Dahab 19 - 26 November 2006
.....well what can I say....the week certainly had its ups and downs. We
were met at the airport with the horrible news that one of the Poseidon
instructors had not returned from an extended range dive in the Blue Hole.
I guess many of the Dahab goers will remember ex-marine Mark Rogers. He was
around for the May 2005 holiday when I think he had just started DM-ing
dives, went on the Gabriel Bint trip in November 2005 and led a group of us
in May 2006.... and I think everyone would agree that he was a fantastic
guy, brilliant dive guide and instructor and its a crying shame that this
has happened...... needless to say those of us that knew him drank far too
much and those that didnt - got plastered too....
The rest of the week started to progress as normal with 
trips down 'South',
dives at 'Islands', Canyon and the normal local sites. Juergen, one of the
dive guides forgot his dive boots on one of the dives and had to purchase a
lovely pair of baby blue and orange booties from one of the local shops.
This set the trend for the rest of the week's mickey taking and jibes. Then
for a bit of a change a group of us made the trip over to Thistlegorm, and
another group went by Camel to some of the more remote sites. I can't speak
for the Camel trip (dont they really smell!) but the Thistlegorm trip was
fantastic. Brilliant viz compared to diving on wrecks in the UK (well it
couldnt be worse), loads to see and a quite a few larger fish including a massive grouper (though marine life is a little sparse due to the amount of
divers on the wreck). Being able to swim inside the wreck over racks of
motorbikes and jeeps is a little sureal - almost like a trip to the local
war museum and the two 
guns at the stern and the prop are awesome. We also
made a third dive on Yolanda Reef/ Shark Reef. The current was ripping
through but one group managed to get to the wreck - which was a struggle -
but we made it! Not much air left and a little too exhausted to look at the
odd toilet strewn around - but fun all the same. After diving we headed
back into Sharm and headed for Camel Club - well it would be rude not to
have a few bevvies!
The next day the holiday started to take its next twist in the tale. We
were all booked on the boat for Gabr el Bint, however several people couldnt
make it having spent the night being rather ill. The diving as usual at
Gabr el Bint was great - although the viz has been better, and most people
enjoyed the opportunity to lie about in between dives and sunbathe. Through
out the day some more people started feeling ill and by Saturday morning it
transpired that quite a few people had spent the night cuddling their
toilet. Still it didnt stop people doing a last day of diving and most
people managed to get out to the BBQ that night - and some did manage to
keep the Triton reputation intact and stay out drinking till 4am! Having
missed the opportunity to buy 
Juergen a lovely pink top and cowboy hat in
Sharm we thought we really should buy him a leaving gift. A lovely pink
belly dancing outfit was found and much as it was hilarious watching David
try it on to see if it would fit a man, unfortunately it wasnt really man
sized. A nice pair of pink trousers and a pink headscarf had to do!
All in all the holiday was everything you can expect from a trip to Dahab,
fantastic diving, relaxed atmosphere and lovely people. Thanks to the guys
at Poseidon for looking after us and enabling us to have a great weeks
holiday, especially under the circumstances. We're thinking of you and hope
to see you all again soon.
Gozo 1 - 8 October 2006
The holiday got of to a bit of an early start it has to be said. Emma and Ben deciding that they wanted to leave a day early. Well actuially they just got the date wrong but it was a bit of a shock when they turned up on the Saturday morning all raring to go. Infact, the fact that everyone got there was a bit of a miracle. I had the tickets but had a 20th reunion with some old army buddies in Chatham on the saturday night - and I had the tickets!. The plan was to have an early night and meet everyone else at the airport. The mobile was ringing constantly on the Sunday morning to make sure I was up! In addition, Gilly and Vince (last seen on the Philippines trip a few years ago) came back from Bermuda the night before, had a flying visit to relatives in Brighton and then made it back (complete with boogie board and bermudan tat) in time for Gozo. Gilly had picked up a stomach bug and was hurling into plassy bags on arrival. Mmm, nice! Still it all went according to plan and we arrived in Malta late afternoon. Our first experience of Maltese driving skills was a race to the ferry terminal and then a quick transfer to our accommodation, 3 rather lovely farmhouses, each with a pool and all the facilities we would need.
T
he following morning we were picked up early for the usual paperwork and kit routine before driving down to Hondoq for a shakedown dive. Nothing special but had to be done. Then it was around the corner for another shallow dive.
