New Open Water Students

We went to Vobster for a change to complete the OW course this weekend and many congratulations to all the successful students. A special word must go out to Dumb and Dumber, the Young brothers. Gary Young (not our new instructor but the Shamu variety of "Young") who did so well on the navigation he is now known as "Garmin", and Lee cried like a baby during the mask removal. And also ..... come on Zara tell all .... we don't recommend that you put your underpants on your head during the surface practice for navigation. Luke, the human javelin, had a face fungus issue leading to a leaking mask so had some interesting facial hair designs going on. But, a great course, great fun, lots of good natured banter and we look forward to more hilarity at the next club meeting!

Try Dives for Youngsters

We have been doing a fair bit of work with some of the youngsters in the area - the last session was at the Pyramids. We had great fun and so did the youngsters as you can see.

Club Weekend in Portland

It was blowing a bit of a gale up in Portsmouth, but we were lucky in Portland for the club weekend. The RIB did 8 trips in total over the weekend with students and club members making the most of it. With around 30 people in total making the trip we filled the bunk house so it was a good job that some made their own arrangements for accommodation.

There were some course successes at the weekend as well with Advanced and Open Water being finished. Well done to all of you - not quite sure what the photo was all about, but I'm sure I will find out in due course.

Hearty Congratulations!

Yes hearty congratulations (a nautical sort of word that should be said with gusto methinks) to our newly qualified Deep Divers. Well done to Mark, Blain and Dave and glad you enjoyed the programme.

June Newsletter

The June Newsletter is available on line by clicking here. There is loads of stuff and features inside including, our new 9m RIB, bringing fast, convenient diving to the Solent area , details about the summer ball, a change in our powerboat business (lots of opportunities), reports from Daf and Bev as they travel around the World, and lots more.

Navigation? What's that all about?

Many congratulations to our Deep Diver speciality students who passed the course last weekend. Barnes Wallis was running the course assisted by Stu and it was good to have Eric along from Gloucestershire. The navigation objectives of the course were .... well challenging to some of the students, but extremely beneficial and great fun. See if you can work out who found it a bit of a challenge from the photo !!!!!!

A Good Club Night - Next club night in September

With quite a lot of club members away on holiday the numbers were down at bit at the July Club night last Thursday. However, still a healthy 40 or so were there for a lovely evening and BBQ. Just to remind you, the next "normal" club meeting will be on 3 September as the Summer Ball is in August. Tickets for that event are selling fast so let us know if you want to come. More details on the next newsletter which will be out in a couple of days.

Course Success

Just a quick "well done" to our successful Rescue Diver course candidates last weekend. We know you all loved the training. Hope to see you soon on the DM programme.

Successful Instructors Exam and IE Party

All candidates sucessfully finished off the IDC here in Dahab and went on to complete the IE. With a lot of high 4s and 5s scored everyone did brilliantly.
The IE finishing party and BBQ at the Furry Cup was fantastic resulting in a few sore heads this morning. We know it was meant to be fancy dress but the excitement of passing the IE did go to some people's heads!......well if you've got the balls.........

IDC Going Well - 8 New Assistant Instructors

The IDC I am running in Egypt is going well. 8 candidates in total (not all in the piture) and they have all successfully passed the frst part and ar celebrating achieving AI status. 4 more days to go and then it is fingers crossed for the IE. I will let you know how they all get on when I get back after the Master Scuba Diver Trainer Programme.

Cow Pie and Mash

Another good club nght last night, 50 people turned up and it was great to see some more new members. The cow pie and mash was excellent as usual. Don't forget that the next club night is 2nd July and will be a BBQ. Please let us know if you are coming so that we can make sure that there is enough food. Also if you have any prizes for the raffle please bring them to the shop.

Newsletter for May Available Online

May's newsletter has been published onto the website. This month it includes trip reports from Portland and Egypt, drysuit and regulator deals and other stuff, including a full report about diving with the rare "Ginger" Dugong of Um el Russ. Click here to go to the newsletter page on the website.

A Glorious Bank Holiday Weekend

The May weather is always unpredicatable and the Dive Fest weekend in Cornwall was the first event to fall victim with gale force winds, rain. £35 for a ticket to sit huddled in a tent - no thank you. We kept our fingers crossed that 23-25 May would not go the same way and it turned out to be a different kettle of fish altogether. Glorious sunshine, calm seas, great vis and fantastic diving. Around 16 club members took advantage of the conditions and dives were completed on some of the inner harbour wrecks as well as a few offshore wrecks. We also did the first Fleet Flying dive - well it did not exactly fly as we were about 30 minutes early due to a tidal miscalculation, but with huge flounders, seahorses and bass to look at who cared. Definitely a dive to do again. Full report on the weekend in this months newsletter.

Quick Update before I head off to Portland

Many congratulations to Rod Harris who completed his nitrox course last weekend, and indeed, everyone else who completed training with us since my last post. The Liveaboard trip to the Southern Red Sea got back last night, having been delayed in Marsa Alam for 48 hours - we all feel very sorry for them having to spend an extra day and night in a 5 star all inclusive hotel, well maybe not. Apparently they did a good job of making the most of the "all inclusive" bit of the hotel.

A full report will be published in the next newsletter which will include details of Lamby's missing passport, the hammerheads and sharks (see picture), the tragic end of Rick Astleys modelling career and the first ever sighting and pictures of the famous Marsa Alam Ginger Dugong. Bet that's got you thinking!

April Newsletter - Sorry it's Late!

Oops, sorry for the delay. Its been a bit busy in the dive centre. Anyway it has now been published and can be read here. Loads of stuff inside, Spinnaker Tower report, Special Underwater Photography weekend, Summer Ball details, new torches and titanium knives and diving with Dugongs!.

Course Success

Another busy weekend of training in the dive centre. Well done to all the students who passed courses and a special well done to young Josh who passed his junior advanced course.

A Cracking Club Night

Not sure whether it was the thought of the first barbecue of the year or just because it was the first "normal" club night of the diving season, but it was a pretty full house at the Coast Bar last night. Around 70 club members and guests were there and as well as the regulars it was great to see some new faces as the club continues to grow. Also seen on the night was the mystery lady. We have not seen here around for a while as she has other engagements on a Thursday so it was a real treat .... and I managed to get another photograph for the collection.

The raffle raised £80 for charity and thank you to everyone for supporting that. Next club night is going to be on the 4th June - Cow Pie will be on the menu. Don't forget to let us know if you are coming.

Newly Qualified Students

It was another busy weekend in the dive centre - so much so that I even forgot to put out the newsletter. Don't worry, it is on its way, just a bit late. There was plenty going on this weekend as everyone made the most of the good weather. This included the first PADI Twinset Diver distinctive speciality for the first time in a while. If anyone else is interested in going down the twinset route give us a call. Many congratulations to everyone who passed courses at the weekend.

A Busy Weekend of Training

It was a really busy weekend. Unfortunately the weather meant that it was one of those rare occasions when we could not get the boat out in Portland. So instead we went to Vobster which was not too bad. Still a bit chilly at around 6 - 7 degrees but the viz was really good and everyone had a great time. Many congratulations to all the students who completed courses with us this weekend and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

As well as that we want to say well done to the elusive Owen Flowers who recently passed his DM course. It is a course that takes effort and determination so very well done. Owen celebrated in the usual style which included a couple of beers in the local - and as the image shows, the careful application of dive stamps? I have no idea before you ask.

Happy Birthday Rick

Just wanted to say, very happy birthday to Rick Astley, also known as Ian Brown, last week. We somehow forgot to publish a blog, but that might have had something to do with the fact that the celebrations on the day were held in Portland. Last night we held a surprise party for him in Sopranos (recommend it if you have never been) and thanks to everyone who came along to help him get over the shock of being 40. To find out more about how Ian has coped at this time of midlife crisis, why not join the facebook group, "How to help Ian Brown come to terms with turning 40". Any comments you wish to add feel free. Never gonna give you up, never gonna say good bye ......

Spinnaker Tower Function a Soaring Success

Excuse the random use of "height" metaphors, but it really was something quite special. The maximum number that the tower could accommodate was 120 and that is how many enjoyed a great evening of entertainment in this iconic venue. It started with champange in the reception area where a slide show of some of the funniest and most memorable moments over the past 12 months or more was projected on to the wall. Up the lift to the view decks there was a bar, canapes and a casino which went on through the evening. As the guests were treated to a clear evening and lovely sunset, the cameras were out in force. Sue had a lesson in gambling off the croupier - after placing equal bets on both red and black on the roulette table. And as the lights came on the view got even better. Downstairs in the cafe bar, there was plenty of food and the disco went on until 1.00 in the morning. Quite a few good photos from the event, including some "before and after" shots of Ian! Click here to go to the gallery.

Gazza Gets Cow and Lamby Gets Wet

DM and June IDC Candidate Gary has been on an interesting diet recently. He is getting himself fit and ready for instructor training and we support him completely. However last night at Ian's little BBQ he allowed himself a special treat with a HUGE T-bone steak. Oh and a couple of cans of diet Grolsch. We didn't know that you could buy that - reckon the brewers could be on to a winner!

The other special events of the evening were some hearty congratulations to Lamby and Megan on qualifying as Divemasters. Lamby was very excited by the whole thing and could hardly contain himself - as the photograph clearly shows. mmm nice! But he does get quite emotional. Remember when he fainted after a nasty paper cut on his finger.

Easter gets underway

Plenty of you are obviously planning on going diving over the Easter break as the dive centre was "chokka". We have just about got through the backlog of servicing we had so are back up to a 5 day turn around now for regulator and BCD servicing if you want to bring it in. Well done to all the students who completed courses with us at the weekend (picture shows the Drysuit Course)

SMB and PPB Courses, and BIG WEEKEND filling up fast

Since we published the newsletter at the end of last week we have taken quite a few bookings for the SMB and PPB courses we are running later in the year. So, if you want to go on either of those courses, get your names down sooner rather than later. And, we are already starting to book up dives and accommodation for the bog weekend on 23/24/25 May. I cannot stress enough, this is a Bank holiday weekend so is likely to be busy. If you want to join in with the fun, let us know as soon as possible.

Successful Students

Well done to all our successful students this weekend just gone. They were blessed with calm water and sunshine. We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

March Newsletter

The March Newsletter is finished - I know, it's a few days early this month .... well I try. Loads of great stuff in it including details on the Spinnaker Tower event. We also have a great trip lined up - THE big club weekend in May. There are more discount offers on dive gear and some great courses that you might like to book onto this season. As well, there reports on a club trip by Sue G-P, a St Lucia trip by Nick Ayling and a report from Ian and I on a trip to France for this years Top Oceanic Dealer Awards. Click here for more.

Club boat out for the first time this season

The club RIB was out this weekend for the first time this season and a number of members took advantage of some superb diving conditions down in Portland. Viz was between 5 - 10m according to some (although sue G-P reckons she might have made it worse for those that followed her). Sue has written a report for the newsletter so you can find out all about it.

Bad News for my Marathon des Sables Attempt

You may have realized that I was due to be leaving for Morocco in 10 days time. Unfortunately I have had a bit of a disaster. Within the last 3 weeks of so, I have managed to develop a condition that will prevent me from taking part in the race. This was discovered during the final medical and ECG. All is not lost and I have been offered a place on the race next year, however, it means another 12 months of training, preparation and planning. The sponsors who have provided kit and financial support have been great and over the next 12 months (once I am fit again) I will continue to write kit reviews during training runs and competitions. If you have donated money towards this run, I hope that you will be happy to allow me to keep the money in the Run the Sahara appeal account until this time next year.
I have written a full update of what happened on my "Run the Sahara" website which you can read by clicking here. Thank you for your continued support.

Successful IDC Finishes

This weekend saw the end of our first IDC of the year. 3 Candidates completed the training programme and by the end of it all of them were achieving some excellent scores in the evaluated areas of pool work, presentations and open water training. Sarah and Graham will be going to Gildenborough next weekend to take the Instructors Exam and Lee will be going to Bristol in a few weeks. We wish all 3 of the them every success in the exam and look forward to a celebratory drink on their return.

The next IDC we are running is in June. There are already 3 candidates on the course, but if you are an aspiring instructor who thinks that being a diving educator is the ticket for you, why not get in touch.

The Sun is Out ...

What a cracking weekend to finish an Open Water course. The boat was out for the first time this month as we finished off an Open Water Course. The water was 8 degrees and visibility was around 4m on the Dredger, but it was a flat calm sea - the RIB cruised at 28 knots with 10 passengers on board - great fun for everyone. Many congratulations to all of the students who successfully completed the Course.

Another Top Dealer Award

Ian and I have just come back from France having been at the Oceanic Seminar. And once again, we have won a Top Dealer award. We have won an award for about the last 6 years, so we are getting used to it, but it is always nice to be recognised for what you have achieved. Many thanks to all our customers, who made it possible by supporting us.

February Newsletter Published

You can download the February Newsletter. Plenty of stuff in it, including reports from Cuba, new kit due out in the next few months, a shocking report on the price of beer in Egypt!, some great holiday deals to Egypt from Oonas as well as some top tips on how to check over your regulators and a plan to raise money for Comic Relief .... plus much much more. Click here to go the newsletter page

Club Night

When: Thursday 5th March 09
Time: 7.30pm
Where:Coast Bar, The Royal Beach Hotel
Why: Cow pie and drinks

Please call; 02392 838 773
or e-mail; helpdesk@tritonscuba.co.uk

to secure your place and food!

New Scubapro Package Deals

It's that time of year where Scubapro have put together their new product packages with massive savings up to 25% off. To make our Scubapro packages even more impressive we are going to throw in a wrist Nitrox computer absolutely FREE!

Click Here for more details

January 2009 Newsletter

The January 2009 Newsletter has been published. for those of you who don't normally get sent a copy you can view it on the website by clicking here. Plenty of good stuff including details of our spectacular Spring club function.

Instructors Meeting and Function

We had one of our regular 6 monthly Instructor and DM meetings last night. We decided to run it in the same way as last time, by holding the meeting at the Noble House restaurant and then having a slap up meal. 20 of our regular instructors and DMs turned up for what was a very successful evening. For those who couldn't make it minutes of the meeting will be sent out to all instructors and DMs, so you will still find out what went on.

First Club Night of 2009

Last night saw around 60 members and guests turn up for the first club night of 2009 for what was a fun social event. As in the past, the main theme for the evening was the raffle of unwanted Christmas presents. The rules were:

• You must wrap the present


• You cannot pick your own (that would just be stupid)


• Once you touch a present its yours (no checking to see if bottles are full or boxes of chocolates are half empty)


• You must take your present away with you - or convince someone else to.

Everyone took to the event with enthusiasm and we were inundated with unwanted presents so the chances were, unless clearly you were called Neal or Helen, that you would win something. There were some cracking gifts; anger management blow up boxing gloves, chinese restaurant calenders - in Spanish (Sue was particularly fond of hers), Rude Origami and willy shaped bath salts - tasteful! The raffle raised £119 which was brilliant and all the money will be given to Water Aid, which as you know is my flavour of the moment when it comes to charities.

To everyone who brought pressies and to everyone who bought tickets - a huge thank you for making it such a fun night and helping raise the money. It was good to see you all and to get the club's year of to such a flying start. Many more club nights to come, and to remind you, the next one is going to be Thursday 5 February. Please let us know if you are coming if you can.

