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Answering some of the most asked questions
In this article: 1. Do I have to be a good swimmer? | 2. How long does the course take? | 3. Is SCUBA gear difficult to understand? | 4. Is scuba diving expensive? | 5. What if I’m afraid of sharks? | Conclusion
1. Do I have to be a good swimmer?
It depends… if a shark is chasing you, you need not be the slowest swimmer in the dive group. Lol!
I'm just joking, read more about diving and sharks in question five below.
In all seriousness, you certainly don’t have to be a good swimmer.
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Shark behavior, what to look for, and tips on how to behave.
When you love the ocean, it's natural that you want to understand and respect its inhabitants. Learning more about sharks brings a deeper understanding of them. What they’re about and why they do what they do. Being so sharky with massive mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth makes it hard for them to change public perception.
They are almost always portrayed as mindless man-eating machines in media and movies. The truth is that they are not out to get us. We are not their natural prey, therefore most bites are just that, bites. They realize that it’s not their food and then move away.
It is no secret that the ocean desperately needs our protection. Educating yourself and others is the first step.
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A Seagull's Tale of Perseverance, How a Fishing Hook Led to an Unlikely Rescue
Last Friday 9 February, just as the team at Just Africa Scuba was busy locking up for the day, shop manager Mari van Wyk and owner Marius Wolfaardt noticed something dangling from a lamp post across the street from our dive centre in Gordon's Bay, Cape Town. Upon closer inspection, to their horror, they saw that hanging from the lampost was a seagull in distress. He had a fishing hook stuck in his beak and somehow got entangled on the top of the lamppost.
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Take your first breaths underwater
Whether you're on holiday in Cape Town looking for a fun activity, or maybe you're not sure if you want to commit to a full course, the Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) experience is made for exactly that. Test the waters in our onsite pool at the Krystal Beach Hotel in Gordon's Bay and find out what scuba diving is all about.
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Read more: What is the Discover Scuba Diving experience all about?
Underwater Photographer Madelein Wolfaardt
Since I can remember my main interests have been wildlife photography, nature conservation and marine biology. I used to collect wildlife images from magazines and buy posters of big cats, the walls in my room were covered.
I’m originally from Johannesburg. Life tends to take you on a journey with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns, and I very happily ended up living in Gordon’s Bay, Cape Town with my husband, Marius. This gave us the opportunity to explore our shared passion for the ocean and diving.
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Here are 6 easy ways to get to know the underwater world.
When you start exploring underwater and everything is new to you, how do you even start to get to know the vast number of underwater animals and plants? Don’t worry, it’s not complicated. In this article, I will show you six easy and practical ways to start familiarizing yourself with the marine environment.
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Do you want to make scuba diving your career? Then you're probably looking for a Dive Center to get you there. Here is why it's super beneficial to be trained in Cape Town waters with Just Africa Scuba.
Here are 10 Reasons to Become an Instructor in Cape Town.
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Read more: Why Do Your Dive Instructors Course in Cape Town?
Many people wonder about the differences between scuba and snorkel. Here are five things to consider when comparing the two. Hopefully, this will help you make a decision on which one you would like to explore first.
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Dive Travel
Here are 8 well-known shipwrecks around St Helena Island that can be explored by scuba divers and some of them are also accessible to snorkellers being in shallow water.
Saint Helena Island is a remote and captivating destination located in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Known for its stunning natural beauty and historical significance, with its dramatic cliffs and lush valleys, Saint Helena provides a picturesque setting for outdoor exploration and adventure. The island’s location provides opportunities for unforgettable marine wildlife encounters.
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Getting to know the underwater world has been, and still is, one of my favourite things. When you start your journey of free diving or scuba diving, you’re introduced to a new alien world. There's a multitude of unknown creatures all around. Everything seems weird and wonderful, and you feel like you're discovering new animals on every dive. This is always exciting. In this article, I make use of examples from our local marine life in False Bay, Cape Town.
