Normalail Underwater Club enjoys its Spring Shark Braai at Emmarentia Dam
EMMARENTIA – Local underwater club takes time out to chill in-between diving and playing underwater hockey.
Scuba diving, underwater hockey and golf on the dam are some of the things the Normalair Underwater Club get up to.
But the group based at Emmarentia Dam gathered for a quiet social event on 7 September just to catch up with each other.
“We are the oldest underwater and scuba diving club in Joburg and we do a lot,” said the club’s public relations officer, Alex Kayle during the Spring Shark Braai.
“We started in 1962 and are as active as ever now.”
While children played on the famous Bert’s Tub on the water, Kayle explained that the CMAS affiliated sports club hosts an annual dive at Emmerantia Dam each year during winter.
Prizes are awarded to divers based on what they find and many of the amazing finds at the dive are displayed on the walls of the clubhouse. These include all manner of oddities ranging from rings, engraved plaques, very old guns, and even an explosive shell was found once.
The club also hosts a beer fest in October and the odd dive during the year in and outside Joburg.
Regular talks are also held at the club to educate the community.
“We are all about growing the scuba diving community and marine conservation and educating people about the marine ecosystem.”
The next talk will be hosted by Dr Mark Botha on sharks on 9 October. Before then, a weekly diving course for beginners to masters will start on 5 October.
Members of the club also play underwater hockey, although practices for the team are held at the Wahoo Aquatic Centre in Sunninghill.
Kayle explained that the club is called Normalair because the composition of oxygen and nitrogen changes the deeper one goes underwater.
“Normalair is 21 per cent oxygen and 79 per cent nitrogen so it is saying that we do not dive very deep, so that that [the amounts of oxygen and nitrogen] change. We are not deep-sea diverts, we are recreational divers.”
Details: Normalair Underwater Club info@normalair.co.za
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