I can see 2012 bringing in some new changes, the Dives logged will cetainly be a challenge as the recession bites even further and costs sky rocket.

In the meantime, this was last years summary for reference.

Dives in 2012 have already been logged last Sunday.  The Boat handling training continues every weekend for the would be trainee Coxswains. One or 2 places still left..

Coxswain course on in UL on 21st January in Room CG054/Ref:7076

All in all 692 Dives were logged through 2011, 319 dives were logged in Portroe accounting for 46% of the Clubs Diving. So a huge thanks to Portroe for supporting the Clubs wish to dive. The training has been invaluable to the training population.

The Club held it's AGM on Friday and so again a new year begins and some faces within the Club committtee.

A number of members who could not make the meeting offered their apologies, even Mike Hynes trying to make the ferry from the Isle of Jersey. Hope you got home safely.

Overall, thanks to all that attended. Great meeting and incoming committee are:-

Chairman - Mike Orth, also announcing a hope to obtain a position on the CFT committee. Good Luck.

Diving Officer - Martin Bowes

Secretary - Eimhear O' Brien

Treasurer - Frank Hopkins

Training Officers - Peter Walsh, Brian O' Leary

PRO -Child Liason Officer - Teresa O'Connor

Equipment Officers Team - Dave Keane, Noel Hickey

Search & Recovery Diving Officer - Richard Roche

Well done to all.

Here is the Diving Officers report for 2011.

The Stats

Club Membership Grades comprise of

5 *          Instructors Grades,        

5 *          Leading Diver Grades

6 *          Rescue Diver Grades,    

8 *          Club Diver Grades

14 *        Trainee Diver Grade: Of the trainee grades, one due for test very soon with a potential 4-6 candidates for test early 2012.

6 *          Snorkel Diver Grades,   

7 *          Search & Recovery Diving Grades

14 *        DFR Grades,                      

14 *        Coxswain Grades within the membership also.

This year produced 6 * DFR grades, 1 S&R grade and 1 * Club Diver grade and 4 * Nitrox Divers with another 3-4 Club Diver candidates for test very soon.

In summary, the Club membership logged over 662 dives – Refer to Stats. Despite the poor weather conditions the availability of Portroe Dive Centre has served to provide diving opportunities in times of poor weather or where diving responses have not made it worthwhile to pursue Diving at sea. In all 289, Dives were logged @ Portroe Dive Centre.

The Club away outings to Dingle, Portmagee, Miltown Malbay and Hook Head were generally well supported and offered some very favourable diving and great Club social enjoyment.

Finance

The cost of transferring boat to a dive site must and should continue to be a consideration. The numbers interested in availing of diving have for the most part made it worthwhile to run dive operations compared to previous years.

Towing

Towing resources continued to be a problem. Available options were diminished with the unavailability of towing vehicles and yet again,

A Club Towing vehicle should be considered the absolute must priority to provide flexibility of diving to a larger population of drivers.

Training and Lecture series

With the surge of Trainee numbers last November, the dilemma of conducting training was managed with the support of a number of Club Diving grades and leveraging the association with Aughinish Sub Aqua Club.

A great debt of thanks is due Aughinish Sub aqua that supported and managed the lecture series and helped with the expense of the pool session costs.  All arranged through our Chairman Mike Orth.

Thanks especially to Dave Ryan, Frank, Johnny, Mike, Ciaran, Dave K and so many more throughout the year, who sacrifice their personal Pool training interests to support the lecture & pool training sessions. 

Dive summary 2011

36 Club members completed 662 dives, credit is due to  Noel, Eamonn, Bill, David and Kieran as new trainees for 2011 and all have been making good progress with their dive training throughout the year.

Well done to Eimhear on passing her Club Diver test 2nd October.

The week long period of Diving in Portmagee continues to be very successful, so I would hope that the tradition will continue. The membership have benefited from the good year of diving and have able to push boundaries of diving experience, particular seen with higher grade attainment, course participation and generally a clear demonstration of greater dive skills.

Fortunately, the August Bank Holiday for once allowed Diving in Miltown Malbay, the opportunity to dive in Doonbeg and Miltown Malbay by the Club membership was well received.

The trip to hook Head was also very enjoyable.

I must take time out to recognise Frank Hopkins, Dave Keane and Martin Bowes who in particular have facilitated dive support of the trainee population in Portroe. The Club membership, in particular, the trainee grades owe them a debt of gratitude for making themselves available to dive with and learn from their skillset and experience.

Incidents 2011

Thankfully, few incidents to report to CFT, again thanks to all members for been safety conscience and vigilant with dive behaviours throughout the year.

Free Flow incident in Portroe 

Comments

Divers are asked to prepare well in advance for diving. Dive operation schedule should not be compromised by failure to have adequate air supply or equipment issues prior to diving. Divers are reminded to be aware, adhere & respect CFT rules & recommendations.  Always prioritize the safety of ones diving buddy’s above the needs of personal dive goal’s. It would be advisable to get used to ones own gear & upgrading diving skills before new optional equipment is obtained.

All diving activities and incidents should be reported to the Diving Officer. Divers should make the D.O. aware of intention to dive prior to dive and obliged to report back upon dive completion.

Ensure Bottles filled from Club Compressors are within VIP & Hydro dates. Please feedback issues on diving to Diving officer at all times please. 

Persons notable on Dive sites

I must commend Teresa, Emma and Eimhear who gelled the Club membership together with the onsite picnics & (BBQ in Portmagee) at the back of whatever vehicle served to offer a suitable table space to oversee the ritual nattering sessions and slagging sessions.

Noel Hickey with 50 dives for a trainee grade, amazing stat for the year and always helps club dive operations.

Dave Ryan always dependable to help and makes dive organisation simple relaxed and is an example for all  members.

Eamonn Moloney, the Video clips have served to be a welcome and dismayed addition to the club profile. Great blogs and archive material for the Club.

Martin Bowes whose help, support, advice, encouragement and banter have made running dive operations relaxed, safe and very enjoyable. The Club Blogs speak to a great and very enjoyable safe year of diving. 

Overall the help and support advice provided by you, Frank Hopkins and Dave Keane have elevated the skillset of the trainee membership.

Note

The Diving officer should be alerted to all Diving activities prior to taking place.The Instructors grades would encourage all members and grades to Always strive to be a better diver!  Respect & support your fellow Diving members!

Development

Wearing  my Instructor hat, I have seen the Club grow from a club struggling to dive &  support an imbalance in Trainee numbers. That has changed over the years, thankfully, but, need to continue this development.

An emphasis on Coxswain development, encouraging Leading Diver and Instructor grades from within the membership is a recommendation going forward. For the 1^st time in years, I can feel confident that the Club can recommend divers for the upper grades and easily excel and represent the club  with ease.

Meeting’s attended

CFT AGM

S&R Regional review – Indicate Issue to highlight in new Committee

Weekly club get together in Locke bar. 

Thanks

Overall as Diving Officer, it’s been very successful and rewarding time served as D.O. for 2011.  I like to thank all the Club membership for their help & support throughout the year.

Thanks especially and as always to the equipment officer’s team for ensuring the boat and trailer are available for diving which is an ever more difficult task as the years roll on. A major over haul to the Club trailer will be required for 2011 and will need to be considered by the incoming EO team.

Thanks to all who helped with the organisation and support of the Children Of Chernoybl BBQ. It was a very well organised and enjoyable event. Credit is due to KBSR, Killaloe Coast guard , Frank Corr and all those who helped on the night to make it a very enjoyable and safe event.

