Welcome to the July 2002 edition of the newsletter
We are now getting into the swing of it all and the club trips are coming up thick and fast, so if you’re still thinking about which trip to come on then you’d better think fast.
CLUB TRIPS
Scapa Flow Club trip 30th Aug - 7th Sept 02
A brief outline of Scapa
As mentioned at the last club meeting and in the newsletter, all divers will need to be Rescue diver or higher due to the level of diving involved. There will be a Rescue course running in July before the trip. All those that have experienced this dive location will already now what a high quality dive trip this is. For those of you that have not experienced Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, it is a must. The Flow is famous for being the Royal Navy's safe anchorage for 200 years or more. During this period (which ended in the seventies) there happened to be a First World War. At the end of this war the entire German Imperial North Seas fleet was interned there to stop any further hostilities starting. In June 1919 the Admiral in charge of this fleet mistakenly thought Germany was going back to war, and to stop the allies confiscating his ships and using them against his fellow countrymen, decided the only option was to scuttle the fleet, which he did, (good bloke). The ships that remain (which are in excellent condition) consist of Battleships, Cruisers, Torpedo boats and more, not to mention all the block ships. This is clearly primarily a wreck trip, but having said that there is an abundance of life around these wrecks, including some very tasty scallops and crabs just waiting to give themselves up for the sake of our plates. So if you are not sure about any point of this trip, ask someone who has been before, you will not be disappointed.
Mini bus.
The mini bus is a 17 seater, carrying twelve people and their respective equipment and hand luggage. The mini bus, crewed by that awfully nice chap Cliff, will be leaving for the first leg of the journey at 10.00 am prompt from the Dive Centre. That is to say all dive kit, luggage, and all giggly excited holiday trippers must be loaded and ready to go by that time.
The journey from Cambridge to Pitlochry in Scotland, where we will be staying Friday night, will take around 9 hours travelling time. Coffee and comfort (pee) breaks need to be added to the time.
Dive equipment / Luggage
All dive equipment will need to be packed into a dive bag of sorts, no loose items please. Weights and cylinders are supplied by the Orkney dive centre, so no cylinders (apart from twin sets and ponies) are to be taken.
Your evening clothes do not need to be elaborate as it is simply a divers accommodation and not a Hilton styled hotel. Due to the lack of space in the mini bus, we must insist you keep your non diving wear to a bare minimum, a small holdall, that you could place under your seat would be fine. Any extras could be packed into your dive bag. If you have a dry suit bag please use it, as it will make life so much easier when packing. This is for all our comfort whilst travelling the long distance. Please think hard about what dive equipment you need to take, as no spare equipment is being taken by ourselves.
Pitlochry B&B
The accommodation booked for the Friday night, en route to the Orkneys is in the beautiful town of Pitlochry, renowned for the Salmon ladder, which allows most of these very tasty creatures to bypass the Hydro Electric plant. Also a few very pleasant hostelries to visit
Breakfast will be at around 7 00 am, thus enabling us to continue the journey Scrabster where we will be boarding the ferry to the Orkneys. This part of the journey will take around 5 hours to complete, plus any stops en route. The scenery on this leg of our journey is absolutely spectacular, with much of the journey being through the mountains and along the sea cliffs.
Ferry, Scrabster Scotland. to Stromness Orkney Isles.
We expect to be at Scrabster at around 3pm. This will give us all a chance to stretch our legs, and to enjoy a beverage or two, (excluding drivers of course) in the Seaman's Mission, or a least that's what it resembles, before boarding the ferry at 5.15pm, leaving at 5.45. The ferry Journey takes around 2 hours to reach Stromness. It can get, on occasions, a little rough across this part of the sea, so if you do suffer from sea sickness, a tablet might be in order.
Accommodation, Sands Motel Burry.. Orkney Isles.
The accommodation comprises 2 apartments, each with 3 twin rooms, 2 bathrooms lounge, kitchen/diner, and drying facilities for your diving equipment below the apartments. It is self catering, so it would be wise to take some coffee or tea, milk, and breakfast food, as by the time we arrive at the motel on Saturday night (approx 9.45pm) the local mini market/Post office will be closed. The Motel offers restaurant food, and a very handy bar below the accommodation, ask Graham for details
Diving Boats
There will be 12 on one boat. Dive buddies can be sorted out once on the boats on the first day, unless previously arranged of course. Oxygen is carried by the boat in the unlikely event of an emergency All cylinders on the boat are oxygen compatible, so if you are nitrox qualified, then you can get a nitrox fill, the rest will be 21 %. It is advisable to take some sort of very warm coat and woolly hat onto the boat, as it can get chilly whilst on the Flow.
The boats pick us up from the pier/jetty, which is about 20 metres from the accommodation, another slice of perfection. We will go out onto the Flow, as it is known, to any dive site we wish, within our depth range of course. The next days dive would have to be agreed on the night before. We would suggest that the first days diving be reasonably shallow, around 20 - 25 metres, enabling us all to get our equipment needs sorted out, and to familiarise ourselves with the local conditions. We have six days diving in all. Sunday to Saturday. However if anybody wishes to take a day of in the middle, Wednesday perhaps, then we can take a look at the Orkneys above the water line.