The following day was boat dive day and time to dive Comino Island. 38 dive tanks, 19 sets of gear, 21 people and a very small boat. The logistics were interesting but it worked. Dive 3 of the holiday and we were straight into our first cavern dive, with a lovely descent through a chimney and under the peninsula, iinto clear blue seas. Marine life was not brilliant, but the topography made up for it on every dive. During the whole week we were treated to wonderful swim throughs, arches and caverns on every dive.
There was a slight swell and we steamed round the corner for shelter and lunch so as to spare the fish the sight of Lou's breakfast! The afternoon was a long dive into the caves of Santa Maria, Zoro and .... the other one (name escapes me)!
Evening were taking a pretty familier pattern by this time - finish diving, wash kit, go to shop, buy alcohol, shower, sit by pool and drink alcohol, walk to restaurant, eat, drink more, order sambuka's and see how many different ways you can drink it .... and so on
The next day was a real treat. A bit of a drive to the inland sea, an inland "lake" fed by a crack in the rock (words fail, see the pictures). The deep blue going through the crack was incredible. On the far side in 30m we watched Tuna feeding on a bait ball - see there are fish in the med! After lunch it was over the other side of the jill to the famous blue hole. Getting in was a bit interesting, especially without bootees on, but it is a lovely dive and well worth the effort.
We
woke the following morning to dark skies and ominous looking storm clouds. The first dive site was a bit choppy to say the least, but we amused ourselves for a good 30 minutes watching some brave (or was it foolhardy) divers negotiate some precarious rocks and plunge into surf that was quite scary. The whole gang hung around on the off chance of a bit of carnage and splattering on the cliffs, but it didn't happen. With mutterings of "barking mad" and "you wouldn't get me doing that" ... etc etc we then went to the next site, climbed down loads of rickety and dangerous steps with heavy gear on and jumped into water which was absolutly teeming with nasty little jellyfish which gave a painful skin. And we thought they wer
e barking mad! If was worth the odd bit of pain though in order to get the chance to ascend into cathedral cave. The luminous blue was amazing and again well worth the effort. After the liberal application of hydrocortizone and antihystimean (all the medically trained members will now be correcting my spelling) we went for lunch and found ourselves in the middle of a huge storm. As tables and chairs floated down the middle of the road and the sea turned a rather muddy brown, we had a liesurely lunch ... then one beer ... then 2 beers ... and that was the diving over for the day!
With the coast of Gozo looking like the mouth of the Amazon after the whole population of Brazil had been to the toilet at the same time, we had no option but to jump on a boat again and head further afield for the last day. The first dive was the wreck of the Rosie in the harbour on Malta. Nice wreck, good visibility ... and some appalling divers from another boat. No more to be said there! Then it was back to Comino for Alexanders cave. The best bit was the cavern which you could ascend into a
t the end of the cave. Doh - you all missed it!! The last dive was in Crystal (yes I said crystal) Lagoon. The heavens opened once more with a deluge of huge proportions. As the droplets skimmed from Neals now rather painful but still shiney head, we descended into the blue .... then the green .... then the dark green ... and finally finishing with the muddy brown. It was a good dive, but the route back was more like Horsea as once again the run off from the land poured into the sea. Still, it was just like being in the Solent so everyone felt at home. And that was it for diving. That evening we took the dive team of Rich, Franco and Sharon out for a bit of nosh .... and even more Sambuka abuse.
For those of you who have not been I would thoroughly recommend Gozo. It is not expensive, easy to get to around a 2 hour flight, and has some great diving, especially if you like caverns and topography. Blue Waters Dive cove are a friendly bunch and very efficient and accommodating. Thanks to all the guys there for a great week.
St Vaast La Hougue - Normandy 19 - 25 August 2006
The Only Fools and Horses Tour (aka The Homage to Franglais Tour)
Day 1: Mange tout, mange tout Rodders ..... and une bootel de chardonay s'il vous plait .... you can just imagine what this trip was going to be like ....!
