We’re not just in your element; we were born there!

In a factory on the coast of British Columbia — BARE, the brainchild of 2 divers determined on creating a drysuit for the frigid waters of the Canadian Pacific Ocean was born. For over 40 years, Bare has honed their expertise and become obsessed in their pursuit of creating wetsuits, drysuits and accessories that meet these requirements.

Their wetsuits and drysuits use a unique combination of anatomically correct patterns, sophisticated materials and painstaking craftsmanship; along with in-house design and manufacturing facilities to constantly evolve our wetsuit and drysuit design to exceed the expectations of our customers.

WE’RE JUST BREAKING THE SURFACE. Looking to the future, BARE is committed as ever to pushing scuba diving to greater depths and greater discovery.

Introducing the 8/7MM Velocity Ultra Hooded Semi-Dry

If you don’t want to invest in a dry-suit but want to keep warm on your dives the Velocity Semi-Dry Hooded Suit is for you. The suit drastically reduces the water exchange that occurs with a standard wet suit and keeps you warmer for longer periods of time. This means increased comfort, decreased air consumption and longer bottom times.

Just look at this suits features!

The Velocity Ultra is a performance driven wetsuit that features the Progressive Full-Stretch (PFS) construction of the popular Velocity, with the advancement of UltraWarmth Celliant Infrared Technology. Bare’s greatest innovations in design and development together for longer, more comfortable dives.

The combination of three different full-stretch material types PFS, makes this one of the highest performing mid-priced suits available. We start with Bare-Fit, the foundation of every Bare suit, which uses ergonomic design and intricate shaping patterns with articulated arms and legs. Then we highlight areas of the suit where flexibility and abrasion resistance are essential and incorporate special full-stretch fabrics to maximize performance in these key areas. PFS gives the Velocity Ultra Series a fit and feel unlike any other. What makes the Velocity Ultra Series truly special is that it’s the only mid-priced dive suit to feature the thermal-activated performance of Celliant Infrared Technology. Using minerals woven into the fabric of the suit, Celliant turns wasted body heat into infrared energy, reflecting it back to your body. This results in increased warmth, faster recovery times, and greater stamina for longer, more comfortable dives.

Suit has an attached hood features Celliant lining for additional warmth. 2mm neoprene internal pullover bib for additional warmth and comfort. Front-entry cross-chest heavy-duty plastic dry zipper. 10mm spine and kidney pad to provide extra comfort for tank placement. Seamless underarms for superior comfort when worn on its own, with an additional wet layer or with a BCD. Skin-to-skin double 3mm Glideskin wrist and ankle seals. Embossed back knee flex panels to reduce bulk behind the knee when kicking and crouching. PROTEKT knee protection provides the next generation of abrasion and wear resistance. Anatomically correct pattern for three-dimensional fit throughout for superior fit, comfort and mobility. Suits is equipped with heavy-duty ankle zippers for easy donning and doffing. Double glued construction eliminates water entry through the seams.

Bare 8/7mm 2017 Ultra Velocity Semi-Dry Men’s Hooded Suit Features

Bare 8/7mm Ultra Velocity Semi-Dry Men’s Hooded Suit:

Progressive Full-Stretch Technology

Full-Stretch Nylon-2 Neoprene

Varying-Degrees of Full-Stretch Panels into Specific Performance Zones

Progressive Stretch: Concept Only Available in Velocity Series

Ergonomic Suit Design, Complex Shaped Patterns with Articulated Arms and Legs

Front-Entry Cross-Chest Heavy-Duty Plastic Dry Zipper

Seamless Underarms for Superior Comfort when Worn On-Its-Own

Skin-to-Skin Double 3mm Glideskin Wrist and Ankle Seals

PROTEKT Knee Protection Provides Next Generation of Abrasion/Wear Resistance

Spend $100 in store during the month of October for a chance to win this suit!

Ten Women – One Sea Goddess – 3000 Kilometres – 100 Days – One Vision – One World Record.

