Braving the cold at Komati Springs
There was a tremendous team spirit at this event as the divers motivated one another, joking who would make the 10m mark and who would submit to the cold temperatures and surface earlier.
BADPLAAS – Icy temperatures surely do not put off these enthusiastic divers. Not only do they take on the freezing-cold weather, but they also travel long distances in their journey to the icy waters of Komati Springs.
Local club Puma Scuba recently held its penguin ice dive on a chilly Saturday morning at Komati Springs, where the icy weather was a precursor to the freezing water that awaited these enthusiastic divers.
There was a tremendous team spirit at this event as the divers motivated one another, joking who would make the 10m mark and who would submit to the cold temperatures and surface earlier.
Linda Cooke, instructor and co-owner of Puma Scuba, instructed the divers and gave handy tips on diving into the temperatures that reached into the minuses. Cooke told them that they should make 110 per cent sure that you they were ready before they “released the puma into the wild, but in this case under the water”.
The first step is to go through a few important lectures. After this you are instructed to do dives in its five-metre-deep swimming pool. When Cooke feels that you are ready to take it a step further, then you can do open-water dives. She prefers to do these steps all within a week.
The divers all enjoyed the experience, even though they had goosebumps when they first entered the icy water. According to Michelle Ferreira of Mbombela, the experience was breathtaking. “It was awesome. A bit cold when going into the water but it becomes more bearable after a while.”
Peter Gibhard travelled from Johannesburg to do the dive and, according to him the visibility in the water was good and clear.
Most divers said the best thing about getting out of the cold water was hot chocolate and a Puma Scuba T-shirt. “Divers will do anything for a T-shirt,”said one person.
According to the divers, the temperature of the water made these ice dives quite unique. Normal dives would be round about 18°C while the temperature at Komati Springs was 14,8°C Normally they would also not dive lower than 10 metres, for safety reasons.
After the dive they had a prize-giving which was a bit different from usual proceedings:
1st prize – Peter Gibhard won the wetsuit shampoo – for relieving himself in his wetsuit.
2nd – Michelle Ferreira won the o-ring kit – for wearing her shirt the wrong way around.
3rd – Kamille Reekers won the mask-strap protector – for diving with a fogged mask.
4th – Riaan de Lange for teamwork.
Their next event called, summer party, will take place at the Puma Scuba facility on September 13.
