Hellfins July NewsletterIn this months issue:
WELCOME NEW MEMBERSWelcome to Hellfins Sean and Matthew! Sean Henry and Matthew Bland have joined the merry band and already made friends down the pool and pub. Glad to have you with us guys. BSAC EUROPEAN WEEKENDKiel (Germany) August 31/September 1 2002 This year's BSAC European weekend will be hosted by the Adventure Training and Sailing Centre/British Yacht Club in Kiel (ASTC/BKYC), Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The dives will be planned nearer the time and will be from boats. These will be suitable for novices but this is, as last year, intended to be a pleasure weekend and not for training. General range will be 15-25m (max). It is anticipated that costs will be minimal, accommodation will be available from the Friday night. Meals will be provided at a SMALL charge. If there is enough interest then we will consider hiring a hard boat. There are RIBs on site, any hard boat costs will be kept low. As time is running short, we will need names of those interested in coming no later than 19.07.2002. Contact Phil (Philip.clifton@london.entoil.com) if you're interested. Accommodation will be free of charge, these are shared rooms, there is a bed/mattress. Sleeping bags/pillows will be required as will identity cards. An air compressor is available on site free of charge. RIB UPDATEThe last couple of weekends have been spent bringing the boat back up to scratch after the failure of most of the electronics, (well the radio hasn't worked for at least a year. We now have a fully functioning radio with easy controls and it is waterproof. The fish finder/echo sound has also been replaced after the last head unit failed due to water ingress. The new unit is simpler to use and should provide better detail for finding those elusive wrecks. I will place photocopies of the user guides for both in the marshalls briefcase - please ensure your familiarise yourselves with both before taking the boat out. We also spent a lot of time powerwashing, scrubbing and ulimately sanding the hull of the boat to clean the weed and barnacles before putting on three coats of antifouling to prevent it all growing again. Many thanks to Mike W, Richard Thrale, Sid , Sally and especially Phil (for making the sandwiches and forgetting to put the bung back in!) for making it all happen. We'd like to see some of the newer members get more involved with looking after the boat, even if its one day a year, so lets have a few more volunteers for the next job! Mike is due to take Martha out next w/e after which she will require a 10 hour engine service, this is an important service not just to keep the warranty up but also because a lot of nuts and bolts get retightened that may have come loose during the first 10 hours. This must be done before the rib is used again after Mikes trip. So come on and VOLUNTEER!, since I no longer have a tow bar on my car I need somebody who can tow the boat to the yard and somebody who can go down with them to recover the boat onto the trailer - I am happy to co-ordinate this and to book the service but it needs two people to go and actually do the work! Volunteers please contact Nigel (Nigel.G.Catterall@stasco.com) PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!Now is the time to get those party tickets! It's going to be a good one! The food, the prizes, the cool new T-Shirts and, not to be missed, the fabulous Auction. Catch Nicky or Ian one Wednesday night or drop Nicky an email (nicky@hellfins.com) and she'll pop one in the post. Got any unwanted bits of dive kit? Drop them off with Nicky or Ian to donate them to the auction. The party will be at the Slug and Lettuce on 9th. There's a map on the website: www.hellfins.com/summerparty. ONE PLACE ON STORM TRIPWe have one space left for July 20/21st for the club's annual two day diving trip on the Storm, in Plymouth. Nic Oatridge, Ian Dorward, Nicky Deely, Jo Crook, Kevin Latham, Mike Wilkinson, Sophie Rennie, Mary Ball and Richard Thrale are going and have booked rooms at the pub in Turnchaple for the Friday and Saturday night. For those who haven't been on this boat before, the skipper is friendly (unlike so many UK hard boat skippers) and experienced and Plymouth is a UK diving Mecca, with a varied selection of wrecks (such as the Persier and the James Egan Layne) and scenic sites (such as the Eddystone Rocks). Costs will be in the order of £60 for two days diving plus £3.50 per day for packed lunches. You'll need two cylinders and you can hire extra cylinders locally. Let Richard (richard_thrale@hotmail.com) know if you're interested (including details of your current diving grade). TRIP TO GOZOAt the dive calendar meeting