 I’d like to thank John Breen for relaying CFT and Club related communications.

With that, I hope that I will be allowed to finally step down as Diving Officer for Limerick Sub Aqua. I will continue to help & support an incoming Diving Officer and membership of Limerick Sub Aqua for 2012.

I hope that Limerick Sub Aqua will continue to grow, develop, diving grades, leading divers and Instructors Grades and have enjoyable and safe dives going forward.

Yours in Diving,

Brian O’ Leary.

He has achieved so much in Irish Cave exploration - He will be sadly missed.

Rescuers continue efforts to recover body of cave diver

Cave diving trainer Artur Kozlowski, from Shankill, Dublin, whose body was discovered in a cave network near Kiltartan in Co Galway last night

By Barry Duggan

Wednesday September 07 2011

Efforts will resume today to recover the body of a diver who died exploring a cave in Co Galway.

The alarm was raised when Artur Kozlowski, (34), a Polish man who was one of Ireland’s most experienced cave divers, failed to resurface from a diving trip in a flooded inland cave on Monday night.

Members of the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation located his body last night, nearly 24 hours later, about 52 metres down in the deepest section of the cave.

They plan to bring it to the surface during the day.

Mr Kozlowski had been living in Ireland for a number of years and held several records in Ireland and Britain, including one for the longest and deepest cave traverse of 103 metres.

He had enough oxygen to last more than six hours when he went into the water at Pollonora cave, Kiltartan about two and a half miles north of Gort at 3pm on Monday.

His close friend and experienced diver Jim Warney found the Polish national's body in an underwater passage at around 6pm yesterday.

It took Mr Warney an hour to dive to the narrow passage where the victim lay with his oxygen tanks and guide rope fully attached.

The location where he was found is almost a kilometre from the access point to the cave and is 52 metres deep.

The family of the diving training instructor in Poland were informed of his death shortly after the search diver returned to the surface.

The rescue team has now requested the assistance of a UK dive rescue unit to assist in the recovery of Mr Kozlowski's body.

Mr Kozlowski was on the final day of an underground expedition when he vanished.

The Polish national was regarded as the most prominent cave diver in the country -- and it was hoped that he had sought sanctuary in an air pocket in the extensive underground cave network.

Experienced

Originally from Poznan in Poland, Mr Kozlowski lived in Shankill, Dublin, and was known to his Irish friends as Artur Conrad.

He arrived at the rural location in Co Galway on Saturday, and spent Sunday diving, before going underground for a final exploration on Monday.

Mr Warney's search last night was his second dive in less than 24 hours, having spent Monday night searching after the alarm was raised.

After two divers searched an initial 350 metres to no avail, Mr Warney examined an un- searched area of the 800 metre-wide cave which is 52 metres deep.

Conor McGrath of the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation said a considerable air space had been discovered halfway into the underground cave and that they had hoped to uncover more. "The air space is near the surface so that gives us hope that the cave may have more similar air spaces and that he is in one of them," Mr McGrath said before the discovery of the diver's body.

"He is very experienced. He has very good equipment, very good training and very good knowledge. He is the only one who has been into this cave to its known limits,"

All five divers involved in yesterday's search were friends of Mr Kozlowski. A quantity surveyor by trade, he had been living in Dublin since 2006 and began cave diving in 2007.

Friends said he quickly became involved in all aspects of cave diving and soon opened his own training company.

In 2008, he recorded the deepest underwater cave dive in Ireland and the UK at Pollatoomary, Co Mayo.

Explored

For the past two years he had extensively explored the vast underground cave network in south Galway.

Tom Nolan (86) of Croker House in Kiltartan, Co Galway, had known Mr Kozlowski since he first explored the cave at the rear of the family home in 2007.

Mr Kozlowski became a familiar face at the the bed and breakfast. "He'd come and ask: 'What room am I in? I'll dress the bed myself'.

"He arrived on Saturday night and was diving Sunday and Monday.

"On Monday he told my son, John, that he was going for the last stage. He wanted to see if he could connect this with the caves in the Burren. If so, it would be the biggest underground cave network in Europe.

"Artur was underground there one day and he could hear this noise," said Mr Nolan.

"He checked all his gear to see if there was something wrong and couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from.

"He kept listening though and eventually figured out it that the noise was from the traffic on the road above him. That is how big it is underground here."

Nancy's seen a few of the members get together on Friday night to get out an wish Eimhear a happy birthday. Indeed, a "few" pints were consumed and some were led to the Outback to "shake a tackie" into wee small hours of Saturday morning. The sun rise was been watched by some once again. :-)  Much Chattin was done, some hangovers were been walked off, cooled off by Adare farm food ice cream or dissipated by a good hearty breakfast-lunch on Saturday. Many photos was taken in evidence, however, they are deemed not suitable for public display. :-)  

Reports from the night suggest all had a great night and never know some new relationship may soon kick off :-)

 

Diving update

Apologies to those who thought that we were finally going to get out of Kilkee and go diving in Doolin, alas, getting out the boat on Sunday morning proved to be a bit of a challenge, but we finally sorted it out, only to revert diving back to Kilkee. So yet again, Club membership were spoiled for Diving around Kilkee. 14 divers came to Dive Kilkee and indeed it was great to see Lough Derg and Athlone out in force also. Thanks to the DOD's John and Frank for organising the proceedings and getting diving running to cater for the numbers coming to dive.  I think the hot sunny day twarted the desire to run the boat a 4th time, however, not bad when the boat was back in the yard at 4pm.

Rest assured, however, Doolin will finally see the Club boat next Sunday, weather permitting. 

Also, please note, no harm turning on your phones early in the morning when setting off for diving, it may help with getting up to date messages regarding deviations or delays. Fortunately most of the diverted divers turned up in the right spot!

John Breen reported that he had 2 lovely dives in Doolin. 1st in Chinaman's Hole and the other in Bones Bay. Roll on next week's trip to Doolin.

 

Next Thursday sees the Annual BBQ @ 2mile gate for the Children of Chernoybl. Lookin forward to it.

 For those into Stats so far 351 Dives have been logged by members so far this year. Club has already surpass last years dive numbers for this time last year.

 

As our Chirman Mike was tending to his own celebrations, preparing for the christening of G Tyler Dallas Orth on Sunday. Myself & Emma dropped by to wish the latest addition to the Orth's a great day. Mike's was busily "flipping the burgers" for his guests and thankfully the great day came to an end in the late evening.

Indeed the BBQ theme was in the air over the weekend as we dropped into to make an appearance in the Skinny for the Aughinish BBQ. Prior to making an appearance, we managed to pick up the Club boat and launch it in preparation for Sunday's diving. The crowd and the music in the Skinny was great, great to chat with our Aughinish Diving Buddies :-).

Sunday unveiled a perfect day for diving, while overcast, the seas was calm and so did the members of Limsac. Despite missing 5 of our regular divers, Emma & John were tasked with organizing diving for initial 15 divers, but 2 late addiitions were announced on Sunday morning.

So dive operations kicked off at 9.30am with dry coxswains for each dive outing"Stick", All 17 divers were catered for with dives on Middle rock, The Diamonds and Toni's craic :-) All 4 dive outings were wrapped up at 5pm even with the lunch time break. Thanks especially to the Dry Coxswains and the folks for going with the flow. Even the 1st boat of divers managed to drop into Cathedral caves.

Ronnie even logged his 1st dive of 2011 with the club, and I really enjoyed our dive on middle Rock with Ronnie and Eimhear. I dearly would like to get to the age of 79 and still be able to dive... Wow!!!

