Sunday 31 August 2008

THE UNDERWATER CHANNEL.TV - LAUNCH DAY




LAUNCH DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED 01/09/08
Click the following link:- http://www.theunderwaterchannel.tv/

COVENTRY CLUB - WEEKEND DIVING WITH NEWHAVEN SCUBA CENTRE



Newhaven - August 2008- Shopping & Scuba Trip!!


As a club our diving requirements are pretty basic, a boat, a skipper and willing divers.
Well - in the instance of this weekend, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Out of 12 divers who made the pilgrimage from the centre of the country to the outland known as ‘Newhaven Scuba centre’ only 4 were willing to force ‘Richard’ into skippering the club RIB out into the gentle force 5 that blew steadily from the South West.
The remainder of the party electing to ‘go shopping in Brighton’. (Mostly females I hasten to add!!)

Once the 4 of us had loaded the boat we headed out to the harbour entrance, amongst regular requests from ‘Richard’ of “are you sure you want to go boys?” and “I’m not sure how good the viz will be”. We naturally assured him by repeatedly singing such well loved classics as, “rolling along on the crest of the wave”, “two little boys”, “Hernando’s hideaway” and “trail of the lonesome pine”, until we arrived at the dive site (City of Brisbane). All the while ‘Richard’ was noticed at regular intervals shaking his head while repeating almost under his breath, “They are mental”.

Once the wreck was shotted (right by the boilers we discovered) we kitted up and ‘went for it!’ At the bottom, the wreck was perfect 5-8 mtrs viz AND loads of fish.

The trip back to port was uneventful, other than a repeat of the repertoire on the way out, but with the addition of the theme from Hawaii five-o, as we were now riding the rollers like a surfboard. With ‘Richard’ once again repeating his repertoire while shaking his head.

After we had beached for an hour to fill bottles, we attempted to con, sorry tempt ‘Richard’ to take us back out. He made up some excuse about “deteriorating conditions” and a “worsening front” he even got one of his chums to put out a coastguard gale warning on the transistor radio on the boat. We graciously accepted the compromise and proceeded to get totally “wrecked” in the nearest hostelry.

The following day the weather had worsened. ‘Richard’ escorted us to the harbour wall where some of his co-horts were observed throwing large buckets of water over the wall from the south west; at this we were reluctantly Coventry bound.


YOU DON’T FOOL US THAT EASILY RICHARD
WE WILL RETURN
HAR! HAR! HAR!

WRITTEN BY: - VERNON

Thursday 28 August 2008

THE UNDERWATER CHANNEL TV






Launch day is nearly here..............
It's the final countdown...
Click the following link for more info:-http://www.theunderwaterchannel.tv/

Monday 25 August 2008

BANK HOLIDAY BBQ - MONDAY 25TH AUGUST 2008 WITH THE BUDDIES AND MacD DIVERS

BANK HOLIDAY BBQ

Wow, another great turn out, on yet another miserable Bank Holiday Monday.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with all the preparation and a special thank you to head chef Jordan who done all the cooking.

Sunday 24 August 2008

PADI EMERGENCY OXYGEN COURSE



A couple of photos taken from the 'New' Padi Emergency Oxygen Use course held today.

Margarett will be running this course over the winter months if you wish to do this speciality - also, for anyone who wishes to teach this course, the Instructor Course is scheduled for October.

For more information on this course call the dive centre or leave a comment on the blog.

Saturday 23 August 2008

RED SEA TO BE PLASTIC BAG FREE BY JANUARY 2009


HEPCA is working with the Governor of the Red Sea, to support his decree that the Red Sea will be the first plastic bag free Governorate in Egypt with effect from 1st January 2009.

This decree represents a considerable step forward in tackling the many issues caused by excess rubbish and in particular plastic bags in the Red Sea environment. Plastic bags pose a massive hazard to birds, turtles, dolphins and other marine creatures that are killed in alarming numbers each year after swallowing or becoming entangled in plastic bags blown out to sea.

Turtles easily mistake plastic bags for yummy jellyfish. Once in the stomach, the indigestible plastic wraps itself around the intestines of the creature and it slowly starves to death. This year, HEPCA has seen an increase in the number of dead turtles washed up on the shores of the Red Sea. Plastic bags and other rubbish are undoubtedly to blame in many cases.

Typically plastic bags are used for only 20 minutes before being thrown out; but they will each take up to 1,000 years to rot away. During their long decay millions of bags litter and pollute our streets, the desert, and are blown out to sea where they become a toxic plastic soup that threatens the existence of marine and wild life.

The Red Sea campaign follows many high profile campaigns in Europe to limit this most damaging form of pollution.

HEPCA will be working alongside the Governorate to suggest practical solutions and alternatives for plastic bags. As part of the campaign in support of this decree we will also be undertaking education initiatives and lobbying activities.

Thursday 7 August 2008

'FIZZING' SHALL NO LONGER BE........



As alot of you may already be aware that Richard has had a huge offer that he could not refuse for 'Fizzing' - but in due course he will be buying a new and much larger and better RIB. In the meantime, this seasons diving is to continue as normal, as MacD have offered to help us out in the interim and Richard will be involved in the driving and running of MacD.

NEWHAVEN TOWN COUNCIL - PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING THE RE-OPENING OF THE WEST BEACH


If possible could as many of you go to the above meeting to show your support for the Town Council's plans to apply for "Village Green" status for the beach and get the beach re-opened to the public.

For those who are not able to make the meeting, the link below provides the form which you will need to print out, fill in and return to the address on the form, or failing that, pop into the dive centre and fill one out.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

PORTLAND/WEYMOUTH - 16TH -17TH AUGUST 2008

Sue is planning a diving weekend to Portland on 16th & 17th August, I know its short notice and at present there are four of them going (with partners) so far.

Glenn
Richard G
Suet
Richard H

The four of them (Plus Partners, Mum & Zak) are intending to drive to Sea Barn Farm on Friday 15th to pitch their tents/accommodation, they will then, be hopefully doing two dives on both Saturday & Sunday, a wreck & drift on each day - details to be confirmed by Julian Whyte using either Indie or Storm Force

So guys & girls there is room for 8 more on the RIB, let Sue know or contact NSC if you are interested – however, you will be responsible for booking your own accommodation/pitch.

http://www.seabarnfarm.co.uk/

Sea Barn Farm
Fleet
Weymouth
Dorset
DT3 4ED
Telephone: 01305 782218


http://royalbreakwaterhotel.com/

The Royal Breakwater Hotel
Castletown
Portland
Dorset
Telephone 01305 820476

Tuesday 5 August 2008

BIG JELLYFISH SPOTTED FROM FIZZING - 27TH JULY 2008

WRITTEN BY SUE

There we were just minding our own business having dropped Aqua Element divers in for their second dive of the day, a drift off ‘Old Noor’ (They had earlier had a cracking dive on the TR Thompson) and out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of what I thought was a large plastic bag.

On further investigation it was a little more than a carrier bag. It was the biggest jellyfish I’ve seen so far in British waters, it remained near the surface for some time, this enabled us to get a good look at it. Back at the Centre, a search on the internet identified it as:

Rhizostoma octopus (=R. pulmo) Common names not often used include: Barrel Jellyfish, Football Jellyfish, Root-mouthed Jellyfish.