Stoney Cove for the weekend?

It seems some time since I have ventured to Stoney Cove and I am pleased to say that not a lot has changed. Reserved parking has made things a touch more bearable and at least it means a little longer in bed without the urgency to arrive quite so early. The water is still cold and the tea and bacon cobs are still very welcome. Over the weekend we had Dry Suit Specialty and Rescue Diver courses to complete and I took the opportunity to take the new camera housing to record proceedings.

So here is Gill, Divemaster in training descending down the line into the murky cold depths; how different from Marsa Alam earlier in the week.

Saturday got off to a fine start in terms of the diving with Steve doing a sterling job as surface cover while the remainder of family learnt how to dive in a dry suit. All went extremely well and the only leaking dry suit belonged to Kirstie which is not bad for an Instructor. Interspersed with Dry Suit instruction we got on with the nerve wracking task of rescue scenarios though it has to be said that Heidi with her veterinary experience stayed professional cool with all that was thrown her way.

On Sunday the pace was much calmer for the Orca team though Stoney Cove was as busy as I have seen it in ages and in the water it was a veritable diver soup. Still we managed to get out to see the tug, navigate to the bus and most impressive of all just beyond the block house where the visibility was reasonable we found two very impressive Pike. One of them allowed me to approach from the front and push away some of the weed to get a clear photograph. I think you will agree he is a handsome fellow though he was looking the wrong way as just behind him were a host of small bite size fish looking like very suitable Pike snacks.

As much as I prefer the warmth of Egypt this was a very enjoyable weekend in good company and well deserved congratulations to all those earning certifications and to Gill who has also started on the Dive Master course with a very impressive stamina tired diver tow. Finally a note of praise for Kirstie for running the weekend with precision and professionalism.

Marsa Alam

On 20th August my brother celebrated reaching 50 and I took off to Marsa Alam for a well earned break and some warm water diving with family in tow. Destination Marina Lodge and Emperor Divers. With Billie as my buddy for the week sadly the rebreather was left at home but given the choice I would rather be diving with my beautiful daughter who has developed a passion to match mine since qualifying in March.

As you may expect Marsa, which is tucked way down south in Egypt, is pretty hot at this time of year. I always feel like I am on my holidays when the blast of heat hits you as you step off the plane, No exception here then, as the temperature on arriving in the late afternoon was soaring past 40 degrees.

We were actually staying in Port Ghalib where I had last visited two years ago for the sole purpose of boarding a livaboard. Then the area was an embryonic building site that had very little to offer but promised to look good in the future. Because of this previous visit I had chosen the hotel only after asking a series of questions about it and the area especially as I had an 11 and 13 year old in tow.

There is no doubt now that I will have to review my questioning technique and listening skills because the hotel while, ideally located for dive boats, was not well located for anything else. Port Ghalib still offers a lot of future promise and the plans for development are stunning. The area where the Livaboards dock is largely finished however many shops are empty and at this time of year at least, it's all but deserted. Unfortunately the Marina Lodge is situated well away from the port area and is somewhat isolated and without a beach front. The hotel itself is fine with some great pools and friendly helpful Egyptian staff. The food is reasonable but even though not full there was evidence that the single restaurant was struggling to cope. More importantly I would say that the hotel really wasn't suited for children.

For divers it is a different story with the day boats moored right at the hotel and a selection of enticing local dive sites at close hand. As Billie and I waded through the mountainous paperwork on the first morning we both felt excited and eager to get in the water. We boarded MY Amy with dive guides Alan and Vicky and set off to do our shakedown dive at Marsa Mubarak. A great couple of dives followed during which we saw a range of the expected Red Sea critters and in particular a large number of puffer fish and stone fish. The water was bath warm and everything seemed right with the world which I could tell from Billie as she sung her way through both dives to a ditty from Sponge Bob Square Pants.

Alan and Vicky were both delightful despite the fact they were immanently returning to the UK and not looking forward to the change in weather having guided for a number of years. Alan was planning to qualify as a commercial diver and Vicky was soon to be a Geography teacher and I am sure that both will do exceptionally well.

Food on board Amy was extraordinarily good and it always amazes me what the boat cooks can turn out from such small galleys. In this case it has to be said the quality and presentation surpassed that of the hotel very easily.

