I’ve added a couple of extra columns to the GLUG Events Page, with the intention of making it easier for members to determine whether they have sufficient experience for particular trips, and also to encourage Dive Organisers to think about the level of experience required.

There is now a “Dive Conditions” column - this will give details of things such as Water temperature, Protection required (e.g. Shorty, 5mm Wetsuit, Semi-dry, or Drysuit), typical visibility, type of diving (e.g. Drift, Wreck, Dropoffs/Walls etc.).

Secondly, there is a “Required Dive Experience” column.  The intention is that the Dive Organiser should state the minimum qualification and/or number of logged dives necessary for the trip, as well as anything else relevant (e.g. Experience of Drift dives).   This column is not intended to be a hard-and-fast requirement (after all, everyone has to experience their first Drift dive sometime), but if you are lacking in any of the areas of experience stated, then it’s important that you ask the Dive Organiser whether or not the trip will be suitable.  Sometimes, it’s possible to pair up a less experienced diver with a Divemaster/Instructor, etc., but not always.  The Dive Organiser’s decision should always be respected.

Important: I have filled in the columns for some dive trips, but anyone who has a trip organised should log into the members area ASAP, and edit their Event as necessary, to add the required information.

Due to a cancellation, there is now one space available on the trip to St Maxime in the French Riviera, from 14-18 August.

See the Events Page for more details.

May I remind you that the show price for this trip is valid till Monday (17th March) morning only. Please see Events Page or my previous post #1287 for details.

Hi there,

I’ve finally managed to upload the UK Dive Booking forms to the website.  Please see the Events Page for details.

Big apology to Corinne for not getting it done sooner - just been snowed under with work for months!

Neil.

Could this be you?

At the club AGM, we failed to fill the position of Publicity Officer for 2008. Kirk, who has done a great job of organising the GLUG Pride stall for the last 2 years (maybe 3? I can’t remember!), has had to step down, due to other (very worthwhile!) commitments.

If there are any GLUG members who would like to volunteer for the post for 2008, please let myself or Chris know.

What does it involve?
The main task for the Publicity officer is organising the GLUG Stall for the Pride Events. Although as yet we haven’t agreed which Pride events we’ll be going to this year, we regularly go to London Pride and Brighton Pride, and have been to Cardiff Pride in the past. Your task will be to liaise with the Pride organisers (Wilde Ones for London and Brighton Prides), to reserve a stall; and to organise club volunteers to man the stall on the day. It’s not a huge amount of work, but it can be frustrating at times, since the Pride Committees rarely agree on what their fees will be for community groups until a few weeks before the event.

The second task is to handle any email queries which we receive through the website form titled “Press/Advertising enquiry”. We occasionally get emails from organisations such as the Pink Paper, Attitude, GaydarRadio etc. It’ll be your job to respond to these, or bring them to the committee’s attention as appropriate.

Finally, if you want to be a little more proactive, then you could think up ideas which would help publicise the club and increase our membership - e.g emailing Gay or Dive publications to promote GLUG events.

Ray’s asked me to sort out group tickets for LIDS, and a place for a meal afterwards.

For those who’ve never been before, LIDS is the biggest Dive show in the UK, and takes place at the ExCEL centre in Docklands. There are 100s of exhibitors, as well as talks by leading Dive professionals.

You can find more information at the Diveshows Website

Tickets are £7.50 (£10.50 on the door), but group bookings of 8 or more are entered into a prize draw for a £4000 holiday for 8 to Malta, so it makes sense to book through GLUG.

If you’d like a ticket, please email me (link on the Events Page, if you log in). Don’t just leave a comment here - I may not see it.

Post-LIDS Social Dinner

Since a few people will be coming from afar, and staying over in London, it’s a great opportunity for a Social meal.
After a bit of conferring with Ray, I’ve chosen Busaba Eathai, near Googe Street tube, and about a 15-20 minute walk from Old Compton Street. Busaba is a Thai restaurant in the “Wagamamma” style - but with nicer decor, and this one has a private dining room, seating up to 22 people.

They have three set menus (details to follow), priced at £16, £19, and £24pp, excluding drinks and service. I’m not sure as yet whether we all have to choose the same one - but probably. Although they don’t have a specifically Vegetarian set menu, many of the dishes are vegetarian, and they will do an extra couple of dishes specifcally for the veggies among us.

I’ve booked the table for 8pm - I wanted a bit earlier, but they’re already booked from 6-8pm. We have to be out by 10pm.

If you’d like to come to the meal, please let me know ASAP by emailing me (link on the Events Page if you log in). Again, please don’t just leave a comment on this post. I will need payment in advance, once we’ve decided on a price - either by cheque or by online transfer.

There are now only 3 spaces left in the dive boat for the summer Jersey advanced dive long weekend-see events section. Reserves only will then be taken . Social places for the trip are unlimited at present (Hotel rooms need to be reserved soon however) for those non diving club members, partners, friends etc., just wishing to come along for the apres dive fun. Gatwick flights are proving the most popular but other UK airports are available. This will probably be an annual event..so watch the gallery for this years photos-don’t miss out!

Just a reminder that the 3 night Jersey summer diving and social event scheduled for the July weekend is proving popular and if anyone is still interested in coming along then don’t delay getting in touch for more details (see “events” section) to get your flights booked and hotel reservation secured. Dive boat places still available at present with diving to Advanced level on a couple of Jersey’s best wrecks and most colourful marine life filled reefs. Nice evening apres dive dinner atmosphere with possible late night visit to Jersey’s superb gay revue bar on the cards …for those party animals with energy to spare!A weekend definately not to be missed this year.

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.

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:

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.

Summer long weekend’s diving & social get together. 3 nights Fri,Sat,Sun. Travel Agent’s all in package @£239 in central quality Hotel with pool, etc.,(close to bars & clubs) in St.Helier. Half board terms with good flights/timings return from Heathrow INCLUDED (other UK airports @supplement).Add on days/cheap hire car if required.
Diving Sat/Sun @£39 a day all in approx.
Non divers/partners & members friends welcome.
Unlimited for general social but space now limited/possibly full for dive boat (please check-reserves being taken-email me.)See “Glug events section” & to register interest. A good opportunity for some excellent diving, to see the island and a good summer knees up!

Bookings are now being taken for the GLUG Xmas Meal, which will be held on Saturday 1st December (exact time to be confirmed), at Strada, St Pauls Churchyard, London. Alesh has kindly agreed to organise the booking for us again this year.

All are welcome, including non-diving partners.

If you’d like to book, here’s what to do…

1. Choose your meal options from the menus at the bottom of this post.
2. Make sure you’re logged in to the GLUG website, and go to the Events Page. Click on the tick next to the “Xmas meal” entry, to register your interest, and then click on Alesh’s name, to send him an email.
3. Make sure that you include the following in the email:
   • Your name, and the name of anyone else you’re bringing.
   • Which Menu(s) you want (Vegetarian @ £20pp or Omnivore @ £30pp, including Service Charge)
   • Your options for the “Secondi” and “Dolci” courses from the appropriate menu.
4. That’s it!

NB: Please don’t post your menu choices in the comments below and assume that we’ll treat it as a booking - you must email Alesh from the link on the Events Page.

We need final numbers by 15th November, but there is a limit to the number of people the restaurant can accommodate, so you’re advised to book early!

Please note that if you sign up for the meal, you will be liable for the price of the meal chosen, whether or not you turn up. (If you need to cancel, then let Alesh know by November 15th).

Alesh will acknowledge all bookings by email, so if you don’t get a reply from him within a couple of days, please don’t assume that he received your booking - send your email again.

The menu options are below:

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!

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.