Naas Sub-Aqua Club Ltd.

Trainee Lectures

2010-01-17T21:41:59Z

The first set of trainee lectures started on Sunday the 17th of January 2010 for the new members of Naas Sub-Aqua Club. Lectures were give by club instructors Barry Lawler, Andrew Murray, Liam Whelan and David Lawler and the venue was Lawler's Hotel, Naas. Lectures covered were Introduction to CMAS/CFT, Hand Signals, Intrduction to Dive Physics, Out of Air, Decompression and Dive Equipment. To put faces to the names here are some of the new members that were in attendance:

Search and Recovery

2010-01-09T06:30:53Z

Naas Sub-Aqua Club members made a huge commitment in their Search & Recovery Unit by recently spending over €7,000 on specialised equipment for Search & Recovery training and operations. The eagerly awaited equipment arrived on the 23^rd of December 2009. This specialised equipment consists of 4 x Aga Interspiro full face masks with Buddy Phone,two way communications system complete with Buddy Phone base unit. The bulk of this money has been raised from various fund raising events and contributions. We are extremely grateful to all the local businesses (see sponsors page) and general public that have generously supported us and made this important investment possible.

Over the past two years twelve members have been trained in various Search & Recovery techniques and are now qualified as CFT Search & Recovery Divers. The twelve members completed their course with the very well respected Blackwater Sub-Aqua Club in Fermoy. While further training sessions have taken place over the past year in the Grand Canal, the team badly needed the masks and communications equipment to become fully equipped should they be called out on a search. The new equipment will certainly give great encouragement to the dedicated team. It will also greatly improve their personal safety and effectiveness while training and on active searches.

Scuba diving is mainly a leisure activity but the S&R Unit is also a very important aspect for the club as it is contributing to the local community and part of the County Kildare emergency plan. Plans are also in place to train in conjunction with the Kildare Civil Defence and help them on underwater searches should the need arise. Training will take place at various places along the Grand Canal and river Barrow over the winter months when weather sometimes prohibits other club diving activities. This training will built up the skills of the S&R Team and they will become a valuable asset to the local community in times of need.

New Year's Day Snorkel 2010

2010-01-01T23:18:20Z

The annual Naas Sub-Aqua Club New Years day snorkel was a great success despite the atrocious road conditions. Eighteen members negotiated the badly snow covered roads to make the event at Digby Bridge on the Grand Canal. They arrived only to find the canal frozen over and having to break the ice ahead of them as they snorkelled.

The group consisted of seven of the fifteen new trainee members that have joined the club this year. I think the remaining new members did not believe the event would actually go ahead with the Arctic weather conditions we have been experiencing over the past week.

(Left to Right) Trainees: Robert Keane, Kevin Heffernan, John Moran, Barry O'Sullivan, Stephen O'Brien, Una Corrigan, Jimmy Galloway, Alan Gibbons, Enda Sullivan, Colm Usher and Stephanie Doran.

]]> The participating trainees were pleasantly surprised to find that with the proper semidry wetsuits the experience was not as bad as they had anticipated. Taking the initial plunge was the difficult bit. Their smiling faces as they exited the canal was ample proof of their delight at completing their first open water adventure with the club.

With beautiful sunshine and clear skies it did not feel as cold as the -3°c temperature displayed on the cars dashboard. With all eighteen snorkelers having completed their first of five mandatory 30 minutes snorkel of the dive season we headed back to Sallins for a well deserved lunch in Boss Byrne’s bar.

Hopefully this is an indication of the dedication and enthusiasm of this bunch of new members to the diving club which has made a great boost to the club’s membership numbers this year. Well done to all concerned, especially those other club members that came along to lead trainees on their first snorkel. Next club snorkel outing is this Sunday the 3^rd of January in the sea at Sandycove, Dun Laoghaire

Christmas Party 2009

2009-12-19T03:10:09Z

The Naas Sub-Aqua Club Christmas Party in Tougher's was well suported with over 30 members,family and friends attending to kick off the festive season. See photos with some of those in attendance. I'm so happy Santa had not to endure nursing me on his knee!