During our first days diving we also got to select the additional diving activities that we were interested in for the remainder of the week. They included a trip to Abu Dabab to attempt to locate a Dugong, Elphinstone, Dolphin House, a night dive and a wreck all obviously at extra cost to the dive packages already paid for as is the Emperor way. We booked Abu Dabab especially because this was a beach dive and it meant the whole family could go. We also both went for the Night dive as Billie absolutely loved her previous experience. I chose to go to Elphinstone alone as from experience this can be a challenging site.

Elphinstone meant an early start the next day at 6am with breakfast on board MY Sea Dreams. Vicky was still with us but she was accompanied by a German dive Frau who provided an all too thorough and officious briefing in which we were told in no uncertain terms that if we dipped below 30m we would not be allowed to dive for the rest of the day. I buddied up with Stewart, a BSAC Dive leader and we jumped in to discover the current had been misread so suddenly the whole party was fighting hard to get round the north tip of the reef with a couple having to abandon the dive because of the effort. As I confidently swam off in search of the shark life my buddy also decided to abandon due to a painful stomach. So a 13 minutes dive ensued, no sharks and the potential for no more diving as my computer showed slightly deeper than 30m. But then again what our dive Frau doesn't know will not hurt her!

The second dive passed off without incident as Stewart and I took a gentle drift along the east side of the reef capturing numerous photographs but without spotting any pelagic life. On the way back to Port Ghalib the dive Frau informed me that Billie and I would be going to Abu Dabab in the morning but that there was no room for the rest of the family. Not at all impressed and left with no real option to cancel or rebook the trip Billie and I decided to go.

Abu Dabab is a lovely dive site set in a bay with a massive area of sea grass that attracts the local sea cow Dennis, though only in the afternoon and apparently not seen recently. Our first dive along the house reef was superb, a beautiful reef full of live gently sloping down to 20m. I have never seen so many pipe fish in one dive and Billie and I left the water satisfied and excited at the prospect of seeing a sea cow in the afternoon.

The second dive consisted of a hour long search for an elusive sea cow across the sea grass. We were rewarded with some very close encounters with several massive Turtles and Cuttlefish but Dennis proved to be an illusiorary distant blur. Still it was a lovely day with a great pizza for lunch.

The following morning I discovered that there had been a night dive that somehow nobody had felt appropriate to tell us about. Oh and there was not going to be another on this week. Billie was devastated as she had been looking forward to watching the Lion fish using her torch to hunt once again. While Billie lamented at poolside I took off on MY Amy for another day off great food and some high quality local diving for three dives. Well actually whilst they were all good dives this time with new buddies David and Martin the first was at the entrance to the Port and the first 40 minutes of the hour long dive consisted of wondering at the amount of dead coral clearly impacted by the local development. Strangely the better coral was closer to the port entrance at the end of the dive.

For our last day of diving we headed north towards Ras El Torfa where the topography of the reef was amazing but surprisingly the visibility was not gin clear as it had been all week. Once again we saw nothing big but the diving was nevertheless very enjoyable.

Over the week I experimented with my new camera housing taking in excess of 500 photographs several of which will now appear on the main site.

For those considering the Marina Lodge and Emperor I would say you could do better in the area. The week before we went Gary had been out in the same area with Ecodivers and seems to have had a better experience. Of course the diving was great and I wouldn't change that for the world but Emperor need to improve on this showing.

Try Dives at the Jamboree

On the very last day of the Essex International Jamboree I made it down to Frinton to get involved. This only seemed fair as Gary had pretty much worked flat out to make this whole week a roaring success. Gary had been on site fairly much non-stop as he set up the diving area from start to finish.

Building on previous experiences from last years mammoth event at Hylands Park Gary had made sure that the pools were set up and full of water, fenced off and safe and that the briefing/changing areas were all set up. This time we had two significant differences, firstly some of the scout leaders were camping in very close proximity to the pools which meant that even though there was a facility to top up and refill the pools with cleaner water at the end of each day Gary had to be very careful with what happened to water leaving the pool. Apart from one slightly soggy tent this worked well. Secondly whilst there were not quite so many people at the event at a mere 10,000 camping.................thats loads, more of them spoke English and we had committed to getting at least 80 participants through a day.

By the time I had turned up to lend a hand the weather had taken a turn for the worse and was very windy and the rest of the team had been running through experiences at an average of 180 per day. Now that is a daunting number and a big hats off to Mel, Andy and Kirstie who had already taken turns in the front line.

