Sunchaser Scuba - Diving in the British Virgin Islands

And just like that it is August again and another season done. A confusing and weird season but stubbornness and hard work pay off and we can’t wait to see what next season will bring. Sunchaser Scuba will be closing it’s doors in the middle of August so we can get the boats up to scratch and ready for their summer spa stay in the boat yard. Painting tank backs, polishing hulls, chipping and repainting the deck, don’t worry, the list is longer than that. That will keep us pretty busy until the end of the month when it will be time to send them to the spa for bottom paint and some minor maintenance work by the amazing crew in the boat yard. When the boats leave for their boat yard period it is time for a little vacation for Ben and Kay. With the uncertainty and ever changing situation around the world it is not sure yet where our adventures will take us this year. Exploring our own paradise or venturing abroad…We will wait and see what September brings us but one thing is for sure,...

Nature’s little secret, a place to visit and a place to call home. The British Virgin Islands is an incredible country which we all love both above and below the water. In our line of duty we mainly focus on the underwater efforts. From beach and shoreline clean ups, to treating the coral for SCTLD, coral restoration, turtle tagging, shark tagging, education and conservation. More than needs to be done, more can be done and we need your help in making it work! What can you do you ask? From things as small as making sure you pick up your trash on the beach, wearing sunscreen that is not toxic to our reefs or participating in a turtle tagging experience. Every little bit helps so let’s have a look at some of our local non profits that do so much to preserve our pristine beauty and who you can help too. The Association of Reef Keepers or ARK is one of the first non profit organizations in the BVI. In the early days they were pushing the importance of protecting the Territory’s marin...

When you can’t get under the water, what better to do than watch and pretend you are under the water. There are plenty of fantastic documentaries out there that teach us more about the underwater world. Some serious and sad, some very educational but one thing they all have in common is the incredible videography and up close footage they get from some of our favorite marine animals. Some are not for the faint hearted and it is definitely not all pretty. It is however important that we are aware and learn about our so important oceans. The good and the bad…the pretty and the ugly…The amazing and understood world below us. The latest documentary to come out is Seaspiracy. Seaspiracy is a Netflix documentary. It is about the impact of commercial fishing and brings up some unsettling truths about the impact on both marine life and human lives involved in this huge industry. https://www.netflix.com/vg/title/81014008 Another Netflix documentary but this one on a slightly brighter note ...

What is the coolest or most amazing thing you have ever seen in the BVI? It is an often asked question on the dive boat. It is also a very hard question to answer as we have seen so may incredible creatures while diving in the British Virgin Islands. So instead of giving our favorite let’s give you a few of our unusual, yet amazing sightings during our dives in the BVI. Cratena peregrina    Starting with the smaller underwater critters, nudibranchs are definitely in the top most amazing things we can find. One of the reasons they are so incredible is that they are rare and we don’t spot them often. Their scientific name,  Nudibranchia , means naked gills, and describes the feathery gills and horns that most wear on their backs. A few of them we see more often, such as the lettuce leaf nudibranch , elysia ornate nudibrach or the black spotted nudibranch. However it is nudibranchs like Hypselodoris Bayeri or Cratena Peregrina  that really get us over excited as...

Whether you are a diver, snorkeler, fisherman, eater, chef, tourist…We all have one thing in common and that is that we LOVE fish in one way or another. That is why it is so important that we all understand and spread the news about sustainable fishing. We can all live together happily and maintain our fish stocks to acceptable levels, as long as we all do the right things. What exactly does sustainable fishing mean? It is making sure that fish are able to continue to live in their specific habitats. It is making sure that the number of a certain species stays up and doesn’t get overfished. Making sure that we don’t catch fish that are too small or too large. It is making sure that there will be enough fish for the future. You can do this by fishing for specific species different times of the year to maintain a good amount of different fish. Use methods that are not detrimental for other species and don’t produce large bycatch. Make sure we don’t destroy their habitat due to over...

Adding to the negative news spiral we seem to find ourselves in with current events around the world is this months blog about Stony coral tissue loss disease or SCTLD. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is the newest threat to our reefs. It is a disease which is spreading at a fast rate and affecting 20 different species of hard corals in the Caribbean. Hard or Stony corals grow very slowly and generally live for a long time. They are corals that build our reefs. Scientist believe it is a bacterial pathogen that is spreading either by contact or through waterways. Unfortunately it kills corals fast, within weeks to a month for a colony. Needless so say this could have devastating effects on our corals, reefs, marine life, tourism, economy… Luckily not all is lost and divers, dive shops, scientist are working around the clock to try to stop this disease from spreading, including us and the other dive operators in the BVI. Red marks have co...

