Agenda for tomorrows meeting at Konditor and Cook @ 19:30.

See you there.

Chris

GLUG Agenda 06 03 2007

Hi everyone

Fiona’s birthday is coming up and we are planning to go to the Two Brewers that weekend to celebrate her.
I hope a lot of you come and join us on Saturday 31st March.
For more information please email me.

Sonja

The GLUG Chair and a buddy diving in Tenerife: Nov 06

The trip is only four weeks away and I cannot wait to land at the Aeropuerto Reina Sofia before watching a sub-tropical sunset over the Oceano Atlantico. It is such a nice feeling to leave behind the cold British winter and get off the plain feeling the warmth of Canarian winter. My excitement increases as I recall familiar dive sites and friendly Stingrays but also in anticipation of diving with different people and indulging in tapas or paella for super.

I have spoken to Yvonne at www.tenerifedive.com and we agreed that we will keep the bookings open till 25th of February (unless we fill in all the places before that date). This gives more time to anyone who likes to make decisions at the last minute.

So, what are you waiting for: book your flight and e-mail me your confirmation, which will secure your place on the trip. Please see Events Page and previous posts for details.

Common Stingray - a common sight in Tenerife’s waters.

The trip is five weeks away now and bookings need to be finalised soon. Please see Events Page or previous post for details and the Gallery for pictures from the previous trip. The deadline is Monday the 12th of February. After this date I can still take a booking, if any place is left, but I cannot guarantee the quoted price. Please e-mail me by clicking on the envelope on the top of this post if you are interested.

I’ve contacted La Tasca in St Martin’s Lane about an evening meal on March 10th. (Note: I’ve realised that it was previously on the Events Page as March 11th - apologies).

They’ve suggested that we choose one of their Party Menus (click the link to see them). The Menu Sevillano is only available at lunchtimes, while the Menu Valenciano is £17.50 per person, and the Menu Madrileño is £21.95 per person. The two menus are identical except for two additional meat tapas on the more expensive one.

(BTW - we get all of the dishes on the menu!)

My suggestion is to go for the Valenciano menu (and not just because I’m married to a man from Valencia!). However, if the majority is set on the additional tapas, then we can probably work something out. The vegetarian dishes are a little limited, but if we get enough people, we may be able to arrange to have an extra vegetarian dish or two.

We need a minimum of 8 people for the Party menus. I need definite names ASAP, please, so please leave a comment below if you definitely want to come. Please also indicate if you’re vegetarian.
I’ll be making the booking on 16th February, so please leave your comment before then. If others sign up after that, it will be subject to the restaurant having space available.

Please note that if you sign up below and then don’t turn up, you will be liable for the cost of the meal!

Although the trip is still over 6 weeks away, the apartments are getting booked fast. There are hotel rooms available but they might be a bit more expensive and have no catering facilities. Therefore, if there any more people interested in this trip please let me know ASAP. Please see the previous post or Events Page for details.

Sorry for keeping you waiting for the info about this trip but I’ve just received a quote from the Tenerife Diving Centre and a package of 4 dives over 2 days, 3 nights of self catering accomodation and transfer from and to the airport will cost £110/159 euros per person. Therefore, the other costs will be the flights, food and drinks.

In order to secure your place on this trip you need to book a return flight to Tenerife South (aka Tenerife Sur, Reina Sofia or TFS) for 16th of March, returning on 19th of March and e-mail the confirmation to me. I’ll forward it to the center. They do not ask for a deposit but they need all flights confirmations as guarantee of your commitment to booking and also to check arrivals and departures to plan the transfers.

As the trip is not only diving but also a social event, please arrive at Tenerife before 7pm on the 16th March that we can have a briefing, go for a meal together and get to know each other before diving.

When booking a return flight for 19th March please ensure that you departure is not earlier than about 4pm to allow a 24 hours surface interval after the last dive.

