Trips

Trip Reports

WEYMOUTH 2008
May bank holiday weekend
Friday 2nd to Monday 5th May

I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for some detail on the annual Canterbury Divers jaunt to sunny Dorset, and after the lousy season we had last year I can’t blame you. Anyway the wait is over and to add insult to injury – I’m organising it (under the auspicious tutelage of our own beloved Dave C, of course!).

Costs are still to be confirmed but based on previous trips it will be around £40–50 for the weekends diving and then of course your travel, accommodation etc.

Accommodation will be the usual mix of the Aqua Hotel in Castletown and the fabulous caravan park just up the road. Most of us will make our way down on the Friday to get settled in.

The brief is to arrange a course of dives for our brand new - soon to be qualified – Ocean Divers breaking them in gently and building up experience over the weekend to include some of Portland’s iconic sites.

So the plan is:

Dive 1 Saturday Morning - Sandsfoot Castle Cove A gently sloping sandy beach. There is normally good viz and little or no tidal movement at this site and because it gently slopes away the further you go out the deeper it gets so students can acclimatize at their own pace.

Back to base at Castletown for lunch and to refill the cylinders – and then:

Dive 2 Saturday Afternoon - Balaclava Bay Another shore just outside the south breakwater of the Harbour. A well protected site from all but south easterly winds. Normally very calm and again little or no tidal movement and often excellent viz. If you head along the wall you will come across the well broken up remains of an old dredger in around 10m of water.

Refill the bottles, wash down the kit then wash down a bite to eat with half a shandy and turn in early (yeah right).

Dive 3 Sunday Morning - Countess of Erne A Canterbury Divers classic – great dive for novices building experience including diving from a boat (RHIB). The Countess is still in good shape standing upright and 7m high, depth to the bottom around 12m. She is often teeming with fish and other marine life and there are three holds to peer into. Again there is no real tidal movement and the last time I was there it was possible to watch the divers going in and out of her from the boat.

Refill bottles and tummies,

Dive 4 Sunday Afternoon - Bombardon Unit & Landing Craft Another 326 staple, these wrecks are so close together that it’s well possible to have a good look around both in the one dive. The dive conditions are very similar to the Countess and you can expect lots of marine life secreted in the wrecks nooks and crannies. The Bombardon unit in particular sits on the slope of the harbour wall and as such suffers much less from silting up and therefore viz is normally maintained.
Traditionally our trainees are joined by many of 326’s hardy ole sea dogs so as the plan is for shore dives on the Saturday those who aren’t training can take the boats and go of and do something a bit more adventurous so I’ll be looking for volunteers to sort something out for the ‘Big Boys’ and Girls – sorry.

There will also be the opportunity for a dive on the Monday morning before heading home in front of the worst of the bank holiday traffic. Anyone fancy taking that on!

A full information pack is in production and will be available to those who book very soon.

In the meantime if you have any questions please come and talk to me at the pool or drop me an e-mail.

Jason Armstrong

The 'Mussels in Brussels' trip to Nemo 33 - 16th February 2008 The plan is to take the 07.15am Eurostar from Ebbsfleet to Brussels, dive for an hour at Nemo 33 and then go and have a nice meal with some quaffable drinks - ooo.... and some chocolate. Nemo 33 website See Clive or Debs for more details/book.

Nemo 33 is a recreational diving center in Uccle, Belgium near Brussels that is home to the world's deepest swimming pool. The pool itself consists of a submerged structure with flat platforms at various depth levels. The pool has two large flat-bottomed areas at depth levels of 5 m and 10 m, and a large circular pit descending to a depth of 33 m. It is filled with 2,500,000 liters of non-chlorinated, highly filtered spring water maintained at 30 °C and contains several simulated underwater caves at the 10 m depth level. There are numerous underwater windows that allow outside visitors to look into the pools at various depths. The complex was designed by Belgian diving expert John Beernaerts as a multi-purpose diving instruction, recreational, and film production facility, and opened in 2004.

You can take only a few items of your own dive kit (computer, mask, pool fins and small camera) but no BCD, fins that require boots, regulators (unless they have an integrated air linked to your computer - but no DIN fittings at all). torches, etc.

HOW DOES IT WORK ? 

 Divers have to be present with all necessary documentation one hour before the intended time of dive.

• Access to the changing rooms will be opened at a quarter to the hour.

• On the hour, access to the pool will be opened for swimming/snorkelling (except in the 35m pit and the caves).

• At a quarter past the hour, tanks will be fitted by each diver with a jacket of adequate size and a regulator.

• Total divetime will be 45 minutes max.

• The 35m pit will close at a quarter to the hour: divers who happen to be in the pit at that time will start ascending to the 10m zone.Divers are responsible for planning their dive, no decompression limits, safety stops, etc. ...as to be at the foot of the metallic staircase on the hour sharp.

• Each diver is responsible for his own safety and his/her buddy's safety.

• Applicable rules are modelled on existing and widely known diving recommendations, plus some specific NEMO33 rules.

  DIVING GEAR 

• Nemo 33 wishes to keep the water in its pristine condition all year long.

• All diving gear is freely available by the pool. It is always included in the price of the dive.

• Customers use the high quality equipment provided by Nemo33 partner aqualung.

• You will find here some answers to any questions regarding diving gear.