Dear AllPlease find attached the agenda for Tuesdays meeting Agenda 021007.See you there Thanks Chris

Chris L on behalf of Mark B - I have booked 4 nights/5 days on a live-aboard from Phuket, Thailand and am looking for a buddy, preferably with someone that I could meet beforehand. I do have a partner, but unfortunately he’s not into diving and will be staying in Phuket whilst I’m on the boat - it would be good to meet with like-minded people who fancy sharing a twin cabin for a few days.
The dates I have booked the live-aboard for are the 27th Nov - 1st December, will be in Thailand from the 23rd Nov, until 12th Dec, arriving in Phuket for the live-aboard on the 26th. The link here is the company that I have booked with, went earlier in the year with them and they were really good. The trip I have booked is the Similan & Richelieu Rock Live-aboard, the cost of these 5 days is £395 - however you can stay for longer or shorter periods of time, but it does have to be on certain days - the website explains this.
Many thanks
Best wishes Mark B
Contact on: mark(at-symbol)lancashirebarlow(dot)com

hello, ive already booked a week at the 4* swisscare hotel resort in Nuweiba, Egypt, December 10-17th. Apparently there’s a lovely house reef and diving centre very near. Rooms are large suites and can sleep up to 4,with 2 bathrooms. i plan on doing a bit of recreational diving and welcome company. if anyone out there fancies it please come along - the holiday is booked through Longwood and is £399 HB - not bad!

I went to the launch yesterday evening of a ‘coffee table’ book called Reef. It’s been produced by Scubazoo, who are the team who filmed with Monty Halls in his Great Ocean Adventures series for Channel 5. This isn’t just another book of great underwater photos though; they are passionate about marine life and conservation and their passion comes through in the way they present life on the reef - not only coral reefs, but all off-shore underwater habitats - in all its great variety and various life-cycles.

‘Reef’ costs £25, which also includes a DVD (since they started as cameramen rather than photographers). It’s published by Dorling Kindersley.

I have no interest to declare in this, other than I think it’s a great book. (I was invited to the launch through Ocean Optics, from where I buy my underwater camera kit - and, I think, so do Scubazoo.)

So if you’re looking for an Xmas present for a dive buddy - or something to suggest that you would like - I strongly recommend it.

Hi everyone,

I’ll be in Spain from 12th September until 26th September, with very limited Internet access. If you have website problems, then you’ll just have to cope until I get back!

Neil.

PS. Any enquiries sent via the Contact Form will be answered when I get back!

Just another reminder that anyone wishing to come along, even for just the show (and wishes prior discounted tickets for the group meet on the 13th) can they now register their interest on the Events Page or email me as the event is drawing near and is now only a month away.

Those wishing to go for just the day, looking for company on the train or just seeking/offering shared transport, then use the comments forum.

A good opportunity to stock up with those dive “goodies”, get the inside info on the dive destinations, or just mingle in amongst the rubber suits and be sociable…just don’t forget to bring the credit cards!

Well, a rather disappointing number of entries to the Prize Fish Quiz, but never mind!  I’ve double-checked the answers to make sure that I’ve been consistent in my marking, so if the numbers below don’t exactly match what I’ve told people individually, that’s why…

Congratulations to Fiona W., who scored a total of 72 points out of 88, beating Jason S. by just half a point!

Third prize goes to Ads, with a score of 57.5 - still a very respectable score!

I’ll be contacting the winners to arrange prizes when I get back from holiday - there’s also a booby prize of a Fish ID slate - but I won’t embarrass the recipient by naming them publicly!

I’ve updated the photos in the Gallery with the correct answers - click on the Striated Frogfish above to see them.

I’ve created a new Help page on the website, with some useful hints and tips about using the website.

At present, there’s just a FAQ, but I plan to expand it with further pages describing how to write Posts, and how to upload Photos to the GLUG Gallery.

All comments welcome!

I received this today from Ocean Optics, together with a Downloadable Flyer which gives more details:

Thanks everyone for your e-mails and comments. It was a difficult task to come up with the final date and I do apologise to all of you who this date is not suitable for but I’ve been trying to satisfy a majority, fit the AGM date and ensure that we receive the best service from the Tenerife Dive.