New Members 2009

2009-12-01T22:26:43Z

This year Naas Sub-Aqua Club will be taking on new members. You do not have to have any previous experience as full scuba training will be provided over the winter months. We will start with a poster campaign throughout the county and surrounding areas in early October. This will be followed with free Try-a-Dives in the swimming pool on Thursday evenings from 8 -9pm in October. The diving course will commence on Thursday 5th of November. Lectures program will be held over four Sunday afternoon with pool snorkel and scuba training taking place every Thursday evening 8 – 9pm throughout the winter months.

Try-a-Dive Dates:

~~Thursday 29th of October, Thursday 5th of November, Thursday 12th of November, Thursday 19th of November, Thursday 26th of November.~~

Try-a-dives are now over and we are concentrating on training new members.

If however you are interested in joining Naas Sub-Aqua Club or want to find out more information, please e-mail nsac@eircom.net

More information on the club on the "About Us" Page.

Closing date for accepting new members is January 10th 2010.

(We will not take on new members after this date unless qualified as we will have started our lecture program)

Christmas Party

2009-11-09T20:56:51Z

Our Christmas party is on Friday the 18^thof December 2009 in Toughers function room. Toughers is located in front of Toughers Business Park, Ladytown, Naas (on the Newbridge Rd., from Naas, old N7).The cost is €45 per head for the Party Night. You are all very welcome to attend and get to know the other members of the club. Please let Una Corrigan, our Treasurer know on 087 7854660 ASAP if you require tickets, i.e. by Thursday night next, 12th Nov. €15 deposit required ASAP

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. E-mail: nsac@eircom.net

December 2009 Newsletter

2009-10-16T14:54:25Z

December 2009 News Letter

Click here to download December 2009 Newsletter in PDF format: Download file

Gozo - The Return

2009-09-23T20:27:02Z

Having dived Gozo in 2006 we had to return to this beautiful island off Malta where relaxed shore diving can be enjoyed by hiring jeeps, cylinders and weights. We based ourselves in Marsalforn, a lovely seaside town with plenty of good restaurants along the seafront on the north coast of the island.

]]> With some knowledge of the dive sites from our previous trip we hoped to get even better, more challenging diving and a small experienced group made this possible. Shore diving can often involve long snorkels to & from the best dive sites, or long underwater swims back to exit points. In Gozo sea conditions and cliffs can limit entry and exit points. Dive planning, good navigation, careful monitoring of decompression limits and good air consumption is vital.

Having organised airport transfers, jeep hire, apartment rental and diving in advance by e-mail everything ran seamless without a hitch. This left us to enjoy the great diving and food available stress free and at our ease.

Fully equipped with our Maruti Jeeps, cylinders, weights and southerly winds forecast on Wednesday, our first days diving we dived Reqqa Point and the Billinghurst Cave.

On Thursday morning we snorkelled out to the marker buoy and dived the wreck of the Karwela at a depth of 42mt to the propellers. We dived the Karwela on nitrox to get the optimum time on the wreck & least decompression time while making our way back to shore, finishing our stops on the shallow reef.

I was to be buddied up with the “Lidl twins” for the rest of the week (Andrew & Tony) Both supporting Lidl shorties, arguing over who had the latest fashion release and both getting down to zero lead on their weigh belts.

Andrew continues the story .........

Thursday at 1.30 pm marked the arrival of Mr. Murray on the ferry at Mgarr after having being released on compassionate leave for 5 days. We fed him a bacon baguette and because he had been on a lay off from diving since the summer holiday, we decided it would be prudent to offer him a ‘refresher’ dive in Ix Xini bay, max depth 15 metres with easy navigation. Mr. Murray was to dive with Liam W and Tony who forgot to inform him that they would be travelling approx. 40m up a very narrow cave and also forgot to ask him if he had a torch! He completed the dive well, occasionally groping the other two mangetouts in the darkness of the cave, but the details of that are too upsetting to tell... A nice easy dive, just what the doctor ordered (,”).

