Not had a chance to report on these beforehand. so here goes.

Loch Fyne, Up North

Bit of a drive is Tarbert, it seems the road by the Loch will never end, but hey ho. We managed it for last orders.

I suppose with our track record there was no chance of a new boat waiting for us; But to be fair Malcolm did phone up the week before to advise this might be the case………

Cold water diving, plenty of scallops, & crustaceans. Oh and a rummage around an underwater tip.

Few minor hitches with kit (as is the norm).

Kevin’s cuff dump (now secured with industrial strength silicon)

Steve’s disintegrating cuff seal, procured from “Honest Col”

Matthew’s manicure did nothing for his neck seal.

Nigel’s zip really does need changing, (soldiered on for long enough)

Fred’s weight belt disappeared into the Briny, underneath the boat in harbour. Fortunately some brave soul donned Fred’s inflatable armchair and undersea boots / force fins for an underwater walk to retrieve the offending item. Hmmmmm. must remember to get away from the boat quicker.

Will these kit problems continue? Now let me think…….                  Fred's New Fangled Stab Jacket

Cheers Colin, a good trip.

Farne Islands, Seahouses - The Far East

Not very often we tend to get in at the Farnes, so to get six dives was unbelievable…. That is if you weren’t in the bar until you got booted out; as a few of our Scuba-Dudes…. accompanied by a popular Open Water Drinking Instructor

Weather was kind on this one, with excellent diving. Sovereign kept us “far from the madding crowd” for some reason……… Conspiracy thought Colin, especially on the last day when we did Knifestone & Whirl Rocks instead of the Somali. All ended up well so a good call in the end.

Alan has a new method of repelling those pesky seals, and is willing to demonstrate his technique in a Self Preservation Workshop. Needless to say Seals tend to ripple when poked with a clump of weed.

Alan's Seal Repellent Arsenal

Some of our older members appreciated the Stannah divers lift and wonder how we got by without them in the not so distant past

How times change; although it can't be that long ago you had to climb up tyres with your knees after a dive off Stan Hall’s Ark.

Nice One Alan.

Pembroke - Somewhere in Wales

A midweek jaunt for a few die hards; Leaving late on a Friday from Manchester we still made last orders... A common theme.

The "Wandrin Star" is mighty large for a day-boat, but with only nine of us there didn’t seem enough room for Colin who made this exact point during the safety brief…. I suppose when we put the deck chairs away it did make a difference

   "It's okay Col. No problem we we can just move the deckchairs"

We dipped out on the Whirlwind due to crappy weather…. again….. and ended up hiking in a river with cylinders, so all credit to Mark for thinking “outside the box” to get the dives in. Plenty of life under the water, many a crayfish, lobster, spider crabs and even fish, an unusual sight round the shores of Blighty.

The Thursday saw Gary turn a few different shades of white /grey, whilst emptying the contents of his stomach. Fair play to him… he managed to keep the wretching up all day, must have been a record.

A bit of jigging brought up a number of Mackerel, and filleting Phil enjoyed snapping their knecks & gutting them ready for freezing. A true Ray Mears in the making.

Steve’s disintegrating cuff seal reared its head again after the last set of repairs in Loch Fyne.

Kevin was busy feeding the fish, (which we put down to the Wizard’s brew), and a “faster than normal ascent” from two of our chaps left only four for the final dive, which proved to be a Low Vis experience.... to say the least.

Cheers Nigel, hopefully the Mystery Dive Trip idea will prove a good one.

All in all some good times during the last few trips, a Crap-en-pay may be due for a few to get ready for the Red Sea trip in September.

Some points for the Broken Prop will surely be awarded with so many Aquanauts venturing out on that one…….. get the notepad ready………….

Toodlepip