Fancy getting your next diving grade signed off somewhere warm before the UK season get underway? Phil is organising the trip for you:

Location - Will be abroad so that water temperature and weather will not stop the training. Plus I will try to make it as feasibly cheap as possible. I will be looking at Medes / Malta / Gozo / Madeira / Red Sea / Menorca. Or any other good suggestions.

Dates - At the start of next season likely to be end March or April 04

Cost - To be honest I do not have any real idea but will have in due course. My guess is that it will be about £500 all in. Please be aware that you will get plenty of diving, training and a good holiday for your money. We intend that everyone will achieve skills that they want by making this the aim of the event.

Focus - Primarily the focus will be on training, however there will be time when you may want a break or due to skills being covered they will not be suitable. We will select a location will will allow us to dive when not actually training.

Contact Phil (phil@hellfins.com) if you're interested.

Mike is running a trip to Porthkerris on the Lizard in Cornwall from Friday 16th - Sunday 18th April.

The Manacles reef just 10 mins boat ride from the shore is home to many wrecks (including the liner Mohegan) and also has many beautiful scenic dives.

The schedule is as follows:

Evening of Thursday 15th April : Drive to Cornwall

Friday 16th April 2 dives using the hardboat

Saturday 17th April 2 dives using the RIB

Sunday 18th April 1 dive using the RIB, then drive

back to London.

The cost is :

£40 for the hardboat on te Friday (2 dives)

£30 for the RIB on the Saturday (2 dives)

£17.50 for the RIB on the Sunday (1 dives)

Total GBP87.50

We will be staying in local B&Bs which cost around £22 a night.

Minimum qualification : Sports Diver

Take a look at www.porthkerris.com or at the articles on our website from previous trips by Nicky, Jo and Janos.

Give me a call if you've got any questions (077 207 17069).

To reserve your place send a cheque for £87.50 payable to Mike Wilkinson,

71 Dyke Drive

Orpington

Kent

BR5 4LY

Book early to avoid disappointment!

Ed is organising a trip to dive the wrecks of the German 1st World War Fleet in Scapa Flow (Orkney Islands) for next summer. The plan is for 12 people to do a weeks diving in July or August 2004. At the moment the people who organised his previous

two trips (who are excellent) are booking up fast, but still have the weeks commencing 24th July and 7th August free, so we're aiming for one of those two weeks. The cost of boat charter, air fills, tank hire, accommodation and full board (including packed lunch) is only £294.50 per person plus travel (likely to be between £100 and £200 depending on how we get there), which is a bit of a bargain for some of the best wreck diving the world has to offer.

The diving will be a dive to 35+metres in the morning followed by a 20+ metre dive in the afternoon and so unfortunately the trip will only be open to Sports Divers or above with 50+ dives and who have previously dived to 35 metres.

Of course you only need to be this qualified by next August, so anyone nearly there now is welcome to come.

To book a place all you'll need top pay a £100 deposit, (rest payable a few months before the trip). e-mail ed@hellfins.com and if you have any further questions please feel free to contact me, or Shona or Claire M (as they've been before). Or you can check out the dive company's website on www.orkneydivers.com.

Always a popular fixture in the diary! We dived off the Spartacat last year andand the year before. This year Janos is organising the trip on 30th August. We'll probably be diving one of the many wrecks in the morning, followed by something scenic in the afternoon.

It looks like the Red Sea Trip this year will be a liveaboard to the Brother Islands.

The Brothers are a pair of tiny islands. Actually they are the exposed tips of two massive reef pillars that rise from the abyssal depths. They are the only significant reefs in the area, and as such act as a magnet for any pelagic and reef fishes. Washed as they are by the full force of open-sea currents, they support an incredible dense and diverse coral population, with almost overwhelmingly profuse soft coral growth on all sides.

Big Brother, the larger of the two, lies about 1km (0.6 miles) north of its sibling. It is an oblong landmass some 400m (1312ft) long, easily identified by its Victorian stone lighthouse, a legacy of British rule. A narrow reef table round the island’s shore gives way almost immediately to a sheer vertical wall, dropping well past the limits of sport diving. Absolutely fantastic coral growth begins at the surface and continues unabated into the depths.

