It was Wednesday 21 March and I was in the Greyhound.

Weathers looking good for weekend, how about a snap trip to Plymouth I cried? And yes I got 5 other takers. So off we went Friday night B&B booked with an arrangement to meet in the Thistle Park Tavern for last orders.

We all got there OK and managed to park the boat amid the chaos that is Queen Anne’s Battery in the off season.

Saturday morning found us bathed in sunlight (see the picture) with not a cloud in sight and a gentle off shore breeze while we launched the boat. Fantastic we thought until Martin’s drysuit zip gave up the ghost while I was zipping him into it – oops. Fortunately the dive shop had one that fitted so well that Martin bought it at real bargain price at the end of the weekend (no more orange suited Martin).

Off we finally went to dive one of my favourite wrecks ‘The Persier’, the vis was reasonable and the water a balmy 9 degrees, we completed the day by diving the ‘Mew Stone’ on the way back and finished our tanks on a rummage dive in the ‘Barn Pool’.

Sunday morning and the weather was a bit overcast but never the less still good for diving. We managed to locate a new site we had often seen other divers using but never dived ourselves. We called the site ‘Coffin Rock Reef’ after the shape of one of rocks on the shore, but I later found out it’s real title was ‘Hilsea Point Rocks’. This was a series of pinnacles starting at 30 metres and coming to within 6m of the surface. The dive was so good we left our anchor down and after lunch dived the area again. This will be site I’m sure we will visit again.

Back to Queen Anne’s and the sun came out while getting the boat ready for the road and a relatively easy drive home (for the M5).

So to summarise Me, Sue, John, Martin S, Nigel and Steve managed to snatch an excellent weekend away and started the UK season off well. The boat worked without a problem which must be reflection of all the hard work put in by Stuart and the rest of the team.

By Andy McKay

Hi All
For those of you unlucky enough not to be on the Norway trip there is now an alternative.

Northern Ireland

I am looking at 3 days wreck diving local area and/or the wrecks of donegal from Portstewart (just along the coast from where we went last time). August 25th - 27th.
The diving will be with Aquaholics again using their new boat (see attached).
The overall cost (excluding fuel and sustenance) will be in the region of £325
This includes ferry (route to be decided), accommodation, diving and tank / weightbelts and assumes 4 people per vehicle.
Crossing will be ether overnight from Liverpool or fast ferry from Stranraer. Overnight includes cabin, evening meal and breakfast each way (therefore one nights accommodation less at location). More details about crossing when i know how many people are interested.

At the moment i am assuming 3 days diving, however as the main cost is getting there i would be interested in perhaps tagging another days diving on.

This is August Bank Holiday and were pretty lucky there some availability (this will not last long). I need your commitment and £50 deposit ASAP.
Any questions give me a ring, but please let me now know if your interested.

There is no maximum number (within reason), however due to the type and depth of diving I will need to restrict it to Sport Diver and above. Also it would be best if we could fill the vehicles (4 per car) to make it as economical as possible.

For more details see
www.aquaholics.org


Andy

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE BLOG SITE

Well done all you little bloggers out there!......

Because of the number of posts that are coming through, I am making a few changes to the posting rules. No posts have been deleted, just un-bubbled into specific categories. All new posts and comments will appear in the right hand column as before.

1. If your post is of time related importance make sure that you check the "bubble up to higher categories" tab on the posting screen. This will ensure it ends up on the home page.

2. Choose the category / subcategory that is most suitable for your posting.

3. You can use more than one category if necessary.

4. Once the post is past its "sell-by date" or two weeks old for general posts it will be unbubbled into its category and fall off the home page. You will still be able to access all posts by selecting the appropriate category.

5. Try to use the correct category - If you want a category or sub-category creating just ask.

6. If you want posting rights and you are a member of the club. Just drop me an email.

7. Finally...think about the sensitivity of the information......who is your audience?

Happy Blogging,

Paul Reeves, Webmaster and Blogmaster!

www.belperdivers.co.uk

 

The following East Midland SDCs are coming up in the near future.
If you want to attend any of them can i suggest you express an interest here and I will co-ordinate.