Hi Guys and Gals,

Just a reminder that the monthly meeting is this Tuesday at the Phoenix!

As well as socialising, I’d like to get the Draft Constitution out there for you to see, so that any final adjustments can be made before putting it to the club to ratify it in April!

Hope to see you there!

Doug

Hello everyone, this post  is to invite you to my Professorial Inaugural Lecture on Tuesday May 18th at the Michael Chowen Lecture Theatre, BSMS, University of Sussex. The lecture is on scuba diving as ‘queer’, its culture, history and the experience of being underwater, lots of pictures! Here is the blurb:

Name: Professor Sally R. Munt

Title: QUEER AS FISH

Abstract:

Cultural Studies is passionate about the ordinary and the everyday. As an academic subject it encourages a mindful, reflective consideration of lived experience, which helps us grasp culture not so much as being about ‘the best’ but as a whole way of life, a spun worsted with all of its woven habits and rituals, dreams and banality.

Moments of creativity and intense sensation punctuate this flow, perhaps most intentionally with leisure pursuits. This lecture looks specifically at SCUBA diving. We will consider the histories, technologies, practices, literature, politics, and ecology of SCUBA in our brief encounter with the aquatic. Fully immersing oneself within oceanic wonder brings perspectives from the non-human sublime back to the surface. SCUBA divers are queer frogmen, freakishly enhanced cyborgs, clad in a cold neoprene skin, and disciplined by quasi-military rules of order, a necessary defense against the disorder of the deep, we descend into the paranormality of the sea.

Everyone is welcome, this is a public event.

I am planning on buying my first dry suit in a few weeks – my local dive shop stocks scuba pro and seems like the Everdry 4 at about £600 or the Fusion for £1,000.

Would appreciate any advice on benefit of spending the extra or not! plus any other products to consider,

thanks,

Peter.

Hello,

I am in the process of putting together a long weekend in Malta! Just wanted to see if anyone else would like to join us.

I am taking over some brand new divers to complete their open water courses, but I intend to do some deep wreck dives too, so all in all there will be something for everyone. Any training can be arranged including deep, wreck,  advanced - just let me know what you would like to do, or you can just come along and dive in the lovely Malta, training is totally optional. There will be 2-3 instructors on each dive, so if you are still new, we will keep a good eye on you while you gain experience.

I have about 6-8 people on the trip so far, so let me know if you want to come along asap. Prices is still to be fixed, but provisionally it will be about £450 + flights/training, I will be finalizing that in the next few days, the more we get the more I can haggle…. If you wish you can stay longer, just let me know and i’ll sort that for you as well.

The dive centre also do free Nitrox for those qualified, so we can get you qualified in the UK beforehand if you are not already.

A bit about the diving:
 
The water in Malta is very clear and very blue! There are some phenomenally beautiful wrecks to go and visit as well as some lovely shore dives and interesting underwater topography. The water should be nice and warm by June meaning a 5mm suit will be adequate.
 
More information:
 
The dive centre we use is a friendly, well set up facility. The centre is just 5 mins walk from the hotel and also just round the corner from a nice pub where you’ll get 25% off all food and drink. Overall this should be a really good value trip with some excellent diving!

Ian

GLUG Training

7 days 7 nights on luxury Mermaid II starting and ending in Bali, Indonesia.
28 August to 04 September 2010

Organised by Rainbow-Scuba.com from Koh Samui, Thailand.  Full details on their web site.  http://rainbow-scuba.com/calendar/51/11-Komodo-Gay-Cruise.html

Plus several days exploring and diving in Bali before the liveaboard and trip to mystical Kelimutu volcanoes on Flores island after the liveaboard

The minutes of the February monthly meeting are now available online on the welcome page.

Additionally, all past minutes and agendas are also now available form a drop down section of the pink meeting panel on the Welcome Page. Just click ‘View all meeting files’ to reveal them.

Cheers

Mark
(Webmaster)

Anyone else going to the Dive lectures at the RGS (Royal Geographical Society) this evening – I’ll be in the bar, from around 6.10pm.  For anyone who doesn’t know me, that’s me on the right there, and that’s the shirt I’ll be wearing (it has the GLUG logo on it).

Neil.

It’s that time of year I’m afraid… time to update your GLUG profile!

Why? Well another year has passed so presumably the number of years you’ve been diving will be a bit more than before… and it’s good to make sure everything else is still accurate.

Particular things to note – the fields marked with an asterix are required, even if set to ‘not specified’ etc otherwise the changes will not be applied and lost. Please do take note otherwise you’ll end up making the changes twice, at least!

