Hi ALL

I have 3 friends who have just learnt to dive. As you can imagine, they are completely smitten and want to advance their skills. With this in mind I am running a trip to Sharm el Sheikh on 1st November. Although Sharm may be busy, it would be an ideal place for them, and others, to advance their skills.

This trip, may be of interest to divers who want to join us and learn more, as well as being able to bring a long suffering, non diving partner. Perhaps some of the guys and girls who have done the recent try dives with GLUG might find this trip helpful. And, off course, any other divers who may want to dive the amazing Thomas, Jackson and Jackfish Alley reefs,  amongst others, in 28 degrees of water, are more than welcome to join us. This is a good opportunity for you to achieve more than 50 dives after which,  you will be able to dive the amazing outer reefs in The Southern Red Sea, with us next July.

If you find the trip too expensive, you can always choose another cheaper hotel and meet up with us for the training and social aspect of the trip.

Below are the costings for this trip:

http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-1715-novotel-sharm-el-sheikh/index.shtml

Novotel Twin Share B&B 7 nights incl flights £890.00
Novotel Single Supplement  £195.00
Own flight reduction £150.00

Red Sea Dive College

Open water referral £155.00
Open water course £239.00
AOW course £175.00
EFR £89.00
RD  £289.00
EANx  £105.00
1 Day boat diving / 2 dives £45.00
3 Days boat diving / 6 dives £125.00
5 Days boat diving / 10 dives £185.00
6 Days boat diving / 12 dives £215.00

There is a compulsory check dive in the bay on first day if you haven’t dived in 6 months, this costs €45 locally. Lunch on board to boat is 50LE per day (£5), certification costs €35 locally and equipment hire outside of courses €30 per day, Ras Mo entry €5 per visit. Free 32% Ean if you let us know in advance.

Course manuals from us in advance OW £37, AOW £32, RD £30.
Flights are with Monarch, 20kg std, 5kg hand and 5kg on production of cert card, flight is catered. times are 09.15 / 16.30 – 17.30 / 21.00.

£250 deposit to Oonasdivers to secure a place. Please read their terms and conditions.

For those who have expressed interest, could you kindly email me, using the mailbox above should you want more information.

Cheers everyone.

Charlie

From Rainbow-Scuba Thailand
6 days/6 nights
27 Dec 09 to 2 Jan 2010
This exciting new itinerary is a first for any  Similan liveaboard and is sure to be of interest to seasoned  Similan divers as well as first timers to the region. The fleet of sunken aircraft consists of four Douglas C-47 Dakota Skytrains and six Sikorsky S-58T helicopters that once belonged to the Royal Thai Air Force.  Now they have become an exciting artificial reef.   After one day diving the here  we head up to the Similan islands.  The ultimate escape from Christmas and Winter blues.  6 days and nights in good company, good food and excellent diving. Price per person sharing Standard Cabin (convertible twin or double bed) 1,680 USD Price per person sharing Master Cabin (double bed only) 1,780 USD. Full details www.rainbow-scuba.com
Thank You & Best Wishes

Lian – are you out there?  Have tried email/phone/post – need the balance for Scapa by this weekend, or will have to let your place go.

Torbay is having its first pride this summer (16-19 July).  As far as I know, GLUG hasn’t arranged any dive trips  in Torbay before so if there is some interest, I am happy to organise some dives to coincide with the pride. I have put some photos in the Gallery section to show the rich life we have down here, so go and have a look!

There are some shore dives and a few wrecks (Bretagne, Galicia, Perrone) we can do with my local club here. There is also a new gay resort if you want to stay over.

Sunset, Pangalao Island

I haven’t pushed my Philippines trip for a while, so I thought I’d post another item, for the benefit of anyone who’s joined recently…

The trip is from Sat 28th – Mar 13th 2010, and we’ll be staying at three different locations within the Visayas region of the Philippines. This region is renowned for its biodiversity, and is a Macro photographer’s dream, with lush coral gardens, teeming with small critters such as shrimp, nudibranch, pipefish, ribbon eels, anemone crabs, etc.

The transfers between the resorts are all made by Dive boat (weather permitting), so we don’t lose any diving on the transfer days.

The price is £1200 for the 2 week trip. This price excludes flights to Cebu (currently from around £565), but includes 14 nights accommodation in Deluxe, air-conditioned rooms, breakfast each day, a minimum of 30 boat dives, plus up to 2 shore dives each day on the excellent House reefs, transfers to/from Cebu, airport,  and all transfers between the resorts.
Lunch, dinner, and drinks are extra, but £15-£20/day should more than cover it.
Nitrox is approx £2/dive extra (and note that it is not available at one of the three resorts).

