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.

Hello all you fellow divers out there, just a quick post with a few pictures of our weekend trip to the Farnes. Everything went as well as any budding dive marshall and trainee dive leader could wish for, it was a club trip organised around the new trainee's - Chris, Colin, Russ and Stan - 3 of whom were doing their first ever open water dive so conditions had to be just right for them, and suitable sheltered locations had to be found to test their buoyancy and equipment before finding the first actual dive site.

The weather was unusually kind to us, especially so late in the season with frost on the ground the week before we went up. The sun came out, the sky was clear and largely blue, the sea was flat calm (apart from a slight swell at Beadnell point which forced us to go round the corner for our kit test and change the plan for the day) and visibility good.

It was excellent for the trainee's, Chris is now due to be signed off as an ocean diver - well done to Chris and all those that helped train and support him up to now - and we achieved all the training we had set out to do over the weekend. Well done to the other trainee's for their first wetting of suits and lifting of heavy objects, winding of ratchets, raising of flags and all the other innumerable tasks involved with a club dive trip, I hope to see you on many more trips in the future.

We had unexpected luck for those of us not training or being trained, with the appearance of some playful and inquisitive seals investigating us as we dived off the outer Farnes, they seemed particularly taken with my (much maligned) bright yellow force fins, and led to some excellent photographs which I have hopefully attached to this post. Visibility was great for photography, again unusual, so I was doubly happy that the seals decided to appear and play with us this weekend!

I had a great weekend, thanks to all present, the only slight down side was our drubbing by South Africa in the world cup rugby final, but I enjoyed the game and had a good evening so cant say it was much of a downer. Very likely with the lack of numbers for Largs next weekend, this will be the last club trip of the 2007 season, if it is it's been a great year for Belper club with some fantastic and memorable underwater experiences, looking forward to lots more in 2008. Cheers, Henry.   

As not everyone could go on the trip to Norway and because we had a great time last time we went to Northern Island I decided to plan another trip to the North Antrim Coast.  Once again our host was Richard Lafferty from Aquaholics based in Portstewart. We were lucky that there was still space over the August Bank Holiday and as the ferry was the most expensive part of the trip we decided to go for four days.

Eight of us in two cars set off to Birkenhead for the overnight ferry, a pretty good way of getting to Ireland as it allowed us to relax and have a glass or two of the black stuff (Guinness) to get our taste buds accustomed. Friday morning at 06:30 saw us driving North to meet the boat at Portstewart for our first days diving at Malin Head. The wind was strong making the sea quite choppy but Richard’s new bigger boat coped with it well. On this first day we dived the Skerries and the wreck of the William Manell, this wreck struck me as being very similar to the Tarbaka in the Orkneys with clear vis and a great swim through.

     Anenomes on the Skerries                             The William Manell

Back on shore and we made our way to the accommodation at Ballycastle, the house in Ballycastle, a nearly new three story affair with garage to store the wet kit was great, it included all mod cons including a dishwasher and although a tight squeeze for eight of us was ideally placed near the center of town.

The first night saw us going out to sample some of the local bars and ending up in a very pleasant bistro for dinner.

Unfortunately the wind increased overnight and changed to the North West and although we had wall to wall sunshine it meant an early end to more dives at Malin Head. Fortunately this meant a number of sites we had not dived on last trip were sheltered by the bulk of Rathlin Island. This was to be out dive location for the following three days.

On Saturday we dived The Loughgary in less then slack water!! and The Templemore both excellent dives in great vis. In true tradition we decided that Saturday night was going to be curry night. We had all brought a mixture of spicy dishes to share so the table was loaded, unfortunately Stan won the prize of finding the only whole dried chilli in my special Bombay Potato and also unfortunately didn’t actually find it until he had bit into it. The more stalwart members of the party then went out to visit a few more bars.

 
  Big Conger on the Templemore             The Loughgary

Sunday was another day of wall to wall sunshine still blowing though so off we went towards Rathlin again. The sites today were The Drake and once again The Loughgary, this time the water was slack and vis so good you could see from one side of the wreck to the other. The weather was so good that the non divers took it on themselves to sort out a BBQ. So the night consisted of fine wine, Martins homemade kebabs plus local sausages of various flavours. As it was our last night we all the walked into Ballycastle for a few beers.

        Chefs at Work!                                King Prawns Anyone?

Monday and the last full day, again we did two fantastic dives. The first was a reef at Black Head on Rathlin Island which ended with a basking shark swimming round and round mine and Sue’s DSMB line while we were doing a stop at 6m. The last dive was on the Drake, the vis was the best I have ever had on this wreck, it was like swimming in an aquarium. When we finally tied up  in Ballycastle harbour we found the town in turmoil, it was ‘The Ould Lammas Fair’ a two day event that closed off all the roads in the town center and filled them with stalls selling bric a brack, horse traders, some bizarre confectionery called dulse and yellowman (don’t ask) and what seemed like tens of thousands of happy Irish souls. We managed to fight our way (not literally) back to the house to pack up our kit. We even managed a last pint of Guinness in an ancient quaint bar in town before setting off to Belfast and the overnight ferry back to Birkenhead.