We have also introduced an Organ Donor field so members can indicate that they are registered as an organ donor or that you would wish your organs to be donated in the event of your demise. I know it’s not the nicest thing to think about but the field is there for those who wish to use it.

The new trips system will shortly gain the ability to supply trip organisers with selected details from your profiles for the purposes of running trips and this field will be one of those made available.

As I’m sure most of you are aware, the online database of members is now the only source of personal information – this removes the complexity and risk of errors from trying to maintaining two databases. We also no longer require new membership forms each year, it is therefore imperative that you keep your online profile updated.

There’s a link at the top of this post notification email which takes you to your profile, alternatively log into the site and visit the ‘members area’ and select ‘your profile’ under the ‘users’ heading. The update button is at the very bottom and don’t forget to consider making a public profile for the members only ‘members’ profile page.

As usual questions/queries… just let me know

Cheers

Mark
(Webmaster)

i want to go to the dive show and wonder if glug members are going as a group.

would be good to go along with someone/or more?

Open Water Course Part One £249 (March 13th/14th 2010)

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. This course is filling up, so please be quick. I am scheduling others though, so get in touch!

Thanks,

Ian

Hi GLUGgers

On Saturday 20th of March we will be holding a BBQ (weather permitting) in Streatham!  Those of you that have been before will know the drill, but I’ll reiterate in any case!

Bring food for yourself, and food to share (not loads – as last time we ended up with tons of left over food)!  Please also bring something to drink – this could either be just for yourself, or to share around.

If you could register your interest, please do, and we’ll try to co-ordinate things!  http://www.glug.co.uk/trips-page

Fingers crossed for good weather!

Doug

Hi All,

I was thinking of making club nights more informative, and bringing in guests speakers to do presentations, offer tips, answer questions etc. First up I have a professional underwater photographer/videographer who has worked with monty halls, to name but one in his career, who will come in an talk all things cameras/videos etc.

What do people think? Good idea? If so, what would people like know about for example UW photo’s, decompression theory, tech diving, rebreathers? You let me know, its your club.

Thanks

Ian

Training Coordinator

Hello All,

I am arranging a scuba review to be done in the next couple of weeks, if you feel you need a tune up ready for the diving season, or if you are about to head off abroad, then please get in touch asap. I have a couple of places left.

Thanks very much,

Ian.

GLUG Training

Hi Everyone

With only 6 months left to another fabulous Red Sea trip, there are only 6 places left. To date, I have kept this trip closed to GLUG UK members but will now be opening it up to our affiliate clubs and general friends. I notice some of you have registered interest but have not actually reserved a place with Oonasdivers. To ensure that you secure a place, you may want to book a place as soon as possible.

For further information, please go to the Events Page.

Charlie

Mandarin Fish on Dauin reef

The plan now is an Island-hopping trip, staying at three different resorts within the Visayas – the central group of islands. All transfers between the resorts are carried out by Dive boat, which means that dives are available even on transfer days, so we should get a full 12 days diving. The package will also work out at least £300 cheaper than the previous one, since the resorts are cheaper (but still very comfortable!).

The trip costs £1200 for 2 weeks, including a minimum of 30 boat dives, unlimited shore diving, Accommodation in deluxe rooms (all aircon) on a B&B basis, transfers to/from Cebu or other local airports, all transfers between the resorts, and all Marine Sanctuary fees. Not included are lunch, dinner, and drinks (allow £15-20/day to cover these), and flights.
Provided that you’re prepared to share a room, then there is guaranteed to be no single supplement – even if there is an odd number of people on the trip. (Of course, any Diva’s demanding their own room, will have to pay a supplement!)
Flights with Cathay Pacific should be around the £550 mark, so you’re looking at a little over £2000 in total for the two-week trip. (The previous package would have cost at least £300 more).
Non-diving partners are also welcome, and get a £600 discount on the price.

Payment schedule is £200 deposit, then 50% of the balance by September 1st, and the final balance by January 1st 2010.

For more details of the trip, please take a look at the Trip brochure – I’ll also be bringing a few copies to the club meeting tonight.

I currently have six confirmed divers, with two more people interested, but I’ve reserved space on the trip for 10 people, so I’m hoping to get at least another couple. The resorts themselves have at least 8 aircon rooms each, so there’s plenty of room on this trip for everyone! Even if I get more than 16 people, there are options available for staying at nearby resorts, or in fan-only rooms at reduced rates.

If you’d like to book onto the trip, you can pay the Deposit by clicking on this button: