Recent events by club members –

Weekend of 26th / 27th October. Unfortunately the recent high winds, combined with water run off from the fields has made underwater conditions quite variable.

A few hardy souls dived, with some having great luck (Derek and Steve found an octopus), and others had very poor dives. You’ve got to be in it to win it though, so keep diving.  🙂

Sunday 20th October

Well done to David and Chanon for passing their Ocean Diver Certification.

It’s hard work getting there, but well done, and now you are qualified to dive all over the world. .

Shame there’s no photo, and thanks to Clint for running the course. 

Sunday 20 October – Vobster trip. A successful day for most at Vobster – well done to Anne for organising things. 

October club dive – unfortunately, the weather has been horrific, and the sea so churned up that the club dive was first postponed – then cancelled. Sally and Andy did a test dive and there was less than 50cms visibility in the water – so it would have been unsafe taking a large number of divers into the sea. Really sorry of those who had built their hopes up to dive. 

Sunday 22nd Sept

Nik dived in the canal looking for a dropped iPhone. Sadly she couldn’t find the phone, but retrieved all of this from bottom of the canal.

Well done for trying to find the phone Nik – and you’ve done well to get the rest of the rubbish out. Thank you Andy A for helping out too!

Monday 16th Sept. Night dive. Despite conditions not being ideal, Andy L, Andy W, Evie and one other did a night dive at Babbacombe. Lobsters and prawns were around, but sadly the conger eels weren’t out, and we couldn’t find the octopus. A good dive though, and well worth the effort. The seal was there at the start, but didn’t come over to play with us. Thanks to Adrian for being shore cover, and then food at a local chippy after.  🙂

Friday 20th Sept

Ocean Diver  theory exams

Well done to …. Eleanor, Gina and Nicky for passing the Ocean Diver theory exam. That’s the theory, pool sessions and exam sorted, which just leaves the 4 sea dives and then you’re qualified

🙂

Friday 13th Sept

Ocean Diver  theory exams

Well done to …. David, Mike, Amy, Riyad and Jayden for passing the Ocean Diver theory exam. That’s the theory, pool sessions and exam sorted, which just leaves the 4 sea dives and then you’re qualified

🙂

Sept 1st – Absolutely full club dive organised by Sally. Sadly the conditions were poor, but well done to Ethan and Alex for first UK dives after qualifying.

Monday 26th Aug

Well done Jane for passing the IFC.

It’s been hard work getting there, but great to have you (and Charles) joining the instruction team here.

Shame there’s no photo, and thanks to Pegs for running the course.

Saturday 24th Aug.

Well done to Charles for passing his IFC.

Thanks to Pegs for getting up at 05:20 to come and run the day!

It was hard work, and in torrential rain when the day started. Fortunately, the sunshine came out at lunchtime    🙂

Sat 17th Aug. Jane and Sally went to Porthkerris for some clear water diving. There were some great photo opportunities there, and here are some results,

Sunday 4th Aug. Fabulous conditions for the club dive (organised by Jason). It was like lobster alley at Babbacombe, though people saw pipefish, congers and jellyfish. Good job we got in early, for the car park was heaving by 9am. Lots of smiling faces after the dive, and then off to Romany Jones for a celebratory brunch 🙂

Sunday 27th July The news that 70 small boats filled with Cadets would be launching from Mount Batten on Sunday caused a slight revision to the timings, but everyone arrived in time and we were launched and away before any of the Cadets were up and about.
The sun was shining and the sea calm, the sat nav took the first wave straight to the Glen Strathallen and all 3 buddy pairs found the wreck and had lovely dives in between 6 and 10m visibility.  All went to time, no faffing at all and so the shore team were raised from their slumbers even earlier than expected to start taking the kit for the afternoon wave down to the slip. With the pontoon reserved for Cadets we tied up by the old steps and were soon loaded and ready to go again. Still no sign of the Cadets who were busy having an early lunch. 
 
Hillsea point is a large area of reef with deep gullies and several pinnacles. This we found without any problems and in we went. Viz was mostly around 8m, up to 10m in places, lots of small crawfish in the gullies and cracks in the rock, lobsters, tompots and even a few John Dory floating about. 
 
After elegantly regaining our places aboard we headed back to Mount Batten and got our first sight of the Cadets, the sea to the West of Drake’s Island being completely covered in dingies. Thankfully they stayed well out of our way and we were able to return to the slip and retrieve the boat without any complications.
 
Thank you to the divers who made the day so easy to organise, Nik for towing and coxing the first wave and Steve for coxing wave two with glamorous assistance from Derek. Without someone to tow and our volunteer coxes the boat could not have gone out at all.   Charles

Ocean Diver  certification –  another diver qualified  🙂

Well done Freddie for finishing the Ocean Diver  course.

Exceptionally well done for passing the course at your age. Brilliant!

Look forward to you diving with us in future.

Sunday 21st July. Andy L ran morning and afternoon boats out to the Galicia wreck. Both boats were full to maximum, and the morning dive enjoyed fantastic conditions on this wreck.

Numerous lobsters, congers and pouting were seen, and it’s a wreck that’s not too far out in travel time.  Thanks to Steve for being Cox, Nik and Nigel for towing the boat, and Chris for helping on the boat. Photo by Stevie G.

A great day!

Ocean Diver  certification –  another diver qualified  🙂

Well done to Ethan for finishing the course.

Exceptionally well done for passing the course at your age. Brilliant!

Look forward to you diving with us in future.

Sports Diver  certification –  more divers who have qualified  🙂

Well done to Jake and  Gemma, for finishing the Sports Diver course.

The training was hard, but you got there!

Well done, and look forward to you diving with us in future.

Sunday 7th July. Club Dive. Well done to Stevie (Wendy & Mickey) for organising a brilliant club dive. The dive was fully subscribed, with sunshine and showers forecast, but the sunshine came whilst we were getting changed :-))

The divers saw numerous cuttlefish, loads of lobsters, crabs, juvenile bib, and wrasse. Videos form Charles & Andy L, photos from Andrea.

23rd June. Wonderful conditions for Andy L, Nigel and Adrian to use our RIB and take 6 divers to HMS Scylla, then 5 more to Cawsands Bay in the afternoon. Good to have new divers on board the RIB. 

Well done to Penny, Andrea and Francois for coping with boat diving. Great photos from Jane and Andrea, and hopefully we’ll soon have a video from Charles (see YouTube Rustic Diver)

Sunday 9th June. Beautiful weather and no wind meant fabulous conditions above water. Sadly the viz was only 2 or 3m, but everyone emerged happy from their dives.  

The club dive was full, and people saw lobsters, scallops, nudibranchs and loads of different crab types.

The dive was followed by an excellent brunch at Romany Jones. Thanks to Sally for organising things, and Chris for being shore cover.

16.000 logged dives!!     What a number, but here are the maths – 

I did 126 dives in 2023, at that rate I will have to dive for another 127 years, by which time I will be 180 years old.

At 35 dives a year it would take 457 years.

If you started at 18 and dived until you were 85 you would have to do 239 dives a year, every year to get there.

Assuming an average dive time of 45 minutes it means 500 days under water.16,000 logged dives is a quite mind blowing number, a massive achievement and something that the rest of us will never get close to.

So where do you go for a milestone like that? The Maldives? No, he went there in the Spring. The Caribbean? No, that was after the Maldives. The Red Sea? Wrong again, he is going there in the Autumn.

I am not sure if Dave the Boat (Skipper of the Celtic Kitten) has ever been asked to spray Champagne over anyone as the lift brought them back up onto the Kitten before, but Dave is pretty unflappable and very obliging and so Clint was duly anointed. 

Everyone on board (apart from the ever professional Skipper) had a sip to toast the achievement and there was just enough fizz left for Clint to celebrate as he came back to shore.

Cue a lot of cheering and backslapping from everyone who had the good fortune to be at Porthkerris on Sunday, not just those from Exeter BSAC but friends from Scuba Blue, Portsmouth Uni., Seasearch and of course the wonderful team that Jo and Mike have assembled at PK. 

Well done Clint, a fantastic achievement, and well done Anne too who has been working very hard to make sure it was not 15,999 or 16,001!         Charles

1st / 2nd June Porthkerris weekend. What a cracker of a weekend (organised by Jane and Charles. A mixture of shore and boat diving, and good

… viz round the wrecks meant excellent conditions, and well worth travelling. Great chilli to eat on the Saturday, and the Helford Rover dive on Sunday. 

Sunday 5th May. The club dive was full, and even with deteriorating conditions, 12 divers got in and had good dives at Babbacombe. This was followed by a brunch in Torquay. Jane and Beatrice found the octopus …… wow! Great photo from Jane. 🙂

Sunday 14th April. Making the most of the good conditions, 11 divers enjoyed dives at Brixham. People saw cuttlefish, wrasse, lobsters and loads of spider crabs. At the end some people played ‘find the fin’, and eventually it was sorted ok  🙂

Saturday 13th April. Great conditions today, and 7 divers got in at Babbacombe. Good dives and then an excellent brunch at the Bay Tree Cafe. Fabulous video from Riccardo.

Friday 12th April. After the recent heavy rain, the area outside of the shed needed work doing to it. Four chaps shovelled over a ton of shale dressing over the area. Looks lovely now, and I’m sure the other EWSA sections will be pleased.   🙂

Sunday 3rd March With the recent strong winds and torrential rain, we expected dire conditions. Understandably, numbers dwindled, and eventually only 3 divers got in.
 
But …… ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it’, and buddy lines weren’t needed after all. It was a great dive, in surprisingly good viz.

Sunday 4th Feb. A fabulous club dive at Babbacombe. 12 divers had great dives in 4 to 5 metres of viz. Loads to see, and the water temperature isn’t as bad as normal (for this time of year). 

Sunday 28th Jan.  Five divers braved poor conditions at Babbacombe. This was a character dive, in less than a meter viz. Winter diving can be good, but not on this occasion.

Fri 26th Jan.

Now for something different …. a music quiz. A very close finish, with the top three scores being 95, 94 and 91. The tiebreaker was to name the occupations of the Village People (YMCA song)! Well done to the winners, Ian, Aimee, Adrian and Rachel, who showed an impressive knowledge of pop music.

Sunday Jan 7th – Sally organised another great club dive, and 12 divers went in at Beacon Cove. It’s amazing that there are so many keen divers at this time of year. We had Isa as a guest (from Colombia) who was doing her first cold water dive. Viz was 2 metres, and the water only 11C, so it was typical UK winter diving! Followed by a  great brunch in the Harvester afterwards! We dive all winter if anyone wants to join us 🙂

2024 …. NEW YEARS DAY and 8 divers got in for the first dip of the year. The water is warmer than it normally is for this time of year, and there’s still life moving about under the water. 

Video from Charles, then the divers had a very warming brunch in the Breakwater cafe.      🙂

Boxing day dive. 4 divers got in on Boxing day to get rid of the turkey. Conditions were reasonable, but there was a forecast of very strong winds and rain coming soon.

There’s no such thing as a bad dive, and the end of the year is approaching.

Christmas Day dive. To avoid cooking the turkey 2 very keen divers (Jane and Charles) dived on Christmas Day. I’m sure very few people have done that in this country.

For some reason, there weren’t any other divers around …..

Congratulations to Jane for doing 130 dives this year.

The average UK diver does about a dozen dives a year ….. so this proves you’re somewhat above average Jane.

Well done!!

Sadly the December club dive was blown out by some very stormy conditions. Never the less, Andy W and Paula had done all the planning for this dive, and so completed part of their Dive Leader course.

24th Nov

Clint celebrated being a club member for 60 years. It was in 1963 that he started diving, and has now racked up almost 16,000 dives.

A fabulous chocolate cake was made by Anne, which was kindly shared round the club in the evening. 

60 years of belonging to the same club is incredibly rare, and well done Clint.   🙂

NATIONAL INSTRUCTOR.  – Dave P

Amazing feat Pegs, and congratulations for passing the National Instructors exam.

That’s one of the top accolades for diving (and teaching) and is a great achievement.

Brilliant, and well done from all the club.

14th Nov. Not every UK dive is great, and on this occasion the weather had reduced the viz to 40cms at best, and 20cms at worst! Two hardy divers tried for an hours dive, but gave up after 35 minutes. For some reason, there’s no photos or video from this dive!

Saturday 11th Nov. 7 club members went in at Brixham. Viz was better than expected given the recent high winds and rain. Video from Charles, and we had a lovely brunch after 🙂

Oct 8th – Eight travelled to Egypt on a trial trip aboard the new boat Bella Eriny. The week was very windy, and a few divers were ill because of the conditions. Clear warm water made up for this though. 🙂

Sunday 1st October – Club dive at Babbacombe. Twelve divers had great dives in 3 to 4 metres viz. Well done to Adam, Ryan, Gemma and Jake for joining the club dive.

Plenty to see under every nook and cranny.

Well done Sally for organising things, and off to Romany Jones for a celebratory brunch.  🙂 

Friday 15th Sept Night dive on Dawlish Rock – report by Nik

The plan was a dark dive, so we arrived on a Friday evening after work and launched the boat at around half six. We had a quite lumpy sea (I’m advised that the technical term is “confused”), just enough to make you feel a little queasy when the boat was stationary, but it did make for a fun trip.

