In 2010 we bought a new dive boat. A 17ft dory style hull with 60HP engine.
By midsummer she’d been used on 4 expeditions and we’d done over 120 dives from her. Capable of taking 6 divers with kit, with a top speed of 20 knots and a range of 20nm she’s proving to be an excellent addition to our dive platforms and has already opened up new dive sites for us.
Full information on ISIS is available on the Isis Project page.
In the end, there was no vote for the General Committee Member posts, as in the week before the EGM, Dennis Savory submitted his resignation from the second GCM post. So congratulations to both Alex Gibson and Kathy Fletcher who take on the posts of General Committee Members.
The future of Gemini was the main topic of discussion for the evening, with clarification over the sale and moorings being sought by the new Committee.The members unanimously agreed that the committee should continue to find a buyer for Gemini and that if one is found, a further EGM should be called to approve the sale.
Please Return your Booking forms.
Its just under 8 weeks to go, so please return your booking forms to Phil ASAP!
Following on from last spring’s event with the University branch, Chris Stevens and Andy White are organising another weekend with even more branches from around Oxfordshire. This year we will be going back to Kimmeridge from 19th to the 22nd May.
We are taking both Isis and Naiad to Pentewan sands for Dive Fest 2011.
Both snorkeling and diving are planned with the reefs and wrecks of this Cornish beauty spot well worth the trip.
Avoid the royal wedding malarky and come diving instead!
Sign up in the clubhouse.We need numbers asap to book static caravans and boat spaces.
More details of the event itself can be found on the Dive Fest 2011 website.
For dive site information click here (the location hasn’t changed since 2009, so this paperwork is still relevant).
For more information contact Chris S.
A stormy July Sunday at Castletown and Portland Harbour.
On a perfect diving day we headed down to Burton Bradstock beach (Hive Beach) which is run by the National trust. Ten divers (John Beer, Kerrie, Ian, Courtney, John Blessing, Kevin, Chris, Grainne, Andy W and Howard) and one sunbather (Josh) set up camp on the beach just to the East of the cliffs that mark the more interesting seabed to the West end of the main beach. A nice set of Gabian cages formed a perfect kitting up bench there so we claimed them for ourselves.
The biggest problem on this day was basically keeping the damn grit out of our kit and suits. Just walking down to the water we found that grit got into wetsuit boots and fins. Once in the water which was nearly perfectly flat calm, we found very good vis – at least 8m in places. Dropping to the seabed there were a mixture of boulders and sandy seabed. Depth was not much more than 7m but lots of like about. We found cuttlefish, dogfish, lots of pipefish fry and several big crabs and lobsters. Depth being shallow we didn’t need to change tanks – Kerrie managed four dives on just two 12Ls. All in all in one day we managed 21 dives between 10 divers which was pretty good going. We kept going on coffee and buns from the beach cafe.
Note for future trips here – the carpark is £5.00 all day and you need change. The National trust run the place and wont let you take vehicles onto the beach so if you want boat cover you’ve got to lug them down there by hand or launch elsewhere and come in from the sea.
Here is a brief set of information and dive plans for some of the shore based diving in the Lyme Bay, Weymouth and Jurssic Coast area.
Information for Training trips on Burton Bradstock Beach and Chesil Cove
Information for diving from Lulworth cove – Bailout site for bad weather
We have both Ocean Diver and Sports Diver lectures starting on Wednesday. John Beer will be starting the Ocean course with OT1 in Mick’s Cabin, while Brian kicks off with ST1 for those Ocean divers that are ready to progress onto Sports Diver in the corner of the clubroom.
Weather forecast Force 5-6 NE – not a great start to the weekend’s expedition to the Northeast Coast at Seahouses in Northumberland. Our Skipper for the weekend William Shiel of the Glad Tidings VII was confident we’d get out but not for all the days of the trip.
Saturday dawned with a fairly windy start but we headed down to the quayside and loaded the boat. In fact it was not so rough and we managed to get out to the islands and dive on their north side where a heap of seals watched us all enter and swim down the shot for our first dive on the Northern Hares. The water was very clear with 8-10m visibility every day, but rather cold – only 7.5C so the two real men (Alex and John B) diving in wetsuits were a little chilly. The whole seabed here is dominated by soft corals with dead mens fingers everywhere. We swum around a dropoff at 25m to the bottom well below. Not so many fish about this early in the year (May 1st) but lots of squat lobsters and crabs along wtih quite a few blue lobsters.
The second dive on Saturaday was on the Longstone near the lighthouse and here we got our first in water encounters with the seals. Diving along a cliff topped with kelp (and the BBC cameraman along for the ride….) decorated with anemones and soft corals and dropping to a stoney plateau at 20m was a fantastic experience. Seals kept coming and tweaking our fins as we moved about – often divers thought they were just touching the bottom when in fact a seal was nibbling their feet !
Sunday was expected to be a bit rough but we once again trouped down to the quayside just in case. The skipper reckoned that we were ok to dive later that day so to come back after lunch. A certain amount of tourism ensued and we (mostly) arrived back at the boat at 1pm to head out through a rather ‘sporting’ sea. Although the waves were pushing 1.5m we managed to get to the islands and have two very nice dives on the Blue Caps (a series of small islands) where diving birds met divers (or was that the other way around….?). We managed a second dive that afternoon on the Wreck of the Abessinia – a steamship wreck dominated by two huge boilers each standing 3m off the seabed. This was the deepest dive of the weekend at ~25m. Much of the seabed was covered by brittlestars waving their arms and collecting plankton.
On our last day weather was if anything worse and we were the only diving group who went out to the Islands. Due to the strong winds we dived the Blue Caps once again but this time with a much stronger current running North along the coast. Vis was spectacular but the cold winds were a challenge for divers in wetsuits. Despite them we all had a good dive and even met the seals once again. Conditions were worsening on the surface so after a cuppa we decided to return to Seahouses and head for Oxford. Pretty good weekend all in all – 43 dives and no problems apart from mild hypothermia.
On our last day weather was if anything worse and we were the only diving group who went out to the Islands. Due to the strong winds we dived the Blue Caps once again but this time with a much stronger current running North along the coast. Vis was spectacular but the cold winds were a challenge for divers in wetsuits. Despite them we all had a good dive and even met the seals once again. Conditions were worsening on the surface so after a cuppa we decided to return to Seahouses and head for Oxford. Pretty good weekend all in all – 43 dives and no problems apart from mild hypothermia.
