It was a great trip as always even with the water temperature on the chilly side . Friday was a bit overcast but the sea state was fine and we had a trip out to the Farnes at Bush Rock , somewhere I had not visited before . The visibility was a bit poor but all around you you could see the life without the need of a torch . With only one boat and eight divers we were coming back in to change tanks for the afternoon dive . We were finding notes left by the parking master-at-arms trying to make us pay more for the privilege of staying on the harbour . A fault rectified by explaining the money put in was two pound coins and a two pound coin , it had not recognised the two pound coin as is but as a one pound coin ,even with no three pound parking fees. The next day came out bright and sunny so the Somali was sought and dived with relish . The vis. was just like before but did not curtail our enjoyment . Another trip out to the Farnes finished off the day nicely . Another note from the master-at-arms for Henry’s van again this time his dad had forgotten to put the parking ticket on the van but had it in his pocket .  The evenings were a joy spent on Heather’s lawn in the sunshine drinking a few beers and the like finishing up in the Pack Horse for a meal . The last day bloomed just as good as the day before and we went off to the Farnes to the Knivestone on some wreckage there . It was decided to finish after this dive and toddle off home  but not before another note was found from you know who saying we had not paid enough . I know it was paid because I paid it , the coins were getting stuck in the machine and I had to use a fifth pound to push the fourth one in .We didn’t bother going to tell them as we had had enough and just drove home . Great weekend !!!

Tony Slator - Club Treasurer

         12 divers set off from Belper at the start of the May Day Bank Holiday weekend with the promise of fair weather from the long range forecast, if only they knew!

 

         We arrived at the Loyal Watcher, Plymouth, to be greeted by skipper Darren, wife Linda, helper Annie and Sinbad the Dachshund. The Loyal Watcher is a very capable dive vessel, one of the best UK based liveaboards this group has ever dived from. She is licensed take a maximum of 12 divers up to 60 miles offshore and is equipped with Oxygen and Tri-mix for advanced diving. The boat is spacious and well equipped with every creature comfort, including BBQ deck, TV, DVD and 240V mains power everywhere. Linda does very well in the galley, catering for all tastes and plenty of it. Tea, coffee and snacks available all day plus Linda even has her own little bar!

 

         Not that we needed Linda’s bar on the first night before sailing. Large quantities of Cornish Doom Bar and Scrumpy Cider were consumed, then all washed down with a chaser or two of Southern Comfort!

 

         Sunday morning, the sun still shining, we steamed to Penzance Bay and a dive to 38m on the SS Hellopes, before turning SW in building seas and heading for The Isles of Scilly. It wasn’t long before the last nights’ cocktail delights mixed with heavy seas resulting in some “un-comfortable Southern Doom ............ bah!” 3 hours later, we’ve anchored in St. Mary’s Bay, fired up the BBQ and braving a rather chilly sunset, we began the daily task of re-charging the alcohol levels! We didn’t know it then, but that was the last we were to see of the sun over The Isles of Scilly as the clouds steadily built.

 

         The next 2 days we dived 4 of The Scilly’s wrecks, the first being a 40m dive on the Italia off St. Agnes, then 2 dives in one on the Hathor and Plympton and ending with the Cita ranging in depth from 20 - 40m. I think, for most of us, the wrecks off the Scillies were a little disappointing, not helped by the deteriorating weather conditions, the relatively poor visibility and the blooming Plankton! At times it was like diving into a pint of Nigel’s cloudy cider! Nevertheless, there’s always enthusiasm from Belper’s divers. With reports like more gold bars being found off the Manacles, you just never know!  For our next dive, Darren suggested the seal colony off Mini Wathan island. I’m not sure whether all that Kelp bashing in conditions akin to diving in a washing machine was really worth the 2 seal sitings me and my buddy had, ah well, you just never know!  4 divers sat out our last “Scilly” dive which was to be on the Cita again, before skipper Darren, after a group consultation, decided to steam for Falmouth. With a following sea and signs of the sun again, we made it to the Cornish coast and in time to dive Raglan’s Reef at the end of the day. The visibility here was a big improvement and this reef proved to be the highlight of our scenic dives. An abundance of life of all kinds, sadly no gold bars, but you just never know!

 

         That night, we put into Falmouth for a welcomed walk on Terra Firma and of course, a couple of beers!