Thanks to all for keeping to the Dive schedule in a timely manner. Indeed the Textsof thanks to Emma and John were very much appreciated

Martin even wowed the Club with the introduction of Zelda, me thinks he has his hands full, but, you never know we could get another coxswain for the Club :-)  But, was the dive on Toni's craic as good as the wedding bash celebrations in Bunratty?

Meanwhile, those Touchy feely days are not quiet over for some of us. Don't worry - Be happy

Bowling night on Tuesday night at the Leisure Bowl on the Ennis Road and not forgeting that little celebration in Nancy's bar.

The weather is deteriorating, so hopefully it will be ok to get the boat to Doolin to support the seasearch course next weekend. A dive is been planned for Kilkee on Wednesday, so fingers crossed, conditions will be ok. Also, dont forget our annual Children of Chernoybl BBQ at 2 mile gate, Killaloe. All help appreciated.

 

 

Well now I am back at work, recovering from a busy Day's diving out of Oysterhaven(The deep South), diving the recently found UC42 and then on to the Santo Wreck in the mid afernoon. A long but, very enjoyable day while the Club went to home ground(South West) and dived Kilkee.

The links on the earlier blog say it all. Great to see them, and then see the reality of the bones to reinforce the message, it is a grave. The visibility was good until "Ciaran of Inbher Sceine was ploughing down the Starboard side towards thankfully the end of our dive which prompted me to crossover the bow and head for the mine housings for another look back up towards the conning tower. Respect to the guys who found it and laid the plaque. Great tribute to the memory who lost their lives on this Iron Coffin.

Credit and many thanks due to Nigel who orchrested the outing and invited myself & Emma along aswell as Brian Kearney & Suzy who made the outing a home away from home.

Basically, the dives are both about 30meters and ideal for Nitrox divers to use a bottle without going into Deco. Those on air did suffer the need to cut bottom time and do an approximate 10 min Decompression if the stayed over 25mins. Only drawback was the transit times to the wrecks, between 30 and 40 mins for both sites, so more ideal to either use OceanAddicts or try an find a launch site to the east side of Cork Harbour for a Club dive boat run.

The Santo wreck, is interesting in terms of the extent to which the site is desimated. Very little is left and all that remains are the dredging buckets, boiler, some huge gearing, the prop and gear shaft. A wide debris field with a lot of Conger and wrasses using the wreckage as a home. Certainly, the wreck is worth a vistit. :-)

 

Kilkee did not endeer itself to some as the choppy conditions of the morning, encouraged a few green faces, best cure is to get in the water and snorkel, alas Poor Kieran suffered on. Thanks to Teresa and Eimhear who brought lunch for the guys, great bonding session and naturally the ribbing for those who "popped their heads above the parapet" .....  Car keys & Locked doors - Did the special one get another treat in the Chinese in Kilkee?? .... Again a song comes to mind.. Once, twice, three times a lady.... :-D

Eamonn will testify on behalf of the anybody that does any towing for the Club in the future, even if a crime is committed... "Major respect to the "Tower possee" :-) Fair play to Ken, offering words of support and encouragement " Your're doin a great job. Eimhear got that also, HanCock 2 " the Kilkee trilogy comes to mind :-)

As for Martin & Mike, well, the Wilds of Kilkee yielded some edible trophies for the free Divers on Saturday.

Limsac Divers presented some challenges and unfortunately some weight loss, but, a search and recovery event was conducted, Coast guard, kilkee Lough derg and Aughinish dive clubs were involved and through a long and intensive search and recovery with a post dive review in the Skinny or scots, the weight belt that attempted to escape was captured and held in evidendce by our RDO.  The Club D.O. had to submit an "near miss" incident report on the matter. However, in saying that, all is well with every Limerick Sub aqua member, and we can now all breath a sigh of relief and joy now, that a successfully recovery has been conducted!

So very soon, Tuesday, in fact - in the Locke, I will be conducting teambuilding exercises with Limsac members, tackling the most pressing issues of the day.

Avoiding weight loss, Filling a bottle - Navigate around middle rock - Towing, the mystery tour, Reg freeflow - Avoid  tank contents loss, singing the "green, green, grass of home when seasick - Lost - Car keys - Send for super wife...   While there, I will be signing copies of my new book - Diving - A Dummies guide to ---- :-)

Great turn out in the Locke last night, great craic :-) Ken's words of encouragement " Your doin a great job" made it a night to remember :-D

From Portroe Jun 24, 2011

After hearing the tales of Last nights trip to Portroe, I kept thinking of that line from a song, " where's me jumpa(Jumper), where's me jumpa... Dancing at the Disco, bumper to bumper" .. Etc.

Poor Eamonn.. After devising a plan to get diving arranged for Portroe on Thursday, alas, it all backfired, his BCD mysteriously did not make it to his jeep and the cries went out... Anyone got a spare BCD! Alas Poor Eamonn, no dive after all!!

Talk about the last minute hick up's.. Teresa's Reg decided it was sick of Portroe but, that minor free flow was copped before departure to Portroe, so fortunately my spare reg made it to Portroe via Mike to sort her out for a dive.

As for Martin, well, Stuck dump valves on the his  BCD caused havoc and the hunt for Bill and Mike turned out to be an incredible story of hit & miss or was that hide & seek ....hee hee... Me thinks a slagging is coming Martins way hee hee... Leading Diver grades are up for anything :-D

Meanwhile Dave and Miriam really had a cracking dive relishing in the light that was penetrating the water and the trip along the far wall of Portroe - 42 mins of a dive, told Ya, Miriam, really getting into this diving lark afterall.  Thanks Dave for leading the way.

Well, as for David and Kieron, yet another opportunity to practice - Lessons learned I hope on every dive?? , all we need now is to see them log some sea dives and get the benefit of some of the beauty of Irish Sealife and vegetation here on the West Coast of Ireland :-)

Meanwhile Kilkee is the Dive location for Sunday, while myself and my buddy Emm -check out diving on the UC42 Sumarine and the Santos wreeck in advance of an Organized Club outing very soon. Planning long Nitrox dives on them to get a look look around them.

 

Santo: http://www.iol.ie/~mkeniry/kkSanto.htm

UC42: http://www.iol.ie/~mkeniry/ccuc42.htm

UC42: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuG1tykKHI8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

UC42: http://www.afloat.ie/watersport/diving/item/14853-german-u-boat-rediscovered-in-cork-harbour?tmpl=component&print=1

 

Looking forward to a great weekend of safe and enjoyable diving for all :-)

 

As conditions in Kilkee were reported as been bad, Diving was arranged for Portroe. The likelyhood of poor visibility prompted DOD's to halt diving in Kilkee. While a few used Portroe on Saturday for some training and compass work, Sunday unleashed the Trainee Divers to practice some more in Portroe. Eimhear however, in preparing for her Club Diver test fitted her Octupus only to find it got snagged on the way to the dive and appeared to be resisting the opportunity to go diving. Needless to say Eimhear won out in the end with those fists and the obey me tones :-) "Resistance is Futile"

Meanwhile, Miriam was going boldly where "No Newcastle west woman has gone before"... Dave kindly opted to lead her for her 1st dive of the year in Portroe, Success all round as she quickly remembered her training after the initial few minutes of getting settled. I keep telling ya, you'll be a good diver, so come diving more regularly now that you have restarted!!  Kilkee next week...

As for Eamonn he is getting his dives in and the dives logged by the Club thus far are beginning to surpass last years totals for the same period.

So, future dives upcoming are the Cork "New Sub" dive.. Moving the Boat to Doolin/Quilty for July Time frame. Hopefully, weather for the Kilkee diving next weekend will be better.

Now have to start Prepwork for Eimhear and Noel and maybe 1 or 2 more divers for their Club Diver grading :-) 

Club Dive Stats.

 Happy Diving Days all round :-) 

 

 

Wow, it was with great sadness that I left Portmagee today, pulling out of Portmagee after an intensive week of Diving and suppin my last pint of the "Black Nectar" (Guinness) in the Bridge bar last night.  A week of mixed weather, that cut back diving on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, but, never mind, the club membership logged 81 dives over the course of the week.

Sites like Long Island, Cus Diarmuida, South & North Puffin were all visited during the course of the Week. Despite that, I still did not get opportunity to visit Basalt Cliffis and north side of Valentia. :-(

 

A great turn out over the weekend and a nice daily boat boat load through the week.

 

The Club BBQ on Sunday organised by Teresa and Suzy was a great affair. The food feast was excellent and it was great to see the membership all together after an eventful days diving out of Glen Pier. Well done to Teresa, Suzy and all who assisted with the BBQ :-)

 Indeed diving on Sunday yielded a surprising addition to the boat numbers as we returuned from my drift dive on Puffin south on the second Boat trip. Doc Tom and Richie picked up 2 divers that were missed by OceanDivers. Tom dropped us in about 1.15pm and when we surfaced I could see there were 2 new divers in the boat. The drift on puffin was amazing, so much so, that Tom had to scoot out for Dave & Noel were pushed off puffin by it. It appears that our visitors were left behind in the maze of divers on South Puffin, so I'd say the 2 guys from Dublin were extremely lucky that Limerick Sub Aqua were diving in the same area as, Tom informed Valentia Coast Guard that Limsac had picked up 2 divers. The Irish version of Open Water came to mind. Anyway all's well now, we returned to Glen pier where fortunately, the guys were able to alert OceanDivers and arrange pick up back to Knight's town.  Monday seen the Guys back in Glen Pier using, this time,  with the services of Willie Kennedy to Dive around puffin.

Oisin from GSAC was in fine form over the weekend. Those local ladies really enjoyed his dancing in the bridge. The Bridge was alight with the two Clubs having the craic. Francis was testing out his leading Diver skills with the Limsac on Saturday and had to deal with a case of Salt Water aspiration and a bad ankle sprain, the acting was only brill from Emma and Dave...hope it helps his prep work for it. :-) Good luck to him. 

Monday seen the arrival of Martin Bowes, who added a laugh or two and an un ending chatter to the wilds of Portmagee. We were enlighten by a trip to Cahirciveen to get fuel on Tuesday and got lost talking to Mick Walsh re the enlightenment and Philophosy of Buddahism. Wow, what an afternoon :-)

Saturday allowed us to escape with Gearoid to the Northside of Puffin. We were dropped at the entrance of a gully that ran back into Puffin. It was amazing, in that it had so many swim throughs and it was very sheltered at the end of the dive. Lovely and certainly a dive to repeat upon our return back to Portmagee.

 

 Overall, I'd say the Week was yet again a great success, lots of dives Logged, safe & enjoyable. Fun was had by all and I am already can't wait to get back next year. Diving, that you just cannot beat.

What was in the water before Xmas??  What a baby boom, some clandastine arrivals of Babies recently, one could even say that there has been a flood of babies to boost the membership figures of limerick Sub Aqua.

Wow, firstly I was suprised to see Matt in Portroe as I arrived up there in the afternoon to dive with Alma on her second open water dive, after realizing that Matt was indeed alive after all these months, he discretely mentions that he recently had a new addition to the family, Baby girl Aishling.  That will keep you quiet for a while :-D

Then, Mike and Shirley new arrival popped on the scene over the last 24hours, another boys to fight with the dogs. Alas, I fear, another trip is pending for poor ole Mike, until a little girl pops on the scene, me thinks :-)

Ciaran Enright also has a new addition.... No, stop, don't fret.. Yvonne did not have a baby!!.... Ciaran rescued another Cairn terrier from the pound and so the family too are expanding, hopefully Meg will like her new buddy...

Christine Ryan also had a little baby boy.... Doggie, A bichon frise pup called "Buddy", a loveable rogue, who loves biting toes, Ouch!!!

To cap it off, then I get reminded about Thomas Hanrahan... and so baby Ronan has indeed completed the suprises for the day... or at least I hope that is the case....  Be aware now folks... Emma is running for the hills!!!

 

Happy days all round, hope you are enjoying the Sun out there in tenerif Johnny Boy... Lucky So and so!!!

Firstly, I must apologize, as I have not had the opportunity to contribute to the Blogs as actively as I would like. Busy times all round.

A chance to meet up for a chat with other members and non members is there, for all those interested now. Club members get together in the Locke bar every Tuesday night from about 8pm onwards. You are guaranteed to get a crowd @ about 9pm. As the music is starting about this time, you may see us in the side section to the right side of the main bar. If any1 wants to get logbooks signed off, go over notes or answer any questions, or chat about the last dives, well that is a good opportunity to bring it up...  :-)

 

Weather for sea diving has been poor for May and the coming weekend is no different. Portroe is it for the moment, which is great for all our starting trainee diving grades, at least they are able to log in the dives now. In fact, I have to congratulate some of the new members as Noel, Kieran, William, David and Eamonn will soon be getting their 1st formal CFT dive qualification.  Well done so far!!! Thanks to all the members who have dived Portroe in helping the new members with loggin up their initial open water dives.

Noel has been the more prolific new diver, taking advanatage of all opportunities to dive.

Well done to William, Noel and Eimhear on the DFR participation and Emma, Eimhear and William for the Coxswain course.

The Rescue course test is pending, but, as the Club's 2 candidates are pre occupied with building upon the club membership figures, I think they will have to postphone their test :-) 

Club went to Dingle for Easter and Kilkee for th May Bank Holiday. I must say, that despite some minor glitches, the Diving on saturday and Sunday was great and very enjoyable. Regretably a small group turned out to dive Brandon Creek on Saturday & it was the easier option to shore dive it. Emma spotted and Octupus and thankfully, both dives there were very good, despite a good pull. The dives were moved to Parkmore, Ventry on Sunday, and I must say I was amazed with the visibility on both dives. Martin finally joined us for boat diving on Sunday with his holy Semi dry suit. Brave man stuck it for 25 mins on a throughly enjoyable dive. Suzy dropped us in a large shoal of Coley. Alot of life about, but, the Vis made it fantastic.

It's a pity that more could not make it for the weekend and Martin's engagment with the bunch of American girls in John Benny's pub on Saturday night was a howl. The craic was mighty, not forgetting the huge slice of apple cake with icecream!!. I don't know what the kerry men thought of the blow in from Tipperary!!  So sad to see the girls head of back to Kilarney, aaahhh, poor Martin. :-D

May Bank Holiday diving was out of Kilkee. Conditions for diving were not as smooth as I had hoped, as a good south westerly swell along with the Spring tides were playing havoc. The strong easterlies did not help enough, but we did manage to dive on Bearity and between Georges and Middle Rock for the second dive. We had a good turn out for both dive outings.

Portroe has been the dive location of choice since then, thankfully, the members who need to train and work up dives can at least log up dives.

There was a great turn out there last Saturday and especially mobbed with Divers on Sunday. Even John Breen ventured up there to log a dive.

However, we must continue to support Portroe again this weekend as the westerlies are making it impossible to have good sea diving.

Tomorrow, see's me assisting with a M2 jurors course in Portroe, but, looking forward to it and getting a dive in Portroe also.

Alas, the Regional Dive weekend, while a great success, did not encourage Divers from Limsac to travel. I think weather and the noticeable and understandable tightening of the belts is more obvious this year. The recession and fuel costs are certain factors to contend with, these days.

Thankfully, the winds are dropping and weather appears to be improving early next week, so hopefully, Portmagee will be a great week of diving... Finger crossed. 

 

 Don't forget to look at the latest photo's on the site and feel free to pop along to the Locke bar on the Tuesday nights to chat with members of the club to hear the latest gossip :-)

 

Happy and safe diving!!

 

 

 

 

Kilkee with Trainees Apr 12

Finally, Sea diving for the Club with the Boat began yesterday.

The boat was cleaned up and prepped, ready for diving on Saturday afternoon with the help of Dave, who was nursing a hangover, after a night of celebrations, Richie, "Big Dave", john and myself. Peter popped in to supervise the work. Great job getting boat ready and thanks and appreciation to the E.O. team for looking after the gear over the last year. Thanks to John & Shelly for the tea and refreshments to keep the troops energized.

 

With last minute repairs and checks complete, boat was towed to Kilkee to be greeted by an overcast day, flat seas :-) with a slight chilling breeze in the air. Thankfully, we arrived on the slip to launch boat at 10am sharp.

With the dive brief complete, Jason decided to make an unannounced appearance. Communications don't work too well in LIT - Mobile phone technology, thesedays (tut).As we found out later to our surprise, kilkee was turning into a bit of nudist colony going by the post dive changing room carry on. Did someone forget to wrap a towel around themselves, can't figure if Kilkee Cam caught the full moon or not :-)

 

Inner Bishops was chosen for the 1st dive, a nice handy 20 meter dive in a sheltered area. I was surprised with the pull even with the neap tide, but, nice to get back into sea once again and visibility was reasonable for the time of the year.

The battle of the torches yielded an outstanding winner(for this time at least), even if Mike's torch needed to be charged, so the battle of Magicshine Vs kowalski must be postphoned until the night dive coming very soon.

Anyway, a second dive at 2.15 was ordered by Emma, the DOD and after some light refreshments on the slip, a introduction to Eamonn and Jason to sea diving was due, so we opted for newfy, Shallow, great visibility.

Mike was involved in a major S&R activity before the 2nd dive. The KBSR training obviously shone through as he found the car keys he dropped in the water on the way out to the boat. Excellence - Certification really due... :-)

 

I think Jason was suprised with the sea Cucumber I pickep up to show him and took out my reg to bite it (Naah, only joking) as well as squeezing it so that it would eject some opaque gloopy  liquid. (Yuk)

Eamon, hopefully warmed up after the dive, balls of a brass monkey, but all dives went well and enjoyed by all.

 

Weight Stoppers, Drop/Add weight, Dive watches, Semi dry wetsuit,  became the comments of summary of the day.

Funnily enough, yesterdays full moon in Kilkee did not reflect in the tidal conditions :-).. Hmmm why???

Alas, the "keys" dilemma affected somone else also, another rescue effort was conducted before long as the spare car keys were ferried from six mile bridge at the cost of a chinese in the Chinese in Kilkee :-)

 

Also, I understand that Dave K could not make it to dive yesterday, not surprised if yourself and Loretta are going to add a new member to the Club soon. Congratulations and hope all goes well :-)

 

The Club send their best wishes to Eimhear at this time...  Hope things work out ok...  Fingers crossed!!

 

Reminder: Dingle for Easter : Portmagee for June.

 

 

 

From One if by land, Two if by Sea, 3 for Portroe Quarry

Well, that is what I felt when I arrived in Portroe, While it was a quiet, Sunny day great day to get in a series of dives, I noted a few customized Rebreather as well as the usual suspects, the AP Values Inspiraion tas well as the rEvo, rebreather http://www.revo-rebreathers.com/#/en/home/ an option I had not seen before.

Anyway, I was brought back to reality with continuing to run dives with Noel, Jason and David. I managed to do a series of 4 * 25minute dives. Noel manage to squeeze in a second dive with me. Not put off by the gush of water into his dry suit. Hopefully we will soon get to the bottom of the leak, in his neckseal. At least next week may be a degree warmer :-)

Visibilty was excellent and when I took David and Eimher of on a dive, we managed to dive on the Shamrock, David's 1st wreck dive, a privilage for a trainee grade.  All are making progress and so a sea outing is beckoning closer. All we are awaiting for now is for Alma, Eamonn,  & Jason & Hayes to join in on the fun :-D

Theresa, Frank braved the conditions also to log their 1st dives of the year. Good luck to Theresa in her drysuit.

Reminder to all, don't forget logbooks, Congrats to Dr. Tom, John, Paul and Rose who Dived the Bridges of Ross yesterday, nice day's diving by all accounts.

Nothing more will be said for the crew that secured diving with the Aughinish Diving Club, The Pinnacle got a visit,  Dave testing his new drysuit out with Bill at sea for time, Bill had his1st open water Dive with the Club, introduced to the regional Club Diving culture and Mike decided to test his full face mask at 38M with Kevan. Some busy and hectic weekend of diving.

All enjoyed the dives :-) All back safely, just that the DO has to write up the Dive log for the day.

Coxswain course next week, so diving plans to be announced closer to Saturday. Boat will be ready for next saturday morning early run to Kilkee.

Reminder Coxswain course next weekend followed by DFR course later in the week. 

 

 

 

From Drowning the Shamrock

St. Patrick's day was an ideal time to drown the Shamrock and get in a bit of a snorkel & Dive. The troops were raliied to Portroe and myself and a few willing souls ventured into the water to assist/watch the drowing of the Shamrock.  Lovely day, water temps were ok and indeed Myself, Noel, Jason and David once again were testing our snorkelling in the clear waters of Portroe. Refer to some of the photos on thephoto section of the Website.

I then decided to kick off the 1st open water dives with Noel and David.  Well done to all for getting in the water and so Noel and David had their 1st taste of Portroe, hopefully, not too bad. Nice and slow to hover around the van and play with inflating the Tyre to see it rise adn redrop to the bottom somewhat later once again.

Roll on diving for next weekend. I believe the boat is as yet, unavailable, so interest in diving is split between Kilkee and Portroe.

Rest assured, I'll see some Divers on Sunday. :-)

Had a great nite in South's on Friday to congratulate Martin Kiely onhiselection to NDO role and Aude Richards to a role on the TC.

Don't forgot, the Club are going to the dogs on 25TH March... Stand by for more info via Email and Text.

Folks,

Lets start the ball rolling.... An introduction to Boat operations and Open water snorkelling on Sunday moning at 11am.  Limited option for Open water dives on St. Patrick's Day in Portroe for trainee grades and on Saturday 19th March. Sunday Diving option subject to confirmation.

For Sunday's snorkelling, please have good warm change of clothes, bring logbooks, lifejackets if possible please. If you have a warm flask, bring it along also.

Club text will go out shortly.

 

Also, Please note Anybody need anything from Francis Jenkins? Someone from Club is meeting him on saturday, so last chance to pick up any items.

Folks,

Just a quick note to summarize the events of the AGM.

 

Main point no change to Insurance fee's.

The controls on expenditure have managed to "stem the tide of losses" and those controls will remain in place until the next AGM. 

 

New Course roll out and Presentations

The Club Diver instructor course details were communicated and will be implemented in a Pilot course very soon.