That night we ate for the first time in what was to become our favourite restaurant (the one with the Red umbrellas fronting Marsalforn bay). Andrew picked it at random and we all wondered how he got it so right first go! He must have a natural feel for it. Sure look at the size of him – well fed. It just so happened to be Patty’s birthday (I couldn’t say what age she is but its somewhere between 40 and 80). Tony had gone to serious lengths to organise a lovely birthday cake with her name on it (but with the age blurred out) to be presented by the owner’s son for dessert. “Husband of the year” crown is seriously under threat after that performance. Andrew was also to find out that Patty had a seriously sore ear infection and couldn’t dive at all but showed his sympathy by offering to mind her torch for the remainder of the week. Nice chap, is Andrew and torches are handy in dark caves!

On the 18^th, when the group was sure Andrew could indeed dive, we headed to the spectacular Blue Hole / Azure window. We did a nice easy 30m dive along the wall for a hour in the morning and were disappointed that there were no Russian free divers swimming in bikinis in the blue hole while we were decompressing- like there had been in the blue hole, Dahab in May 2008. Probably just as well, as one of the mangetouts’ head had a bad bruise the last time from swimming backward into the side of it. After collecting new cylinders in Marsalforn and lunch we headed back to the same area to dive the Inland Sea. Liam W lead Tony and Andrew to a swim through no bigger than a broom cupboard at 55m and no time was lost getting through it! Some of the divers were diving weightless - and to do a 55m dive only touching your BC to dump air at the descent and again to inflate it on the surface at the end of the dive is a really exhilarating feeling. Needless to say air consumption wasn’t a problem.

The next day saw the weather turn a bit cloudy and we had approx. 23 degrees air temperature. The morning dive was a nitrox special (€6 extra per cylinder) and we dived the Cominioland wreck which is situated on the south side of Gozo, close to the ferry port. Andrew expertly led the Tony and Liam W and Liam S and Joan again paired up for this one. The dive is an approx 200m snorkel to a buoy, then dropping down to the sea bed at 40m. The wreck is a small ferry with fairly little fish life and growth on it, but with some nice easy ways into and along the decks. They helpfully removed the windows in case anyone wanted to make a quick exit! Andrews’s navigation was about 10 degrees off on the underwater swim home, but in fairness at least he found the wreck! He also expertly managed a long pyle stop on the swim back and a 6 minute safety stop so as we would have less chance of meeting the lovely young nurses in the Gozo chamber (,”). The afternoon was the group’s half day........so we dived Xlendi Bay for an hour at 10m or less. This dive has a long swim through / tunnel right through a headland and it is a good swim out and around the headland back into the bay. A very relaxing dive, not a huge amount to see apart from the tunnel.

Joey was the man who filled our cylinders. Its fair to say that he didn’t seem to be in the best of humour most days but neither would we if we were up at 5am pumping cylinders 6 days a week! We managed to break the deadlock mid-week and were getting more than one word answers when, after 4 days of fills anywhere between 190 and 205 bar, Liam asked him did he ever consider filling the cylinders! Back to square one...! A word of advice here, many of the dives in Gozo involve depth and a serious pedal to and from the point of interest so with this sort of fill, a 15l cylinder is worth considering for such dives.

After our ‘half day’ on the 19^th, the 20^th was a three dive day (,”). In the morning we dived the Coral Cave from the Blue Hole as it was too rough to drop in over the cave. This involves a good pedal each way, best done at about 15 metres to keep the NDL in check. The coral cave’s roof is in about 20m and the floor is in 30m and the cave is very wide so relatively straight forward to dive. In the afternoon we set out for the Double arches from Xwieni bay. Following on from NSAC’s ‘in-depth exploration’ of this area in 2006 (!) Liam S and Joan are said to have just reached the top of it before having to return. Liam W on the other hand guided Tony and Andrew to the “Triple Arch” which is considerably to the east of our intended location. But he was not to be berated after the dive, boldly telling the lads that “I got ye 50% extra free”. Strangely, one of the dive guides in Calypso diving had never heard about the ‘triple arches’... Having missed training in The Curragh the night before, the dive team made up for it on this dive! The final dive of the day was a night dive to Ix Xini for a night dive where Liam S and Andrew guided the two groups to the cave in darkness, but this time Andrew had a torch. The water in the cave was crystal clear so we were able to see the fire worms well in advance of colliding with them (NOT recommended!).

