Agenda

1. Welcome
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Matters arising
4. Officers’ reports
5. - Membership secretary
6. - Treasurer
7. - Webmaster
8. - Overseas dive coordinator
9. - UK dive coordinator
10. - Equipment secretary
11. - Other trips
12. Dorothy divers
13. Any other business

- Update on possible new venues

14. Date of next meeting - Tue 7 June

Thanks to all those who bid on the auction for the Oonas Divers trip (and bad luck Allison, who was already booked onto an Oonas Divers trip, and so couldn’t bid on this one!).

The winning bid was £250, by Charlie Stewart. The money will be donated to The Food Chain in due course, and we look forward to reading all about the trip in the next newsletter!

It seems that for a while, at least, the links that were being sent in the subscription emails weren’t working. This has now been fixed. (Of course, if someone had bothered to email me to tell me the links weren’t working, it would have been fixed some time ago!)

Ignacio and I will be taking part in the Walk for Life on June 19th, to raise money for Crusaid.

The event is the largest of its kind in Europe, attracting over 2,500 people each year, and last year raised over £300,000 for HIV & AIDs causes.

We’re hoping to raise over £500, and if you’d like to help us reach that target, you can sponsor us online.

Please dig deep - it’s a very worthwhile cause.

If you’re worried about who Hospital Staff would treat as your Next of Kin, read this.

I’ll be dining here…just as soon as I win the lottery!

Amazing the things you discover on other clubs’ forums… One of the SDRSC (San Diego Rainbow Scuba Club) divers is going on an Underwater Archaeology Trip to excavate an 18th Century Spanish Galleon off Key Largo in July & August.

The dig is being organised by ADMAT, and if you’re interested in joining it, you can find out more on their website.

I’ve received an email from NCRD (Northern California Rainbow Divers), asking whether there would be any interest from GLUG members in a trip to Southern Sulawesi, in Indonesia:

This would be a 7-day land resort in southern Sulawesi which has space for about 40 divers. A week would cost US$1700-1800, to include all meals, accommodations, boat diving, and unlimited shore diving on the house reef, up to 7 dives per day. A village land tour in Sulawesi is also included. Local airfare between Bali and Sulawesi would be included, but international airfare to/from Bali would be extra. The trip would require a minimum
one-night stay in Bali on arrival, which means we could possibly also tack on 3-4 days muck diving in Bali, which is said to be phenomenal, as a pre-trip option.

The London Diving Chamber is now offering “Dry Dives”. This is an excellent way to experience the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis in a controlled, safe environment, particularly if you’re an Open Water Diver, and haven’t experienced diving at depth.

Even those of us who are used to diving at depth may not be aware of just how narked we are. A Dry dive can be structured to compare the time taken to do simple mental tasks at the surface with the time taken at depth, and the results can be surprising. The first time I did a dry dive, I was amazed to find that it took me twice as long to write my name backwards at 40m as it did on the surface.

So, I’d like to arrange a visit to LDC (London Diving Chamber). They currently schedule their dry dives for 6.30pm on Thursday evenings and 10am on Saturday mornings, but can do other times subject to demand.

The cost is £25 per person, and we need a minimum of 4. If you’d be interested in joining me for a Dry Dive, please register your interest on the Events Page (don’t forget to Log In first), or leave a comment below, or both.

What you can expect on the day

1. Divers will fill in a Self-Certification Medical Form and a Waiver form.
2. they will then enter the chamber, in groups of up to 8, accompanied by an LDC tender
3. they will breathe the surrounding air which will be slowly pressurised to the agreed depth (up to 50 metres)
4. After staying at depth for the agreed time, the divers are slowly brought back to surface pressure, deco stopping as necessary.
5. On leaving the chamber, LDC will sign and stamp Divers log books (yes - this counts as a proper dive!)

I will also be taking along a few mental puzzles, and those who want to can try them on the surface and then again at depth, to compare the results.

You can find more information on the London Diving Chamber website.

The GLUG trip to Utila has proved so popular that as of 8th April I had 23 people wanting to go! Since 5 of us from GLUG are staying on for a second week, I decided to start selling space for that week too.

The first week is now full. We have 7 GLUG Members, 11 SAA Scuba Members, 1 TRRR member, and 1 NCRD (Northern California Rainbow Divers) member. At least five GLUG members are staying for the second week, when 4 more NCRD members will join us.

I’m still taking bookings, but for the second week only. Alternatively, you can add your name to a reserves list for the first week.

I wish every trip I organised was as easy to fill!

I’m aiming to produce the next newsletter around the end of May. Of course, in order to do so, I need something to put in it! Perhaps you’ve been diving somewhere over the last few months - why not tell the club about it? Or perhaps you’ve noticed some interesting Dive-related news that I’ve missed? Tell me about it!

The last issue was a bumper one - let’s see if we can keep it up!

Neil.

The GLUG trip to Utila now has only 3 spaces left. We currently have 5 GLUG members, 8 SAA Scuba Members, 3 NCRD (Northern California Rainbow Divers) Members, and 1 TRRR member signed up. It looks as if the trip will be a sell-out. Some of us are staying on for a second week, however, so if there is sufficient interest, I will start selling space for the following week, but this will be at a price of US$960 unless we manage to get another 10 people.

You can download a flyer giving details of the trip, and a booking form from the Events Page.

Agenda

1. Welcome
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Matters arising
4. Officers’ reports
5. - Membership secretary
6. - Treasurer
7. - Webmaster
8. - Overseas dive coordinator
9. - UK dive coordinator
10. - Equipment secretary
11. - Other trips
12. Dorothy divers
13. Any other business
14. Date of next meeting - Tue 3 May