:6pm

RSVP to the shop

Charlestown Diving Academy
+61 2 4942 1412

Stay Wet And Soggy This Weekend!

2011-11-24T17:59:00.001-08:00

Hey fellow divers!
After a soggy wet week we think you should join us for a soggy wet weekend!! Ohhh Yeahhhh!!!! Join Tom and Clair for a day at Terrigal on Saturday...an afternoon dive followed by a BBQ ( Tom will provide the BBQ but you will need to bring along stuff to throw onto it) and then a night dive. We will have Simon ( Greenforce guy) joining us to show us the super dooper Greenforce torches... these torches are so bright that they will light up the Haven like daylight...those poor little nocturnal critters will not know what has hit them!
A big thanks to all those hard core club members who ventured out last night in the rain and cold to join us for club night ! It was a great night with our guest speaker, Jerry, from Dive Adventures, whetting our appetite for tropical dive adventures! If anyone wants any info on our up and coming overseas dive trips please contact the shop !

Don't forget that we have our Rescue course running next weekend...if you are not already on this course and feel like having some fun at someoone elses expense....volunteer to play 'The victim' next sunday.....if you are a frustrated actor then this is your chance to shine.....

We are running a first aid course this sunday, this course is suitable for all divers and is also workplace recognised.....there is still time if you would like to come along!
Have you booked yourself and partner in for the Christmas party yet?? Bah humbug if you havent!! Pick up the phone and let Emma know that you are not going to miss out on the hottest , funnest party of the year!
For those that have booked there has been a slight change as Sniddy's has moved! The only big diff is that the new venue does not have BYO ....

Whats on this weekend?
Saturday 26th- 3pm meet at Terrigal Haven with Clair and Tom and Emma
Saturday 26th -5pm meet for the BBQ
Saturday 26th -7pm meet for the night dive

Sunday 27th - Meet Pete at Fly point at 9.20pm

Petes Pic's from South West Rocks

Design our New Club T-Shirt!

We need a fresh new look and what is a better way to bring in the new year then designing our New Club T-Shirt.Send us your design, via email or facebook.The winner will recieve a Padi's Speciality Course exc. boat dives. Winner announced 10th December

Whats on this weekend

2011-11-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday - 9.00am Join Justin at Flat Rock, Norah Head. Flat Rock is an amazing dive but requires flat sea conditions ...which IS forcast for this weekend...but we have a back up plan just in case....we will shift to Catho if all goes pear shaped sea wise!

Sunday - 9.00am Catho with Deano

Club Night - 23rd Wednesday 6.30 pm At Jewells Tavern.....everyone welcome..... Guest speaker is Jerry from Dive Adventures....Join us for a great social night , dinner & Drinks ...

Christmas Party - 10th December 6pm at Sniddy's

$40 per person

Join us for a great night...presentations, awards, prizes a prize for best fancy dress on the fancy dress dive ...not to mention great company!!!

Divers are GO!!

2011-11-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we saw some sweltering conditions that sent us all heading for the water...and we weren't dissappointed with the results...beautiful blue water and temperatures ranging from 18 - 20 degrees!

Congratulations to the guys and girls who completed their open water course last weekend...Linda, Rob, Monica, Mick, Brooke, Adrian, Cindy, Kwang, Jake and Rowena...well done all..and thanks to our band of helpers who made it all possible, Will, Simon & Glenn...not to mention your Instructors Clair, Deano and Mikey. It was a brilliant start to the students diving future with huge bullrays, friendly groupers and a massive ball of striped catfish....As promised guys, Clair will be taking a dive to swansea bridge on saturday if you are keen to join her !

The Fiji trip is coming together nicely, this trip is a great price and will fill up I guarantee it... If you want value, great diving, a shark diving experience that will blow your mind, gorgious slovely clear warm blue water then Fiji is worth doing! Drop into the shop for a chat if you want more info!

Our Christmas party is in a few weeks, 10^th Dec don’t forget to book... not only will it be a great fun night but there will be PRIZES .. yup you could get lucky! On the topic of Christmas....hope you are all planning your costume for the dress up dive......what to wear? What to wear? ......

Also coming up is our club night.....

23rd November... our guest speaker will be Jerry from Dive Adventures just waiting to have his brains picked in regards to our up coming overseas dive trips..Jerry will have a fantastic slide show and you will all be inspired to travel next year !!!! Club night is open to all of our divers so if you have just completed a course with us you should come along...a great social event at Jewells Town tavern, grab some dinner and a couple of drinks and meet our dive group!

Design our New Club T-Shirt!