I decided to be brave and do my day in a 5mm and having been in the water for several hours I am not sure this was the best choice because it was very cold. Either that or I am turning into a wimp which is clearly equally as likely.

From the off the operation ran like a well oiled machine. All I needed to do was stay in the pool as group after group of eager people followed each other up the steps and into the water. Thankfully the scout leaders who were assisting us were taking care of the necessary paperwork and putting everybody into an Orca wetsuit. All that was left for Orca to do was a briefing and then set them up to take their first experiences breathing on scuba gear.

Everyone clearly had great fun and most of the participants seemed reluctant to get out of the pool even sometimes when they were evidently getting quite cold.

Once again I have found myself in great admiration for the scouting movement. I took the chance to look around the site during my brief lunch break and there is no doubt that this was an impressive event. But most of all I was impressed with the attitude and enthusiasm of all the scouting fraternity that I met.

None of this would have been possible without Gary who has done a great job for Orca and as a result will have also attracted a number of potential new divers to our sport.

Down to the Sea Again!

The time had eventually come and I decided that Billie should get her first experience of UK diving. So on Saturday last we set of to spend the night in Southampton before getting on the road again at 6am to head straight off to Swanage pier. Getting a twelve year old up at that time in the morning is always going to be a challenge but such is the lure of diving Billie managed this without a single whimper. Though it has to be said she was soon asleep in the car.



We managed to get to Swanage at just after 7am allowing us to secure a spot on the pier to park the car. At which point I awoke Billie for the second time so that we could go and get a very welcome bacon sarnie and nice hot cup of tea. Conditions didn't look great and there was a fair bit of mist in the air so I set about briefing Billie and making it very clear that this was going to be different to diving in the Red Sea.

This was to be only the second time that I had dived the Pier and I was hopeful that like the last time we would get lucky and see Cuttlefish.

Once the dive shop on the pier opened we went to investigate if they hired suits as the one I had borrowed for Billie was not quite a perfect fit. I was delighted to find Pat in the shop both very helpful and reassuring for Billie who had become a combination of excitement and nerves.

As high tide arrived we made our way into the water, Billie now very snug in a 7mm suit. Making our way under the Pier we were greeted by a plethora of life with fish darting everywhere. I also discovered that Billie had decided to clamp onto my arm like a limpet. She had realised very quickly that this was not the Red Sea and despite being snug, it was colder and darker, though actually not too much less lively or colourful. As we made our way to the end of the Pier we saw a lobster, an edible crab and an array of fish including a large shoal of Pollack. The various girders under the Pier were also covered in anemones and other sea weeds gently swaying in the swell. This is a truly pretty dive.

Once under the main Pier structure an engine started above us and sounded like severe thunder causing Billie to want to go up. Through signalling I quickly calmed her down and we carried on diving with the limpet like grip holding fast.

Back on dry land Billie told me how much she had enjoyed it whilst admitting that it was a bit different. She was eager to go again and I decided that we would go back under the Pier after lunch rather than go on a drift dive with Divers Down. I also pointed out that buddy diving did not mean holding on to me constantly.

After a pasty and Billie catching up on sleep in the car we got ready to go in again. This time Billie showed her true colours and dived like any hardened UK diver would in three metres visibility. Both of us spent a good hour under the Pier looking in all the crooks and crannies and finding an abundance of life including shrimp and a host of velvet swimming crabs.

Then just as we were making our way back I spotted a splendid Cuttlefish. We both stopped for a good five minutes watching as this beautiful creature moved effortlessly through the water waving its tentacles and paying us very little heed.

This time Billie fairly bounded out of the water; she had loved it!

To celebrate her first UK dives I decided to get a memento from Diver Down. I thought a beanie hat or something would suffice. In the shop Pat didn't have anything but after a moments thought rummaged in the back of the shop and came out with a Divers Down at Swanage Pier t-shirt that she presented to Billie. She was thrilled and has hardly taken it off since.

We had a great day and Billie will doubtless remember this for years to come. Pat and the team at Divers Down were superb and I am very impressed with their customer service. They can be assured that they will be seeing Billie and I again.