For more details, please download the trip brochure

The deposit required is £200, with another £500 payable by 1st Sept 2009, and the final £500 by 1st Jan 2010.  To pay, please see the PayPal links on my previous post

Hello all,

For those that don’t know me, my name is Ian and I’m the Training Coordinator for GLUG (Gay & Lesbian Underwater Group).

Welcome to the GLUG training bulletin for May 2009.

Just wanted to update you all with what’s going on and help keep divers diving, get new divers into the water, further your education and make you all better divers!! I am planning to run a series of courses designed to improve your diving over the next few months. Let me know when you are free and I’ll sort the course around you!!

Pride Try Dive in July TBC (Saturday Afternoon £25, includes GLUG membership)
Pride Try Dive in Aug TBC (Saturday Afternoon £25, includes GLUG membership)

Due to the recent and very successful try dives, we have decided to arrange another!!! (Click here for Try Dive details) If you or anyone you know are unsure and want to give it a go, book onto our 2 hour session for only £25. It will be an excellent day!! If you already dive, then please come and help new members!!

Open Water Course Part One July TBC (Saturday & Sunday all day £225)

Get your PADI scuba certification. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to scuba dive, this is where it starts. The PADI Open Water Diver course is the world’s most popular scuba course, and has introduced millions of people to the adventurous diving lifestyle.

This is the first part, the referral, it covers the theory and pool sessions, you can then go on to finish your course abroad or here in the UK.

Open Water Course Part Two 30th/31st of May (Saturday & Sunday all day £159)

The second weekend of the course we go to open water to put all the pool skills into practice. Over the course of the weekend you’ll complete 4 exciting dives where you’ll get the opportunity to swim around underwater and truly experience the joys of scuba diving! This can be done abroad, ask me for more details, I want to teach in the sun too ;)

Nitrox (EANx) Diver July TBC (Sunday Afternoon £90)

 
 
Stay down longer and get back in the water sooner. Increase the amount of oxygen in your tank and vastly increase your dive times and you will also benefit from feeling more refreshed after a day underwater!
Learn how to dive using Enriched Air Nitrox, PADI’s most popular specialty course. This is a theory only course and done in the comfort of my home.

Scuba refresher Course July TBC (Saturday or Sunday £70)

Has it been a while since you’ve been scuba diving? Do you feel like your scuba skills and knowledge are a bit rusty? If you plan to dive this year and haven’t updated your log book in over 12 months, your dive centre will request that you take a refresher. Don’t cut into your dive time, do it in advance and pay less! The Scuba Review Tune-up is just the refresher you need. It reacquaints you with diving so that you’re back to feeling comfortable in the underwater world and log book ready in less than a day.

Advanced Open Water 11th/12th of July (£225, takes two days)

The course helps you increase your confidence and build your scuba skills so you can become more comfortable in the water. This is a great way to get more dives under your belt while continuing to learn under the supervision of your instructor.  This course builds on what you’ve learned and develops new capabilities by introducing you to new activities and new ways to have fun scuba diving.

UK Diving Course 11th/12th of July (£299, takes two days)

The UK offers some amazing diving, so why not take advantage of it! The aim of this course is to combine the Advanced Open Water course with a full dry suit course, so you are prepared for diving in the UK. The UK’s 1000’s of wrecks, seals, basking sharks, scallops to name only a few are too good to miss. Come and enjoy the UK’s coastline and keep diving all year round, and save some money!

Rescue Diver (£399 or £299 if you already have a first aid qualification, take 4 days)

This is the minimum level of training all divers should be at! “Challenging” and “rewarding” best describe the Rescue Diver course. Building upon what you’ve already learned, this course expands on what you already know about how to prevent problems, and how to manage them if they occur.  You will learn: self rescue, recognizing and managing stress in other divers; Emergency management and equipment, rescuing panicked divers; and rescuing unresponsive divers.

Dry Suit Diver (£149, takes one day) 

Stay warm and cozy on your dives. Learn how to dive with a Dry Suit. A must if you plan to dive in the UK, I even take my dry suit abroad because I love diving in it! The buoyancy is so much better…

Deep Diver (£179, takes two days)

Explore the wonders of the deep. Learn techniques for diving in the deeper ranges of 18-30m.

Wreck Diver (£179, takes two days)  

Wrecks open fascinating windows to the past. Most divers find wrecked ships, airplanes and even automobiles nearly irresistible because they’re intriguing to explore, exciting avenues of discovery, and usually teeming with aquatic life. The course teaches you the ins and outs of rewarding, responsible wreck diving.

