Oonasdivers have emailed me details of some last-minute bargains for May, if anyone’s interested…

3 - 10 May - Sharks Bay

£399 Twin View Hut & 5 days diving

£429 Twin Beach Cabin & 5 days diving

£485 Twin Bedouin Village Room & 5 days diving

Prices include flights, transfers, 7 nights B&B with 5 days diving/10 dives.

(Single Supplement applies)

7 - 14 May - Marsa Shagra

£509 - Tent & 5 days shore diving

£542 - Mandarah Lodge & 5 days diving

£607 - Madyafa Guest House & 5 days diving £640 - Madyafa with Air-con & 5 days diving

Or upgrade your diving pacakge to 6 days diving for approx £60.

Prices include flights, transfer, 7 nights full board with 5/6 days diving (Single Supplement applies, except in tents)

Booking is now open for UK Dives for 2008. Please see Events Page for details. I will be at the meeting on 8th January, incidentally, if you want to book any dives.

I’ve had surprisingly little response to my previous post about the RGS (Royal Geographical Society) Dive Lectures on 31st January.

Last year I had several people complain that they couldn’t get tickets, but this year only Alan L and Jason S contacted me - and Alan had already reserved a place.

This event is FREE (which is why the tickets go fast), and this year will feature Monty Halls - well-known for his TV series “Great Ocean Adventures”. I’ve been to two talks by Monty, and he’s always entertaining (not to mention rather a hunk!), with behind-the-scenes stories, photos, and videos.

The other speaker this year is Mike Valentine - one of the world’s leading underwater cameramen. He has worked with some of the biggest stars on various Hollywood blockbusters, and is sure to have some interesting tales to tell!

I still have 6 free places reserved for the event. I know it’s difficult for some to get to Kensington Gore by 6.30pm - but if you can, you’ll enjoy a great evening. I will be releasing the unclaimed places back to the LDC (London Diving Chamber) on 5th January, so please let me know before then if you’d like to come along - log into the website, and send me an email by clicking on the envelope at the top of this post.

The London Diving Chamber is running its Annual Dive Lectures on 31st January 2008, at the Royal Geographical Society, Kensington Gore, from 6.30pm.

The event is free but you must pre-register. Since all the tickets went last year within 24 hours of being announced, I have reserved 8 tickets for club members - but I need to give them names very soon - so the first 7 GLUG members to email me (log in, then click on the envelope at the top of the post) will get the places.

Details of the speakers (Mike Valentine & Monty Halls) follows:

Further to my previous post re this dive event in Sark, 2008. I have a list of names, but not all e-mail addresses to send the booking form. If you wish to come on this trip, please click on the envelope and let me know your e-mail address - I’ll get a booking form off to you soonest.
Thanks
Fred

I would like to organise a trip to Lundy in August or September 2008 but very quickly need to gauge an idea of whether we would be able to fill the boat (10 divers). If you are interested in diving this fantastic marine reserve off the North Devon coast please can you either e-mail me or leave a comment below.

This trip would be suitable for most levels of diving qualification and for all those keen to dive with seals and basking sharks! August is the best time of year to see basking sharks there.

Diving would take place Friday to Sunday, staying at the New Inn in Clovelly. Diving costs £40 per diver per day (assuming 10 divers), bed and breakfast is £25 per person per night. Click here for more information

London Divers are holding a Festival of Diving at the London Welsh Centre, Gray’s Inn Road, on December 2nd, sponsored by the London Diving Chamber.

The day kicks off at 9.30am, with free tea, coffee and pastries served before 11am.
Among the presentations are

• Dr Oli Firth from the London Diving Chamber - “The Trouble with Bubbles”
• The Marine Conservation Society on their campaign for British marine reserves
• Bite Back – the shark conservation agency
• Top underwater photography tips from the British Society of Underwater Photographers
• Technical diver Jeff Cornish will also give the first ever UK presentation about this year’s outstanding diving expedition to the wreck of RMS Carpathia – the liner that rescued the passengers from the Titanic and which now lies in 160m, 200 miles off the Scillies.
• Viktoria Batten, one of the UK’s top diving instructors, will share her amazing cave diving adventures.

Mark Ellyatt, the world record diver who discovered the wreck of HMS Victoria will be on hand to sign copies of his book. There’s also a wide selection of diving equipment, diving holidays and diving fashion on offer – including designer jewellery from Aquamarine Silver.

Tickets are just £6 for the day, and give you an entry into a draw to win an Otter Drysuit worth £900 !

To book your ticket, go to the London Divers website.

Please could all those who expressed an interest in DFL (Diving for Life) email me again to let me know who you are (Log in and click on the envelope above).

AOL managed to completely screw up my email - I’ve lost all my contacts, email messages, etc., etc.

Sorry for the inconvenience

Steph.

I’ve managed to find a B&B to replace Tolpuddle Hall. It’s the Alverstoke Guest House, 43-44 Lennox Street in Weymouth (www.alverstoke.tripod.com) and has 4 single rooms, 3 twin rooms and 5 doubles, not all en-suite. I’ve reserved 1 of the doubles and all the rest for now. No single room supplement. Costs range from £25 to £28 per night. Now just need to find a local eatery…

Just imagine, it’s beginning of December. It’s wet, cold and dark and miserable looking people are pushing their way towards overcrowded underground carriages. But not you, you are in a different world. You are rolling out of bed, waken up by a glorious sunshine, trowing on shorts and t-shirt, having your breakfast on a terrace and walk into a next door diving centre.

5-10 min car journey brings you to the harbour where you kit up and board the RIB. It takes only between 10-15 min to get to one of the diving sites where spectacular rock formations, three species of rays, loggerhead turtle, barracudas, octopus, cuttlefish, trumpet fish, angel shark and friendly dive guides could make your diving trip unforgettable. Look at the pictures from our previous trips to Tenerife in the Gallery, to see how much fun we had.

There are still places available on this trip but we need to close the booking next week to ensure that suitable accommodation is available.

In order to secure your place on the trip, you have to book your flight and e-mail me a confirmation, if you haven’t already done it. Please refer to a previous post <1168> or e-mail me ASAP.

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.

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.

Third year for a return visit to Sark. If you have not been to Sark, this is a good start to the diving season. Despite the weather this year, our skipper managed to find some excellent dive sites. Please read the write up on this years event. Please let me know if you are interested and I will start a list, with reserves. Maybe because I live in the C.I. - but to me, this is the best diving in the U.K. Numbers are limited to eight divers.