PADI TWINSET SPECIALITY COURSE NOW AVAILABLE

Those of you who have always fancied diving with twin sets but never really wanted to go down the whole teckie route now have a great alternative here at Triton. We are now offering a PADI Twinset Diver distinctive speciality course. The course includes a pool orientation session and two open water dives using twin sets. For more details and to book onto one of the courses call the dive centre.

Belize starting to fill up

The Belize trip is filling up quite quickly. If you want to go, please let me know as soon as possible. We have sourced flights that do not require an overnight stop in the US so we leave on 3 September and arrive the same day. Once deposits are in the final payment is not required until mid August.

New Recommendations for Cylinder Valve Testing

IDEST have recently published some recommendations regarding the periodic servicing of cylinder valves. We have placed the details in the servicing news section of the website. Click here for more details.

Holiday Information 2007

Information for 3 of the packages we have planned for 2007 have been posted into the holidays section of the website. This includes details for Spain (13-16 April) and Belize (3 - 15 September). Click here to go to the holiday section.

Newsletters in the Members Area

Newsletters for December and January are in the members area. Not quite sure why we forgot about the December one - sorry about that.

Rumours of Course Director Going Over to the Dark Side

There have been some rumors of a course director under taking BSAC training in Horsea lake. This is catagorically denied. Said course director was off duty at the time.

Move Over Brad.........

Here comes Murrell.....

Some of you may have seen a BBC programme about Buster Crabb on the beeb the other night. You know the guy, good looking dashing hero type, tries to sort out the baddies, disappears into the murky depths never to be seen again. Loads of conspiracy theories and blatant lies from both sides. Some of the filming was actually done in the Solent and not from a british navy vessel but from our old mate Pete Street’s boat Trojan. But who was the equally dashing divemaster dressed in black and acting his heart out in the corner. None other than our own Chris Murrell. It was not quite up to RADA standards darling and he's not yet asked whether he should get an agent, and I note he's not been nominated for an oscar. But hey, it's early days. So when you next watch it on the inevitable series of repeats – watch for that fleeting moment of fame.

For those of you who might get him confused with Brad, here are some photos for comparison, uncanny huh?

Spring Ball Nearly Full

The Spring Ball is on 24 March and at the moment we have had 112 provisional bookings, so we suspect it is going to be over subscribed. There is a choice menu and we need payment as soon as possible so we can send you the options sheet. If you want to go and have not let us know yet, get in quick.

Another Cracking Club Night

In spite of howling gales outside, the January club night was extremely well attended with 86 people turning up. The food was superb and the raffle of unwanted Christmas Presents (which included 1/2 bottle of rum and an age discrimination handbook) raised £186 for charity. Not bad for a normal club night! Thanks to everyone for donating money and prizes. I will remind you again nearer the time, but please note that the next club night is on 1 February.

Another one goes to "The Dark Side"

Many congratulations to Felipe Meza, our club member from Chile, who recently passed his CCR course on the Evolution. Felipe, on a tour with the Chilean Navy and here for a couple of years, had previously qualified on the Mk16 but decided to move on to the Evolution for pleasure diving.

Last Dive of 2006

14 dive club members braved the wind and rain for a last plunge of the year in Vobster on 29 December. With hardly anyone there, viz was superb with about 15m even in the more usually silty areas of the lake. As we could actually see things, I have produced a short 5 minute video of all the attractions for those of you who have not quite managed to see them in the gloom. The next club dive will be on 4 January to vobster again. Contact Chris in the dive centre if you want to come along.

Santa goes to Rainbow Centre

Once again we sponsored the Rainbow Centre Christmas party with a donation of £600, which (coupled with a further £500 which was raised from the London marathon I ran - money still coming in somehow!) all meant that a great party was had by all. Donk and Tina kindly helped out by standing in for Santa and Elf (they were away on business - busy time of year apparantly) and Katie who looked absolutely wonderful in fairy outfit wings and wand! There are a few photos in the Gallery.

Christmas Ball Photos in the Gallery

For those of you who can't remember the Christmas Ball, I have posted some photos on the website in the Gallery section. It was another cracking night and a sell out with 131 members and guests turning up for a evening of frivolity. Click here to go to the Gallery

Christmas Ball - the morning after......

Well the Ball was another outstanding success. There was drinking and dancing a plenty for 130 people and we also raised over £1400 for the Rowan's Hospice. With all the Triton staff staying at the Royal Beach that night (to help assist club members of course, had absolutely nothing to do with excessive drinking till 4am), for the first time in years the shop wasnt open by 08:30......when we all crawled into work at 10:30 we were met by a queue of customers standing outside in the cold.....oops!.......sorry guys!.....

Anyway hair of the dog and all that, once it had turned midday we thought it only proper to banish the hangovers with a bottle of bubbly. Photos from the night will be in the gallery soon, until then here's a photo of Bill, Jean and David looking slightly worse for wear!

She's back!!

....and looking very suspicious!

This latest image was captured aboard a boat in the Red Sea. The constrictions of land based travel have been over come. It seems that no where is safe.......

Mark Rogers

It is with deep sadness and regret that we have to tell you that Mark Rogers recently went missing on a dive to the Blue Hole and died as a result of the incident. Mark was a dive guide and instructor at Poseidon Divers in Dahab and was well known to many members of the club who have visited the centre over the past couple of years. He was extremely popular with everyone he met because of his friendliness, energy, enthusiasm and huge sense of fun. Our thoughts, and those of everyone in the club, are with his family and friends at this time. We will miss you Mark.

Now even Daleks want to learn to dive ....

"There is a Dakek at the front door" was the call. And true to form there was. Club member Rob Thrush popped into the dive centre ... with a Dalek on the back seat of his car. .... complete with flashing lights and voice effect machine. Well it is not often you get a visit from outer space so we thought we would invite it in for a photo. The Dalek can be seen this evening at Gunwharf raising money for Children in Need.

First Aid at Work Course

Many congratulations to all 9 candidates who recently passed their First Aid at Work course with us. The course runs over a 4 day period and is recognized by the HSE. Anyone interested in this training should contact the centre.

Water Watch Week Makes the PADI Undersea Journal

Some of you may remember that back in June we encouraged local schools to take part in Water Watch Week. We also produced a website in support of the programme (www.waterwatchweek.org). Well our efforts and those of the children involved have not gone unnoticed and this quarter we have got a mention in the PADI Undersea Journal. The magazine goes out to all PADI professionals around the World and is this is the second time we have been featured.

New Baby!

Congratulations to Sharon and Tony. Keira Marie Oliver was born on 4th November to the sound of fireworks at 19:21 weighing 7 lb and 12 oz. Mother and baby are doing well and have left hospital and are settling in back home.

Halloween Party Photos in the Gallery

It was another epic party with some great costumes, excellent food, atrocious dance moves (except from Kevan of course!) and sore heads the following morning! Photos from the night have been published in the gallery.

Well Done to All the Runners ...

Well done to all the dive club members who ran the Great South Run this morning. 2 members had to drop out at late notice but it was a still a good showing. Conditions for the race were pretty appalling with strong Southerly winds and lashing rain - the last mile was a real treat! So if you have sponsored myself, Catriona, Kim, Chris, Andrea or Wyndham now is the time to get in touch and let them have your pledges so that we can get all the money to the Lifeboats. We will let you know how much we raised in due course. Thanks as well to all those club members who stood in the rain to cheer the runners on - it was much appreciated.

New First Aid Instructors

Many congratulations to Tina, Jenny, Alex, Ian, and Paul, who passed their EFR Instructors course on 18 October.

Gozo refreshes parts other holidays cannot reach

Touch me ..... I' is chilled right down to the core. And Gozo is just the place to do it. Hard working Neal relaxed so much that his hair saw some remarkable growth in just a short period of 7 days. We even have the photographic evidence to prove it as you can see in the before and after shots above. Whilst Neal is quite proud of his new flowing locks he intends to have a cut straight away as the dog didn't recognize him when he got home!

Gozo Report Published

I have published a eport from the Gozo trip onto the website (click here for link) for all of those who want to know what they missed. Photos just being resized for the Gallery.

The BIG October Sale - 14/15 October

Once again we are having a big sale during dive show weekend on 14/15 October. So why bother spending time and money going to Birmingham, paying £6 to park, paying to get in, paying a fortune for a coffee and a sandwich and then realizing that the deal was not such a good one in the first place. Instead, just pop along to the Dive Centre on either day and pick up a bargain. At least 20% discount across the board and over 50% on some items. The sale only lasts over the weekend so make sure you get in early. As usual they are a bit of a a social event and food and drink will inevitably be available. We look forward to seeing you.

......and they're off

......on the right day this time

18 club members left for Gozo this morning. All a bit deja vu for Ben and Emma. Internet cafe willing, we'll post some details of what we're getting up to from Gozo.

Gozo Trip Gets off to an "Early" Start

The conversation went a bit like this ...... "morning Ben and Emma. What are you doing at the centre today? Morning David, going to Gozo. Not until tomorrow you're not. Oops!" Promised I would get it on the blog before you got back to Gosport! See you both tommorow morning.

A Clean Sweep at the PADI Instructors Exam

All the hard work during the IDC finally paid off at the weekend for our 4 candidates at the IE all of whom passed with flying colours. There was plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth though ..... having successfully managed not to get the hover (not his fave!) Paul was mortified to find it appeared as one of the 5 skills required in the skills assessment. And who decided to put that question about Spencer wash outs into the presentations! Doh! However, so well prepared were the candidates that they even managed a classy night out in Staines on Saturday evening! Well done to all 4 new instructors. We look forward to seeing some of you working in the dive centre soon.

Beach Clean - 17 September

Many thanks to everyone who turned up on Sunday for the anual Beach Clean. There were about 25 club members and members of the public who turned up on the day and there was plenty of rubbish to collect. The results of the clean up have been passed on to MCS and Project AWARE. Thanks to Katie for her hard work in coordinating the event.

Sheep Running Scared in Hereford

Our West country reporter informs us that sheep are running scared in the wake of the latest human population increase to the area. Our cameraman snapped this intelligent looking chappie who is apparently taking over a farmersootikal research team in Hereford! eek time to stay off the drugs then!

Stop Press another Ian Brown Story

After Ian's nasty swimwear scandal, it has now turned out that he also fanices himself as a bit of a model. Now we know you are moving on to a new job Ian but I must admit maybe modelling isn't the way forward.....

Successful IDC Candidates (Written in PADI Instructor Speak)

Congratulations to Alex, Neil, Paul and Ian on the successful completion of their Instructor Development course yesterday. Good job guys (in an irritating american accent with high fives all round). The last 9 days have been quite a test of stamina but we particularly liked the way they maintained a good sense of humour throughout. There were a few problems; one of the candidates had a heavy night mid way through the programme, and there were several shocking attempts at trying to blag some non-diving training aids into the presentations. They all now know how to teach in accordance with the PADI system and they will be using this in the near future on the completion of the Instructors Exam next weekend.

Fire Station Open Day

Fun was had by all at the Fire Station Open Day..... and more importantly money was raised for the Fire Services Charities. We thought it might have been a quiet day but how wrong we were. We were taken by surprise by about 40 kids and adults who all enjoyed a splash in the pool and a taste of what scuba diving is all about. Thanks to everyone that came along and a special thanks to the club members that helped out.

Full House at the Club Meeting

It was a full house at the September monthly club meeting. Not sure whether it was the promise of cow and ale pie (which went down very well), the scubapro presentation or just the prospect of another great night of socializing, but well over 80 turned up. The raffle raised £110 for charity and once again thanks to everyone who donated prizes and bought tickets. Many thanks as well to Matt Armstrong from Scubapro for his presentation and bringing along the latest computers and torches from the range. It added that little bit extra to what was a brilliant evening and was much appreciated.

Beach Clean Up Blog

We have a blog set up for the beach clean up to keep everyone up to date with the project. You can view it here. All the information you need is there, so point friends, family, next door neighbours in the right direction if they would like to help out.

Fire Station Open Day

We are putting up our try dive pool at the Southsea Fire Station (Sommers town) open day on 9th September. Try dives and photo certificates will be run and all proceeds will be going to the fire service charities. Please come along and support the event! (Club Members: if you want to come along and help out we'd love to see you)

Another good month on the website

August did not break the record number of unique visitors that we had in July (infact it was about 150 short at 1250), however, it was good to see that some familiar visitors had returned. One visitor in particular who only managed about 25 pages in July surpassed themselves by looking at a staggering 120 pages in total over the month. Now that's dedication. Keep clicking guys!

Ian in Nasty Swimwear Scandal........

After weeks of interrogation Ian has today confessed to having a tight red Speedo fetish. We've discovered that once wet they are completely see through. The offending article has been confiscated and will be destroyed in due course........That's after we've all had a good laugh at them.

Mange tout Rodders, fabrique en Belgique ...

Nous avons retourne from Francais, mais oui, mais oui. Nous avons eu de bonne vacances plongee sur la WWII wrecks. A report from le visite sur la bateau de pique Whitehorse est published dans la trip report section dans la website. And mon dieu, the franglais was appalling! Zinadan Zidan and Zout allors! Click ici for plus d'information!

We've Taken Over Horsea.........

On Tuesday 29th August we have Horsea Island all to ourselves from 10am until 3pm. Kit hire is available for anyone who needs it. If anyone would like to come down and make use of this then please contact the Dive Center.
The price of this will be £10 for club members and £12 for non club members. It would be nice to see some familiar faces and also some new ones.

Our busiest weekend yet!

This weekend was our busiest one yet - with four courses running, a total of 30 students headed out on Open Water, advanced Open Water and Rescue courses. A great time was had by all even though the weather was a little unpredictable. We look forward to seeing the students return for more training in the near future.

Dahab 19th - 26th November

Places on this trip are now limited so anyone who would like to go needs to get in contact with us quickly. A £200 deposit will secure you a place on this trip. Either email or call the dive center if you're interested.

Yet Another Busy Weekend at the Dive Center

It was another very busy weekend for everyone at the dive center. We had three courses running - Open Water, EFR, DAN O2 & Advanced O2 and a SMB workshop. Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was lovely to see club members taking full advantage of the SMB workshop.

Beach Clean 2006

This year we are doing another beach clean on the 17th September. So it is now my job to recruit volunteers. If anyone would like to be part of this then please either email or call the dive centre and let me know. At the moment the details are being finalised so there will be more information coming soon........

Another Successful Southsea Show

The weather was good and the crowds flocked in to have a go at scuba diving in our try dive pool at the Southsea show. Lots of kids and adults took the plunge, most for the first time, in what was our busiest year so far. We "teamed up" with the NAS who had a great display alongside us under the marquee which generated loads of interest in marine archaeology. The after show party on the Sunday was also good fun. A few choice snap shots from the show can be found in the website gallery .... look out for the Mr Bean socks! Many many thanks to all the club members who helped out over the weekend. We could not have managed it without you and really appreciate it. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves as well.

Summer Ball 2006

A full house at the summer ball this last weekend with 130 club members and guests having a great evening at the Queens hotel. The raffle raised a fantastic £1000 for our charities, helped along by an inpromptu auction of the top prize, which was a BCD. Other prizes included regulator sets, 5 day diving packages and a case of champagne. Our thanks to everyone who helped raise so much whether they donated prizes or bought tickets.
I have published some of the photos taken of the evening onto the gallery. There are some excellent ones taken by Katie and feel free to print them off for your own personal use.

First Day at the Southsea Show

With twice as many try dives completed as last year, the Friday of the show got off to a great start. And with boats going out, open water courses running and the summer ball it's going to be a hectic weekend.

Southsea Fire Station Help Out at Southsea Show

With the leaks plugged and the heater and pumps all fitted it was time to fill the pool. A normal hose pipe will take roughly 24 hours, however, once again we "teamed up" with the local Fire Service. Some of the lads from Southsea Station in Sommers Road helped out with a hose stretching across the common to a hydrant at the Queens Hotel and the job was done in about 30 minutes. Many thanks for all your help guys and we hope to see some of you and your familes at the show over the weekend for a try dive.

Southsea Show Build-up

Once again we are going to be at the Southsea Show with our try dive pool and the buildup phase is well underway. Yesterday the marquee and the pool were put up. We noticed a couple of holes in the pool (as you can see in the picture) but with the liberal use of a bit of sealant and some tape we should have sorted it out. Not that a small leak will make much difference to 27,000 litres of water.

More website visitors than ever ...

We thought that June was good, but July has broken all records this year with over 1400 unique visitors to the site and an incredible 10,000 hits. And this was in spite of a very poor showing from one of our regular visitors who dropped from an average of 80 visits a month (nearly in the top 10) to a rather disappointing 10. Must have been something we said last month! We continue to add more and more information to the site and try to keep it up to date, so it is great to see that it is appreciated with so many visits.

"Tony, You're Scaring the Girls"

As you can see from the evidence below - Tony's phone is full of nasty little surprises.



Also here are some other random snaps of the night.

Random social on the beach

'The Tour' continued on Southsea beach last night, with a little bimble around the submarine blocks, a BBQ and lashings and lashings of wine. With the added bonus of a spectacular thunder storm over the Channel the evening proved to be a great sucess, with some of the more hard core members going on to party well into the early hours.