We need a fresh new look and what is a better way to bring in the new year then designing our New Club T-Shirt.Send us your design, via email or facebook. The winner will recieve a Padi's Speciality Course exc. boat dives. Winner announced 10 December

2011-11-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

Fish Rock Cave
Includes: 2 nights accommodation, 4 boat dives and 2nd tank
When: 18th - 20th Nov
Where: South West Rocks
Cost: $395

Get in fast to discover the wonder of Fish rock cave, as there is limited space on this weekender..
Fish rock lies two kilometres south-east of Smoky Cape.
This craggy rock has attracted divers world wide and I don’t see why not with 120m long cave being well know as the largest ocean caverns in the southern hemisphere, This is a spectacular dive site the amazing amounts of marine life that cogregrats around the rock You can expect to see resident black cod, large wobbegong sharks, black rays and giant cuttle fish,eels and more!!
The depth around fish rock is about 14m -24m!

Newsletter 3.11.11

2011-11-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Montague Island

Crystal clear waters and perfect sunshine made Montague Island the perfect location for divers on the weekend. Seals where the main attraction that Clair and her team of ten experienced divers wanted to seek out, this proved to be a success. The team were also enlightened with the experience to witness a hump back whale swim up next to their boat to stop and stare at them. Seals and whales wern't the only specialities on display with bullrays and schools of fish to make this dive one worth remembering.

Photo taken by William Owyong.

Christmas Party

10 December 6pm at Sniddy's

Join the Charlestown gang for an evening of seasonal festivities.

Book early as limited spaces available.

$40 per head BYO Wine and Champayne $ Corkage applies

Club Dives

Montague Island wasnt the only dive to happen on the weekend with Deano braving the heat on saturday to drift down Swansea as the highest tide approached. It was a barrell full of laughs as tanks fell off BCDs, producing an amazing tide with many sights to be seen made for an excellent dive.

Sunday was a different story with Deano piking out to watch the divers as they braved the cold merky waters.

As a storm clouds brewed outside the water was a different story with merky sand creating a barrier and the wind creating a fuss made it hard for the divers to be able to get control of the environment they were in, crashing up against the rocks, the higlight of the day was returning to the car park where everything was smooth and calm.

Weekend Dives

Friday 4th 0630 meet SWANSEA BRIDGE - High Tide (Deano)

Friday 4th 1600 meet FLYPOINT (Deano)

Saturday 5th 1630 meet HALIFAX (Tom)

Sunday 6th 0700 meet SWANSEA BRIDGE ( Ash)

Sunday 6th 0700 meet MACLEAY & OAKLAND BOAT DIVE.(Deano)

Design our New Club T-Shirt!

We need a fresh new look and what is a better way to bring in the new year then designing our New Club T-Shirt.

Send us your design, via email or facebook.The winner will recieve a Padi's Speciality Course exc. boat dives.

Winner announced 10 December

SOUTH WEST ROCKS

"FISHROCK"

Discover the wonders of South West Rocks whilst diving at the famous Fish Rock Cave.

Pete G will be leading this dive on 18 - 20 Novemeber.

Price includes $395 including 2 nights accommodation. Get in fast as places are limited.

2011-11-02T17:52:00.001-07:00

Sunshine and blue seas...get wet

2011-10-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well...things don't get much better than the diving conditions last weekend....everyone was buzzing with their brilliant dive stories...Even better news is that there will be even better conditions this coming weekend!!

Clair had a great weekend with her open water students ! Well done to Clare, Jono, Bec, Sean, Tom & Rod...they did really well and it was great to see new divers so excited about their new sport! The biggest shock for the course was when Clair turned around and saw one of her open water students stroking a wobbegong head to tale like a dog.. lucky for the open water student the wobbie didnt seem to mind.. EEEK! Note to all divers.... DO NOT FONDLE THE MARINE LIFE!!! ....Especially ones with teeth!!!!
Dean and Bill where the 'Grand Poobahs of the the Advanced Course and they also returned to the shop crowing about the fantastic dives that they did....especially the dives on the HMAS Adelaide. Well done Amanda, Josh, Tania, Simon, Charlii, Kieran, Matt & Drew

Tom was a legend DM leading dives for both Saturday and Sunday ....Swansea Bridge drift and Swansea Bridge...and Fly point they had heaps of marine life, eels, nudi's and even better ....he brought everyone back!!!! Go Tom!!!!
If you are kicking yourself for missing out on last weekends diving then come along this weekend for more great dive adventures.....

Friday: ex-HMAS
Saturday double at Halifax with Clair .. Meet 2pm for dive 1 in at 3 then
4pm for dive 2- dinner at hogs breathe afterwards
Sunday double boat dive with Clair - Broughton island- 7.15 meet
Sunday arvo- Twighlight dive at fly with Pete... 5pm meet....then more hogs breathe
afterwards....