This was a cracker of a night dive and we all saw flying gurnard, octopus (who are not members of the Tony Leeson photography appreciation society!), cuttlefish and a free swimming moray.

A really nice dive, well recommended. Patty and Carmel minded the jeeps, which is recommended, as this dive represents an easy chance for the jeeps to be visited by n’ere do wells in search of goodies. A three dive day requires good timing in order to get back to McDonalds in Victoria for ‘good healthy food’ before it closes (,”). Nice to be reminded of diving Dun Laoghaire mid week on holiday.

Our final day saw the north westerly’s ease and the group unanimously decided that Andrew should get an opportunity to dive the Billinghurst cave which can dropped onto via a fair leap into the sea to the west of Requa Point. He did well, in fairness, for a lad who doesn’t dive much and thoroughly enjoyed it – although he did comment that it was not a dive for everyone because 80-90m directly in with no way up but to go back out the cave mouth is challenging to say the least. A minimum of three torches between three divers is not recommended (!) as it is pitch black on the ascent to the very small air pocket right at the end. The lunch break saw the two Liam’s actually reading the local directions on how to reach the Double Arch. We entered just 100mt to the west of Xwieni bay at a point known as ‘the washing machine’, a name very well deserved! An approx. 200m swim due north at a depth of 15m brings you to a point where the reef ends in a point with drop offs from 15m to 40m all around. Barracuda can be found here, but not on the 21^st September as its a bank holiday! The top of the reef is lovely for watching small sardines fish being hounded by larger predators. But what we were really here to see, three years and approx. 26 cumulative dives later, was the double arches which are a great formation of one arch upon another. There was a serious thermocline here as we dropped from 15m to 30m to enter the bottom arch – at least 4 or 5 degrees C. Lovely on the way back though! A really nice dive to finish the week.

To conclude, a week in Gozo in September “feels like more”. We will be back!

	Gozo - September 2009
No	DATE	DIVE SITE	DEPTH	TIME
1	16 September 2009	Reqqa Point	30 Mt	39 Min
2		Billinghurst Cave	23 Mt	36 Min
3	17 September 2009	Karwela (Wreck)	42 Mt	31 Min
4		Ix Xini	15 Mt	56 Min
5	18 September 2009	Blue Hole	31 Mt	50 Min
6		Inland Sea	54 Mt	36 Min
7	19 September 2009	Cominioland - (Wreck)	39 Mt	43 Min
8		Xlendi Bay & Cave	13 Mt	46 Min
9	20 September 2009	Blue Hole - Coral Cave	26 Mt	55 Min
10		Triple Arches	34 Mt	44 Min
11		Ix Xini - Night Dive	10 Mt	46 Min
12	21 September 2009	Billinghurst Cave	25 Mt	52 Min
13		Double Arches	34 Mt	52 Min

	Average Dive Time		45 Min
	Average Max Depth		30 Mt

Diving Gozo (Malta) 15th - 22nd of September 2009
Ryanair Return Flights (Dublin - Luga)	€208.00
Airport Return Transfers (Luga - Marsalforn, Per Person)	€20.00
Cirkewwa - Mgarr ferry (Return - Per Person)	€5.65
6 x Day Dive Pack (Cylinders, Weights, Air Fills)	€95.00
2 x Cylinders of Nitrox	€12.00
7 x Day Jeep Hire (Per person)	€50.00
Petrol for jeeps (Per Person)	€8.00
1 x Weeks Rental of Apartment (Per Person)	€82.00
Diver Total Cost:	€480.65
Non Diver Total:	€373.65

