Weymouth Diving

Just had a cracking weekend of diving on Skin Deeper out of Weymouth. We did an unnamed wreck christened the Conger Wreck. From the surface the water looked very clear but after entering and looking down the shot line it was clear the Plankton bloom was well and truly in. At about 30m the light disappeared and from then on if you wanted to see anything it would be by torch light. Reaching the wreck in 60m the visibility was around 5m. The wreck was a very small steamer and with a 30 minute bottom time we had managed to swim around the wreck 3 times. Not one I will rush back to.

Sunday we dived a wreck called the Snowdrop the bell was found last year by one of the divers on board. She sank in 1883. The visibility was around 8m and there was some ambient light but to see anything you needed a torch. The wreck was a steamer with the smoke stack still on top of the boiler. She is covered in Lobsters and other fish life and makes a cracking dive and is well worth a look if you are looking for a dive in 60m out of Weymouth.

TDI Combined Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course.

I am running a TDI Combined Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course at Old Harbour Dive Centre in Weymouth and off their dive boat X-Dream.

The course starts on Monday 4th July and finishes Friday 8th July.

For more info please click on the link below.

http://www.inspirational-diver-training.co.uk/courses/combined_advanced_nitrox_decompression_procedures-course/combined_advanced_nitrox_decompression_procedures-course.html

Cheers

Kevin

TDI Combined Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course.

I am running a TDI Combined Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course in Weymouth from 20th to 24th June. The course will be run from Old Harbour Dive Centre and on the dive boat X Dream.

For more information and prices click on the link below.

http://www.inspirational-diver-training.co.uk/courses/combined_advanced_nitrox_decompression_procedures-course/combined_advanced_nitrox_decompression_procedures-course.html

For more more info please drop me a line or give me a call.

Cheers

Kevin

New Advanced Open Water Divers

Well done to Josh and Greg from O'Three Dry Suits. They completed their PADI AOW course over the weekend. We did to dives at the Cove on Chesil Beach on Saturday then 3 dives off X Dream out of Weymouth on Sunday. We had a good 5-10m visibility on all our dives which was good.

Red Sea CCR Trimix Training

I have just returned from a very quite Sharm El Sheikh where I was running a Mod 2 Inspiration course. We had a cracking week completing 10 dives on the course 8 of them on Trimix down to depths of 60m.

I had 2 students on the course who had previously done their Mod 1 course with me. We had a good week and the guys learn't a lot. However the highlight of the week was on the last day of diving after the course had finished when we went Scootering at Jackfish Alley in Ras Mohammed where we saw a couple of Black tip Reef Sharks some Turtles and a Dolphin.

S.S. Leopoldville

The 11,500 ton passenger ship Leopoldville was launched in 1927 at the John Cockerill S.A. Shipyard in Hoboken Belgium. Up until the second world war broke out she was used to carry passengers and goods to Congo. When the War broke out she was commissioned as a troop carrying ship, with some modifications and the fitting of necessary armament.

During a 4 year period from May 1940 until December 1944 she covered some 219,949 miles and transported 120,000 American soldiers to aid in the battle for Europe. On the 24th December 1944 at 0900 the Leopoldville left Southampton carrying 2,235 troops of the 66th Infantry division to Cherbourg. As the Leopoldville approached Cherbourg the U-486 laid in wait the U boat was equipped with a snorkel so was able to stay under the water and out of site to all on board. The U boat fired a torpedo and struck the port side of the Leopoldville, the damage caused was enormous.

An SOS was sent out and several ships came to the rescue. HMS Brilliant came along side the Leopoldville to extract the ships passengers and crew however many lives were lost due to the rough conditions causing the jumping men to miss and fall down into the icy water.

Seven Hundred and Sixty Three men died that night. The Supreme commander tried to keep everything quite in order to to keep up moral of the troops. Only in 1996 did the British Admiralty release documents that detailed what exactly happened. Since then a memorial has been erected at Fort Benning in the USA.

The Leopoldville now lies on her side in 60m, 5 miles from Cherbourg. She is still very much in tact and makes a cracking dive

For underwater video footage click on the link bellow.

Trimix Diving in the Channel 6-10th June

I have booked Skin Deeper out of Weymouth to dive some cracking dives in the Channel and off the coast of France. The cost for the boat will be around £4,500 (cost could go up or down due to fuel costs). The trip is open to CCR divers as we need to be self sufficient for gas fills. I am limiting the numbers to 10 divers to give us plenty of room for the extra kit we will need to take for the 5 days.

The Itinerary is

6th June Leopoldville then in to Cherbourg & nbsp;

7th June wreck north of Guernsey ( decide max depth ) then into Guernsey

8th June HMS Limbourne then in to Plomanach

9th June HMS Charybdis then in to Guernsey or Alderney

10th June dive Illinois then home

To book you place email me or give me a call. But as usual you are not on the boat unless you have paid your deposit. Deposit of £200 required.

Cheers

Kevin