 

         Thursday morning’s seas looked a lot more promising as we dropped our shot over the SS Orchis. Darren’s knack of putting his line right on top of the boilers proved to be consistent, and for such a little wreck lying in 44m, impressed us yet again. This dive was everyone’s favourite wreck. Our first pair in, had such water clarity they were able to see just about all of the wreck as they descended the shot. Darren has his own communication method when it comes to getting divers to talk to the surface. He uses a special device know to a few as Malus Domestica …………………. To the rest of us, it’s just an apple, sent up on its own buoyancy to tell the surface that all is well!

 

         I don’t know whether it was the apple, probably more likely to have been the Plankton, that attracted the first Basking Shark of the season, but he stayed with us throughout the morning, sweeping our diving area from side to side. What is it about Basking Sharks and cameras? They always seem to know how to keep their distance just out of photographic range!

 

         Thursday afternoon; and with strengthening seas again we headed for Plymouth to dive the Rosehill and at 32m this was an opportunity to break out the Nitrox. As many of us had brought upwards of 34%, most of the other sites had been too deep to use it. As we surfaced, the weather finally gave up on us, and it started to rain!

 

         That night we sheltered in Cawsands Bay and in the morning we stuck the bows out with the intension of heading towards the Maine. Once again, the weather was our nemesis and we’d not be out for more than 10 minutes, before the decision was taken to turn back. After 2 very forgettable dives in Cawsands Bay and the inner western tip of Plymouth Sound’s breakwater, that was it, diving over and almost time to go home.

 

         And so it was, 12 contented Belper Divers returned to Plymouth Yacht Haven, packed and ready for the 4 hour drive up the M5 and back to Belper.

 

         Thanks again to Darren, Linda and Annie for a great trip and a great boat. We hope to see you all again in the very near future, let’s hope for better weather next time.  You just never know!

 

         Thanks also to Sue for organising the trip and to Henry, John, Nigel and Martin for driving.

 

          Report by Martin Lucas, Belper diver.

 

Belper Sub Aqua Club Easter 2009 Expedition to Oban

 

This Easter Belper Sub Aqua Club enjoyed our diving holiday and expedition based near Oban on the North West Coast of Scotland. Oban, also known as the gateway to the Isles due to the large number of passenger ferries departing for the neighbouring Isle of Mull as well as the Inner and Outer Hebrides, is equally ideal for the use of the Club boats. Each of our two boats, rigid inflatables (RIB’s)  has a powerful engine capable of speeds of up to 40 knots which gave us access to world class dive sites either within the Sound of Mull or to islands to the south of Oban, ranging from fantastic ship wrecks to spectacular scenic dives.

 

Our actual base was Puffin Divers just south of Oban and this provided safe mooring for out boats, whilst the nearby Oban caravan park provided comfortable low cost accommodation for our ten strong expedition.

 

Club members travelled up on the Thursday before Good Friday in order to make the maximum use of the Easer Holiday, which meant that most members of the expedition were able to complete nine dives before returning home on Easter Monday afternoon.

The diving itself was carried out over an impressive range of sites, ranging from the gigantic wreck of the Rondo half way up the Sound of Mull, with its crystal clear water and plunging depths, to an exhilarating drift dive through the beautiful and serene Garvallach Islands to the south. The underwater visibility was generally very good for the whole weekend, whilst the weather top side, ranged from a little light drizzle on the Friday and Saturday to a glorious flat calm sunny day on the Sunday.

 

In all, we each spent over six hours underwater (or in Nigel’s case well over seven hours!) and the boats travelled over 70 nautical miles over the three and a half days. We encountered many varieties of fish, crab, lobsters, and Scallops, not to mention the fantastically colourful sponges, soft corals and anemones that seem to cover every surface, including the wrecks, in this part of Scotland. Overall a cracking trip, made all the better by excellent planning from our expedition organiser Sue, and one we’ll certainly want to repeat before too long.   

 

 

 

 

Trip Report By: Martin Rawson (Club Chairman)

Information regarding new hyperbaric chamber in Rugby

We would like to inform you of the opening of a new Hyperbaric unit in Rugby St Cross Hospital. The hospital offers all the normal range of services to divers: treatment of DCI, Dry dives and medicals (including HSE and fitness to dive.)

Information can be found on our web site.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like more information or come and see us.