Gozo Dive Sites

(Positions are not precise but should be accurate enough to find the dive sites)

1	Mgarr ix Xini	N36 01.224 E14 16.284	South Side
2	Xlendi Karwela & Cominoland	N36 01.049 E14 17.186	South Side
3	Xlendi Bay	N36 01.770 E14 12.899	South Side
4	Fungus Rock	N36 02.810 E14 11.325	West Side
5	Crocodile Rock	N36 03.037 E14 11.173	West Side
6	Blue Hole	N36 03.232 E14 11.137	West Side
7	Coral Cave	N36 03.148 E14 11.255	West Side
8	Inland Sea	N36 03.234 E14 11.450	West Side
9	Moffitt's Cave - Boat Dive	N36 04.518 E14 11.969	North West Side
10	Ta Gamma (Gudja Cave - Boat)	N36 04.677 E14 12.129	North West Side
11	Billinghurst Cave	N36 4.868'N E14 14.131	North Side
12	Reqqa Point	N36 05.003 E14 13.860	North Side
13	Xwieni Bay	N36 04.747 E14 14.897	North Side
14	Double Arches	N36 04.884 E14 14.806	North Side
15	Marsalforn	N36 04.259 E14 15.541	North Side
16	Fessej Rk (Shore Access Point)	N36 00.980 E14 16.706	South Side

Annual BBQ and 1km Swim

2009-08-29T21:03:44Z

The annual Naas Sub-Aqua Club barbeque & 1Km sponsored fin swim took place at Digby Bridge, the Grand Canal on Saturday the 29^th of August.

]]> The weather held up well after what had been a very turbulent week of wind & rain. Una was taking no chances and came prepared with a gazebo which entertained the group for some time assembling the five sided hexagon frame.

While the enthusiastic group of snorkelers took off up the canal, the chefs got to work preparing the feast on the two barbeques. An enjoyable afternoon was had by all club members & family in attantance. Special thanks to Pascal & Una for organising the event.

Someone even barged in !!!! ?????

Five New Rescue Divers for Naas SAC

2009-08-09T23:29:37Z

All the dedication & training over the past two months paid dividends for our five Rescue diver candidates on Saturday with all five passing the test. The Dublin South Regional Rescue test was held in the Coal Harbour, Dun Laoghaire on Saturday the 8^th August. There were nine candidates in total participating from the region.

The successful Naas Sub-Aqua Club candidates were Bernard Krugar, Joan McElwain, Pascal Michel, Simon Knott & Tom Cruise.

]]> The CFT rescue test consisted of several disciplines including a unconscious diver back lift from 20 meters, EAR while towing a victim 100 meters, recovery into a boat, oral question examination, O2 administration, CPR and AED awareness.

Congratulations to all five candidates & special thanks to all instructors who gave up their time practicing training lift over the past two months with the candidates. Also special thanks to the Naas SAC Examiners, dry cox’n & safety diver who turned out on the day of the test to support.

This is a great boost to the qualifications held by members of the club and hopefully this will lay a good foundation for these five candidates to go on to become Leading Divers and beyond in the not too distant future.

March 21st Weekend

2009-08-08T16:34:27Z

Update: Saturday 20th March 2010 (10:30am)

Snorkels and Diving

The updated weather forecast this morning for diving Sunday is bad with strong SSW - Southerly winds forecast. It is now giving force 5 SSW for 9am Sunday morning increasing to force 6 Southerly by 9pm.

Unless there is a dramatic change which is highly unlikely there will be NO diving tomorrow, Sunday Mar 21. In the unlikely event that diving is possible it will probably be a late call on Saturday when I get an updated weather forecast, sending the txt notice out at 6.30pm Saturday evening.

Please ensure you have fulfilled all the requirements (Have all 3 boxes green on the CFT website) Log in and tick the "Medical Disclaimer" immeadiatly if you have not already done so.

