2012

Excellent conditions on a beautiful November day made for a worthwhile trip to the Dorset coast.

On the day we managed to dive the wrecks of the British Inventor – mostly just twisted metal but with lots of life and often conger eels (although none spotted on this occasion). Later we dived the Black Hawk, with some divers lucky to see a thornback ray. There was even some time for some rescue training. Overall with decent visibility and pleasant water and air temperatures for the time of year it was an enjoyable day.

These photos were taken during a day’s snorkelling on the Isle of Wight, at Shanklin. You can also read the full report from snorkelling at Shanklin.

A few photos from our July 2012 expedition on club boat Endeavour diving around the wrecks and reefs of the Isle of Wight. Report to follow…

In January 2012 some club members went to the Red Sea to dive the Northern Wrecks and Reefs itinery with operator BlueOTwo. It is a less crowded time of year on account of the temperature and being outside school holidays but it’s still a great time to go as you can see from these photos. This itinery is a good one, covering the famous wreck of the Thistelgorm plus many others and some fantastic reefs. It’s so good we’ve already booked to do it all again in 2013. 

Photos from various dive clubs throughout the region (gallery used at the London International Dive Show 2012).

More information about the region’s dive clubs (including how to find yours!).

Photos of newly-named Endeavour (our P3 Procharter hard boat).

So at long last, here is our new dive boat. These photos show our new dive platform, an as-yet unnamed Procharter P3 which was built in 2006.

As you can see we’ve got a bit of work to do

• Cleaning
• Cutting and fitting a gate
• Dive ladder construction and fitting
• Bottle rack/bench construction and fitting

And that’s just for starters, but with lots of help we expect this to be an incredible club dive boat which will be ready well in time for the coming 2012 season.

A few brave souls made it down to dive in Hinksey Lake, Oxford (next to our clubhouse) on New Year’s Day. However, no-one from the club was as brave as the two ‘wild swimmers’ who decided to take a plunge in just their swimming costumes (in 7 degree C water!!). The local press was on hand to capture their moment and ours, before we let them use our hot showers and have a cuppa. 

Seven of our divers made it into Oxford’s premier diving location (!) for half an hour or so. They reported seeing lots of crayfish, and the one which was brought back was clearly a signal crayfish, which have taken over the lake from our native species. 

Afterwards we warmed up with soup in the clubhouse.