earlier this year a trip to Gozo was one of the options. We would now like to assess if there is any serious interest in the trip prior to making a booking. Diving - Gozo is typical Mediterranean diving. The water will be very warm in October (3 mm wetsuits adequate for the young and tough, 5mm wetsuit for the old and feeble e.g. me). Water will have 50m+ visibility, spectacular scenery, drop-offs and caves. It will lack a lot of sea life and wrecks. Activities - We could combine the diving with getting qualifications whatever is required from the club members (instructor numbers allowing). We would be based at Calypso dive school and so we could always get instruction from them as well (this would be at a cost but they would be available). Weather - Generally the weather is very warm and comfortable in October, I have been there for the last 3 years in October and on average only get one bad day. Even then you just drive across the island so we are sheltered from the prevailing wind. Cost - Costs are a mixed bag flights are relatively expensive (cheap airlines like Go do not fly to Malta). There are 3 choices: Saturday to Saturday we are looking at about £300 for return flights going during the day, rather than at night. Sunday to Sunday we are looking at about £210 for return flights going during the day, rather than at night. Monday to Monday we are looking at about £170 for return flights going during the day, rather than at night. The following is an extra from Calypso about what they would offer us whilst we are there. It is good value. Transfers airport/ferry/apartment and back incl. ferry tickets Accommodation in a self-catering apartment for 7 nights 6 days unlimited air diving incl. use of weights, tank, unlimited air fills and the local diving permit 2 x Jeep hire for the whole week The price for this package is £185.00stg per person. Total Cost is about £500 for Saturday 19/10/02 to Saturday 26/10/02 per person. Total Cost is about £400 for Sunday 20/10/02 to Sunday 27/10/02 per person. Total Cost is about £360 for Monday 21/10/02 to Monday 28/10/02 per person. Commitment - If you are interested in doing this trip then please let phil know (philip.clifton@london.entoil.com) ASAP and I will see if we can progress it further. What I would like to know is which option you would like to take and what training you would like to progress your diving skills. NICKY & JO DIVE WITH THE EUROPEAN DIVING CENTRE, FETHIYE, TURKEYWe found details of EDC on BSAC website and chose to dive with them as they received a BSAC award a couple of years ago. We looked into packages with holiday groups but then found it was cheaper and just as easy to book our own flights direct with PGT airlines (through Sunsplash ) and EDC booked our accommodation for us at a mere £12 per night per person in the Mediteran hotel just 2 mins walk away. EDC also arranged for us to be picked up and dropped off at the airport for £30 each way. We also paid a deposit for our 4-day dive package and 2 night dives before the end of May and benefited from a 10% discount. The dive package, accommodation and transfer came up to £239 p/p and as we managed to get our flights for £107 we felt we had a bargain! On arrival at Dalaman airport we were met by the EDC rep and a fabulous dawn chorus (it was approx 5am). It was a great transfer time to Fethiye as it only took an hour and gave us a chance to see the countryside and the locals starting their day in the cool heat of the morning. The view of the sea as we turned one of the final corners was breathtaking: a truly turquoise coast! The hillside itself held its own beauty, quite mountaineous and green with an abundance of fir trees and bright pink wild flowers and bougainvillaea adorning the road side. Fethiye itself is rather modern (it suffered in the earthquake in 1957?) but still has a Turkish feel and also seems to be prosperous; the main trade being tourism. Our hotel was 2 mins walk from EDC and was right on the water’s edge and also next to a quaint boatyard. We were woken by hammering in the boatyard most mornings (not great on the occasion of a hangover on our dive free day and our last day) but as we were up bright and early for the diving the rest of the time it didn’t really matter. We frequented the same ‘local’ restaurant each evening. The homemade ice cream was delicious and tastes quite different from ‘the norm’. Meals usually worked out at approx £5 per head which was great! Nicky was even spoilt with having her freshly baked pitta bread personalised with ‘Nicky’ made up of poppy seeds! A fun night was had dancing in the Ottoman Bar (adorned with traditional paraphernalia and comfy sofas but with coloured spotlight ‘disco lights’ too!) until 4am (the day before our day off I hasten to add for Mike’s & Phil’s benefit!). The locals poured in after 11pm ish and we danced along to Arabic music with tambourines! Great fun (if a bit uncool!)