        Good vis on The Drake               Sue's Nudibranch

The team were Andy, Sue, Martin, Sally, Annie, Stan, Clive and Tony.

Written by Andy McKay August 2007

After several weeks of lectures and pool training it was time for our two Duke of Edinburgh members (Sarah and Amanda) to  do their first dives. Best laid plans and all that. What was supposed to be a weekend away at the coast was to be cancelled at the last minute due to our atrocious summer weather and my ear infection!

Well this is what flexible dive planning is all about so with me managing the day from the shore and both Sue and Annie stepping into the breach as instructors, off we went to Stoney Cove on Sat 14 July. There were even a couple of keen hangers on (Martin B and Richard).

Well there are some of you out there who probably think ‘What, Stoney for your first dive!!!!’. Well the sun was shining, the water was a balmy 15 deg C (good job as the girls were in borrowed wetsuits) and they thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

 
                Look I got in the wetsuit!                               Dive Briefing

All drills for Ocean Diver 1 and 2 skills were taught and completed, many tame fish were seen along with not so tame divers getting in the way. You know the score, one dive leader and four or five students floundering all over the place trying to follow.

                More briefings                                    Back up safe and sound

So all in all a successful day for both students and instructors.

By Andy McKay 17/07/07

The trip in June was originally planned for Teignmouth in Devon, however at the previous week’s social discussion it was felt that the plankton bloom may be too severe down south, also the Spring Bank trip to Seahouses had not been ideal due to the strong winds so Seahouses was the preferred choice.

Both boats and 11 divers headed up on the Friday night with an expectation of extremely poor weather, there was even discussion by mobile phone on the way up about the possibility of cancelling the weekend, however luckily the decision was made to continue.

Jonathan a trainee Ocean Diver experienced his first open water experience at Beadnell Reef, gaining experience in shallow waters of a drysuit and buoyancy control. The dive was limited to 45 minutes to enable the remaining experienced divers to visit the much loved wreck of the Somali at the appropriate slack tide. The visibility and weather were pleasant considering the predictions, and most people commented that a lot of items were available for viewing e.g. bottles, on discussion with Sovereign divers it is rumoured that explosives have been used to further open up the wreck. The second dive of the day was completed on the backside of the islands to allow for a second dive for Jonathon.

The sea was unbelievably calm, however the predictions for Sunday were strong winds, therefore we made the most of the diving on Saturday, just in case we were blown out on Sunday. John even came along fully prepared for the inclement weather. Most of the divers decided to stay at the Vicarage at Ellingham, which although is a 15 minute drive out of Seahouses each day, the advantage of all being together in a quite location which allows the boat and equipment to be prepared prior to arriving at the Harbour.

Sundays arrival at the harbour was shocking to us all, not only was the sun out but the sea was flat calm, totally unexpected and against the predictions, the boats were quickly launched and we headed out to the Pinnacles to allow the trainees some more skill diving, and the more experienced to dive on the wreck of the Andrea. All had good dives which were followed up by a second dive of the weekend on the Somali, this pleased most of the members after the disastrous weather at Spring Bank, did not allow a dive on it.

Report by :  Steve Price

It was back in autumn 2006 when Martin Lucas came into the pub with a grin on his face and announced that 8 of us had won a free holiday including diving to Taba Heights in the Gulf of Aqaba. It wasn’t  until we saw the tickets that we really believed him, all I can say is thanks Longwood Travel and the Dive Show at the NEC, we were the lucky winners of the pre-purchased ticket prize draw.

So many months later and the eight of us plus two ended up at Manchester Airport on our way to the five star Intercontinental Hotel in Taba Heights. We arrived late at night and what a place, even though we had missed dinner the staff rustled us up some supper and showed us to our great rooms with pool and sea views.

Early start the following day and after breakfast we were picked up by the staff of ‘Red Sea Waterworld’ who were to be our diving hosts for the week. After the necessary formalities of checking in we met our guide for the Kev, a proper Essex lad who quickly sussed us out and after the first dive declared that this week would be just like a holiday for him.

Warm clear water                                                      Chilling on the Reef

The diving was based on day boats and we were lucky enough that because we were more experienced then some of the other punters we had a boat virtually to ourselves. Most days we went out we decided to stop out all day with lunch on the boat and pay for an extra dive (above the two already included). This had three advantages, first there wasn’t an awful lot else to do in the resort, second it was cooler then the 42 deg +  temp on land, but mainly it got us back to Waterworld’s bar just in time for the start of happy hour and some cold Egyptian beer.

This boat all to ourselves                                          So this is a Frog Fish!

We dived every day except one and although the diving was OK was nowhere near the standard of other parts of the Red Sea, but it was free so you can’t moan that much. I would say it was good for macro life and everyone found frog fish, moray’s and octopus. However the area could do with more sites and some wrecks!

Kev was a great dive guide / host obviously recognising the fantastic skills and experience of the Belper team, especially in drinking beer in the bar at the end of day!

Congratulation to Stan who as a paying member of the holiday decided to do a PADI introduction to diving course whilst there and enjoyed it so much is now going to learn with the dark side.