First divers – Dave, Derek and I – got in the water while it was still light, using a lobster pot marker as a shot. Whatever was in the pot probably felt seasick too, as it was on its end and bouncing up and down with the waves. Dawlish Rock is home to many and varied creatures: those spotted on this occasion included lobsters, bib, lobsters, conger eels, lobsters, a thornback ray, lobsters, various crabs, lobsters, and some prawns, which are kind of like miniscule transparent lobsters.

It’s a highly populated rock, but not all that big. I think we circumnavigated it four or five times in our 40 minutes – my plan was to spiral up it, but for some reason I kept ending up on the sea floor. There was a little current, which I had expected. The sky was still a fiery orange when we surfaced, and Phil and Chris kitted up in the near dark. This is something of a challenge when so much dive kit is black. The three of us nibbled fig rolls, drank tea and kept an eye on the bloom of light moving around the seabed, and it seemed hardly any time before Chris and Phil surfaced. They reported seeing much the same, but also a red mullet.

Return trip and boat recovery were fairly uneventful, even given the challenges of the boat’s sub-optimal steering on this occasion. It was the end of our Indian summer and the air was still a comfortable temperature. I think this is the best time of year to do a dark dive: even with having to take the boat back and wash her, I was in bed not long after midnight, and the sea is still a toasty 18 degrees.

9th Sept – Budleigh. Fabulous local conditions  gave a chance for 10 divers to dive at Budleigh Salterton. 

10 metres viz on the reef – and that made up for the long swim out there. The water is still warm though and we’re making the most of this late summer.

3rd Sept 2023. Monthly Club Dive. A full turnout of 12 divers arrived at Babbacombe for a great club dive. Good viz, warm water, and plenty to see -and that was followed by an excellent brunch at Romany Jones Cafe.

Well done to Dan, Zack and Ryan for gradually getting used to UK diving.

Wed 30th Aug. 6 divers enjoyed a great ‘dusk’ dive. Going in whilst there’s still some light helps your eyes get used to the dark.

It was a great dive, and then a lovely fish and chip supper after. Well done Sally for organising both the dive and food. A great evening!

Bank Holiday Monday 28th Aug – Nine divers got in at Meadfoot.

What a fabulous dive in beautiful sunshine!! Some of the best viz we’ve had this year …. more than 10 metres in places, and plenty to see. Thanks to Jane for the pictures.

More dives like this one please. 

Ocean Diver  certification –  more divers who have qualified  🙂

Well done to Jake, Gemma, Daniel and Zack for finishing their Open Water qualification at Vobster.

The training was hard, but you got there!

Well done, and look forward to you diving with us in future.

Fri 28th July.

Pegs gave an excellent talk about rebreathers. This covered the good, the bad, and the expensive.

Rebreathers are now the norm for 50+ metre dives, and are safe, provided they are carefully maintained.

Jane and Charles had a weekend in Porthkerris.

Superb pictures of an octopus and also a crayfish. 

Friday 21st July

A nitrox course. Basically a revision course for those who haven’t used nitrox for a while. This is a great way of increasing your dive time and reducing the risks of decompression illness (the bends).

Well done to those who attended, and thanks to Pegs for giving the course.

Sunday July 2nd. Another very popular club dive at Babbacombe.

16 divers arrived for a club dive, and then off to Romany Jones cafe for brunch. Underwater viz was good, and the water warm at 17C. 

Well done to Zack, Ryan, and Tashi who came to join us. 

Ocean Diver  – two more divers 🙂

Well done to Dan (and one other diver) for finishing their Open Water qualification at Vobster.

The training was hard, but you got there!

Well done!

28th May 2023 – A fabulous day spent diving around the Orestone. This was organised by Jane and Charles, with excellent skippering by Nik and Steve, and good dives were had by all. Steve and Martin swam through the Orestone, and Josiah had an excellent drift dive with Charles. Evie had her first (amazing) boat dive, buddied by Nik. 

21st May 2023. Beacon Cove was sheltered from the northerly wind, and the plankton bloom hasn’t quite hit (yet). 

Viz was good, and there’s a lot of life around. A great dive, and then brunch at Romany Jones Cafe.   🙂

11 to 14th May. Porthkerris. A few club members went for a long weekend at Porthkerris. It’s a Cornish diving centre with fabulous reefs and nearby wrecks. The octopus spotter was in her element – well done Sally!

It was a very interesting weekend ……… with good shore diving on the Saturday, then boat diving on the Sunday. Well done to Andy W for getting some of his Dive Leader practical done. It was also great to see Wendy and Stevie sea kayaking in the beautiful sunshine.

Porthkerris is a great place to visit for diving. There will be a few more photos and videos coming soon.  🙂

Congratulations to Steve P and Andy L for passing the Nitrox Blenders course.