Pool Fitness Test

With three pool fitness tests dates completed, 44 of the 48 paid members having sucessfully completed the pool fitness test. I was very impressed by the efforts put in by some members who struggled at the first test but through their perserverance and training managed to achive success in the end, well done one and all. There are only four members to complete the test and a test date will be organised for them on Thursday the 1st of April. This should ensure all members are fit to dive for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. The Curragh swimming pool is there at your disposal for training every Thursday night 7.45pm - 9pm , please use it to stay water fit and practice your diving skills. It is at the discretion of the diving officer to ask any member to complete the fitness test again if he is any doubt they are fit to dive.

An unfit diver is a danger to themselves and their buddy!

Trainee Lectures

All four set of lectures have no been completed, special thanks to Barry Lawler the training officer for arranging the course and all the instructors that helped out and gave up their time on the Sundays giving lectures. The Instructors were Barry Lawler, Dave Lawler, Tony Leeson, Andrew Murray and Liam Whelan.

Accommodation

We are now booking accommodation for the May and June Bank Holiday weekend with limited spaces on both. It will be on a first come best dressed basis and once full I wil close he sheet.

Click on the following links to book now:

"Mullaghmore Accommodation Booking Form

"Inish Meain, Aran Island Accommodation Booking Form

Pool Training

Pool training has recommences every Thursday, Curragh Pool at 7.45pm - 9pm. As you can see from the two snorkels you have completed, water fitness is very important for diving especially in Irish waters.

Google Groups & Google Docs

We will shortly be using Google Groups and Google Docs to organise Diving and Bank Holiday weekends. Click on the following sample page to fill in, submit & try: "Dive Weekend Test Page" You will be plesantly surprised at how simple to whole process is!

Accommodation

We are now taking accommodation booking for the Annaghvaan, Easter Bank Holiday weekend, Mullaghmore, May Bank Holiday weekend & Inish Meain, Aran Islands, June Bank Holiday weekend. (First Come, First Serve Basis)

Click on the following links to book now:

"Annaghvaan Accommodation Booking Form"

"Mullaghmore Accommodation Booking Form

"Inish Meain, Aran Island Accommodation Booking Form

More interesting developments can be seen on the Naas Sub-Aqua Club Google Groups page which you should have received an invitation to during the week.

If you wish your mobile number to be put on the hillwalking txt list please e-mail nsac@eircom.net

On Sunday's when the weather prevents us from diving we will try organise Hill Walks when possible.If you wish to be included in the hillwalkers txt list please e-mail. Family & friends are welcome to come along!

nsac@eircom.net

What you will need for basic Hillwalking

1. Bring a lunch, hot drink, few chocolate bars and bottle of water

2. Good walking boots are essential (Good ankle support)

3. A stick or walking pole is very helpful

4. Rain gear (Coat & leggings)

5. Change of clothes back at car.

6. Mobile Phone.(In waterproof cover)

We will post any activity updates on this page. Stay tuned - stayed informed!

**Hill Walking**
Date	Mountain	Height	Walkers	Distance	Time
9/11/08	Camenabologue	758mt	7	12km	4.5hr
21/12/08	Lug Duff (Glendalough )	510mt	5	12km	4hr
28/12/08	Djouce	725mt	7	12km	4.5hr
11/01/09	Around Lough Dan	N/A	4	18km	5hr
25/10/09	Glandalough	350mt	5	10km	2.5hr
1/11/09	Camenabologue	758mt	6	14.4km	4.5hr
8/11/09	Fananierin (Glenmalure)	436mt	6	14km	4.5hr
15/11/09	"Spink" Glendalough	510mt	5	12km	4hr
28/11/09	Powerscourt Waterfall	350mt	5	8km	2.5hr
6/12/09	Fananierin (Glenmalure)	436mt	6	14km	4.25hr
13/12/09	Lugnaquilla	925mt	5	13.5km	4.5hr

Weather Forecast:

Windguru - Rosslare Wexford Dublin

Tides:

Easytide - Dunmore East Dun Laoghaire

Summer Holidays - Valentia Is. 2009

2009-07-27T23:35:50Z

Valentia Island, Co. Kerry was this year’s venue for the annual club summer dive holiday. While we have dived Valentia Island previously on bank holiday weekends, this was the first full week we had spent diving there. With the long range weather forecast looking extremely dodgy on the week leading up to the holiday, no one was too optimistic about getting too much diving. Thankfully this was not to be the case and the fact that it is an island providing us with several options as the wind changed direction during the week.