I’m going to put this trip on the Events list tonight so please click the tick if you are interested. It doesn’t oblige you to anything but at least will give me a rough estimate how many people are keen.

Please e-mail me any questions by clicking on the envelope on the top of this post. 

If anyone is planning on going to the Dive show in the Docklands for the weekend of 11th/12th March and would perhaps like to have dinner afterwards in London on the Saturday night with Fred and myself (the visiting Guernsey folk) then drop either of us an email and perhaps we could arrange a meet up for those wishing to …as well as the meal in London for the evening. (Venue open for suggestions/feedback?).
If not going to the show but wish to join in the meal then all are welcome…looking forward to seeing you!

For those who missed the excellent Xmas Glug meal (a definite must for this year)…here’s your chance to redeem yourselves!

I am planning to go to Tenerife in March for a weekend diving trip. Anyone would like to join me? I haven’t decided on the date yet, depends on cheap flights availability. It will be either from Thursday to Sunday or from Saturday to Tuesday. More information soon.  

If anyone is interested in a dive trip to Tenerife in November perhaps they would like to email me as I,m pondering getting a group together.All welcome.

No firm details as yet but understand those that went last year had a good time! Drop me a line.

Still have my ski trip in the offing for those interested…pricing now around £350 (half board) for a week in the Austrian Alps for March 23rd.Bargain!

May be a Thailand dive trip straight after next xmas too in 08…again email me (on both)!

Ray the “Chef”.

If anyone is interested in going skiing over the winter (perhaps late March-to Austrian Alps) then drop me a line by email…all parties whether experienced or beginner are welcome. May be regular winter event if popular.
Good apres ski fun and toning the muscles up for the new diving season.

Merry xmas to all from the “Guerns” and “good diving” in 07!
Regards:
Ray (the “Chef”)

Hi Guys and Girls.

For those of you who have watched the numerous documentaries on these Islands, the very names alone, conjure up the most exciting images of sharks especially schooling Hammerheads. Situated some 36 hours off Costa Rica these islands offer us some of the most adventurous shark diving in the world. With this in mind, I would like to see how much interest there would be in this trip. I invite you to do your own research on these amazing dive sites as well as looking at www.underseahunter.com. The very basics, for now, are: the trip will be planned for March/April 2008, for 18 people, travelling via Madrid to Costa Rica and using The Undersea Hunter fleet. Because we are going so far and paying so much, I have been advised that its best to do Malpelo and The Cocos rather than just The Cocos and allow two weeks for our entire trip. And now for the painful bit-the trip will cost something in the region of £3500. By organising for 2008, this may help you to save towards such expense. There are only a limited amount of vessels which visit these dive sites and they get booked up way in advance-2007 trips are all full! Therefore, I would need to hear from all of those, who are interested, as soon as possible, othewrwise, I will open it up to The US and French divers, we met in Hondurous, who expressed interest then. This is going to be the most amazing dive holiday!

Thats it in a very small nutshell folks and, as requested, can you please register your interest as soon as possible, below this post.

Best wishes

Charlie Stewart

GLUG MEETING MINUTES 7 MARCH 2006

Officers’ reports
UK dive coordinator (Corinne)
o Apologies from Corinne. All UK dives with up to date vacancy details are on the website.
o Farnes – Pink Tank spaces now being filled by GLUG waiting list
o There are still places on Fiona’s Swanage trip. The trip is 9-10 September and is suitable for Sports Divers/PADI Advanced+
o Neil to pursue Guernsey trip. Action Neil

Treasurer (Alan)
o Apologies for absence

Membership secretary (Fiona)
o 66 paid up members so far this year. Fiona will send out a final reminder for those who have not yet paid. Action Fiona
o Anyone who has not paid their sub by the end of March will be deemed to be no longer a member and will not be able to access the members’ area of the site. Action Neil

Publicity officer (Kirk)
o Apologies for absence

Webmaster (Neil)
o Neil updating GLUG gallery. If you have any photos you want to put on the website, drop Neil and email and he will explain how to upload them.

