Newsletter #1-09

Hello everyone!

Some of our older friends (meaning someone who has been a friend a long time – not necessarily someone who is old and a friend! J ) may remember the quarterly newsletter that we used to do a few years ago.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to stay in touch with our divers.  For a variety or reasons I discontinued it, but look forward now to bringing it back with updates from Blue Water Divers and the island, travel tips and suggestions, as well as specials and deals that we are offering for a limited time.

So thank you for joining me for our first issue of 2009 which includes:

Hurricane Ike Update
Travel Deals
Invasive Lion Fish
Introducing New Staff
General Overview of BWD

HURRICANE IKE UPDATE
First let me thank the many of you who offered help during this challenging time for everyone on Grand Turk. Your thoughts and actions mean a lot to us, and it was nice to know that we are not forgotten. Thank you all!

The good news is that great progress has been made since Ike hit as a category 4 hurricane on Sept 6^th. In the four months since then, electricity has been restored to virtually the entire island, and while cleaning up the rest of the debris will still take some time, a lot has been done already. All roads are navigable, and both government and private sector are continuing clean up efforts.  It is my hope that we can carry on with the clean up and make Grand Turk even better than before.

The stores are all receiving food stocks again on a regular basis, and in fact a new store has opened and is being well received.  It is called J & J and is located on West Road.  On the hotel front, the Osprey Beach Hotel, Manta House, Grand Turk Inn (not to be confused with the Turks Head Inn) and Bohio are all fully open and catering to their guests.  The Salt Raker Inn, Arches,  Aquahouse, and Turks Head Inn are all still under repair and will open soon.

With hindsight after the storm, all new buildings will be built to a much higher standard of construction, and ideally will contribute to a better Grand Turk.

Perhaps some of the best news about Ike,  for divers at least, is that our fabulous wall did not get damaged at all!! We got little or no water surge and the reef is as gorgeous as ever!

INVASIVE LION FISH
Some of you may have already heard we have a new, and not really welcome, resident of the reef.  It is the red lion fish, and it has been spreading widely over the last ten years.  Sightings of these fish were first reported in Florida about 1999 by divers on the east coast.  Since then they have spread both north going all the way up past the Carolinas and Virginia, and even further, and south all through the FL Keys, well into the Bahamas, and of course, now here in the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

It is an amazingly beautiful fish (native to the Indian and South Pacific oceans) and easy to see why it is prized as an aquarium species, but it has some traits that unfortunately do not make it a welcome guest on our reef.  Though it only grows to the size of about a foot, even the small ones eat A LOT of fish!  These fish are the same fish that we need to keep the normal populations of species well balanced.  Secondly, they have few, if any natural predators.  While they have been found in the stomachs of a few groupers, and occasionally large adults will feed on juveniles, they do not have much to fear, being so well defended with their poisonous spines. And lastly, they have a rapid spawning cycle that means they can take over an area rather quickly.

We are presently trying to remove the lionfish we see. Eventually we hope to get others involved as well, but for now most culling is being done by me and my staff, and also Smitty from Grand Turk Diving.  I seriously doubt that we will ever remove them all, but at least we can hopefully keep them from getting too populous. That means we can still enjoy them for the excellent photo subjects they are.

BWD STAFF

Monica Bouteiller
Many of you have already met Monica, who hails from Canada (Red Deer Alberta area).  She has been part of our team for 3 years now and has been doing a fantastic job of handling the bookings and reservations, and managing the office. She goes out of her way to meet and welcome guests, and is there to help with any need that comes up during your visit. 

Monica is also an avid diver, having logged over 400 dives here already. She is  completing her dive master course, and loves to come out on the dive boat and assist us.

Jessie Buecket
Jessie is a PADI instructor, also from Canada (Vancouver area) Jessie has only been on the island since just after Ike hit, and he has already become an essential part of our team.   He is a great instructor with over 4 years teaching experience before coming here, and is very patient working with new students.  He also guides dives on a daily basis and has quickly become very familiar with the sites here. 

Jesse is really enjoying his time here so far.  Not only is he surfing and having fun on his off days, but while doing open water training with two students during late Dec., they saw 5 dolphins on the first training dive, and a HUMPBACK WHALE on the second!!! It came right by them at about 30 feet!! What a thrill!!  His honest enthusiasm and hard work make him a dream to have on the team!

TRAVEL DEAL
Here is an incredible limited-time offer:  Make your booking before May 1^st, 2009 (you can travel later as long as your booking is confirmed) and get 4 dive packages with Blue Water Divers for the price of 3!! This is a great deal for families or 2 couples traveling together.  Please note this deal applies to the diving only, but we can also offer a 10% discount off your choice of hotel accommodations.  Contact us now for complete details and take advantage of this great deal!

BWD OVERVIEW
For those who may be new to Blue Water Divers, I established this dive shop in 1983, and have been consistently running it ever since.  I presently operate 3 boats, all skiffs that accommodate small groups of up to 8 divers. We offer a full range of PADI instruction, and can book your complete dive and hotel package including a reduced air rate from Provo.  After over 25 years of diving the fantastic Grand Turk wall, I can still say that it is a real pleasure to do what I do for a living!  I look forward to meeting you all and sharing a few dives soon!

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