DAHAB EGYPT 13 - 20 NOVEMBER 2005
We kind of like Dahab because of its relaxed atmosphere, superb diving and the friends we have made there. So we went back again; 25 of us this time. We left on 2 flights on the Sunday morning. Have to say, will go on Sundays in future – Gatwick is far less crowded, as was Sharm airport on the way back. The journey was pretty uneventful and by 9.00 in the evening everyone was in their rooms and the first bottle of Sakara was 
slipping down nicely. The old hands who had been before were off down the beach bars, but the new guys and the “couldn’t be bothereds” stayed for the night – and most of the week infact – in Totas bar. The first diving day was the usual mayhem issuing gear, weights, paperwork etc. The tech divers waited until last but it didn’t matter – the best thing about Dahab is that you are on a relaxed timetable. Want another cup of coffee before you go diving – no problem. Brett managed to complete quite a few courses while he was there so thanks to him - 3 nitrox and a couple of advanced, as well as a Discover Scuba Diver. Even Filip – honorary club member and not very good kite surfer - tried his hand underwater and has now booked onto a course. The Tech divers dressed in black as much as possible and managed to look
cool…. most of the time. Well it is the most important rule of diving after all. Two boats went to Gabr el Bint towards the end of the week – the first group saw the dolphins again… the second group didn’t. Guess which one I was with. Catriona freaked herself out with a few big swells off the beach on the first day (not exactly pool like conditions Brett eh) … then did the same again in the middle of the week as she tried to pass what appeared to be (or at least sounded like) a flock of seagulls through her 
intestinal tract. Other highlights included Ryan managing to weigh himself down with twin 12s and 2 x 12ltr stages on his back, on the beach. Priceless; oh for a camera at the right time …as was his method of donning fins which consisted of turning upside down and sticking his feet in the air. Ryan…. try to remember the most important rule in scuba diving. And of course there were those who just couldn’t resist the lure of Sharm. Jonathan feigned decompression sickness in order to get there for a few nights, Jim decided to leave his luggage behind just so he could get to have another night in Sharm and Dan and Fillip – wel
l they just got a taxi. All the diving was once again quite superb as was the social life. We had some great diving, ate well, drank well and didn’t spend too much money; now you might understand why we all love Dahab. Well done to all the guys who passed courses, (names are on the front page) especially the Tech guys, Kevin, Donk, Dan and Mini Me, and a particularly big slap on the back, once he gets off his arse, to Ryan for his week long “tanks on legs” impression and perseverance with some pretty demanding diving. Bet you wish you had worn a wetsuit for those long deco dives! Finally many thanks to my good mate Ed and all his team at Poseidon.
Everyone loved it and we’ll definately be back next year
INDONESIA 18 - 29 SEPTEMBER 2005
At the end of September, 16 club members took the long journey via Singapore, to North Sulawesi in Indonesia. We finally made it to the beautiful resort, a little tired and hungry! After a briefing from resort staff we made it to our rooms. Feeling slightly more energetic, several divers could not wait until the morning and went on a shore dive to explore the house reef!
Early the next morning, 2 boats took us on the journey to Bunaken National Park, a marine reserve run by the WWF. The area is volcanic and the Islands covered by dense rainforest. The quiet reserve boasted a huge assortment of marine life, in clear warm water.
For the following week, the resort boats took us to the numerous dive sites around the park Islands, for 2-3 dives each day. The knowledgeable dive guides pointed out some fantastic critters on the sheer coral walls. On each dive there was something new to be seen, including black tip reef sharks, huge turtles, spotted rays, octopus, seahorses (including rare pygmy species), crocodile fish, box fish, puffer fish, moray eels, pipefish, squirrelfish, scorpionfish, frogfish, stonefish, lionfish, napoleon wrasse and hundreds of clownfish! Phew – the list goes on! That is just the fish, not beginning to mention the hundreds of different hard and soft corals! We also encountered 5 fantastic giant clams, which had some of us in fits of giggles! Unexplained currents and notorious ‘whirlpool dives’ were also experienced by some of the group! The non-divers joined us on the boats and were not disappointed as we saw some dolphins on the way to the dive sites, and they were kept entertained by the surface interval shopping, a new experience for many of us as some local ‘floating shops’ brought goodies aboard and Triton Divers willingly spent a fortune on shell jewellery, wooden games, t-shirts and sarongs (for both sexes!!). I imagine we made some Bunaken residents very rich during our stay!!
Other activities included a trip to the shopping mall, where the ladies of the group got rather a lot of unwanted attention from local men!! A trip to a fish restaurant followed, where we totally confused the staff due to a slight language barrier!! We finally received numerous dishes of unidentified food! Again, an unforgettable experience! Late nights out were had by the ‘boys’ of the group, who located a pool bar and nightclub. Many of the details of these outings are not suitable for publishing in the newsletter, but I understand that a good time was had by all!