The week started off in Weymouth on the Friday night in the same style as every other dive holiday – in the local. After a huge meal in the George Inn we were forced out by the “band” and went to the pub next door .... to be met with the dulcit tones of the local karaoke. Things were going downhill. A 3 a.m start on the Saturday (well for the skipper and crew) saw us doing our first dive mid afternoon on the Strathalbyn off Cherbourg. What can I say – plus bonne viz, loads of poisson, and the stern and prop look awesome. It was also our first introduction to the prehestoric size of lobsters that are found on the wrecks. How do you say "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough" in true French voyou style. (That's franglais for hooligan Rodders). These things didn't even run away they were that big. First casualty of the trip was Martin's drysuit which decided to pop a few teeth in the zip and let in la Manche (English Channel) – one very wet suit. As the sewing kit and sealant came out we motored into St Vaast. Bonnet de Douche Rodders!!!
Day 2: Bonne nuit, bonne nuit Trigger ….plume de me tante.
Pretty bumpy weather didn’t put a stop to two excellent dives, one the LST523 still has Sherman tanks on it. Second casualty of the trip was Jeremy's suit which succcumbed to a fist being put through the neck seal. Martin continued to dive and deployed his lift bag in order to "self recover" himself from the seabed on more than one occasion. While we waited for the second dive we anchored up off Omaha Beach and watched ‘Saving Private Ryan’ – well you do don't you. The evenings were starting to follow a familiar pattern which involved copious amounts of cheap vin rouge de table and huge plats au fruit de mer Rodders. The franglais was getting worse and worse by this stage......
Day 3: Homage to Fromage....mon Dieu, surely une mistake?
After David’s arrival the night before (with a dry suit to replace the leaky zip one), work began on Jeremy’s neck seal. The patient survived the operation despite being worked upon in heavy seas. Unfortunately David’s own neck seal had other differing ideas on the concept of being dry and flooded the first time it was used. Really glad we brought the new suit ... ne pas Rodders. Anyway, the wet suit was on hand so he continued to plonge. Diving on the HMS Broadsword brought out the usual plethora of "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" imitations and was superb. 15m of visibility and shoals of fish that surpassed the solent by a long way. During a petit tete a tete we were discussing the new Pink Panther film (must have been the accents going around) it was mentioned that it was a homage to Peter Sellers. Does that come with biscuits someone piped up! That's fromage Rodders, fromage ..... you purlonker!
Day 4: Pot pouri Marlene, l'escargot avec pate fois gras ... Je suis impressed!
It was glorious weather and our luck with dry suits had turned and Jeremy’s neck seal, while looking like something from a 1960's Hammer horror movie, was holding out la Manche with true British grit ....mon Dieu!. We did another two fantastic dives one of 
which was a little like a visit to the local aquarium as two huge conger eels had managed to get trapped in a large lobster pot. A large amount of teeth and somewhat unsavoury temprement ensured that they would unfortunately remain in the said pot and probably end up as dejuener that evening. Our only satisfaction was the thought of the local homme de peche lifting them onto his ridiculously small boat and consequently being bitten on something soft and fleshy by a very very irate and rather hefty poisson! As usual the day ended with a night out on the town, and far too much vin de table. Ruth’s excuse for not being able to walk in a straight line was too much sun and the motion of the boat…. Steve and David in Uncle Albert style kept us entertained with tales of military life, bonnet la douche, bonnet la douche, although David was a little bemused at Steve’s description of ‘cracking one off’ when walking past senior ranks. Must mean something different in the Navy ....!
Day 5: Jois de vivre, Jois de vivre ..... nous sommes hungover ....
Headaches had subsided after second breakfast (being on the White Horse is a little like being a hobbit – you start with 1st breakfast of toast and cereal, then move on the 2nd breakfast of bacon, sausage and egg rolls, then lunch, then cake for afternoon tea, along with a constant supply of fruit and chocolate bars in between should you feel a little peckish). The first dive bought the next dry suit failure with another broken zip. This was feverishly repaired by Steve .... who simply put loads of sealant on it! Seem to work though if a little damp. To add interest to the dive Martin, who by this time had already forgotton his weight belt on 2 occasions I have to point out to the masses .....Rodders you numpty, decided to get a little too up close and personal with a net. Some consternation mais oui, mais oui. David also decided that it would be a good time to practice his bail out drills as water decided to enter the loop of his CCR for some strange reason. Moral ... dont put it together when you still have a bit of a headache from the night before. Another cracking couple of dives and no end to the number of wrecks that we still hadn't seen.
Day 6: Sacre Blue Del Boy......... that's une plus grande lobby
While it was lovely and sunny on land, we woke up to a bit of a gale at sea so we decided that it would be nice to see a bit of France and went off to Utah Beach and Sainte Mere Eglise. Oh mon oui, mon pleasure monsier Our organisation of the event was a little like the Jolly Boy’s outing to Margate - the episode where the coach driver got drunk, Denzil had to drive, the coach was burnt out due to a faulty radio and Rodders ended up in the nick for twatting a copper with a football ..... well something along those lines. Sur la tete son, sur la tete. It all worked out well in the end and everyone enjoyed seeing a bit more of France and the history behind the wrecks we had been diving. The last night in St Vaast was a little heavy on the old chardonnay…. in the haze there are recollections of playing with a dog in a cyber cafe without computers (our local haunt for the week) trying to get meat from a swimming crab ... sure it was not just for decoration Graham? and even more really terrible jokes from Martin aka Grandad. The crème de la menthe was when Ruth decided to go for a walk in St Vaast and deciding to use the bow hatch rather than the usual stairs. Finding the hatch was actually rather heavy, and managing to accidentally knock the blocks that hold it up from underneath the hatch, she found herself stuck and shouting for assitance to shipmates who were already inebriated from trop vin de table and incapable of climbing out of their bunks. Thankfully Graham and Martin were in slightly better shape and rescued the boat’s stricken female while at the same time suggesting that sleeping it off might be better than walking it off. Zoute Allors and all that!
Day 7: Lovely Jubbly.... bonjour St Vaast! (or is it au revoir?)
We left just after 9am and as the tides were not in our favour had to settle with a drift dive just off 
the coast from St Vaast. Some who felt a little ill after drinking till gone 3am found that the words discretion and valour sprang to mind all to easily and stayed in bed. Je suis je reste Del. The others enjoyed a nice little "head clearer" supposedly on a small reef. Steve and Martin came back with half a dozen plaice and tales of a rock reef, baby cuttlefish, and wonderful marine life, while David and Ruth surfaced after 20 minutes having grown bored of looking at sand and convinced that there was nothing to be found. Oh well, merde happens! The rest of the crossing back to Weymouth was in glorious sunshine with slight seas.
All in all it was a Lovely Jubbly week of diving and socializing. Everyone agreed that we’d love to do it again especially as there are still so many cosmic and cushty wrecks to be discovered. Great wrecks, loads of sea life, superb visibility, and good food and places to drink on shore at reasonable prices! doesn't get much better really. This really is a holiday suitable for Advanced Open Water divers while still having enough scope for technical divers due to size and interest value of the wrecks in the 30m range. To top it all the water is warm enough for a wet suits (good job really). Many thanks to Jon and Jake (skipper and mate) for helping us have a really triffic week; we hope to see you again. Fabrique en Belgique Rodders!
Dahab 21 - 28 March 2006 
We arrived in Dahab at about 9pm. We were all staying at the Coral Coast Hotel which is at the northern end of Dahab. The restaurant and grounds of the hotel are very nice and we spent quite a few evenings sat out on the terrace. However on the first night we headed straight for our normal stomping ground of Totas. All of us that had been before agreed that it felt like we'd never left. Everyone had a reasonably early night but we did find time to tease the fireman of our group who apparently doesn’t like heights although I think we’ll let him off for having a dislike of fire.
We took the first day nice and easy but I think from then on most people did three dives a day; so most evenings ended in a few quiet drinks because everyone was so tired. James gave everyone an astronomy lesson on the way home from Stone Ginger restaurant on the Monday, although I think he’d have gladly hit a few people over the head with a saucepan while they tried to find the pole star. On Tuesday we managed to squeeze three dives in somehow around several hours of playing Shark 
Top Trumps that ended in a Triton vs Poseidon duel with Debs finally beating Poseidon’s Mark (known after as Deb’s Bitch). Later we went to the fish restaurant where Jules announced to the staff that it was James’ 50th birthday (to appease James, for the record, he’s not that old!). After several renditions of Happy Birthday the staff said that they had a special dance for James and dragged him onto the dance floor. The boys got all excited, however the special danced involved a man and a stick. Jules feeling slightly guilty got up and joined in with James (blurry camera phone movies available on the request).