Thanks to Ian for running this course, and well done to Jane and Charles for passing the practical part, and so it’s just finish the theory part, and you two will have finished as well.

Nitrox is a great addition to our diving, because it gives us longer no decompression times to our dives.    🙂

Sports Diver theory exam

Well done to Jonathan and Leila for passing their Sports Diver thory paper. 

That’s one bit over, and now we’ve got to press  on with the practical sessions. 

Well done!

30th April 2023. A fabulous Club Dive was organised by Chris (as part of his Dive Leader course). 14 divers went in, and most had memorable dives. The octopus was seen, the cuttlefish are in to mate, and the whole bay is moving with life. Thanks to Sally and Jane for the photos, and the video is by Andy L. Hopefully more photos and videos to follow.

Sports Diver Exams.

Well done to Josiah and Evie for passing the Sports Diver  theory exams.

Great news, and well done for the hard work that was involved. Thanks to all the instructors who helped with the theory sessions (Nik, Pegs, Martin, Ian, and Andy L.

Now for the practical sessions and the water is warming just nicely 🙂

Dive Leader Exams.

Well done to Andy W and Chris for passing the Dive Leader theory exams.

Great news, and well done for the hard work that was involved. Thanks to all the instructors who helped with the theory sessions (Nik, Pegs, Martin, Ian, and Andy L.

Now for the practical sessions – which are fun 🙂

March Club dive. Sorry … but no photos were taken on the club dive in March. Oops!

March 2023. Compressor Course – a dozen club members took part in learning how to use the compressor properly. That’s great, because without full cylinders, we wouldn’t do much diving! Well done those people.

Sports Diver Exams.

Well done to Amelia, Ben and Jess for passing their sports diver theory exams.

Great news, and well done for the hard work that was involved. The water will be warming soon, so we can press on with the sea sessions.

The remaining Sports Divers will be sitting their exams towards the end of March,

Tues 28th Feb  Plymouth, Eastern Kings. Pegs, Andy L and Sally dived this beautiful site in Firestone Bay. We knew we had to be careful with tide and entry times here, plus notify the Long Room before and after diving. This site has to be very carefully planned, but today all the conditions were perfect. 

A shore dive with more than 30m depth made a great change, and well worth the hard walk to the entry site (ps twinsets aren’t ideal here). More than 5metres of viz allowed us to see beautiful jewel anemones, plenty of big starfish, and one enormous lobster. Fabulous, and thanks you Pegs for leading the dive.,

Saturday 25th Feb

Club dive at Beer, led by Sally and Pegs. Six divers got in (and eventually) out for a dive at a reasonably new site to us. The mild breeze did stir things up slightly, but a good breakfast after the dive made up for the effort spent.

Many thanks to Nicky for being shore cover.

Monday 20th Feb. We dived before sunrise! Because the night dive was so good, two divers went for an early morning dive before work. Great viz, with  plenty of life around. and it was well worth getting up for. Dives in the dark can be amazing 🙂

Saturday 18th Feb .. this dusk dive at Babbacombe was a cracker. 6 divers took advantage of the good conditions and dived just before it got dark. All the night critters were just coming out to play. This was followed by a fish and chip supper in Torquay 🙂

Sunday 5th Feb 2023. Amazingly, 10 divers turned up for a great dive at Beacon Cove. The wind had swung round overnight so Sally very cleverly changed the venue at the last minute. This turnout shows that there is a demand for diving all year round, and 3 people were in semi-dry suits. Well done to them!

Sunday 8th Jan 2023. 14 divers said they’d dive, but eventually only 7 got in the water on a wild and windy day. Viz was poor, and this was a character building dive, followed by an excellent breakfast. Well done to Evie for coping with the very harsh conditions. Thanks to Sally for organising the dive, and to Charles and Andy W for being shore cover.

Monday Jan 2nd 2023 – A short weather gap allowed 8 desperate divers to get in at Brixham, then enjoy breakfast after. Nik and Beatriz did a great job of cleaning fishing tackle up from the Breakwater. 

It was great to be back diving again!!  🙂   

Extra large cat shark was seen by Rick and Charles (see video).

Happy New Year to all, and here we start a new dive season.  2023 starts here!             Yippee! 

Here is a link to Club Members’ photos and videos. We have some fun!

Dive Leader Exams.

Well done to Andy W and Chris for passing their Dive Leader theory exams.

Great news, and well done for the hard work that was involved. Thanks to all the instructors who helped with the theory sessions (Nik, Pegs, Martin, Ian, and Andy L.

Now for the practical sessions – which are fun 🙂