Its been a Good Year

I know the year is not quite over yet but due to a sore knee (old war wound) my diving finished back in September! But thanks to the good old NHS I will be back in the water by the middle of January.

Well where should I start? The season really got started for me in March I had booked Ian Taylor's boat Skin Deep for the first and last weekends for some weekend diving out of Weymouth. However things were not going to go to plan as at the last moment I decided to go out to Sharm to see an old friend Aaron Bruce for some personal development!! I booked for 2 weeks meaning I would miss the first weekend out of Weymouth but then I was asked to stay and do some work, teaching a couple of Inspiration courses meaning I would miss the 2nd week in Weymouth. My presence was not really missed and every one had a great time feeling their way around the M2.

Four weeks later I was back in Sharm delivering an Inspiration for one of Aaron's colleagues and to do some more teaching, an open circuit trimix course. This was the last time I would be in Egypt despite being invited several other times.

Well the weather back in Devon was improving day by day and the underwater visability was getting up to 10-15m so training conditions were perfect. Over the next few months we did several Inspiration courses and a number of Open Circuit courses of varying levels. As the days grew longer we managed to get out and do some of the medium range trimix wrecks out of Plymouth. Gems such as the Medina, Untiring and the Unicorn. But these wrecks were just the tip of the iceberg compared to the trip we had planned to Malin Head, Ireland. Here we had 3 of the top 10 wreck dives in the world with the Justicia, Empire Heritage and Audacious all of them spectacular in their own way.

However if I thought I was not going to be blown away by more spectacular wrecks then I was was wrong we had 2 more aces up our sleeve. In September I had a trip of my own planned to dive out of Plymouth but before that we had 2 days diving out of Newquay on the wreck of the Armenian a White Star Liner that lies in 95m. We only managed to get 1 dive on her due to the weather but that dive will stick in my mind for a long time. Moving over to the south coast and Plymouth we were quickly going to go from hero to zero with a dive on HMS Seabed on the Saturday and Sunday we were totally blown out! But there was still Monday when we were due to dive the Afric another White Star liner and yet another memory that will not be lost any time soon.

I would like to thank all of you who joined me in my adventures this year. I look forward to more of the same next year and making more new friends and dive buddies.

Have a great Christmas and a cracking New Year.

Malin Head August 2011

Hi Guys

You will recall I posted recently (see below) regarding a return trip to Malin to dive with Michael on the MV Rosguil. Michael has confirmed his price at 520 euros a day up to 20 miles with a surcharge for fuel at cost after that. I have booked the boat for 10days with the intention of diving 8 days with 2 days set aside for bad weather. These days will cost 250 euros each. I require a deposit of £400 (non refundable unless you fill your space).

The following people have confirmed.

Me

Martin Davis

Ger Dooley

To book yourself on the trip please email me and I will send you my bank details to pay the deposit money. The boat can accommodate 10. If there are still spaces left on the 1st December I will open it up to the forums.

I will be planning some build up weekends prior to the trip which I will keep you all informed of.

Cheers

Kevin

Red Sea Trip Confirmed

We are going to Sharm El Sheikh on the 10th March for 7 days! We will be diving with Werner Lau dive centre who are offering their Buddy weeks at this time (Buy 1 get 1 Free on dive packages). So 2 people can do 6 days diving 12 dives for a 264 euros. We are staying in the Tropicana Tivoli Hotel which will cost you £145 for a twin room. The hotel is in the Aida area of Sharm which is around a 10 minute taxi ride into Naama Bay. However there are plenty of restaurants within a short walk of the Hotel.

While we are out there I will be running a Inspiration Mod 2 course and my friend Aaron is running a Mod 3 course. We can accommodate 4 divers on each course and there is currently 1 diver on each course. If you would like to join us for the course please email me for prices.