Towards the end of the trip, we took a couple of excursions to Lembeh Straits for some ‘muck diving’ with plenty of strange critters lurking in the volcanic sand, and to Bangka Island to see some fantastic soft corals and pygmy seahorses. On the day before departure some of the group took a trip to the volcano for some serious trekking, followed by some browsing at a local market (bat wings and field rats included!)
All were in agreement that the holiday was fantastic, with good accommodation and food, lovely weather and amazing dives. Congratulations to Maz Redman for completing the Open Water course during the trip, and to Hannah Johnson and Toby O’Keefe for becoming Advanced Open Water divers. All that is left to say is ‘Terima-Kashi’ to all for a good time!!
SCAPA FLOW 11 - 18 JUNE 2005
For the second year running we ran a successful trip to Scapa Flow. Although the majority arrived on 11 June by plane the road party left in the early hours the day before, making Inverness by the evening. We were fortunate to have the big green van this year which gave us more space - a good thing as just about everyone was on twin sets and stages and we were carrying our own helium. On arrival in Stromness the heavens opened and we drove around trying to follow the directions we had been given on the phone. after about 30 minutes the mobile rang and the little scottish voice on the other end asked if she had said left or right. Right I replied. Oh I meant left she sai
d. When we found it the 3 cottages we had booked were not exactly walking distance but logistics worked out ok in the end. Kit sorted out, a fleet of taxis arrived from the airport and it was off down the pub for a coupla pintsa heeevy. The first day we dived the Karlsruhe and the F2. Classic starters for a Scapa week. Aaron came up whoopin and a holerin - well he is american. We calmed him down and explained that these were not the best wrecks in Scapa. Dr Evil started a long running snot on the nose saga, which was eventually won by Chris M who it was said, was wearing his sinuses on the outside of his fa
ce and was bound to win. There were several other highlights. Dean managed to get a depth of 49m on the Colne when the bottom was at 36m - exactly how far into the wreck were you? Daren, ever a conservationist and founding member of project aware, saw a huge lobster, shook its claw and told it to scuttle away to safety - honest Mrs Daren. Emily, the female skipper, kept the troops entertained with flashing thongs and dulcit tones - she was a soprano in London you know. The bottle dive produced enough scallops to start a commercial enterprise and enough old bottles to open an antiques shop - best bottle prize went to 
Aaron who managed to find a 2 year old Newky Brown bottle - well he is american. The diving throughout the week was superb. All the big wrecks were thoroughly examined, including the Brummer, Dresden, Margraf, and Kronprinz. The whole group were impressed by the sheer enormity of the wrecks and we were blessed with some good visibility and some calm weather towards the end of the week. The sun even came out. Many congratulations to Deano, Glyn, Perksy, Chris the Sinus and Big Daz the conservationist on passing their normoxic trimix quals. Also Craig and Aaron the American for passing their PADI nitrox course. At the moment we are not planning to go back next year, as Normandy is on the cards, but if you are interested in another trip, let me know.
More pictures can be found in the Gallery on the members page.
DAHAB, EGYPT 22 - 29 MAY 2005
Seahorses, Dolphins and Whale Sharks!!
We have to be honest, we like Dahab. Great diving, excellent value for money and a lot of fun. Another full club outing shipped up to Gatwick on 22 May for the second trip of the year - 22 club members in total. True to form it was the usual chaos at Sharm airport, but thankfully everyones kit arrived this time. As usual the party started early and even though we were based in two separate hotels, we all managed to meet up in the evenings. Dives into the Canyons, Blue Hole, and Eel Gardens were exceptional. Bill - the jinx - saw nothing all week. No turtles at turtle point or eels at the garden, so nobody wanted to dive with him, but
he made up for it with a non-stop barrage of jokes. All that was forgotten though on the Friday, when the boat trip to Gabr el Bint bumped into a pod of dolphins and a whale shark. what esle happened? Well, Mike was re-christened Donk by his guide ... and the rest of the group. Air consumption definitely improving there donk - thank god for 18 litre tanks. Ruth mentioned something about being unable to swallow underwater, to be greeted with a large number of men offering to take her on underwater swallowing classes. No idea what that was all about. Squiff
y tummies all round on about the Wednesday - first prize however, has to go to Matt who couldn't quite hold on at the barbecue on the final night and had to get himself into the shower rather swiftly. Dan, undoubtedly the most attractive man of the tour, well according to the Gay and Lesbian Underwater Group anyway, came out of the closet at last. his holiday turned out to be slightly more expensive than planned when he pushed Filip into the pool. At the time of being thrown in Filip was heard to say, as he plummeted sideways something like .... my, phone, camera, ipod ...arrgghhhhh...splash .. splutter ... you fu***ng wan**r . Or something along those lines. Filip was in the wars again, when he attempted to cross the Gulf of Suez on his kite surfer. Having been picked up and t
ossed onto the beach a few times his skin resembled that of a pink northern lass who had spent 6 hours in the sun on the first day. It was another great trip all in all. Many thanks to the Poseidon team once again and congratulations to Adam, Debra, and Chris for passing their Advanced courses, Wale and Dan - CCR, and Matts, Simon, Todd and Juma - RYA Powerboat Level 2. The next trip has already been booked for November 13th this year. Bookings are already being taken so if you want to go just call the dive centre.