The course is aimed at Club Diver grades with an interest to assist with In club training, to lecture and assist with practical Pool and initial Open water diving activity. Suitable Candidates recommended by Diving Officers will be eligible to attend these course will kick off quite soon, so stand by for the entry requirement detail very soon.  This is a great development and will ease the burden on in Club Instructor grades.

 

Nitrox course changes

A course will now be available to allow trainee diver grades to obtain and receive certification in Nitrox diving. It is then possible to easily upgrade and move to pursue the Advanced Nitro and Extended range courses.

 

Coxswain Course

At long last the coxswain course has been revamped/updated and is currently been rolled out in any future courses. There are  some additional lectures and certainly the focus on the practical initial training has been emphasized in this new course.

Specific detail and trainee logs have been updated to reflect a higher standard of candidates, that hopefully the new course material will improve Coxswain skills.

Please note, that affiliation with other Boat handling organization/standards remains an issue as the stumbling block is the requirement of membership to that organizations is the problem. So for now, Coxswain will be unique certification within CFT.

 

Trade Show

 The trade show was appropriate, but  notably smaller than previous years, the focus is on Suit, Reg & BCD sales.  Lots of choice for Red sea holiday deals, all you need is the money and time to select your option.

 

Presentations

 I sat in on the presentations by Jack Ingle, Equipment configuration, some very interesting comments on streamling dive equipment aimed predominately at the Techie diving community.

Some good tips…   Website for reference is jack@jackingle.co.uk

 

Timmy Carey and Eoin Mc Garry - Asgard II Expedition

Timmy and Eoin recanted the events of planning and diving the AsgardII which sank in the Bay of Biscay. The Dive was shrouded in controversy, however, the details, the video stills and footage of the wreck were a great display and the trip was indeed something the Irish Diving community should be proud of.

Well Done, great accomplishments to Timmy, Eoin and the rest of the team in bringing back the BELL, compass and Boat steering wheel from the Asgard II.

 

AGM & Elections

The CFT AGM elected its new executive and members of the Technical commission on Sunday.

The various officers submitted their reports for November 2009 to March 2011.

However, the AGM was marred will a lot of controversy of the Search & Recovery Medal Award ceremony and the level of communication around the award recommendation procedures. Regrettably, as with such inaugural events, there were some persons missed and recommendations were not balanced, finally, the discussions re the issue were terminated and the matter will be resolved in due course.

 

Finally,

I was delighted to learn that Martin Kiely was elected to the role as National Diving Officer, and Aude Richard also elected to the Technical commission.  A great honour and privilege for the Aughinish Diving Club.

 

Well Done to Martin & Aude.

 

 Please refer to the CFT website for specific details re the course changes and details of the new Executive members and rest of the TC members details over the coming days.

Well, as we all got back to pool training yesterday, all members are reminded to get in the pool for Pool fitness tests, Treasurer is looking for your money ASAP. Best keep the treasurer happy!!!

A reminder to start getting equipment serviced and ready in time for the new year.  Francis Jenkins is on his way, so start dropping of equipment for test to John please.

I think we have stabilized the numbers of 12 new trainee membersfor 2011, so a big welcome to Limerick Sub aqua to

Angelique, Alma, Frances, Ger, the 2 Jason's... Noel, David for rejoining, kieran, Bill, Mark and Dwane.

Can all member hand over logbooks to D.O. Please and all members are asked to log into CFT profiles and complete On line medical disclaimer please.

Well I missed an opportunity to squeeze in some dives in December, yet again work getting in the way, however, after recovering from New year's celebrations in Kenmare, ventured up to Portroe Quarry to dive on Sunday. The quarry was not ice ridden, thankfully, so Matt, my buddy.. just another lunatic willing to dive in these conditions kitted up and we had a "nice" dive. I was anxious to test out my new torch, a magicshine 1200Lumen LED all the way from Hong Kong. Very happy with it :-)

Visibility from the sleepers down to 38M was crystal clear. No problem seeing the bottom. We did a bit of a tour out to the far wall and then returned in a clock wise direction back to ramp. By the time we finished our Deco requirments, we were 45 minutes in the water. The hands were suffering from the 4degree water temperatures at this stage. Still, nice dive after warming up in the heated Porta cabin :-) looking forward to another dive this weekend.

Generally, Club activity around diving from October to February shuts down, however, with the availability of Portroe, there are now options to continue diving.

So, for those who wish to continue, allow me to comment

Water is colder, Water temperatures will drop from a current 10degrees to 8degrees on the surface to a possible 3 degrees in december/Janurary timeframe at depth of 38M in Portroe.

As such,

Drysuit diving is recommended

Regulators are stressed and some dive regulators may not be suited to the colder working conditions and therefore present a higher risk of free flow.

Hypothermia, is more likely the longer the dive and so with it the higher risk of decompression due to it by nature of the colder temperaturse a "Cold Dive"

 

So members are advised to communicate your interest in Diving Portroe to the D.O.

Plan dive carefully. Get advice of experienced diving members.

Bring a change of clothes and make sure you wear warmer thermals than normal.

Consider a " Warmer Wolly bear"

End your dive appropiately if shivering begins.

Bring Warm drinks for Post dive debrief.

In the event of a free flow, do not panic, Abort your dive and ascend at a safe ascent rate and your buddy should assist.

Report any incident or issues to D.O. ASAP.

Wow... What a way to start the new season. LimSac welcome 16 new Trainee grades to it's membership this year. Last Night's pool session was busy!!  Members benefitted from participating in the CPR lecture last week and then covered, Intro to CMAS,  Hand signals and Dive Physics last night.

Pat O' Brien will give next weeks lecture on Dive Equipment, so good opportunity for all members to pick up new gear items.

Congratulations to all those trainees who passed their passed their Pool tests last night.

Continue to work on the medicals.

Our Club treasurer Frank Hopkins will be available to meet all members next week for collecting Fees and discussing Direct Debit and fee payment optionss.

 

Reminder to all members to get Dive medicals renewed!!

Reminder to members to attend Pool session as Water fitness test is due for renewel once again.

Reminder to all members to think about getting gear serviced for 2011, so this year, Pat O' Brien, Francis Jenkins, and Portroe Dive centre are available to meet your needs.

 

Despite all, James Gaffney was been tested for his Club Diver in Kilkee. Yet again, another success for the Club, so well done James, despite some initial setbacks and postphonements, James came through in flying colors :-) Congratulations!!  :-)

While some of the members decided to trip up to Portroe for some diving, Theresa seconded Seawolf to introduce her to Drysuit diving and a few others wanted to quench their thirst for a dive.

According to theresa, it was to slag her off, showing up in her new dry suit waaaahhhh  ooooohhhhhh. After a bit of " fiddling", "pressing", the inflate for the drysuit was found, It took time though!! Chest inflators on some drysuit, who would have guessed!!!  :-) 

Tut, tut as the audience built up around theresa at the drop in point at Portroe...

Theresa, afterall, it was only jealously!!! "Semidry's in Portroe, this time of the year is only for real divers", came the comments!!!  Never mind, Theresa...All enjoyed the Dive aswell as Mike Hastings who tagged along. Even if the pace was accelerated at the end to warm them up!!!

Matt and myself were only "brave or Stupid" souls to get back in for a second dive, and for almost the hour also, afterall it took time to off gas the 11minute decompression penalty picked trying to see if they were any deeper spots than 38meters in Portroe.  :-)

Dave Keane was Diving his 1st dive as Club Diver also, I hope the slagging was not too bad Dave. Also we'll try to get you more diving with Limsac instead of the Aughinish boat in future  ... Hee heee

Welcome aboard Dave Keane who passed his Club Diver test yesterday in Kilkee. Conditions were less than favourable, but well done to Dave for getting through the elements of the test. 