Plymouth and the Scylla

At last I have been back to Plymouth city of my birth and I couldn't resist the urge to call it my home town even though I can't recall a single thing about the short time that I actually stayed there as a babe in arms. Mind you there is something nostalgic about going back only a day away from your birthday.

Having arrived late on Friday night we met for a beer and a bite to eat on the Barbican. Very lively it was too with loads of Marines out in uniform to catch Kirstie's eye. To be fair they did look smart, just too damn young and fit. That said you have to admire and respect these guys and they certainly make me proud to be British.

On Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast at the B&B we met up at Aquanauts to be introduced to our no holds barred skipper, Doug. Before talking about the diving I am going to take the opportunity to make a totally unashamed plug for Aquanauts and Doug.

Our first encounter with Doug, on his well used and well equiped boat included a lot of shouting and abuse together with his observation that his bark was much worse than his bite. He went on to provide us with what must class as the most informative boat briefing I have heard this season. Within the briefing we were told of Dougs extensive diving experience with over 3000 dives and medic training. What became instantly clear was that Doug knows what he is doing and runs a well ordered operation, that he was there to help and make sure that we had a good time but most importantly our safety was in very capable hands. Doug was true to his word he proved to be a larger than life character that made our weekend run superbly well as he laced it with confidence in his abilities, plenty of good banter, good cups of tea and a great choice in biscuits. SO here is the plug "Go diving with Doug!"

Now back to the diving. Both dives on Saturday were magnificent and once again this year the weather conditions could not have been better. As much as I wanted to dive the Scylla I must admit I wasn't sure what I would think about this artificial wreck. But after five years in the water she is teeming with life and provides a fantastic dive. She is easy to penetrate and they have done a great job in making penetration safe; though a reel and a torch are essential and as you might expect I would re-iterate the mantra, not to be attempted without training. Inside there is plenty of room to manoeuvre but there is a reasonable amount of silt that is easy to kick up. The Scylla was deliberately sunk in March 2004 having been purchased by the National Marine Aquarium and frankly they have done a fantastic thing for all divers.

In terms of life the outside walls of the hull are teaming with anemones and sea squirts of a variety of colours (predominantly orange). A vast number of fish have also taken up residence both in and around the Scylla, including wrasse, pouting, bibs and pollack.

Our second dive was on The James Egan Layne. This is a completely different dive as she is now very broken up and covered in life. By contrast to the Scylla this was a pretty dive and very relaxing too. Not that I can say the same for our dynamic Dive Master duo Colin and Graham! To the right you can see them posing for the camera having just completed the dive and then helped themselves to all the biscuits.

I am told that the Layne is the most dived wreck in the world though I haven't verified that, personally I could quite happily repeat this dive many times over. Doug dropped us on the bows and as you descend this still intact part of the vessel it creates an awe inspiring silhouette towering from the sea bed. Finning down the port side past the point that the torpedo had struck this Liberty ship during the war the wreck opens up and would have been a photographers delight had my camera been operational. As we moved through the wreck and looked up the ships sides are now a cathedral like set of columns bathed in anemones and oatenpipe hydroids (tubularia). Inside the wreckage we saw a profusion of poor cod and bib. Large wrasse, swim and dart everywhere and we also managed to spot a couple of congers.

On Sunday we started a touch earlier but still managed to squeeze in a full English. Or at least Gill and I did as others succumbed to wimping out with limited breakfasts of egg on toast. Rather than go back to the Scylla which was a very tempting option, we chose to head off in the opposite direction and dive the Persier. The Persier was another victim of the second world war, this Belgian cargo ship is now a tangled mass of metal mostly flattened though the shape is still discernible. Doug got us straight on the boilers and once again we had a fantastic dive starting with having to almost fight our way through a massive shoal of bib.

Again the wreckage is teeming with life and of particular note was the covering of sea fans especially the rarer pink variety.

Our final dive of the weekend was a relaxing drift during which Kirstie tells me she saw two cuttlefish which she claims to have pointed out, I must have been in a world of my own looking under rocks for Lobsters because I entirely missed this.

Managing to get away from Plymouth just after lunch I headed off to Bristol ready for a weeks work very content with an excellent weekends diving and only slightly envious of Gill who made her way down to Dorset and the prospect of diving out of Swanage. Such is the benefit of being a Teacher and having longer holidays.

Once again my thanks to Doug and the fantastic staff at Aquanauts.......we will be back!