With Women’s Dive Day just gone, I wanted to find women making an impact in the world of scuba. I found the Sedna Dive Team and their Epic Expedition.

“Women Wanted: For hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long days of complete sunlight, constant danger, safe return hopeful, honour and recognition in case of success.”

They are a bunch of truly gutsy women! Lead by expedition founder Susan R Eaton, in the northern summer of 2016 they plan on snorkeling the Northwest Passage to bring attention to the disappearing Arctic Sea Ice and the impact this is having on the aboriginal people’s way of life. This will be a 3000km, 100 day trip from Pond Inlet on Baffin Island, through the treacherous Northern Passage, to Nunavut in Canada’s Northern Territories.

Dividing into two made for TV teams – Team Beluga and Team Narwhal, each member will take to the waters prepared to face challenges such as stinging jellyfish, tusked walrus, polar bears, and pods of orcas, not to mention icebergs, gale force winds, and maybe the toughest of all: -2° waters. The women will be taking turns in the water, using special drysuits with heating undersuits and mitts. Rather than swimming, each snorkeler will use a scooter or diver propulsion vehicle which can travel between 3 – 5km/h and the plan is to continue the relay non-stop as long as they have sunlight.

Hopefully these challenges will translate into a 10 part television series showing the lead up period and all the preparations required and then into the relay itself.

The team is made up of geologists, biologists, oceanographers, award winning videographers, environmental lawyers and much more – all with a passion to make a difference. They see the expedition as a ‘Call to Action’, a chance to provide aboriginal and scientific knowledge to public and governments on impending issue of global warming and its impact of the Arctic’s fragile ecosystem.

Their expedition boat will double as a portable aquarium, while the women are snorkeling they hope to collect small animals, seaweeds, invertebrates and other sea life to display to the local people at each stop before returning their finding back to the sea.

Following the relay, Team Sedna plan on translating its findings into education and awareness programs for the Inuit and Inuvialuit people situated along the northern passage. Team Sedna will aim to serve as role models and hope to inspire Inuit girls and young women they meet along the way to think ‘big’ and follow their dreams.

To get a glimpse at how incredible these women really are, watch this video!

“Been there, done that” and you know what? It doesn’t matter. I could have dived the same site a hundred times, and yet I still feel that same bubbling excitement as I gear up for the dive. The drive or boat ride hums with anticipation as everyone discusses what we might see this time. I will grab a tank and set up my equipment – a comfortable and familiar procedure. The sound of waves on the shore, the salty sea wind on my face; the feeling of going home. People are spitting in masks, swilling them out. It isn’t elegant, and we don’t care! Others attach strobes to cameras, and buddy teams help each other gear up. Buddy checks complete? Let’s go.

It begins. Wading out through the waves, letting the cool water wash over you, or back-rolling into the blue. Looking down at that whole other world that lies beneath us – just waiting to be explored!

70% of the planet we live on is covered with water, making it hardly surprising that some of the most spectacular spots on earth lie under the ocean’s surface. Non-divers only get the chance to experience 30% of what is on offer – imagine what you are missing out on!

Regulator in – my lifeline that will supply my air during the dive – I start my descent. Deflating my BCD, I’m in free fall, I can twist and turn in any way I please. I am weightless, I defy gravity, I am flying! Lying face down, arms and legs splayed slowing my descent. I am sky-diving in slow-mo, watching as the sea bed rises to meet me. I will twist over to lie looking up at the surface, as it slips slowly away from me, or maybe let my whole world flip upside down as I plunge – Superman style – onwards; one of my favourite moments of a dive is the descent. It is that sudden sense of weightlessness, when the laws of physics exerted on us on land no longer apply. Ever wanted to experience zero gravity and what it feels like to fly unaided? Then diving will give you a pretty good idea.