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Our program includes all the scuba dive courses taking you from novice to a PADI Pro. You will learn practical work skills like gear maintenance, compressor operator, retail, customer service, professionalism, computer skills, and marketing & sales. All of this is integrated with our special Life Skills Courses which promote personal development and include: communication, conflict, a growth mindset, time management, self-awareness, and more.
Meet Erin
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Read more: Why Join the Just Africa Scuba Career Development Program?
Want to make the ocean your office?
In this article, you will see how to do that... Becoming a PADI Scuba Instructor can be done in a year's time or less with our Career Development Program. We will commit our time, expertise and resources in order for you to become the best Instructor possible. Below I will show you the steps to take from an absolute novice to becoming a professional.
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Dive Travel - Cape Town, South Africa
Gordon’s Bay is a charming naval town nestled against the Hottentots Holland Mountains. It’s a 45-minute drive from Cape Town CBD and a 40-minute drive from Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands district. Situated on the eastern side of False Bay, the largest bay in South Africa.
False Bay faces southward and is almost 1,000 km2 in size, bounded by the Cape Peninsula to the west and Cape Hangklip to the east. Conditions range from cold, seasonal upwellings from South Africa’s southwest coast to periodic warm-water intrusions from the Agulhas Current system off the southeast coast, causing unique conditions that create amazing biological diversity. The nutrient-rich water sustains the abundant reef life as well as the kelp forest ecosystems found here.
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So, you are new to diving and interested in what it takes to become a certified Scuba Diver? The underwater world is a magical and alluring place.
Becoming a scuba diver is life-changing as you enter this new world. Diving can go from easy to challenging and everything in between. Here’s how it works and what you need to become a scuba diver.
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This is a question many divers ask: "Should I spend money on buying my own scuba equipment or, should I continue to rent gear each time I go for a dive?" If you’re on the fence about buying new gear, you can start by doing a cost estimate of renting gear for the amount of diving you plan to do in the next year and compare that to buying your own. Here are a few other things to keep in mind when deciding.
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Never been to Egypt and dived the Red Sea? You are missing out, this trip will keep you coming back for more.
The Red Sea has some of the warmest and clearest water in the world with pristine reefs and historic shipwrecks. Here are 10 reasons why this is a dive experience not to be missed.
Info about our next trip HERE
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Cape Town boasts many magnificent features for divers to explore. There are beautiful dive sites that can be reached by boat, but unlike many other places around the world, that’s not the only way to dive in Cape Town. Our shore dives are something spectacular in their own right.
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and why they are Important
This is definitely a proven way to help protect our wonderful ocean and marine life for the benefit of people and nature.
What is a Marine Protected Area?
Like a nature reserve but in the ocean, it is an area of coastline or ocean that is specially protected with limits put into place in these specific areas.
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A major new study re-assessing the IUCN Red List status for all sharks, rays and chimaeras has found that more than one-third of species from these groups are now at risk of extinction from overfishing.
The report, published on 6 September in the online journal Current Biology, is the conclusion of the IUCN's Global Shark Trends project, from which highlights published earlier in March 2021 revealed that 39 species had been reclassified as 'Critically Endangered', 'Endangered', and 'Vulnerable to Extinction', since the last assessment report, published in 2014.
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Read more: Number of Endangered Shark and Ray Species Triples Since 2014
Featuring Women in Diving
Nicolene Olckers tells us about her interesting career as a photographer and dive professional with some great advice for people considering a career in diving.
How I got started in scuba diving
I must admit, I am a bit of an adrenaline junky. Over the years I have taken on the usual suspects, skydiving, bungee jumping, adventure motorcycling scuba diving, and open water swimming.
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- From PFO to Going PADI Pro!
- 10 Rules for the Underwater Photographer
- The Sea Urchin
- Why is our water turning red?
- Diverse Diving in False Bay
- Kelp Forests of South Africa
- Blood Parasites of Catsharks off the Western Cape
- Diving Protea Banks
- In the water with a Great White Shark
- 8 Handy Tips for Improving your Underwater Photography
- 6 Fascinating Sea Animals
- Octopus Roundup: Top Five Favorites
- Being a surfer and sharing the water with sharks
- Meet the Indian Ocean's first pygmy seahorse
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