Meanwhile, I available of the sunny conditions to at least dive in Portroe. I managed to find some Buddies, Renne and Tim who originally hail from South Africa. Great guys and great to dive with a bunch of guys outside of the normal Club routine. Nice relaxed dive, a nice leisurely potter around the far wall of the quarry. I need to add a few words of Afrikaan to my vocab now, esspecially to cover a buddy check :-)

Meanwhile, I tagged along with the Polish Divers on the 2nd dive. Great dive, guys were really concentrating on improving dive skills. Really good stuff, reminded me of the things I often take for granted as an instructor.

Alas, Diving for 2010 is coming to an end, but, fortune smiled on Limsac members to allow for diving in Portroe in support of the Clean up Day. A great day, Sun was out, A great number of divers attended, It allowed Dave & James finish off prep work for there pending Club Diver tests.

The Pig on a spit and the BBQ was great, infact, probably worth considering a repeat event again next year, all going well. I hope everyone aswell as I, left Portroe with a feeling of great achievement in assisting with the cleaning up a very wonderful inland, all year round diving resource. Thanks again to all the folks in Portroe for kicking off the idea, providing a great and rewarding day of Diving.

The weather continued to smile on us, and the sea beckoned once again, so fortunately, a few of us joined up with our fellow divers from Aughinish for a days diving out of Kilkee. A dive off Bishops and Middle rock were on the dive menu and we took full advantage. The visibilty was good and the reports of mackerel shoals were amazing. Pity we did not have the fishing lines out for the 1st dive. Still Mary made up for it on the 2nd dive and the tackle was hastilty put together during the surface interval. Yes, indeed, Mary and Bob were rewarded for their efforts.

Thanks to my Dive Buddy on 2nd dive, Barry from Lough Derg, we toured Middle Rock and headed back to the Cathedral Cave back in the middle of the Bay. All in all, the tour took us 50minutes to complete, I think the smile on Barry's face after the the dive said it all... Misson accomplished.

Hopefully, we may be lucky with another few days of diving yet, but, if not, Portroe is there for us now and all in all, I can't really complain.  We have had a great year of diving. Certainly, weather allowed for a lot more opportunities at sea this year.

I suppose the achievements for the year may be listed as

A few rescue Diver grades

A new leading Diver

Approximately 560 dives logged by members of the Club

2 new Trainee Diver grades have completed all the dive log requirements to go forward for test.

Club will have 2 new Club diving grades very soon.. Finger crossed :-)

Great 50th year celebration event ...... Thanks to Teresa & Emma

A year in which we had Ronnie("Club's most senior member") diving with Richard, it's youngest member.

Ronnie's revistit back to Portroe.

2 Search & recovery divers

A number of DFR qualified divers.

The core of the Club have been building up experience and this year, for many, extended the diving to include wreck diving out of Baltimore.

All in all some great positives for the year, and overall, the Limsac commitee, and instructor grades have been delighted to have been a part of this great season.

Can 2011 beat it.... Wait and keep tuned to the website blogs then....

 

 

 

 

 

From Leading Divers Smerick

After a drought of many years, Limerick Sub Aqua has a new leading Diver grade, Matt Wardle!!! Congratulations & well done to Matt, who stepped up to the mark and passed his Leading Diver  in Smerick , Dingle over the weekend.

The course and test is demanding, but, Matt received his Cert after a tough weekend of testing. A great achievement for Matt and the Club. Once again, the gaunlet has been laid down to the rest of the Club membership to "give it a lash".

Club has been making great development with skills and grading over the last few years.

Trainee grades converted to Club diving grade, Coxswains, DFR and Rescue divers!!! and now Matt is the latest to raise the bar once more, next step, the instructor grades :-D !!!

Meanwhile Eimhear, got her 1st taste of a mock test run of a club diver test yesterday in Portroe and leading her 1st dive. Well done!!!  Congrats on getting a few extra weeks work in Traleee :-)

A good year overall for Diving with well over 550 dives logged by Limsac members, helped by the availability of Portroe to provide diving opportunities in bad weather.

Congrats also to Tom Shaw from Lough Derg Club who also passed his leading Diver Test weekend. Well Done Tom!!

 

Baltimore U260 and Kowloon Bridge

A number of "Pirates" naaahh, divers!!! visited Baltimore over the weekend to dive with AquaAdventures to dive " The Kowloon Bridge and the U260 Submarine. This was virgin dive terrority for some of the group. Some members of the Club have not had opportunity to dive wrecks as yet.

 

 Colum (thanks) sorted arrangements with the Dive Centre.

Visibility was not as good as was hoped, but, in saying that, considering earlier weather conditions, It was not half bad.

So Club members have been getting dived up handle the 42M dive on the Sub. 13 of us filled the boat and but fortune shined as Oisin joined us for the Dives(Lucky number 13 :-) )

Looking back on the weekend,  overall, all went well, I think, while the U260 Dive was a daunting dive as it pushes into the realm of Decompression diving which is not advocated with normal CFT diving unless qualified to do so. Dives passed off and thanks to Aughinish Dive Club, yet again who kindly lent the use of the Decompression Station to support the dive on the Sub. I note the Station was widely used was our own group and a group of visiting Polish divers. The station @6M also reinforced safety by providing a 12lt light nitrox mix for anyone who needed it. I think there was a bit of fascination of sitting or hanging off the the bar and breathing of the bottle.

Matt and myself spent 28 minutes on the bottom, which penalized us in decompression requirments, 40 minutes for matt and 26minutes for me. We planned for a 25minute dive,  but over ran getting the most out of the wreck. The shot line was at acute angle to the sub and we had to come up off it. In saying that fortunately, conditions were in our favour. I came up to do Pyle stops at 18meters and changed over to my 40% mix to take 8minutes off my decompression schedule. Total dive length was 63minutes,while I was clear at 59minutes.

The dive was good to do, reinforced some lessons I should learn ahead future similar dives in the future.

The Sub has degraded even from last year's visit. I focused on looking into the conning tower, persiscope, time around the propellor and alot of time around the bow section and port side of the sub. Myself and matt were the last to leave.

Certainly, the main talking point over the weekend is how the Kowloon had disintegrated. The wreck is still vast and perhaps a repeat visit will warrant 2 dives on it.  It now ranges from 17M to 35M. I think Eimhear enjoyed the visit. She has made great progress on her diving. 2 Dives off her Club Diver requirments. Great progress!!

Hopefully, the diver group enjoyed the visit. 

The Dive centre was great, good fills, On site support, great help dropping Divers, Deco Station and recovering divers. I'd like to find alternate dive spots out there, maybe another time. 

Matt took the boat off to Dingle, Smerick to assist with his preparations for Leading Diver. As a result Divers were spread in all directions to avail of the great weather conditions to dive.  Thankfully, with a text to our fellow clubs in the region, I was able to accomote those who wanted to get in a dive or 2. In the end Kilkee and Quilty were the chosen locations and thanks very gratefully to Aughinish Dive club 4 member availed of diving out of Quilty. This time I was fit to dive and I revelled in the chance to dive the back of Seal rock and later in the afternoon, the Gully.