]]> After the long journey down on Saturday evening & a good night’s rest, all thirteen divers were ready for action at 9.30am Sunday morning. Based in Knightstown and a South Westerly force 5 blowing, Rosemary our DO chose the Basalt cliffs as our dive site for the day. We had two excellent dives on this site & I thought if the diving doesn’t get any better than this, it don’t matter! The water temperature was a surprisingly comfortable 15C.

On Monday, Day two the wind changed direction to a north westerly force 5. We moved operations to Portmagee & headed towards Bray Head, where we dived between Danganmore Head & Doonroe cliff. This was a very nice dive with plenty of John Dory being spotted.

In the afternoon we braved the heavy sea to make our way out to Puffin Island where we dived the sheltered south side of the Island. With sheer drop offs to 40+ meters & loads of live, it was well worth the trip.

As the weather was expected to improve later in the week we decided to take the half day, a break to off gas on Tuesday. We dived Coosdermoda, just inside Bray head in the morning & what a dive it was. “Probably one of the best dives I have done in Irish waters”, I heard Liam Staunton exclaim after the dive. As we headed back to Portmagee we could see the elusive Skellig’s loop out of the sea in the distance & we all wondered would the weather ease enough for us to dive them this week.

On Wednesday morning, with everyone still ranting about their great dive on Coosdermoda, Rosemary decided there was at least another good dive there in the shelter of Bray head. Unfortunately we had a fire onboard Naas4, the 7.3mt Rib. While no one was injured and we were able to get back to Portmagee safely, the RIB was not usable for the remainder of the week.

With plenty of great diving still to be had it was important this did not prevent diving or damped spirits, we transported Naas2, the 6.2mt RIB from the club house in Kildare down to Valentia over night. It was in Valentia and ready for action at 10am on Thursday morning. With the best weather forecast of the week, there was only one dive site to head for, the illusive Skellig Islands. The Skellig’s had eluded Barry for his entire 20+ year diving career, getting blown out every time he was in Valentia to dive the islands which are nine miles off shore. This was the long awaited opportunity to dive the skellig’s we had waited for.

Glen Pier, near Ballinskellig is probably the easiest launching site and shortest run to the Skelligs and this was where we launched our assault from. We were not disappointed with our efforts as it was worth the trip just for the scenery alone & the diving was as spectacular as expected. We were just disappointed we could not spend longer & have more dives before the weather broke. We will certainly have to return soon & perhaps have an island tour & lunch in between dives.

It was great to see the majority of our divers using nitrox during the week. As with all extended periods of diving we are exposed to the increased risk of DCS & Nitrox significantly reduces this risk. The MPS Nitrox panel & the two Coltrisub MCH16 compressors supplied us with air and nitrox for the week. With the capability to top off 14 x cylinders per hour we could leave filling all the cylinders until evening.

The equipment ran faultlessly, a testament to all the work & maintenance done by our equipment officers, Bernard and Pascal. They both spent many hours working on the trailer the previous week ensuring it was available for the holiday.

Friday night, our last night of the holiday was spent reminiscing over a few well deserved pints in Boston’s pub. Everyone was very happy with their week’s diving holiday in Valentia Island with everyone agreeing that we will have to return next year, a credit to the great diving that had been organised for the week by our DO, Rosemary Finn.