If you require any further information then please email using the contact form which can be found by following the link below.

http://www.inspirational-diver-training.co.uk/contact/contact.php

Cheers

Kevin

Red Sea Trip March 2011

Hi Everyone,

I am planning a trip to Sharm El Sheikh from the 10th - 17th March 2011. It will be open to Open and Closed Circuit and Open Water to Trimix divers alike. The beauty of diving in the Red Sea is you can see as much in 9 or 90m. I am not going to go into prices here if you are interested email me and I will send you details. We will be diving with a company called Werner Lau who are offering something called their Buddy week where 1 person pays and the other is free of charge so making a very reasonable week of diving. I am planning on staying in the Tropicana Tivoli I have stayed here before and for the cost is a lot of hotel. The hotel is located in the Aida area of Sharm which is both quiet and a short ride to Naama Bay. I have a friend who runs his own transfer company so the trip from the hotel and airport will be arranged in advance. I lived in Sharm for around 12 months + have spent many more weeks out there on holiday so if you have never been there before you can be reassured I will look after you. Sofnolime and rebreather cylinders are available from the dive centre.

The price you pay is the price of the trip I don't put anything on top. If you would like to do any courses while we are out there that can be arranged.

If you would like any more info please email me on the the contacts page.

http://www.inspirational-diver-training.co.uk/contact/contact.php

Cheers

Kevin

Ann And Chris TDI Mod 2 Inspiration Divers

Well done to Ann and Chris who have just finished their TDI Mod 2 Inspiration course. Unfortunately due to the poor weather we had to finish off the diving in Chepstow quarry making their last dive to 58m on Sunday with a total run time of 80 minutes. They are now going to consolidate their training over the winter to be ready for a busy season of Trimix diving next year. Well done guys see you next year on the boat.

Cheers

Kev

White Star Liner SS Afric

We dived the SS Afric today a White Star Liner 26 miles out from Plymouth. After Sundays dive was cancelled due to the strong winds I was pleased to see a fairly calm Plymouth sound as I dropped down the hill that leads to Fort Bovisand. There were 8 of us on the boat and we loaded quickly so we could get underway, the trip out to the site took around 2.5 hours. On arrival Danny (our skipper) spent a little time to study the layout of the wreck as we wanted the shotline around the stern of the wreck. The shot was dropped and the divers 2 by 2 dropped into the water. I was the last one of the boat and quickly dropped down the line through the different levels of water clarity until I reached the bottom in 75m. On the bottom I had caught up with the 2 pairs of divers who descended before me, one pair had clipped on their reel and were already leaving the line and heading towards the stern. To save time attaching my reel I decided to follow along their line. We quickly came to the stern where her 2 large props sit either side of the rudder that is still turned to port (left) where her crew had tried to avoid the torpedo that sunk her. I swam over the prop shaft and around the back of the rudder then ascended up and over the stern to the deck. The wreck is sitting on her starboard (right) side so swimming over her port side railings you are looking down her wooden deck into the gloom and back towards the seabed. The wreck is in excellent condition but covered in fishing nets and is very similar to the Armenian which I dived on Friday. The pair of divers I was following decided to head back to the shot having not laid my own line I was now stuffed I could either continue and risk not getting back to the shot or cut my dive time short and follow them back, I chose the later as I had already racked up 60 minutes of decompression time. The trip back up the line was uneventful but long. Another cracking dive racked up and one that I will be visiting again soon.

SS Armenian

We dived the SS Armenian on Friday out of Newquay. She is 50 miles out and in 95m. The trip out was 3 hours long and fairly lumpy by time we reached the dive site we were all ready to get off the boat! I was diving with a trimix of 10/62 giving me an equivalent narcotic depth of 30m in my inspiration and carrying 2 eleven litre bailout cylinders with 14/54 and 30/35 these 2 cylinders would get me to 22m if the poo hit the fan then the remainder of the gas I would need would be lowered down on a pre planned signal.

As we descended it got darker and darker and on reaching the bottom we needed torches to see however the visibility was a good 10-15m. The descent took us around 6 minutes with the shot dropping down into the inside of the wreck. The decks and superstructure had long since collapsed exposing her boilers. We swam towards the stern coming across a large winch where we crossed over and explored the other side of the wreck. There were port holes lying around everywhere I picked up 2 with the idea of sending them to the surface but I had second thoughts knowing that the time it would take to rig them up to a lifting bag would probably mean another 20 minutes of decompression at 6m.

We spent 20 minutes on the bottom which gave us a total of 80 minutes of decompression over 60 minutes of that at 6m.

This was a great dive the size and condition of the wreck is hard to put across. I will definitely be going back and paying her another visit next year.