There are many sights on the Islands, including Skara Brae, a stone age settlement. The Ring of Brogburgh, similar to Stonehenge, and The Tomb of the White Eagles, ancient burial mounds, well worth a visit, if only for the comical presentation of the landowners daughter, see Richard, Cliff or Gwyneth for more details. We should be able, on a daily basis, visit a different port for lunch. We will arrive back at the Motel at around 5pm each day, just in time for perhaps a gin and tonic before showering and dinner.
Return journey home
The return boat leaves Stromness at 8.45 am on the 5th June. We must be away from the Sands motel by 7am. The journey home will be completed in one leg Leaving Scrabster at 11am; we should arrive back in Cambridge approximately midnight. Consolation being we have Sunday to sort ourselves out.
Please note that due to a rise in the accomodation prices at Scapa the trip price has been increased slightly to £394.
FEATURE ARTICLES BY CLUB MEMBERS
Malta 2002 by Richard
Malta 2002 started much the same as any foreign trip, with long queue’s at the airport, however this trip seemed to have us all queuing somewhere we were not used to queuing, THE EXCESS BAGGAGE COUNTER. Never before have we ever had to pay extra to get the dive gear put on the plane but this time 90% of us ended up with a little extra to pay the nice people at Airtours, never mind.
We arrived in Malta to the pleasant sight of blue skies and hot sunshine, which was a welcome change from what we had just left behind in the UK, torrential rain and thunderstorms.
After a quick look at the apartments, it was off to the Dive Centre to collect the weights and cylinders for the first dive of the trip. We had only been in the country 2 hours but that was no reason for our dive guide for the week (or Jason Paige as we call him when in the pub) to think that we would want time to get over the long 3 hour flight, oh no, instead it was straight to the dive site and kitted ready for the first dive.
5mm suits and 10 litre cylinders were the order of the day and after 2 years without diving in sunnier climes, you can only imagine how pleasant it was to jump in and start the trip with 30mtr viz. Now although this dive was only put in to give everyone the chance to adjust weighting and prepare for the real start the next day, it was clear to all that we were to be in for some pretty fantastic diving. After all it’s not many trips that start with a quick drop down to 25m to see the Virgin Mary in all her splendour praying for us in a small cavern, or was I just narked.
The next morning we were up bright and early (some of us less bright than others after a late night in town) to go to first proper dive of the trip, a wreck in 35m called The Rozie.
Now I love diving in Britain but there is something special about diving in warmer water with 40m viz on an intact, upright wreck, and this was no exception. As the wreck came into proper view on the quick descent down the shot line, a smile came over the faces of the entire group as it began to dawn on us what a great weeks diving we were going to have. After a quick lunch we made our way round to the next dive site, officially named Anchor Bay. Unfortunately we didn’t get to hear the unofficial name of the site until it was too late, however that would only have put us off doing what turned out to be a spectacular cave in 12m of waters leading to an area in the cave we could surface into a large enclosed area looking like the inside of Cheddar Caves.
(For the record and not to put anyone off diving this site in the future the unofficial name is Sewer Pipe Bay)
As the week progressed everyone got used to the way Jason had organised the diving, some mornings we got a lay in and others we were up bright and early ready for the day’s activities. Even on the day off, most of the group decided to go and dive some more, which can only be testament to what was on offer. Either that or not everyone believed or cared how England progressed in the World Cup, and after watching the game I was starting to think that I’d made the wrong choice, but the great thing with Malta is that there is always plenty to do.
Some lazed around the pool whilst the rest of us went and hired the Jet bikes in the bay, but whatever you decided it was always going to be fun.
Wrecks such as the Um El Faroud were as spectacular as they sounded, with plenty of opportunities for the qualified wreckies amongst us to explore the hidden delights, but everyone, regardless of experience or certification level could respect the fact that the viz was excellent and the sea conditions nigh on perfection.
Saturday saw us up early for the ferry crossing to Gozo, the sister island to Malta, for a days diving on this spectacular island. One of the best scenic dives, the Blue Hole, laid before us and we weren’t to be disappointed. Diving done to around 35m we saw so much scenery and fantastic caverns that you really could have stayed and dived here all day, but before long it was time to move on.
On the last day we dived the impressive 42m wreck The Imperial Eagle and this was the place that those on the Wreck speciality course finally got to penetrate a wreck and put into practice all that they had learned during the week. Well done to all those who completed the course and all those who completed any course during the week, including Ron, who became an Advanced Diver earlier on in the week and completed the wreck speciality on the last day.
As with all trips though, we had no sooner started to get into a rhythm, when it was time to pack our bags and head back to the airport for the short journey back to the UK. It only remains for me to thank Jason for the guiding, Dallas for keeping me in the pub every night and Keith for some of the most entertaining stories…EVER !! Pictures available on the new Club Photo Album page.
Our Malta Experience.... by Clive and Amanda
The trip nearly started badly with some of us trying to miss the plane, but everyone made it. After an uneventful flight and transfer to Melleiha Bay the drivers for the minibuses were quickly sorted and the apartments were allocated almost as Richard had planned.