! Divesites: The highlights have to be ‘Mexican Hat’, ‘Aladdin’s Cave’, ‘Three Tunnels’ and the night dive on ‘Rabbit Island’. All the diving was interesting; it can be described as ‘topographical’; fascinating rock formations. There is sea life to be seen but it isn’t abundant but, on the night dive, adds to the interest as it is ‘a bit of adventure’ seeking it out under rocks etc (more of the night dive later). We were constantly surprised as shoals appeared, or the odd cluster of parrot fish, octopus, crayfish, seahorses (not seen by us unfortunately but by one of the other boats), moray eels, scorpion fish, wrasse and the most beautiful ‘Flying Gunarda’ which opened up its blue fan-like fins as we hovered above. We were therefore not disappointed with the sealife but more pleasantly surprised and ensured that we paid attention to the rock formation and the sea life became a bonus. Mexican Hat was truly excellent! We descended to approx 20 metres from where we entered a tunnel (3-4 m in diameter) which we finned upwards through (Nicky spotted a Moray Eel on her return journey) until we did a safety stop at 6 m where the water becomes like a ‘heat haze’: natural spring water mixing with the salty seawater. We surfaced in the most amazing ‘cavern’ and when we turned our torches off we could see the light coming through the rocks and the sea shone a brilliant turquoise. There was another dive site similar to this one, Aladdins Cave but where we surfaced there was a hole in the top of the rocks and was equally beautiful with the sun shining through to the water were we bobbed about on our inflated BDCs. The Three Tunnels was another ‘adventurous’ dive as it involved diving in and out of narrow ravines. The highlight of that dive was waiting for the group to emerge and seeing the air bubbles permeate through the tunnel ‘roofs’. Rabbit Island night dive was great as Nicky and I busily searched with our torches under rocks and in nooks and crannies and felt a sense of achievement when we discovered two octopi ; we watched as one changed colour to a pale blue and then a pale pink. We also saw a red baby octopus with white spot, not such a great camouflage! The boat trip itself was lovely. Sailing into the sunset is truly magnificent. The return journey by moonlight is equally breathtaking and the lights on the shore of Fethiye provide a pretty edge to the coastline. The boat journey is approx 40 mins each way. All in all we had a great time and it was cheap and cheerful. We would recommend it to anyone who would like such a week away but not to expect too much in terms of sea life but rather the challenge of the tunnels and caves. The highlight of our return journey was being met by Ian at the airport (greatly appreciated as we had been delayed a couple of hours) holding up a very professional, laminated Hellfins logo card with our names! WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SOPHIE?The reason you have not seen much of Sophie this year (apart from the fact that she is living between Exeter and Newmarket) is she is busy prepping for the National Instructor Exam. Just about every weekend has been taken up with small boat preps, hard boat preps or just plain diving! The exam takes place starting Friday 25th July at Fort Bovisand. There will be 7 or 8 candidates and up to 9 examiners - so no escape! The exam involves 4 days of teaching diving on small boats, hard boats, diving and navigating, swimming the breakwater, doing CBL's from 30m, being interviewed, giving lectures, teaching in the pool and from the shore, passage planning and all sorts of things. So for those of you Sophie will see in Plymouth on 20th July, she will be just a week away and getting the nerve bag out! For those of you who are not at Plymouth (and there is still one space left) - she hopes to catch up with you after the exam!
Good Luck! Encouraging emails go to sre090665@aol.com EGG-A-FIN SUCCESSA few people had colds, or were away, or forgot there kit, or had a note from there mum, but they're all allowed to do it later. The team that did set forth bravely brandishing their "eggs" on "spoons" (there was some variation in equipment) soon got the hang of it. In the end everyone was confident enough to remove the sellotape! Lengths were swum, fun was had and, above all, money raised. Well done everyone who took part this week. For the rest - there will be remedial egg-a-fin when Nicky gets back.
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