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

I am proposing a trip to the Red Sea in May or Sept 2008

On something nice like the Whirlwind covering the wrecks. As an idea there is a trip departing May 24th 2008 cost per person £940. I have been told that if we can get between 12 and 24 people then we can have our own boat / itinerary etc.

Interested parties please let me know. I will be bringing around a blue sheet soon.

Cheers

Richard

I'm planning a trip for early October 2007 on board a luxury liveaboard diving the Deep South of the Red ...   more »

Boat List for Weekend of 23 – 24^th June 2007

Eagle

John Moss                    Advance Instructor / Senior Boat Handler

Steve Price                   Dive Leader / Boat Handler (cox’n)

Anne Alldread               Sport Diver

Annie Frankum             Sport Diver / Assistant Instructor

Jonathon Jenkins         Trainee Ocean Diver

Osprey

Andy McKay                 Advance Instructor / Instructor Trainer / Senior Boat Handler

Nigel Buckley                Sport Diver/ Boat Handler (cox’n)

Martin Sharman            Advanced Diver / Boat Handler

Stuart Mason                Ocean Diver / Trainee Sport Diver

Sue Bowler                   Dive Leader / Assistant Instructor

Tony Slator                    Dive Leader

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