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Amanda

MELLOW YELLOW BRIEFING
Good Morning/Afternoon everyone, my name is Muneera Sallies and I will be your dive master
for this dive. Today we are going to dive on 2-mile reef. It is approximately 2 Km in length and 1
Km wide and consists of many different dive sites. I would like to inform everyone that we are in
the Isimangaliso Wetland Park. This is a world heritage site and marine protected area,
meaning we do not touch the reef or any fish underwater. We do not take anything out of the
ocean, besides our memories and pictures, nor do we leave anything behind. Please keep
yourself in a neutral buoyancy to avoid kicking or damaging the reef at all.
On this dive we will be going to Mellow Yellow
On the southern end of Bikini named after the large shoals of yellow fish found there. It is a
narrow reef with gullies, overhangs, and small ledges, where paperfish and various cleaner
shrimp can be spotted.
Here we have a maximum depth of 20m and an average depth of about 17m. We will be doing a
drift dive, which basically means that we will be following the current at a nice and steady pace
which goes from North to South, which is why we will be doing a drift dive from the North to
South. The water temperature is normally at 25 degrees but with the colder seasons we could
expect around 23 degrees with low wind and swell possible slight swell, but the bottom
conditions should be very calm.
We will be doing a 55 min dive or 50 bar low on air. So, once you reach 50 bar which is the little
red section on your gauge, show me and your buddy that you are low on air and you are going
up. You can decide between your buddy team if you are going up alone or with your buddy, then
inform me so that I know who is going up and staying down.
Some interesting things to keep an eye out for – Juvenile Palette surgeon fish and Two-bar
Humbugs are usually found hugging the large table coral. Octopus and Mantis shrimp are other
special additions we can expect to see with obviously great schools of Yellow Snappers.
I am now going to divide everyone into buddy teams….
Lost buddy procedures:
If you find that your buddy is missing, come to me and show me “my buddy is missing”. I will
hand the buoy line over to an experienced diver, go up to the boat and see if I can find your
buddy. If he/she is not there I will come back down, terminate the dive and we will start
searching for your buddy. If you find that you are the lost buddy – simply go up 1 meter, do a
360-degree turn looking for any fin flashes or bubbles going to the surface. If you can’t see
anything then do a slow, controlled ascend, skip your safety stop and surface. Call the skipper
to come pick you up. If you have more than 100 bar of air, you may ask the skipper to drop you
on the Buoy and you may rejoin the group and continue the dive. If you have less than 100 bar
please stay on the boat and wait for the dive to end.
Boat procedures: From here we will go down to the boat and stand opposite our BCD’s. We will
level-out the boat and the tractor will push it in while we keep it level. Once the boat is floating I
will ask the ladies to jump on first. the skipper will then drop the motors and ask for the guys to
jump on as well. Once on the boat we will put on our life jackets, slide our feet into the foot
straps and continue to launch through the surf. We will then stop and take off our life jackets
and make our way to the dive site. Once there we will help you with your weight belts, fins and
masks. Then we will help you with your gear. Once everyone is ready, the skipper will give us a
count of 1, 2, 3, GO. On the word GO, all fall backwards into the water. You may decide if you’re
going to do a positive or negative descend. I will be doing a negative and will watch as the last
diver ascends. If you happen to descend faster, please keep an eye on me and do not swim
away. Once everyone has descended, I will ask if everyone is OK and when we are ready, we
will begin our dive together making sure that no one drifts away on their own
Throughout the dive I will ask everyone to check their gauges and if you have 100 or more
please indicate that you are okay and if you have reached 50 bar it means that you are low on
air and will need to do a slow ascend making your safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes. If you
don’t have a dive computer, along the buoy line there is a black painted section at 5 meters.
Stop at that mark and sing happy birthday to yourself 3 times, using your full name, which will
cover the 3 minutes at your safety stop. Then surface and inflate your BCD and indicate for the
skipper to come and pick you up.
Emergency Procedures- In the unlikely event of an emergency there are emergency
procedures, an oxygen kit, a radio and a first aid kit in the console of the boat as well as on the
beach. However, we are all professionals and will treat the dive as such
Hand signals: I’m now going to run through the different hand signals – Question and answer
are you OK? Yes, I am OK or no something is wrong, point to the problem and we will sort it out
under the water. Once the problem is sorted just show me that you are OK. This is the signal for
going up, for going down, if you are low on air, and throughout the dive I will be asking you to
check your gauge. If you have more than 50 bar, simply show me you are OK. If you are on 50
bar you need to signal that you are low on air, and going up. For those of you with computers,
when your computer reaches 3 minutes from Deco you need to show me that your computer is
three minutes from Deco. So that I know that you know to slowly start making your ascent.
Again, just a reminder that this is a heritage site so please remain neutrally buoyant as all times
in order to protect the marine life and ourselves. Please feel free to ask me any questions and
lets have a great dive

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