GIBRALTAR 14 - 18 APRIL 2005
A Tale of Two Boats! 
Like all these things it tends to start off with a throw away comment at a club night. This time it was that I had planned to go to Gibraltar to see what the diving was like. The next thing we knew there were 24 club members going - almost within a week - and we had to close the trip because the hotel had no more space. anyway, with a few non-diving partners in tow, all threatening to exhume the contents of their partner's wallets in the duty free bazaars of the rock we landed at Gib in the early evening, to be met by 2 dive centre owners. Due to the numbers involved we had gone through 2 companies. Kit was dropped off, dive gear transported to the dive centres and we all went for something to eat and a couple of beers. Having divided the divers into 2 groups, we set off to different parts of Bay Marina to meet our dive centre staff. My group were with Dive Charters, a small and friendly PADI dive centre run by Tim Dobbs and Cathy. The other group were with Dive Hire 1st, a NAUI and BSAC centre, run by Steve Henshaw. After the mandatory paperwork and tanks and weights issue my group boarded the boat.
In spite of a strong Westerly wind we managed to enter the water in Camp Bay and dive the Burcana. This new wreck was easy to navigate around and was starting to attract a lot of marine life. Exiting the water in a strong swell was interesting, but all safely aboard we were just about to depart back for the marina when the skipper informed us that the other group were just going by. The boat we saw can only be described as a tub. Initially we thought they were joking but when we recognized a few drenched faces the harsh reality was there. The phrase, you are in big poo when they get back, was whispered into my ear by several of my group on the way back. How the hell was I to know? 
I actually thought it was a wind up, but no, the other group had indeed been placed in a bath tub with an engine on the back. Waves crashed over the top of it and entry and exit techniques resembling a western roll high jump technique had to be improvised due to the high gunwhales. On a positive note it was an ex-lifeboat so no problems in negotiating the rough sea. Well I have to say something good about it don't I. Steve the skipper was a very good coxwain although dives were unguided, whereas the Dive Charters team always put someone in the water with the group.
In spite of the difference in the two boats and the explaining I had to do to the other group over several beers on the first night, the diving over the 2 days turned out to be 
excellent. Water temperatures were about 16 degrees, warm enough for a thick 7mm wetsuit or 2 piece 5mm, but a drysuit was the best option. Visibility was a good 20m even with the swell stiring up a bit of the crap in the shallower depths. The second dive was on the 482, shown sinking in the pictures. It was full of life including a very large conger in one end. The third dive of the first day had to be inside the bay as the westerlies had picked up to gale force and not even a former lifeboat would get us out there. Evening activities included sampling the local food and alcohol which bore a strange resemblance to those found in the UK ..... as did everything in Gib. It was kind of like Pompey with olives! Steak and chips, British Bobby uniforms, Stella Artois, English language - albeit with 
a peculiar accent at times. The main difference, apart from the weather which was lovely for the whole weekend, was the price! A bottle of whisky for £2.95. Pints for £1.20. No wonder we had a good time. The second day of diving and the wind had dropped - time to hit the SS Excellent. There were one or two members AWOL in the morning - something to do with the John Collins cocktails being thrown around in the Donkey's Flip Flop bar the night before. This wreck lived up to its name. The SS Excellent sank in 1880 after a collision. She measures 80m in length, weighs 1700 tons and is updie down and broken in three places making penetration easy. For safety she 
is roped through the centre of each section. At 28m to the bottom, this wreck is within reach of Advanced Open Water divers and is a real treat. The inside can get quite silty so watch your buoyancy. The final dive of the weekend was a site with 3 wrecks; the Arc de Jesus Christ, the Seamaster and the Barge. All 3 wrecks were easy to dive with a maximum depth of 26 metres. The wrecks are all
attached to each other by lines so navigation is easy even for the most geographically challenged. The final night saw the whole group plus a few additions sitting down to a slap up meal and wine at Solos in Casemate Square. On the sunday, the majority of the
group armed themselves with cameras and took the cable car to the rock before trekking
down the hill side for what looked like a gentle stroll. Take some advice and hire a taxi to give you the guided tour. The angle of the walk down plays havoc on all but the youngest knees and
joints. Gibraltar is without doubt an excellent destination for a weekend away. The diving is easy, with gentle currents, good
visibility and plenty to see and having fun in Gib is cheap, although the hotels are relatively expensive. We will be going again so watch this space.
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