July 2022 Jetty Dive Debrief
Welcome to the July 2022 Jetty Dive Debrief! This is our newest addition to the blog – the “debrief”. Here we are going to let you know how the water has been, what the season showed us, any interesting or noteworthy details, and what we’ve achieved as a shop!
This month we continued whale watching, with scuba diving charters mostly happening on weekends. Mike, Deb, and myself attended a local tourism awards night in Grafton where I was the recipient of the 2022 Local Tourism Hero award. This was a lovely night and I am very thankful for the nomination from Coffs Council!
Seasonal Marine Life Activity:
Grey Nurse Sharks were seen in abundance throughout the month, with 20+ on the 9th and 10th.
On the 10th of July we saw Lenny the leopard Blenny on the 10th of July who doesn’t spend much time here. On the 17th we spotted a yellow box fish, which are much less common this time of year – usually appearing in summer. We also saw 10-12 turtles at once at the end of the dives on the 17th.
Towards the end of July we experienced whales “mugging”. This is where whales approach the boat and hang around curiously. Whales that “mug” are the type of whale that we swim with!
Certifications
PADI Open Water Divers
Congratulations to our newly certified PADI Open Water Divers:
Libby, Ben, Phalayna, Joshua, Jessica, Erin, Ruby, Claire, Mae, Kyah, Stephen, Sean, Alyssa, and Alix – Good work, divers!
PADI Advanced Open Water Divers
Congratulations to our newly certified PADI Advanced Open Water Divers:
Nelson, Eve, William – Congratulations!
Master Scuba Diver Instructor
Our littlest instructor Mini has successfully attained her Master Scuba Diver Trainer rating – Congratulations Mini!!
Conditions
Visibility
The visibility of the water in July started around 10m on the 9th, continuing to the 16th when the vis increased to 12 – 15m. On the 17 vis ranged from 10m up to 18m, and on our dives on the 31st visibility was a beautiful 20-25m.
Temperature
The water temperature fluctuated between 19° celcius and 20° celcius in Coffs Harbour throughout the month of July
Sustainability and the environment
This section we are dedicating to showing what steps we are taking to reduce our environmental impact. It might include incentives we have implemented or tried through the month, or programs we have participated in. We intend to expand upon our conservation efforts page with everything we have implemented in store – as we are doing much more than this page shows!
Some more in shop improvements for this month! One of our biggest non-sustainable areas is our retail items packaging and postage to our customers. Thankfully, our suppliers have been making their way towards more sustainable packaging.
When sending orders ALL bubble wrap that we use has been sent TO us. We haven’t purchased bubble wrap in years, and continue to use what is sent to us in deliveries from suppleirs. Some of the staff get food delivery services and bring the bubble wrapping from those services in to be cleaned and reused for packing. We use this to wrap your precious regulator parts and computers to ensure they reach you safely – however, more suppliers are sending paper wrapping to pack their orders – so we can do the same!
We have recently purchased more biodegradable packing tape for our orders! This tape is “landfill-biodegradable” which is great – if the tape is just “compostable”, many people would not remove it to go in the compost bin alone and it would defeat the purpose. This is a small step but it’s the small steps that make the difference!
We have also chosen to replace all of our “consumable” style products with Zero Co. For many years we have only used natural hand wash and dishwashing liquid, and have increased our use of natural products over time, but we have decided to change brands complete to Zero Co as they offer the program to re-use your old refill sachets. The plastic the bottles are made from are made of ocean, beach, and landfill plastic, and you keep these forever. Then you purchase refill sachets, which are then sent back to Zero Co to be refilled – meaning way less waste. We recycle all possible products, but this is another step further in being eco friendly. Plus- i love to support companies and brands that do these excellent things! And they smell lovely! Check out Zero Co if this sounds good to you, they cater to all volumes whether business or personal.
Photo of the Month
The Month Ahead!
Whale Swimming is here! The whales are mugging, and the bookings are open! Book in here!
Newsletter
We are starting a monthly newsletter with updates similar to this blog post. Some of our favorite customer pictures, new product releases or favorite products. If you want to hear from us (we wont spam you, I promise!) sign up here, and click “Newsletter”.
If you have anything you would like to hear about in this debrief, or in our newsletter, or even any suggestions for another name for this debrief, please contact us and let us know!
Thanks for reading the July 2022 Jetty Dive Debrief! We appreciate you 🙂
About the Author
Tara is Jetty Dive’s Office Manager and IT Lady, Social Media Queen, Crazy-Fish-Lady, and as she likes to say – “Self-Appointed CEO”. You’ll find her sitting at her desk surrounded in pink, but happiest either on or under the water.