Regards Ian Sibley-Calder

Dr Ian Sibley-Calder

Midlands Diving Chamber

Hospital of St. Cross

Barby Road

Rugby

CV22 5PX

Ext: 23442

01788 579 555   -  07770 632893

www.midlandsdivingchamber.co.uk

www.drsibley-caldermedicals.co.uk

Weather forecast good, 8 keen divers wanting to get wet on the traditional February weekend to Plymouth.
We were all set a keen but were left without the club boat due to faulty tires on the trailer. The tires had only few miles on them but on inspection were completely unsafe to use. These faults are currently being investigated by the suppliers and no doubt we'll have more news on this soon!

As part of the weekend was to be to introduce Lucy to her first open water dives after finishing pool training and not wanting to disappoint her Sue and I decided to take her shore diving. Fortunately the weather looked fine for this on the South coast and rather then spending loads of money going to Stoney with the masses decided to head off to Devon.

It was a good choice, we set off 07:00am Sat morning and was in Brixham before lunch. We managed two dives on Saturday from Breakwater Beach where Lucy completed a number of training drills and assessments with flying colours, she certainly made a good impression for saying it was her first dives in the sea with full kit including drysuit.

After a curry and a night in a B & B next morning we headed for a site that Sue and I had never dived before - Babbacombe Beach. After filling our cylinders we headed down to the rather limited parking by the the shingle beach.
We managed two more dives here, this is a site worth remembering as its completely sheltered from all but NE winds and it really is an interesteing site for shore diving.

We then headed back up the M5 homewards with no traffic jams at all!!!

So all in all a good weekend, it was warm and sunny, the sea temp was around 8c and calm and Lucy had good introduction to UK diving. With going Sat morning the overall cost per dive was probably no more then doing 2 dives in freezing Stoney and the experiance for our student was far better.

I am proposing an Easter dive trip to Oban for a long weekend Friday - Monday.
I've contacted the caravan park who still have limited vans left for the bank holiday weekend but we need to move fairly quickly and book it as he wouldn't reserve them for us.
This trip would be suitable for all levels (including any trainees) and the more the merrier.
Please let me know if you are interested as soon as possible.

One week after announcing this all places (12) were filled with one standby.

This is a weeks liveaboard sailing from Plymouth on Loyal Watcher to the Scillies between 2nd and 9th of May
See www.loyalwatcher.co.uk for more info.

This is now booked and deposit paid.
If anyone else wants adding to standby list please let me know.
Any other details just ask

Will try to keep blog site updated with whats going on with regards to Dive Planning

The 2008 diving season started with a trip to Plymouth  on the weekend of February 16th. It has become a bit of a tradition to get the first dive trip as near to Valentine's day as possible. 9 Divers committed to the trip hoping for a pleasant weekend based on the forecasted weather. Due to the  predicted temperatures no body was brave enough to camp, so we all stayed in the Elizabethan and Barbican Reach Guest Houses.

The new radar reflectors were fitted to the boats, they were huge, and this gave rise to Stuart the equipments officer getting numerous sarcastic comments.

Although a plan had been made for the diving, it was felt due to the current good conditions we should make the most of them and visit Hands Deep, the trip out was quite surprising, it was surprisingly warm. However on reaching the site of the pinnacles, it was clear that the wind had increased and the conditions would not allow a safe dive. We therefore headed towards shore to find a more sheltered spot. The journey back was totally different to the one out. It was decided that Whitsand Bay would be our destination. The trip back was so rough it captured 2 divers with sea sickness.

The Scylla was dived first, most decided to wander around the sea bed and various fish, lobsters etc were seen. Martin Sharman found a memorial plaque embedded in the seabed, after observing it, it reminded us of the potential dangers, we decided it would be better to place it in a prominent position on the deck near the helicopter hanger rather than disappearing into the sandy bottom, maybe it would make other divers think.

With 2 of the divers unwell, others that had got wet on the first dive, the Eagle headed back to the QAB while the Osprey and 4 divers dived on the James Eagan Layne. The visibility was good and various fish were seen. A glint in the torchlight led to a piece of lettering stuck out of the wreck. The trip back to the QAB was uneventful.

Sunday morning was colder as frost was apparent on the vehicles outside the guest house. The walk over to the marina also showed that the wind was stronger, a review took place, and it was decided that based on the conditions we would not launch and dive. The owner of Sound Diving confirmed we had made a good choice based on his experiences of the previous years. Although we didn’t dive on both days, overall it was a good weekend and start to the diving year.

Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th February are planned as the first Club Dive of the year, currently the suggested Location is Plymouth as we know the site and can dive at virtually any conditions somewhere! I would be greatful if those of you interested in going could let me know by adding comments to this article. I will issue a Dive Card nearer the date. cheers steve