New FUJI Camera Now In Stock

As the only Fuji Dive Centre in the area, we are first to get in the latest cameras. Now in stock, we have the new award winning F30, which compliments the already popular F11 range. The F30 is smaller and more powerful, with amazing natural light setting and underwater mode features that enable you to take pictures even when it is almost dark, without a flash. The battery is good for over 500 pictures and the camera even has an internal memory as well as an XD memory card. As a Fuji Centre, we are offering this package at £429.99 including the camera, housing, carry case and XD memory card. For a demo, why not pop into the dive centre.

A bit of bondage at the Royal Beach

There have been more strange goings on at the Royal Beach Hotel - Davina Jones was caught getting all tied up with Bruno in one of the hotel meeting rooms.
Management and the Police are investigating.......
We need to know more.

New EFR Instructors

Many congratulations to Jo Scrimshaw who came all the way from Dorking, and John Marchant on completing their EFR instructors course on 18 July. Hopefully both Jo and John will be working with us (we might even "team up") in the near future.

Strange goings on in Southsea Hotel .......

The story so far .......there is a bit of latex going around, and then someone brings out some rubber dolls. Yes they are anatomicaly correct so although they might be armless and legless they DO still have nipples. Alledgedly, they can still be attractive in the right light. Do you think we need to know more ....

FUJI A400 Camera Snorkelling Package

Fuji FinePix A400 Camera

and

Waterproof Housing

£155

We are currently offering this package at a great price. The package includes:

• Fuji A400 Digital Camera
• Fuji A400 Aquamask Case (3meters Waterproof)

The package has been designed for snorkelling but the sturdy waterproof case makes it suitable for all kinds of sports and at £155 it's most definitely a bargain. For more details pop into the dive centre and we'll be happy to demo it.

The 'Touch Me' tour continues at Horsea

'The Tour' continued with the successful completion of an Open Water course with 6 students qualifiying. After the customary Champers back at the shop, we adjourned to The 3 Marines for a 'few quiet ones'!!! The night was then rounded off with an unusual rendition of Greased Lightning in The Alma by Tony on the karaoka. Congratulations to all!!

...its gonna be a heat waaaaave ...

Bit of a hot weekend you have to admit. We got out on Buccaneer on the Saturday for a couple of dives in Bracklesham, but could not get round the Bill due to the Easterlies that were blowing in. So with some fresh breezes it was a good job on Sunday that we had a shore dive planned. The dive experience programme took about 25 club members down to Seatown, the other side of Bridport. The shingle beach had a bit of a swell on entrance and exit, but once everyone had got to grips with donning fins while floating rather than trying to walk in it was ok. The diving is not brilliant but good for divers looking to gain further experience of different sites and conditions. Maximum depth is 7m and there is a shallow reef a few yards off shore festooned with Spider Crabs. After the first dive we had a cracking BBQ on the beach, before dive 2 followed by a couple of cold ones in the Anchor pub. We will let you know when the next diving experience session is planned in due course.

Oops, sorry, forgot to post the newsletter

Oops sorry. For those of you who don't get a printed copy of the newsletter and rely on the one we publish on the website I apologise; forgot to post it. You can get it now by clicking here.

Club Night - 6 July

It was another cracking club night and the warm weather meant that many had their meals outside on the terrace of the Royal Beach hotel. At least 70 turned up to enjoy the evening and it was great to see some new club members, including Felipe from Chile, newly qualified open water diver Julie and many more. Many thanks to everyone who helped us to raise another £136 for charity on the night. To remind you, there is no club meeting next month, but we look forward to seeing you all at the summer ball on 5 August

Carlsberg

Carlsberg don't do mystery women ........ but if they did, they would probably be the best mystery women in the world.

I Hate Ronaldo .com

So, if you feel slightly miffed by the whole thing, then log onto www.ihateronaldo.com

Strange Short Bloke ..... answers to name of Donk

So there we were in the pub, Saturday night, lost on penalties again .... drowning sorrows .... the Portugese are cheats etc etc. Hey get over it. A blistering weekend with nothing but sunshine and fun. And another 9 successful OW students .... and some strange short fat bloke turned up. None other than trainee DM, Donk (also known as Mick), who decided to inflate his superstretchy neoprene suit much to amusment of the general public down at Horsea. Well we thought it was quite funny anyway.