Seconds before making contact with the bottom, I take a slow, deep breath, stabilising myself, stopping me inches short of the sea bed. I hang momentarily, then begin my dive. Learning to control your buoyancy is the key to ‘underwater flying’, and you will find that once you have it mastered, you can perform impressive underwater gymnastics with next to no effort. You think it, you do it – your body unquestioningly following your brain and imagination’s orders. Honestly, there is no other feeling quite like it! (You can perfect your buoyancy with a Peak Performance Buoyancy Course!)

Now that you are here, it is time to look around. The whole universe has gone quiet – something else that I love. All you hear is the sound of your own breathing. In, out, in, out… Slow and steady, you are in total control. Every now and then you may hear the unmistakable sound of a parrotfish chomping on nearby coral, or maybe the annoying whine of a boat engine, but you relax, knowing it will soon pass and fade.

How many of you like to spend ages in the shower because it is your ‘thinking place’? Somewhere you can be alone with your thoughts and finally make those decisions that have been hanging over you for a while? Being underwater is kind of like that, but a hundred times better. Your troubles, worries, and problems all fade for that time you spend out in the blue.

No matter where you are diving, there are always a million sights to distract you.

“Whoa! Look at that giant crayfish, right there” *frantic hand signals*

“Seal! Seal behind you!” (What is the signal for seal, anyway?)

Sharks, turtles, pretty colourful fishes… The kelp and coral itself a delight for the eyes. The light playing through the water, floating rainbows, sparkling off the sand… Everything about our underwater world is mesmerizing.

I have been diving for almost fourteen years and yet even now, nothing can match the feeling I get before and during a dive. I still catch myself in complete wonder, halfway through a dive, as I realise I am breathing underwater (a look at my dive computer confirms that yes, I have been breathing underwater for a full 45 minutes now). So I will grin and perform a series of flips, just because I can.

Diving is so much more than a sport; it is a passion, it is true love, it is a life-style! Once you learn to dive, enter into that whole new world, and join the community made up by scuba divers, you will never want to turn back.

If you would like to learn to dive, or continue your diving education, get in touch so we can help you pursue your passion!

Dive HQ Christchurch 2013 Ltd

103 Durham Street South

Sydenham,

Christchurch,

New Zealand

Phone: 03 379-5804

Email: sales@diveskiworld.co.nz

www.diveskiworld.co.nz

When you see a seal clambering over rocks they look uncoordinated and out of place. However once under the water these seals become playful puppies with BIG beautiful eyes and graceful movements making it look so effortless.

Working as a Dive Instructor, has given me the opportunity to experience this first hand,

As I giant stride into the water the splashing sound catches the attention of the seals lazing around on the rocks. Just like humans curiosity of what you are doing draws the seals into the water to investigate. As I start to descend and exhale out, my bubbles slowly make their way towards the surface. It starts to attract the seals playful behaviour and the interaction begins.

Twisting and turning as they move through the water showing off their flexibility and speed. Some seals start chasing each other, darting left and right, up and down occasionally leaping out of the water and even making strange sounds as the play fight in front of you. The heart starts beating fast when a seal races towards you only to whiz off in the opposite direction. During the dive we keep our distance and allow the seals to approach if they feel comfortable, this way we can interact with the seals without putting stress on them

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Just two and half hours north of Christchurch you will come across a town called Kaikoura. It is home to large population of New Zealand and Australian fur seals which are there all year round. You will find them all over the coast line usually chilling out on the rocks or splashing around in the water, sometimes playing in the kelp.

Here at Dive HQ Christchurch, we offer dive trips out of Kaikoura where you may have the chance to encounter these majestic animals in the water. For more information on our dive trips check out our website or facebook page

Some of our learn to dive courses will also take you to Kaikoura to experience diving along this unique coast line.  Inquire with Dive HQ Christchurch about our beginner and advanced dive courses.

Zoe Fowler
Dive Instructor
Dive HQ Christchurch
www.diveskiworld.co.nz
0800 DIVEHQ