Equipment Specialist (£99, takes one day)

Don’t miss a dive due to a scuba gear issue. Whether it’s a blown o-ring, regulator problem, wetsuit tear or a broken fin strap, you can learn how to manage basic scuba equipment adjustments. You are prepared for the basic scuba equipment maintenance, care and adjustments you’ll encounter every day. The more you know about how your dive gear works, the more comfortable you are with it and the better performance you get from it.

Underwater Photography (£179)

Underwater photography is one of the most popular diving specialties, and the rise of digital underwater photography has made it easier and more fun than ever. This is why there are actually two PADI underwater photography courses. The Digital Underwater Photographer course gets you going quickly with today modern digital equipment, whether you use a point-and-shoot snap camera or a sophisticated D-SLR like the pros. The Underwater Photographer course is a more traditional photography course designed for conventional film equipment.

Divemaster (£400, takes 2 – 12 months)

Looking for the first step in working with scuba as a career? Your adventure into the professional levels of recreational scuba diving begins with the PADI Divemaster program. Working closely with a PADI Instructor, in this program you expand your dive knowledge and hone your skills to the professional level. PADI Divemaster training develops your leadership abilities, qualifying you to supervise dive activities and assist instructors with student divers.

Technical Deep Diver (£249 – £799, takes up to 10 days)

Technical diving is scuba diving’s “extreme” sport, taking experienced and qualified divers far deeper than in mainstream recreational diving. Technical diving is marked by significantly more equipment and training requirements to manage the additional hazard this type of diving entails. Tec diving isn’t for everyone, but for those who hear its challenge call this is the answer.

If you or anyone you know is interested in any training from beginner to instructor, or interested in technical diving including rebreathers, we can get you trained and diving!!!

All courses can be arranged, if you are unable to make a date, or I haven’t mentioned a course, then please get in touch and we can arrange one. Training can be arranged in the UK or abroad.

Don’t forget club night, 1st Tuesday of every month at The Phoenix Arts Club under the Phoenix Theatre on Charing Cross Road. Click here for full details.

Please contact me on: or

Hope to see you all soon, thank you all.

Ian.
 
GLUG Training Coordinator
——————————————————
PADI MSDT #642402
www.glug.co.uk
www.pathfinderdiving.co.uk

GLUG has recently been contacted by divesearch which is a website listing details of over 230 dive boats around the UK and Ireland. It also holds details on inland dive centres.

Divesearch is potentially a very useful resource for anyone planning a trip in the UK and although relatively new, it is offering free listing to skippers which should ensure good coverage/take up.

There’s now a link on the links page for this site in a new section titled ‘resources’ so you can always find it.

They have also supplied us with their promotional poster.

Click the image to take a look!

Mark.

The monthly meetings venue is changing!

For various reasons it has been decided to try a new venue for our monthly meetings. The committee hope that the new venue, which is being trialed initially, will offer us a more pleasant and controlled environment for the meetings and offer a more welcoming atmosphere for the females amongst us.

The new venue is The Phoenix Artist Club, situated under the Phoenix Theatre (where Blood Brothers is currently playing)on Charing Cross Road, south of Tottenham Court Road and north of Leicester Square underground stations. The entrance is at the very start of Phoenix Street (its No.1).

Website: The Pheonix Artist Club Map: Map View & Aerial View

The club is in the basement. Because this is a member’s club and becomes members only after 8pm, late arrivals may need to explain you are with GLUG to gain entry. The meeting area is beyond the bar in the dinning area.

The intention is that this will become our new home though much depends on how it works out in terms of space, noise levels and of course how our members take to the venue. The committee would appreciate feedback on the venue over the next couple of months as we trial it.

Its no secret that Halfway II Heaven has become less than ideal, especially since the recent change of management which has resulted in the basement being less than exclusive at times. There have also always being compromises, particularly with having people constantly making their way to the toilets.

A big thank you goes to Martin who is a member of the Phoenix Artist Club and has kindly arranged for GLUG to be allowed to use this space for meetings.

Hi All

Due to the pound getting slightly stronger, I have amended the costings and schedule for next year’s exciting trip to The Cocos . As ever, we are at the vagaries of currency fluctuations but lets hope that the pound gets stronger and makes this trip even more affordable for you. Check out the following link:

http://www.glug.co.uk/archives/1776

Cheers

Charlie

This weekend is on a large hardboat called Tango with Phil Corben as skipper. There are loads of wrecks around the Weymouth area and some good scalloping grounds. Tango is a large offshore 125 with a hydraulic lift. Dry suits will be needed and the depth will be determined by the group. However, the best diving requires a maximum depth of 30 metres.

Please visit the Events page for booking forms and full details.