The Skipper… and a little history
Grant Whitford
I have always been an ocean loving seadog with interests in sailing, shipping, navigation, hydrography and oceanography. When I finished school I joined the navy to travel the world driving ships and surveying the seabed to make nautical charts. I learned to dive in 1993 and my fascination with wrecks and treasure hunting began. The navy was great but after 15 years and having become a Lieutenant Commander, I left to work as an underwater surveyor in the Namibian offshore diamond fields. That only lasted 2 years but circumstances then allowed me to start my own business.
I bought my first dive boat, Blue Flame, and started Enviro Divers Charters with Robert Erasmus. I also married Jo-Anne and our son, James was born the following year. I soon found that I needed a bigger boat and an affiliation to a dive shop. I joined Mike Nortje of Pisces Divers and started running Pisces Dive Charters with a new boat named Big Blue. I also qualified as a CMAS Dive Instructor. Pisces grew and prospered but in 2005, I decided to go solo. My boat was blue and my only staff member was Flash, our Golden Retriever, so it made perfect sense to name the business BlueFlash! I opened South Africa’s first drysuit repair workshop and spent time in the UK learning repair techniques and sourcing the required components. In 2008 I broke the bank and bought a brand new boat and named her Ruby Runner. To date (January 2012) we have taken 18 588 people diving, done 2 364 individual boat dives, run 523 other charters and fixed 1 685 drysuits.
The Illustrious Crew
Flash
First on the list is the incredible Flash hound – The skipper’s first mate. Flash is simply the best dog on the planet. He accompanies us on Ruby Runner if space allows, and serves as security guard and rescue swimmer.
Matthew Melidonis joined us in November 2011 as a drysuit tech. He is an experienced commercial diver, NSRI volunteer and loves wreck diving.
Next we have Colijn Hahndiek who used to be with us full time but is now studying engineering and working with us part time. Colijn is an experienced drysuit repair tech and a computing boffin.
Chris Mtati
Chris Mnthi runs the boerewors roll stand at Miller’s Point and strives to keep divers fed and happy. It’s his own independent business but we assist him with transport and storage and consider him part of our team.
Anton Borruso
Then there is Anton Borruso who has been with us part-time since the beginning. Anton is a commercial diver and now spends most of his time working offshore but he is a skilled drysuit repair technician so we get him in to do some real work whenever he is in Cape Town. Anton is the ultimate brass ferret and has a real knack for finding treasure on wreck dives.
Our Ethos and Objectives
As a committed eco-friendly operation we are pro-marine conservation and vehemently anti-poaching. We do our green bit by removing poachers crayfish traps, keeping launch sites clean, removing litter from the sea and running the FBUC re-cycling duty.
BlueFlash has survived and flourished amid many challenges and we are working hard to make it the preferred choice of Cape Town divers. We strive to keep our service safe, professional and fun. If we are not living up to that standard or you have suggestions on how we can improve then please let us know. We hope that you enjoy interacting with us.
 |
 |