Fish Rock Cave weekender
18th - 20th Nov
with Pete
$395

Fish Rock cave depth 14 to 24 metres Fish Rock Cave is our best know and most popular dive site for grey nurse sharks, not to mention the 120 meters long cave, know as one of the largest ocean caverns in the southern hemisphere the cave is just the beginning of the great diving around South West Rocks.

The surroundings of Fish Rock offer some spectacular dives and opportunities to view the abundant marine life that congregates around the Rock. The craggy island of Fish Rock gives no indication of the splendor that lies underneath.
FISH ROCK CAVE has attracted divers
worldwide. So why not join Charlestown Diving Academy for a amazing weekend of diving .
price includes 2 nights accommodation, 2nd tank & air, 4 boat dives.

Included :    2 x double boat dives
                     2 x nights share accomodation
                    Airfills


Adelaide with Deano $140 double boat dive 7.30am meet - 2 spots left This weekends dive are:

Overseas Dive Trips 2012

2011-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

This weekends diving delights

2011-10-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Another weekend is fast approaching and again we have a pletherer of diving delights to wet your wetsuit and your whistle ;-)

Last weekend Pete was the divemaster with the mostest and headed up some pretty good dives at Terrigal ( ok ok so the viz at terrigal was a bit murky and there were NO turtles) and Swansea bridge, which was excellent, although I do believe Pete made one of the guys physically vomit :-)

The open water guys were awesome! Gongrats to Simon, Rhys, Sara & Tania for being fantastic!

NEW SUMMER TRADING HOURS!

Mon, Tues, wed & Fri 10.00am - 6.00pm

Thursday 10.00am - 8.00pm

Saturday & Sunday 8.00am - 5.00pm

This weeks Dives

Fri with DEANO - Side winder , Swansea Bridge,meet at car park on northern side of the bridge at 7.00am

Saturday with Tom - Swansea Drift 9.45 meet

Saturday with Tom - Swansea Bridge 12.15 meet

Sunday with Tom - Fly point 10.20 meet

Dive

Fiji

with Clair

04- 11 February 2012

8 days / 7 nights

$2099 per person

Includes- 10 dives ( 4 dives on the ultimate shark counter & 6 soft coral dives)

Beqa (pronouned Beng-gah) Lagoon has become known worldwide for its superb Scuba diving

Fiji is on the eastern extremity of the largest area of hard corals in the world - and in these 'gardens' one can see most of them represented. Corals, of course, attract the tropical fish that hide in their spiny protection. The twinkling colours of clowns, damsels, butterflies, regal angels, fire fish and Moorish idols shimmer among the stands of fire coral, staghorn, elkhorn and mushroom coral formations. Schools of batfish disport on the deeper edges of the heads while the packs of Pacific barracuda are always in the background, hunting a juicy lunch of tropical fish. This area is also prolific in fluted and giant clams and other members of the clam family. There are squirrel fish, triggerfish, trumpet fish - the many varieties of the surgeon fish - they're all here!

Turtles at Terrrigal

2011-10-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, Ok...so maybe we are being a little optimistic with promises of turtles at Terrrigal Haven.....(maybe not...but it is possible as there have been many recent and frequent sightings of our shelled friends sooooo.... Pete is leading the dive at terrigal this saturday and I'm sure he'll do his very best to provide an excellent dive! (hope you have your turtle suit ready, Pete)

This is a great dive for those of you who have been out of the water for a while or for those who have just completed your open water course! A nice easy dive with plenty to see!

Last weekend was deemed a wash out by some but a few of us chose to blow rasberries at the rain and had some Interesting dives including a drift dive from Fly to the Marina that I choose not to talk about (the walk of shame was involved) a great dive at Pipeline and 2 brilliant dives at Halifax... 10m viz and pesky Groupers who would not leave us alone...moray and mozaic eels everywhere and a school of Salmon....a much better option than being stuck indoors!

The Montague Island weekend is fast approaching (28th October)and so far we have 10 people coming along so it should be awesome...if you are interested in a mind blowing dive with a gazillion playful seals ...call the shop and put your deposit down!

Best wishes to the new group of open water divers, Sara, Tanya, Rhys and Simon...you are going to have a blast on your course and we look forward to your joining our club dives as CERTIFIED divers in the up coming weeks!

On the topic of new divers...congrats to Greg, Emma, Jade, Robert, Drew and Charlii...who completed their course last weekend!

For those of you who have not done so already... join us on Facebook for constant dive updates....