Sunchaser Scuba - Diving in the British Virgin Islands

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...

Well, guess what this months blog will be about…you guessed it COVID-19, coronavirus, … You are all too well aware what it means. No matter how you look at it, every single person in the whole world has been effected by mother nature’s newest revenge. Call it what you like, but without a doubt you have in one way or another been effected. Dive boats on their moorings What is the effect on us, our staff and our dive shop, here in the British Virgin Islands? Well first of all, we could think of worse places to be in the world to have to spend time with our loved ones being isolated. I can hear all of you think it, yeah, it’s a beautiful place, amazing water and there is the beach. Well, it wasn’t quit that nice but at least we have a view, it is nice and warm and the sun shines. Let me explain what happened in the BVI; On 18 March we took our last guests out diving, right before the borders closed down. No one in or out was the start of a quick response to the world around us unra...

In a BVI Dive Operator meeting about a year ago, all the dive operators in the BVI were discussing ways to promote the dive industry in the British Virgin Islands. One chat lead to another and our PADI Instructor Ben came up with the idea to make an artificial kelp forest or sponge forest. Divers installing the lines As Sunchaser Scuba maintains the mooring field at the Bitter End Yacht Club, in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, where we are located, we know how amazing the growth on the mooring lines is. Whenever we replace the lines, normally the old lines get discarded. So instead of creating more trash, could we reuse or re purpose these lines and create an artificial reef. Making sure the lines are secure As the mooring field hasn’t been used since Irma in 2017, a lot of the mooring lines were due replacement anyway. So we asked Bitter End Yacht Club if they were happy to donate the old mooring lines. They were thrilled about the project and told us to go ahead and star...

As divers we go on dive vacations for fun. So swimmers go on swim vacations for fun. One of those swim vacations happens right here in the British Virgin Islands with Sunchaser Scuba and our partner Swim Trek. Swim Trek has been offering their swim vacations in the BVI for over 15 years. At this point they come down twice a year, for a total of 6-8 weeks to swim in the beautiful waters of the British Virgin Islands. The ultimate goal is the historic straight between the British and U.S Virgin Island, which comes with the bragging rights of having swum from Britain to America. Swim Trek started back in 2000 when SwimTrek’s founder Simon Murie was planning for his 30th birthday. He remembered as a boy growing up, reading about Byron’s crossing of the fabled Hellespont which divides Europe and Asia in north-west Turkey. Attempting to organize the trip proved such a struggle that he figured there must be more swimmers out there and a need for help organizing these trips. So Swim Tr...