Therefore, we are going to Tenerife on Sunday the 2nd of December 2007. 

The cost of the accommodation (shared self-catering 1 or 2 bed appartments), diving (12 dives off RIB) and transfers is about £250. Additional costs are flights, food and drinks.

In order to secure your place on the trip you have to book your return flight to Tenerife South (aka Tenerife Sur/ Reina Sofia) to arrive there at latest about 7pm on Sunday the 2nd of December, flying back in the afternoon on the 9th of December and e-mail me your flight confirmation.

If you would like to come on this trip can you please go to Events Page and register your interest there to give me an indication how many people may come. If you need any more information please feel free to e-mail me by clicking on the envelope on the top of this post or call me on one of the numbers you can find on the Events Page.

Please visit Trip Reports and Gallery on this website or go to www.tenerifedive.com for information and pictures about the diving centre, diving sites and our previous trips. There are also PADI diving courses available OW, AOW and Specialities.

I look forward to diving Tenerife again and meeting some new Glug members.

The GLUG website has all sorts of built-in monitoring and Statistics information, and I thought I’d just share a few interesting facts (well, I think they’re interesting anyway!)

• The website gets on average, between 150 and 250 visitors per day. (This doesn’t include Search Engines, which visit us regularly to update their indexes)
• The majority of visitors are based in the USA - at least, that’s where their ISPs servers are. We get almost twice as many visitors from the USA as from the UK! We’ve also had visitors from as far away as Chile, Japan, and South Korea.

Just a quick message to say the pictures taken on the recent Plymouth trip can now be viewed on the web site gallery. The weather was superb as was the diving and of course it goes without saying…so was the company!
Thanks Corinne once again for arranging everything. Please book the same glorious weather too for next year.
A big thank you of course must go to Rod and Ann. Their sideways “roll entry” technique was not to be missed (no pun intended!).

“Visions in the Sea” is the UK’s biggest Underwater Photography Event, and is now in its eleventh year. As well as talks from some of the World’s leading Underwater Photographers, they will also be hosting Photo Clinics, where you can take along up to 10 of your own photos and get professional advice about how to improve your technique. Also on site will be Ocean Optics, with a range of Camera Housings (dSLR and Compact), Strobes, Lenses, etc.; the Shark Trust; and BSoUP.

For anyone keen on Underwater Photography, this is a great weekend (I speak from experience), and although the cost (£69 for 1 day, or £99 for both) might seem high, when you consider the quality of the presenters, and the price of similar events, it’s well worth it. (For example, the RGS (Royal Geographical Society) has a Wildlife Photography event the following weekend, which costs £66 more!). The price also includes tea & coffee, as well as a buffet lunch each day.

For more information, click the logo above. If you want to book, download the booking form.

Hi everyone,

Huw Jenkins and I have booked a trip to the eco-camp at Marsa Nakari at the end of October. If anyone wants to join us, do get in touch. The weather and the water are still warm at that time of year..!

Check it out on the Oonasdivers website if you’re interested.

Cost is £695 (there are cheaper options) which includes full board for the whole trip, unlimited shore diving (dive whenever you want to on the house reef) and 4 rib/hard boat dives. Flights are to Marsa Alam.

Less regimented and more relaxed than a liveaboard - just right for a cheap(ish) chill-out week as the weather begins to turn cold in the UK…

As I say - let me know if you want to join us and give Oonas a ring.

Alan Larsen

GLUG is running a training trip to Sharks Bay with Oonasdivers from 24th-31st October.

The trip is open to non-divers who would like to learn, to qualified divers who’d like to take a further course, and also to qualified divers who just fancy a dive trip to the Red Sea.

The cost is £439, plus whatever training you want - Basic qualification costs £200. For other courses see the Events Page.

The great thing about doing your basic qualification at Sharks Bay is that your initial training is done in a shallow area near the beach, rather than in a swimming pool - so you get to see fish even on your training dives!

The price includes flights, accommodation, and transfers to and from the airport. If you’re not already a GLUG member, you will need to join - but it only costs £10!

For more information, please contact us using the Events Page, choosing “Dive Training” from the drop-down menu.