The day off from diving was spent on a trip over the gulf to Jordan and onwards to the ancient city of Petra. This trip was well worth doing, it’s a shame we didn’t have time to visit other sites in Jordan such as the Dead Sea. It was a long day made even longer by catching the tail end of a distant storm making the ferry trip back quite rough. This palled into insignificance against the strange goings on with the Egyptian passport control officers when the whole of Taba and the ferry port was plunged into darkness by a power cut caused by the same storm. Waiting in the pitch black on the quayside being buffeted by a searing sandy wind whilst trying to convince the authorities that we weren’t importing guns and explosives is something that will stick in my mind as to why we love Egypt.

 Role on next time.

 The team was:
Andy, Sue, John, Anne, Clive, Martin L, Annie, Tony plus Stan and Denise

Undeterred by the less than favourable bank holiday weekend weather forecast, seventeen of us set off on the clubs 4th UK dive trip of 2007.

Clearly the drive to the Farne Islands on Friday night did not dampen spirits as we all duly arrived at the harbour Sat 8am prompt. Some a little worse for wear it has to be said but then Friday had been a long day.

Infact it had been a long week!!

Saturday morning dawned sunny and calm. The slip at Seahouses was a tad hectic as Beadnall launch site had been closed due to underuse. Despite being 4th in the queue to launch the ribs we were quickly in and heading out to the outer Farnes. Flocks of Turns, Guillimots, Puffins and Cormorants escorted us out to the Longstone in style where we were received by the ever inquisitive and playful seals peeping above the surface of the water awaiting our arrival.

The first dive of the weekend on the Longstone was a first in other ways too. For one of our members it was his first sea dive and for another the first time taking in a trainee diver, so well done to both of them. The second dive of the day - Whirl Rocks - certainly lived up to its name.

Notorious for its rapid increase in current within half an hour after slack water, it made for an exciting dive!! The somewhat calmer location of the Yew Glen brought our first day to a close.

Rain and dark clouds on Sunday morning gave way to brighter breezier weather. Numbers were down a little for Big Harcar and the return to harbour in a force four further reduced numbers for the second dive out to a sheltered location on the Inner Farnes. Unfortunately over night the wind continued to build so with that the slip was closed on Monday and we headed back home.

Altogether a brilliant weekend. Visibility on Saturday was between 6 and 9m and the water temperature a balmy 9 degrees so a most marvellous time was had by all.

Report by Annie Frankum

A few photos from Dale trip Mayday 2007.

 To view, click here, this takes you to the Kodak photo share gallery.

Regards

John Moss

It was decided it had been too long since our club had last visited Dale, in fact looking at the club records 6 years had gone by. It is a surprisingly long haul from Derbyshire, so a long weekend was preferred.

There had always been one or two drawbacks diving at Dale, firstly the nearest garage to get unleaded fuel for our thirsty engines on the two RIBs was 15 miles away, and the air filling station was 6 miles away. A contact was made with a local dive operator who offered to collect and return, not only our air tanks but the jerry cans for boat fuel. An ideal solution or so we thought!

Dale Hill Farm offered a good base for those wishing to pitch a tent or van at an extremely reasonable £5 per unit. All was in place for a perfect weekend, we only needed some good weather!

The 13 divers met in the Griffin pub on the Friday night to discuss the following days diving and of course down 1 or 2. The forecast was looking good and the 'Smalls' was on the wish list of many. Approx 12 miles out and known to be pretty exposed we hoped for a flat sea! Early closing on Friday night curtailed our jubilant mood.

Saturday brought favourable conditions although the wind was forecast to build up during the day. Everyone took on their pre discussed roles and we were soon heading towards the Smalls, which above water is a small group of rocks with the lighthouse standing proud above. The dive was very pretty and gave one or two encounters with some friendly seals, but as is common at this time of year the plankton bloom made for murky water. As the wind was picking up we decided to head head nearer to the mainland stopping at Grassholme for what turned out to be some unexpected drift diving. Each boat has seperate classic incident pit scenarios which were sobering and indeed learning curves for all concerned.

The forecasted wind gradually built up during the weekend and the following day gave us a spectacular journey to the wreck of the 'Lucy', both boats and boat handlers coping brilliantly with the adverse but exhilarating seas. The Lucy was unexpectedly clear and all divers surfaced with wide grins.

Unfortunately our air and fuel contact was unable to help out but club volunteers soon had the required air and jerry tanks filled each day for the group. A diving weekend is so much about working together, meeting new challenges and also disappointments, exploring new sites and visiting old favourites to downing the the last pint. So perhaps not the best diving we've experienced but certainly some more good tales to tell.

Report by Anne Alldread

4 members attended a re-compression chamber and standard diving dress experience near York at the beginning of March.

Expectations were not high but it proved to be a very informative and enjoyable day.

The re-compression chamber "dive" to 50M brought home to everyone the effects of narcosis.

The standard diving dress was quite something. The staff maintained the total weight of the equipment was 75kg. It certainly seemed like it.

A few photos can be viewed HERE.

Photos of individuals in the suit are bit irrelevent as it is impossible to tell who it is.