Gorgonians, sea whips, antipatharians and, above all, a wealth of soft corals of every conceivable species flourish in the big currents. The stony corals are also well represented.

The fish life here is more than impressive, ranging from the tiniest anthias in the shallows to the most impressive sharks in the depths offshore.

Big Brother also boasts a wreck on its northwest side, lying fairly deep. The bow is at 30m (100ft) and the stern is at least 40m (130ft) deeper, too deep for the average diver, especially this far from the nearest recompression chamber. The wreck, the Aida is said to be a troop transport which went down in 1957. She sits upright on the steep slope, so covered with soft coral that the hull and superstructure look like some bizarre topiary. It is possible to penetrate the wreck, but given the depth, great care should be taken.

Big Brother is one of the most amazing dives in the Red Sea. The reef’s isolated position makes it a rare treat for a privileged few divers.

Dates: First week of September

Cost: £900

Contact: Sid (sid@hellfins.com)

Following the success of last year's fund raising sky dive we're planning to do it again this year in August or September.

So if you're up for throwing yourself out of a plane let Kathy (social@hellfins.com) know. Let's try and beat last years total raised for the club and the Marine Conservation Society!

A trip the Medes has always been a firm favourite. We missed 2003 but most recently we were there in 2002 and in 2001. It will cost about £300 (including flights, self catering accomodation and all diving) and is always a fun packed trip. The Medes Islands are just off Spains Costa Brava (we stay in a resort between Figueres and Barcelona) so you get to combine "lively" beach life with some great diving. And the diving is great because Islands are a marine reserve - lost of marine life.

Unfortunately our club organiser has had to pull out. In the mean time, if you'd like to go, email Sid. He would really, really like to hear from you if you would help organise the trip too!

Skill development courses are an excellent way to improve your diving skills, it's also essential that we have relevantly trained people to be able to run trips. Two of the most key courses to the club running trips (Oxygen Administration and First Aid for Divers) are available to Ocean Divers ,so you don't have to have been a diver long to really improve your skills and help the club. Generally speaking you need to give one months notice to make it on a course, although due to cancellations etc. it may be possible to get on a course with 2 weeks notice. If you would like information on any of the courses please contact ed (ed@hellfins.com) or speak to any of the instructors. Also you can find information on all the courses on the BSAC website (www.bsac.com). If you would like to go on a course let Ed know and he will give you the contact details for the person organising the course. Also, if anyone is interested in becoming an instructor please let Ed know and he can give you details of all the instructor courses.

24 Jan Oxygen Administration (London) 24 Jan Oxygen Administration (South East) 25 Jan First Aid for Divers (South East) 25 Jan Oxygen Administration (Eastern) 25 Jan Oxygen Administration (London) 07 Feb Oxygen Administration (South East) 21 Feb Lifesaver Award (South East) 22 Feb Lifesaver Award (South East) 13/14 Mar Boat Handling (Southampton/South) 13 Mar Diver Cox’n (Southampton/Southern) 14 Mar First Aid for Divers (London) 20/21 Mar Boat Handling (Felixstowe/Eastern) 20 Mar Diver Cox’n (Felixstowe/Eastern) 20 Mar Nitrox Diver (South East) 03/04 Apr Chartwork and Position Fixing (Felixstowe/Eastern) 04 Apr Practical Rescue Management (Portsmouth/Southern) 04 Apr Practical Rescue Management (South East) 17/18 Apr Boat Handling (South East) 17/18 Apr Dive Planning and Marshalling (London) 17 Apr Diver Cox’n (South East) 18 Apr Diver Cox’n (South East) 18 Apr Practical Rescue Management (Alton Water/Eastern) 24/25 Apr Combined Nitrox (Cambridge/Eastern) 24/25 Apr Search and Recovery (Southern) 24 Apr Nitrox Diver (Cambridge/Eastern)