On arrival at Aquaventure (the dive operation we were using) it was nice to see that everyone had brought their medicals (some people still owe Sam a beer or two for quickly signing theirs). Then it was sort out weights and kit boxes and load up the vans with cylinders, kit & divers to finally get in the water for a shakedown dive. It was soon obvious who were the newer divers.
The routine of getting the cylinders into one van with some of the kit and a few us divers (one of the larger minibuses had a fold down rear seat) with the remainder shared out in the other two was very quickly established.
By the end of the week the newer divers were a lot more confident (and quicker) and the diving was a lot smoother with everyone ready at about the same time. There were a few hitches along the way with a magical weight belt that could disappear before a dive and reappear after the dive was completed. A bcd that hid whilst the van was being loaded for a night dive, but when the owner went back for it had stopped hiding and still made it back in time for the dive (amazing how quickly some people can get their kit together when required).
The least qualified diver on the trip did some very interesting giant stride entries over the course of the week. On the boat trip to Comino, after another giant stride entry, one of our new divemaster's give a demonstration quality entry (I think that he must have watched too much Red Dwarf based on the way that the hand gestures were emphasised).
A big thank you goes out to those who wanted to watch the football on Friday as six experienced divers got the chance to dive the Xlendi, a car ferry lying upside down at 40m with a tricky entry exit point. This is a very good dive and the wreck ferrets were surprised that there were even the light fittings still in place making it the most intact wreck they have dived.
Jason was very disappointed spending Saturday night playing pool at the local ‘youth club’ because he had arranged with his old colleagues to have a night out at Paceville (where the hottest clubs, bars etc. are in Malta). The following night some of us went out for a meal and ended up parking in Paceville and on leaving had to drive round twice because the men wanted to have a better look at the women on their night out. It was decided that Malta is to men what Italy is to women (hehehehe!!!!).
Some of us did some sightseeing of the main sights of Malta including Valletta, Mosta (with the fourth largest unsupported dome in Europe) and Mdina the old capital of Malta which is an old walled town which is known as the quiet city. It was amazing to see a girl flashing her chest off whilst walking round here!!
The Maltese diving is a mixture of wrecks and reefs with a fair number of caverns thrown in for good measure. Only a couple of the dives were shallower than 20m with most of them in the 25 – 35m range making it essential that all divers are advanced divers and preferably qualified above this level. Malta does not offer much diving opportunities for open water divers.
I would like to thank Jason for organising the diving on this trip, it was amazing even if the viz was slightly less than last year due to the bloom. We were only getting about 20m instead of the normal 30+.
As ever on a club trip it is amazing what you learn about the others, including someone’s sexual preferences which got some people worried because they were sharing the same apartment. I do think that the best porn star name has got to go to fluffy (I can’t remember what his surname is).
We even had Sam Foxy, the food & wine critic from UK Food, with us on one night out (the poor waitress even took his autograph). We also had an author of a book on Maltese diving with us on another night – how gullible are the locals?
We also played blind date in the restaurant. Our male contestant was struggling to think of some questions, but 2 questions were thought of for him and one of the 2 contestants gave extreme answers and the other was a little more subdued. We also got the waitress to answer one of the questions, but then found out that she already had a date for the next night (pity as she was definitely the best bet). After much deliberation our chooser could not make up his mind and the suggestion was made that he should choose them both, not that he seemed overly keen on the idea. Pictures available on the new Club Photo Album page.
TRAINING AND OTHER INFORMATION
A quick note on specialities
As everyone that went to Malta quickly found out, you just cannot beat the experience of Wreck diving when you are able to safely enter a wreck and enjoy the all of the great sights an intact wreck can offer. As mentioned in earlier newsletters we are now able to run specialities every month and with the summer just around the corner (I mean the hot bit) what better time is there to think about stating one. Give us a call at the shop if you are interested in any speciality offered by PADI.
Portland in August
Just a quick note to let you know that we have scheduled to complete the August Open Water Diver course, down on the south coast in Portland.
In the right conditions this can be one of the best places to dive in the UK, so if you want to join us then please get in touch at the shop.
CDWC BUDDY LINE
Ever wanted to contact someone in the club and not known their email or phone number ? Introducing the CDWC Buddy Line. Here you can add your email and phone details so that other members of the club know how to contact you. Don't worry about security - the page with the details is protected with a password so that only other club members can see it. The password will be announced at the club meeting and will be emailed to everyone who has alreeady sent their email to Paul.
Go to the Buddy Line login page.
Final note on next months BBQ
As ever, we are readying ourselves for the 6th annual club BBQ. We are of course very weather dependant. That means that we have to make the final decision the day before due to the amount of food we have to buy and the fact that we cannot, no matter how hard we try, make it last a week let alone a month. So please make a note in your diaries and be prepared to be a bit flexible. Having said that we have always been very lucky with the weather, last year being the exception, and everyone is welcome. Partners, children, even Dallas and Mush.
We are lighting the BBQ at 6.30pm which means food will be ready for 7.30pm, so arrive as early as possible and don’t forget to bring a bottle or two.
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