Weekend Accommodation

2009-07-27T15:22:33Z

Annaghvaan Accommodation, Easter Bank Holiday Weekend, 2nd - 5th of April 2010

Click on following link: Annaghvaan Accommodation Form

Mullaghmore Accommodation, May Bank Holiday Weekend, 30th of April - 3rd May 2010

Click on the following link: Mullaghmore Accommodation Form

Inish Meain, Aran Island Accommodation, June Bank Holiday Weekend, 4th - 7th of June 2010

Click on the following link: Inish Meain Accommodation Form

Inish Meain - June Bank Holiday Weekend

2009-06-07T11:23:30Z

“Clear blue skies, sunshine, temperatures of 27 °C and a flat calm sea with great visibility”. You could be forgiven for thinking I was talking about some far away foreign shore but not so! It was the June Bank Holiday weekend on Inish Meain, Aran Islands, nine mile south of Rossaveel .

]]>

The slip at Rossaveel was closed from 4pm on the Friday until Tuesday making it useless to us for launching or retrieval. We had to use the slip in Shruhan which is just across the bay from Rossaveel. Shruhan is not the easiest slip to launch or retrieve from as you have to reverse a long distance along the roadway as there is insufficient room to turn close to the slip.

The weekend got off to a shaky start with force 5 winds blowing for the crossing, late on the Friday evening. We arrived safely at the north pier, Inish Meain just before dark. A little bit of ingenuity was required to get the MCH16 compressor onto the stern of the RIB before takeoff.

The winds subsided very quickly over night and we were able to work out of the east pier which was within a two hundred meters of where we were staying with Martin Faherty, Cois Cuain. The compressor was sited on the pier close to the steps so it made everything very easy. Most of the diving equipment stayed onboard for the entire weekend with cylinders only removed to be filled.

On Saturday the winds had eased but there was still a bit of a swell so not all the sites were available to us but we got good diving off the west side of Inish Meain. After lunch back on Inish Meain we had a second dive close to the three wind generators on the south of the island.

By Sunday the sea was flat calm & we headed to the north of Inish More to a dive site called the Canyon (N53 08.697 W9 51.061) which as the name suggests is like an underwater canyon that bottoms out at 33 meters. For lunch we headed back to Kilronan, a village on the south side of the island. Fish & chips were enjoyed by all and we ran into some old friends from Dalkey Scuba Divers who were also diving the Aran Islands for the weekend. Fish n’ chips prices from a chip shop are however at a premium price on this island which is a pity in these recessionary times. It would make you wonder what foreign tourists think of the value they receive when visiting Ireland & if they would return.

Our second dive was off Glassan Rock on the south west tip of Inish More before heading back to Inish Meain.

On Monday morning we headed for Poll na bPeist (The Worm Hole), a wide cave which opens out & ends in a large rectangular opening on the surface similar to a man made swimming pool. Almost everyone found it although one buddy group was unfortunate. Unfortunate in the sense that they told everyone that they did not find it!

Everyone was sad to be leaving such a lovely island & beautiful weather behind and all would have loved to stay for a few days longer.

Organising a diving weekend on an island is always a daunting task for any Diving Officer as you have to decide what is essential & what you can do without. Then there is the logistics of getting it all out there & back in one piece. Rosemary, our DO done a great job in doing so with the weekend running very smoothly. This was helped by everyone pulling their weight leaving us finished early with plenty of time for rest & relaxation in the evenings.

I hope we get the chance to return sometime soon to explore all the remaining dive sites we had not the time to dive as I feel this was only a small sample of the excellent diving the Aran Islands have to offer.

New Club Divers

2009-06-06T10:12:35Z

Congratulations to out two recently qualified Club Divers, Bernard Kruger & Simon Knott. Bernard passed his D** test as part of a regional test in Dun Laoghaire on the 23^rd of May. Simon passed his test the following Wednesday evening, also in Dun Laoghaire.

Hopefully this will encourage the remaining trainees to get diving whenever possible in preparation for their Club Diver test. It is important that we get everyone up to D** standard this season so we can then concentrate on the new trainees that we hope to take on in October which is only four months away.