Equipment coordinator (Corinne reporting for Steph)
o 2 SMB reels have been purchased plus a new 02 kit. Belts and weights still to be bought.

Dorothy Divers (Corinne)
o Apologies from Corinne

Other dives
o No other dives planned at present
o Rainbow Divers (California) are considering a trip to Sipidan/St Kitts. Neil will put details on the website. Action Neil

AOB
o Allen to contact Siobhan about her dive kit. Allen to purchase suitable gift to be reimbursed by GLUG. Action Allen
o Neil has costed T-shirts from Fruit of the Loom. Neil to find out how many current members might want to purchase in order to decide number to buy. Action Neil
o Neil has put a link on the website to a site where you can design your own logbook. Also, company makes nametags that can be left with dive skipper when diving to reduce risk of being left behind. GLUG earns 10% on first order. Action Neil

Date of next meeting
o 7.30 pm Tue 4 April. Advance apologies from Debbie. Neil offered to chair.

GLUG MEETING MINUTES 7 FEB 2006

Officers’ reports
UK dive coordinator (Corinne)
o UK trips are filling up fast. There is one space on Corinne’s trip to Scapa Flow.
o All GLUG spaces on Fiona’s Farnes trip are full and there is a waiting list of GLUG members. There are still four Pink Tank spaces and Fiona will open these up to GLUG shortly.
o There are still two places left on Fiona’s Swanage trip.
o Check the website for latest details.
o Some months ago the possibility of a trip to Jersey was discussed. Lots of members interested Neil to contact Jersey contact to explore. Action Neil

Treasurer (Alan)
o Apologies for absence

Membership secretary (Fiona)
o 30 paid up members so far this year. Fiona will send out reminders to those who have not yet paid.
o Anyone who has not paid their sub by the end of March will be deemed to be no longer a member and will not be able to access the members’ area of the site. Action Fiona and Neil

Publicity officer (Kirk)
o Nothing to report this month

Webmaster (Neil)
o Our website host had hardware difficulties leading to the site being out of action for several days. It is now up and running again.

Equipment coordinator (Corinne reporting for Steph)
o 2 SMB reels have been purchased plus a new 02 kit. Belts and weights still to be bought.

Dorothy Divers (Corinne)
o One new Ocean Diver student
o DD to run Sports Diver and Dry Suit training in the spring

Other dives
o Dive for Life (Corinne) 85% full as of 2 weeks before the meeting. Will be in St Lucia on 16 September. Check DfL website for details- there is a link from the GLUG website.
o Djibouti (Brian). Brian has researched a trip to Djibouti either over Christmas or New Year. Cost approx £1,200 including flights and six days liveaboard. Brian will put details on website. Action Brian.

AOB
o We have had a very generous offer of a complete set of diving equipment, barely used, from Siobhan who has had to give up diving following a back injury. Members thanked Siobhan for this and Allen will collect Action Allen
o We are running out of T-shirts. It was agreed that we should purchase further supplies. Kirk suggested using an ethical source and will investigate costs. Neil to compare costs with traditional suppliers. Action Kirk and Neil
o The Dive Show will be held at Excel on 1-2 April. Noted that there are ticket price reductions for groups of 8 tickets or more. Corinne volunteered to coordinate tickets Action Corinne

Date of next meeting
7.30 pm Tue 7 March

The LIDS Dive Show is on 1 and 2 April at the Excel Exhibition Centre. Tickets can be bought on line (www.diveshows.co.uk). However, if we can block book 8 or more tickets in advance, we pay £7.50 instead of £10.50 and our names go in a draw to win a Red Sea holiday for a party of eight. Anyone wishing to go to the show and wishing to pre-book should contact me by 1 March. The tickets can be used either on the Saturday or Sunday, but not both.