July Newsletter

The July Newsletter is written and available online. It is a bit shorter than normal but that is due to the fact that I am going away on holiday tomorrow and ran out of time, rather than not having loads to tell you! Still some good stuff in it including plans for the next Club weekend and a report from the Malives. Click here to go there.

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.