The 1st dive was excellent despite the visibility, but, picking a level is easy along the steep inclined reef down to 30-35 meters. The path of travel was a joy to look at the amount of vegetation, and life in the cut outs in the reef wall. Crabs and lobster adorned the nooks, it was a joy to view the blenny, wrasse and gobi. The Spider crab were up in arms for been disturbed from their nap time :-)  I left Dave off the hook to a degree, only checking out his Buddy breathing skills and ensuring that he was checking my air contents very regularly. Club Diver test time getting very close now :-) Just a compltee the dry run to do and finish off theory preparations.

 

The day was great and we lounged around chatting and picnicing with our good friends from Aughnish Dive club who kindly had boat space. The second dive was a treat even for John who despite all the years of diving had never dived the Gully in Seal rock. I, thankfully managed to find it and drop in to it. The best parts of it are really its entry and exits points, there is a squeeze through that is interesting to do, very safe and big, but, as a section of it is closed off, you can peer through the holes/gaps to see up into open water. Lots of crab Lobster futher down in the gully, the location is littered with mussel shells as a result of the feeding frenzy in the area.  A torch is advisable for the inards of the swim through.  It is certainly advisable to keep to one side and way through, come back on the opposite side and come up to about 15 meters along the wall. Great life to see on the left wall. Indeed, due to lots of air, we headed back into the cave to see some more before turning back again and coming out where we initially entered at 6 meters to do our stop. Unfortunately, the seals were scarce compared to the bank holiday, I was hoping to see if they would be hunting in the Gully. Alas not, but, maybe I'll see them on our next visit!!!  

James from Burren obliged us some info on some good dives sites to try out, and a little tour of Mutton and some tales of a particular "Diver" who live on the island.

Joan, Mary & Emma were christened by Martin, but I won't repeat that gangs name just yet, but, just thinking maybe between the Club in the south West region...The gang could easily grow!!

 

 

A few gathered at what soon turned out to be a spot of a bit of jiggy, jiggy :-) ... I mean, Irish music...So Tom recanted his tales of Diving Quilty, the fight was on to determine whether the diving was better in Quilty or Portmagee for the August bank Holiday weekend... Personally, I think Quilty won out, sorry Brian :-(

Then with stealth, Ronnie entered into our cosy group, only to shock our gathering, with tales of disbelief to all who listened. A bit of gossip, oh my god!!!, the likes of it, never before heard by it's audience, the tongues were wagging, the eyes rolling and it was then I realized the "Desert Fox" no.... the "blue orb fox", Ronnie's had struck to unleash his "minions" to seek out more information. So, the news hounds were instructed to go out on the prowl for more information to satisfy the Ronnie's thirst for info. Terms like "getting back on the bike", you will never forget "how to ride a bike", will forever stick in my mind!!!! 

Alas, I am not at liberty to disclose the particulars of the "titbits" of information, least, I may come to a cruel and bitter end to my diving career, but, sworn to secrecy as I am, I am awaiting next week's update and perhaps the, freedom of information act, will allow for full disclosure at some time in the near future.

I was also asked to convey to the powers that be, the man in charge, the supreme commander, the big cheese and so, to all his subjects.... Where are the photo's of the Dinner dance?, where is the write up on the Children of Chernoybl and did anyone not wish to recant the events of diving Quilty in a blog. Is the Club falling apart?, are we losing it? Tom, however, was passing the buck, ducking and divin..... shame!!, passing it off to others!!!!

All in all, get the boat back in the water, back to sea diving as quickly as possible, lead me to the pinnacle came the cries, Portroe can wait for me another time!!!

Therefore, as an obedient Diving Officer, I will try to comply!!!

 

A visit to Smerick/Dingle may be on the cards soon, as Matt is prepping for Leading Diver exam very soon. 2 candidates for Club Diver test soon also.

Johnny & Dave as always are keeping the keeping the equipment in tip top shape. thanks on behalf of the Club as always!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sea conditions allowed for diving and while burren got the head start out of the block, donal volunteered to cox the boat while a few of us took advantage of the few dive numbers and headed for Limerick Bones Bay for a dive. Visibility had decreased from last week, condition were "boiling", but we managed to have some great diving. I was amazed by the sheer volume of pouting in the area, seen a number of baby congers and 2 pair of Crawfish. Tompots were a dime a dozen.  

Unfortunately, I have to commiserate with Paul, Martin and Miriam who packed up after the 1st dive, While the 2nd dive was on Sallys, slighly deeper, it was a great dive. Again, the pouting was all over the over hangs, in fact, I had fun squeezing my way under some of the overhangs so I could get a better view of what was hifing away in the recesses of them. One or 2 of the local Spider crab residents were none too happy with my invasion of their terrority and jumped me from behind :-)

The highlight of the dive was the immense shoal of Coley which passed our way. I would estimate a shoal of at least 200 to 400 at least. Myself, Brian & Emma were trying to avoid keep our torches off so as not to frighten tham and pause our exhalations also. Amazing, thanks to Suzy who was patient enough to await our return after 40minutes.

Anyway, Doolin does not disappoint, weather is looking a bit dodgy with westerly f3-f4 throughout the week, so fingers crossed, we can dive Aran next week.

Took a side step out of my usual routine to attend the seasearch course over weekend. So the weekend was directed by Tadhg O' Brien Burren SAC and John Breen from Limsac :-)  I have learned a lot from john over the years of diving, but, still, this allowed me to focus my diving particularly on what I can actually see and identify in the course of the diving activity. 

Funnily enough, I was allowed to change my dive profile, normally I am focused on the diving of my trainee Dive buddy, and while I survey the terrority off the dive area, I often don't really get a chance to actually really look at the dive life and vegetation around me. So, with Emma as my buddy, we wandered off into the depths of Bones Bay(Ennis/Burren site as opposed to the Limerick Bones bay site). That's another story!!

So, now I was able to really investigate the dive area. What can I say, I must miss a heck of alot on my other routine dives. I seen baby congers, I inspected Dead man's finger, Elephant Ear Sponges, seen a Sea cumcumber take a "dump" , A female cuckoo Wrasse was pre occupied with her reflection in my Dive mask. I really noticed Devonshire cup Corals, bib, understand difference between Coley and Pollock and really seen a few Nudibrach's for the 1st time, spotted flounder, and seen a wide variety of Crawfish, lobster and Crab. I was so relaxed and stayed mostly in the same area such that my breating rate dropped under 10LPM for the 1st time this year, so used less 110bar for a 45min dive. 

The sea eninemies were amazing in the realm of the 2nd dive Chinaman's hole dive. However, Emma reminded me that I while I was making the effort to show Miriam the sea Cucumbers, Eninimies, and the lobster on the Chinman's hole dive, I failed to spot the Congers above myself and Miriam looking down at us trying to tease it out so we could get a better view of it. All I need now is to bring my dive slate and maybe someone can get me a camera with a nice housing to get some photo's. Anyone, want to oblige the D.O. with one???  :-)

 

A busy, long, but throughly enjoyable dives as well as rest of Club coming out to dive Sally's Alley and the Limerick Bones bay. Great to get back to dive Doolin, It never ceases to amaze me with the variety of life. I manage to pick up dinner for last night also, a fine big pollock fished off the boat while I was cox'n for the internal club dives. Oven baked in tinfoil, with garlic and herbs.... delicious :-D

Thanks to Matt and Mike who did Dry Cox. Really helped speed up getting through the 4 dive trips. Well done to Eimhear and Miriam who are progressing nicely in their dive training.  Also, good training for the Club divers. Can't wait to get back to Doolin for diving.

 

So Dive Aran on the lead up to Bank Holiday weekend... Any takers??  :-)