Happy New Year everyone!!! Out with 2020 and bring on 2021. I think it is safe to say that we are all ready for this as what a year it has been. A year like no other that is for sure. Less busy with guests but that didn’t mean we didn’t find other projects to get our hands on and we sure managed to keep occupied. So what have we been up to over the past year then? Let’s have a look at 2020 in review. One of our favorite parts of 2020 was having more time on our hands to expand our summer dive program for local youngsters! With the incredible support of Unite BVI and Bitter End Yacht Club we were able to take 56 local children/teenagers diving. 24 of these participants completed the PADI Open Water course and the remainder participated in the PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience. Of course we had challenges such as mandatory rescheduling and delays but we made it happen and they all did fantastic. It is such a great opportunity to be able to teach anyone to dive, but even more ...

Happy birthday to our amazing PADI Instructor Ben! He was born in 1984 in Poole, Dorset on the south coast of England. That makes this awesome guy 36 years old, wise, smart, silly,…today! Working in the tourism industry, normally birthdays are spend working. This year however there will be no such thing. It will be a relaxing day filled with laughter, relaxing, eating and drinking with friends on the island. Tradition goes that the day starts with an advent calendar as a birthday present. Let’s be honest the best way to start any day is with chocolate. That and a nice cup of coffee in bed. What else the day brings will be up to the birthday boy… One thing is for sure it will be another fantastic day in paradise! Be sure to wish him a happy birthday! from Sunchaser scuba https://ift.tt/37uANXs

Although we are in the Caribbean and we all dream of its beautiful clear and warm water, you still need the appropriate exposure protection. It is just really not fun getting cold when diving. Some people will feel the cold more than others, it is different for everyone. However, to often we get people saying that a shorty will be more than adequate for our 2-tank morning dive. Only to find them shivering during the surface interval, not too excited about having to get back in the water, just because they are cold. Water temperature in the British Virgin Islands ranges and can get as hot as 86 degrees in the summer months. September is normally the months that sees the warmest ocean temperature. The cooler temperatures are seen in April, where normally the ocean drops to about 78 degrees. We have however seen temperatures as low as 75 degrees. We agree, 75 degrees is nice and warm, in the air. However, same as sitting in a warm bath, after about 30 minutes you start to acclimatize an...

Our start of summer, annual hiatus, vacation time…It is that time of the year where we tend to close down and give everything and everyone a well deserved vacation. Normally the middle of August marks the start of our annual hiatus and it runs until the middle of October. These dates do tend to change ever so slightly every year, depending on what is happening. The past couple of years, while Bitter End Yacht Club has been busy rebuilding their incredible resort, we have been sneaking out a little early and closed on 1 August. This year, due to COVID-19 we decided to keep operational until otherwise dictated, or at least that was the plan. Then new restrictions were starting to get imposed so during the last week of August we decided it was time for our boats to get pulled out of the water and rest up for a couple of weeks. Vacation time! Why do we close during this time every year. Because it is hurricane season a lot of people say. Well, yes, but at the same time no. Hurricane se...

Diving should be for everyone! Who does not dream of taking their first breath under water? Are you not curious about what you might see down there? Unfortunately not everyone gets the chance to see what it is all about. That is why Sunchaser Scuba, with the support of Bitter End Yacht Club and Unite BVI is organizing dive summer camps for the second year in a row. Getting ready to go diving! During the months of July and August, Ben and Kay will be teaching 56 youngsters to blow bubbles. Building up from last years experience, this year we will offer 2 different types of camps. A PADI discover scuba diving camp and a PADI Open Water diver camp. Diving is of course our main goal. However our broader objective is to teach local youngsters the importance of our oceans. This is important both for us humans, but also for the local tourism industry. Making children aware of the importance of marine life and making sure they understand the effects towards the future for sustainable fish...

Foggy masks are one of the worse things that can happen to you on a dive. You have been so excited to get in the water and go diving. Now you find yourself under water and all you see is a hazy view of what you imagine is a beautiful reef and incredible marine life you were dreaming off. You wonder if you forgot to put defog in your mask, did you buy the wrong mask for you, did you rinse it out to quickly? It has happened to all of us, but it can be prevented in most cases. Nothing worse than a foggy mask What is a foggy mask and why does it happen? Especially new masks tend to get foggy easily. The reason for his is that they have residue left on the lens from the manufacturer. If you don’t get rid of this coat on the inside of the lens, your lens will keep on fogging up, no matter what solution you try to use. Another reason for mask to get foggy is when people breath out through their nose while diving or snorkeling. The last cause has the easiest solution; stop breathing thr...

As time goes by everything around us changes. Technology evolves and new gadgets make their way onto the market. Techniques improve and we adjust accordingly. Sadly people come and go with time as well. So what are these people up to these days, I am sure you wonder. So let’s have a look at some of our most recent staff that have left us and how they are getting along without us. Ryan enjoying yacht life! The most recent staff member to have left us is Ryan. After a well deserved vacation to his home country, Ryan has been focusing on the yachting industry. He has been doing some day work on mega yachts in Florida while looking for a more permanent position on a yacht. Just before the holidays both him and his amazing girlfriend Carly found work on a yacht together. They did a couple of charters together and saved money for Ryan’s captain’s license. Shon hanging out with the rich and famous on Necker Island. Shon found a full time position working on Richard Branson’s Necker Is...