On the Thursday we went out in one of the boats to Gabr el Bint. We had three lovely dives including one on the pristine coral of Gabel Soraya. The sea was like a mill pond. So much so that as we ended the dives it was hard to see where the coral ended and met the surface because the reef was reflected so perfectly.
After three more dives on Friday, we ate in the restaurant - lovely food, which set us up nicely for the last three dives on Saturday. These were repetitions of our favourite dives; Canyon, Bells to Blue Hole and then Eel Gardens – but with a twist, we swam to Lighthouse – unfortunately against a bit of current, so it turned into a bit of a forced march led by ex-marine Mark form Poseidon. Well worth it though as an Eagle Ray swam past.
Saturday night’s BBQ was a quieter affair than usual, but we made up for it in Tota’s later. All in all another fantastic holiday even if Dahab is a little quieter than usual. Apart from shrapnel marks in the pavement there's not much evidence left of any bomb damage and everyone seems to be carrying on with life as usual. Many thanks to the Poseidon Team, I’m sure we’ll see you all again soon.
Tenerife 9 - 12 March 2006
After a very early start, myself (Ruth) and three other club members made it onto our flight from Stansted at 8:30am and finally arrived in Tenerife by lunch time. After what then became a reoccurring theme throughout the holiday of not being able to open half the doors in the apartment, we were soon settled in and sitting on the sea front in the sunshine, drinking – what else! The apartment was more than adequate for the average diving holiday; everything we needed in the kitchen, comfy lounge area with radio and TV, large patio with table and chairs and a balcony upstairs too.
Later that evening we did a speciality in Chinese Night Diving and had a 5 course meal for about £10 followed by some complimentary shots of something vile but in very ‘interesting’ shot glasses… We ended the evening in the local; the Dollar Bar, for a few drinks.
Friday morning brought with it some lovely weather and we were picked up from the apartment at 8.30 and taken the dive shop to meet the other divers and get kit together. There were 3 dives planned for the day all from Tenerife Scuba’s Rib; the Ocean Odyssey. The first was “The Steps” with shoals of Roncardores, red/grey parrotfish, sea slugs, fire worms and the odd stonefish. There was also the standard multitude of black
spiny urchins that you’d expect to find in the Canary Islands. We then went back to shore for lunch before heading back out to the second dive; Neptune’s Cave where we saw a large globe fish and a Ttorpedo Ray amongst others. By the end of this dive I think we’d all had far too much sun and seasickness was beginning to kick in. In true Chris fashion he threw up over the side, but I have to hand it to him, he still managed to do the third dive of the day with Craig while Gordon and I sloped off home to have a shower and some seasickness tablets!
On the Saturday we had a choice of dives for the first dive; the Meridian Wreck or a shallower fishy dive close by. Chris and I wanted to do the wreck dive, while Craig and Gordon went with the other divers on the boat to the other dive site. During our descent to the wreck we saw a Sting Ray and an Angel Shark on the sandy bottom before swimming a few metres over to the wreck. The wreck is supposedly one of the early whale watching boats and is a wooden hulled vessel with steel topside about 40m in length with the rigging and crows nest still intact. There are a few easy swim throughs through the bridge section, and while not covered in marine life, there is enough to keep the dive interesting including a large Grouper and a shoal of Sardine as we ascended through the rigging – all in all a very enjoyable dive.
The last dive of the day was “The Rays”. We all piled in off the side of the boat and started to descend. From the look on Craig’s face as he finned back to the surface; he was quite shocked to discover that diving isn’t possible on a snorkel. This is a great dive on a site where Sting Rays are used to being fed by divers so before the bag of sardines had come out; the rays (and sea bream, weaver fish and zebra bream) were all milling around waiting for food. For someone slightly squeamish of fish, it was still a great dive although I could be heard screaming 6 miles away when one of the rays got a little too up close and personal. There is also a small yacht to explore where there was a octopus and lots of moray eels.
For our last evening we went out with the owners of the dive centre and some of the other divers to a Tapas Bar. We had intended to go into Los Cristianos, but we must be getting old, and decided to just stagger to the local bar instead. Craig didn’t quite make it without incident though and had a small alcohol induced running accident.
All in all it was a very enjoyable break away with lots of sunshine and great diving. Many thanks to Chris, Sarah, Tony and Helen for a lovely long weekend, hope to see you all (and fellow divers Bill Watson and friends) again. More photos can be found in the gallery.
 |
||
 |
||