PS - DJ, I promise to put you in the Newsletter ok!

Last Dive of 2008

9 courageous, or was it foolhardy, club members braved some chilly winds to log the last dive of the year from the club RIB down in Portland today. Some of the guys went last night to make the most of Ron and Dale's hospitality at Fathom & Blues. The plan had been to do a couple of shallow dives and one deep one, but with force 4 winds and some less than brilliant vis we decided to keep it safe, stay in the harbour, and make sure that everyone at least got a dive in. A recent letter in Dive magazine highlighted the potential dangers of boats putting divers in even when the vis is crap and we were not going to go down that route. As it was, vis was not brilliant on the Landing Craft, but we made the most of it. Some then braved a second dive on the Countess which was a bit better. A special word has to go out to Debs, Tom and Les who were in wetsuits, to Derek who lost his car keys and held us up for an hour and to Julie, for the best exit routine. Captions for the photo below on a postcard please.

New Open Water Divers

Well done to our new open water divers, Hamish, Elodie, Frank and Nick who passed their course this weekend. Megan (DMT) managed to demo AAS with a bright pink snorkel, Hamish managed to prove that you can can throw through a regulator but apart that and a long day (due to pee breaks by Dale), it was great course. See you all soon.

A Christmas Cracker

Around 115 club members and guests partied long into the night at yet another successful Christmas Ball at the Royal Beach Hotel. With around 40 people staying in the hotel for the night, while the main function wound up at 1.00 am, the "unofficial" party carried on until the early hours - hence a few looking slightly delicate at breakfast this morning. We heard a rumour that some were still in the bar at 6 this morning! Pictures of the event have been posted onto the gallery of the website - if anyone wants copies of higher resolution images just let me know.

Marathon des Sables

I am running the Marathon des Sables in March next year for charity. This is a 151 mile race on foot across the Sahara in 6 days. To find out more about the race, why I am doing it and how you can help, go to my Run the Sahara website by clicking here.

November Newsletter

The November Newsletter has been posted onto the website. Plenty of stuff - Halloween report, Marathon des Sables, IDC report and more. Click here to go to the newsletter page.

Advanced Open Water Course Successes

Congratulations to everyone that passed their PADI Advanced Open Water this weekend. It's been a fun weekend down at Portland and Vobster despite it starting to get a little chilly - it even snowed in Vobster! But the visibility was great and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the dives. Well done to you all!

Winter is here and we celebrate more course success

Definitely got a bit chilly this weekend but the training continued over a busy couple of days. The candidates from the IE completed the Speciliaty Instructor training programme, all 6 qualifying in seven speciality disciplines. At the same time, 6 students completed their Open Water training, 5 qualifying as PADI Open Water Divers, and one as a Scuba Diver. The training on Saturday was from our RIB in Portland and once again the concensus from staff and students alike was that it was excellent to go diving in the sea and from a boat. The Sunday was blown out however, and so we drove the short way to Vobster to finish off, giving everyone the best of both worlds and far more experience than they might have got in some of the murky inland sites. Many congratulations to all the successful candidates - and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

New Instructors

It was another nerve racking weekend and finger nails were chewed at an alarming rate! But at the end of it, all 5 of our Instructor Candidates did extremely well at the Peterborough IE. There were a few exams nerves initially and it showed, with 3 candidates needing to swot up on the Saturday evening having narrowly missed the pass mark in one of the 5 exams. Unfortunately Nigel narrowly missed the pass mark on 2 exams (as he put it he had a "brain fart") and will be having another bash next month. However, all of them had the confidence to put that to one side and they were off to do their presentations, before heading to the pool. Scores throughout the day on the practical skills were extremly high. On day two we were up early to drive to "Gildy". The first thing was to get over the make up exams - no problem this time around - and then do rescue assessments. Chris decided that he would forget to count to 5 or 6 and decided that 25 seconds was the new interval for rescue breathing!!!! Numbnuts! However, eventually that was all finished successfully and it was time for the Open Water Assessments. All 5 candidates sailed through, with the lowest score being a 4.4 and plenty of 5.0 scores scattered around. It has been a hard slog and all the candidates have worked hard so our congratulations to all of them. It is also a big well done to Zara, who as you know works for us in the Dive Centre ...... and so still has a job!!!

Another IDC Successfully Completed

All the students on our recent IDC have put in a tremendous amount of hard work and effort and have sucessfully completed the training. They are now looking forward (if that is the right phrase) to the exam next weekend. We wish all of them the best of luck and every success. I will post an update in about a week.

IDC Gets Underway

Our third UK based IDC of the year has just got underway. Already the 4 candidates, Zara, Chris, Richard (aka Sharon) and Nigel are getting to grips with the PADI system. They have just gone to Portland for 2 days of open water instructor training and should finish the course on Sunday. The next step will be the weekend of 15/16 November, when they will be joined by Ian Perry who completed the course earlier in the year, for the 2 day Instructors Exam in Peterborough. We will update you as they go along.

Scary.....

Last night's Halloween party was a huge success with around 100 club members turning up in some fantastic cotumes (Ian, I'm not referring to your sheet!). There was blood, bad makeup and even worse wigs galore not to mention some very scary dancing. Photos from last night can be found in the gallery and I'm sure some more will find their way onto facebook. Thank you to everyone that helped to decorate the venue, your efforts are very much appreciated.

The next event is the Christmas Ball on 6th December, which is very full indeed. Please remember to send your menu choices and payment to us by the 21st November.

October Newsletter

The October newsletter has been posted on the members section of the website. Not that long this month, but articles about the John Dory, great deals on Scubapro fins for club members and details about the borneo trip next year. Click here to go to the page.

Advanced Open Water and Nitrox divers

There were 8 successful course passes over the weekend - 4 completed their PADI Advanced Open Water Courses and there were 4 nitrox courses as well. The group started off in Portland on the the Saturday diving off the RIB, but the appalling weather on the Sunday meant that the whole group had to move to Vobster to finish it off. Many congratulations to Brett, Paul, Thomas, Rob, Pauline and Stuart on passing. Unfortunately Rob and Thomas missed the photo opportunity because they had to get to the Pompey game!

Well Done to all the Great South Runners

There was another great turnout of club members and friends for this years Great South run. The weather was diabolical - just for a change - but it didn't dampen spirits too much as everyone ran for their chosen charity. Well done to, Rt Hon Chris, Rosey, Andi, Kim, Ruth, Lamby, the whole Lamby clan, and Terry. I know I have missed some of you out so, let me know, and I shall make sure you get a mention. Many thanks as well to everyone who helped out, supported, or gave sponsorship money, and a huge thanks to Sue, for looking after all the warm stuff so we had something nice to wear when we finished.

Newly Qualified Rescue Divers

Last weekend saw us running a small Rescue Course. The final scenrios were conducted at Portland providing the opportunity to practice shore and boat rescues. It was good training and worked very well - something we might try again either later this year of next. Many congratulations to Jen, Brett and Kat (finally!!) on successfully passing the course.

Portland Diving

A few of us decided to jump onto the RIB yesterday and go for a couple of dives - well the weather forecast was good so why not. We had 2 great dives on Lulworth and the Bombard unit in the harbour. Sorry it was a late notice shout offering the dives, but we just decided to go on the spur of the moment. John Dories are still about in the Harbour as you can see from the photo taken yesterday. I have posted a couple more images on the gallery. If you havent used the new RIB boat, why not come along on the next club trip. The water is still warm by the way.

New Open Water Students

Last weekend was a bit busy with 9 students qualifying as PADI Open Water Divers. The weather was kind which made it an enjoyable weekend and judging by the amount of champagne we got through on the Sunday evening when they all got back, everyone worked up a bit of thirst as well. Well done to all of you, we look forward to seeing some of you at club events and on the advanced course in the near future.