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02 July 2009

HWSAC trip to Bandol, South of France - Fri 15th May to Sun 24th May 2009

“Merde, it can’t be 5.00 am already. I knew we shouldn’t have gone to The White Horse pub after we packed the car last night”. So began the day for Len and Rita, James and Eunice. Out of the door by 6.00 am were the instructions, and, after tea and toast they were. Well OK, 6.10 am but no dive trip starts without an element of faff.

16 July 2008

South America Expedition 15th May - 2nd June 2008

The main group arrived in Quito 5.15pm. We were eventually met by Christian from Latin Tours with a placard ‘CLIF BENNETT’. He was to be our guide for the next 2 days. With good English and a ready smile we warmed to him immediately! At 2800m (over 9000ft) there was a distinct lack of puff as we pushed trolleys of luggage over to our bus.

06 May 2008

Croatia 9th April 2008 - Pete and Eunice
Croatia!! Well why not – like to try a new place for diving. There were eight of us on this trip, led by Vicki, with Pete & Jane, Len & Rita, James & Eunice, and last but not least Clive.
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05 October 2007

Tenerife September 2007 - Stuart Thornley
"Go down the anchor chain and wait in the lee of the wall."
"Once everyone's there we go over the top of the wall, and down the other side."
"If there's an adverse tide running on the top - pull yourself along using your hands."
"Don’t try to fin against the tide."
"Only a w***** fins against the tide when he doesn't have to."
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25 August 2007

Kimmeridge 25-26 August 2007 - Simon Fennell
After the multi day event at Kimmeridge over the May bank holiday was cut short by the start of the British summer, hopes of a different outcome over the August bank holiday were slim. However, the weather forecasters started promising a good weekend 5 days in advance and so expectations rose as 15 divers joined the bank holiday exodus down the M3/ M27 for the weekend.
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07 July 2007

“High Wycombe” Divers Conquer the “Manacles” - Paul Coxon
12 hardy divers (a full boat load) spent 3 wonderful days in July diving the beautiful, but challenging Manacles reef off the Lizard peninsular in Cornwall.
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01 May 2007

Plymouth May 2007 - Alan Davies
The early May bank holiday saw 11 intrepid HWSAC divers and the Club Social Secretary visit Plymouth. The early season water was a respectable 10 - 12 degrees and despite the slightly choppy sea conditions - sea sickness was kept to a minimum. The 10 metre Rhib with it's 400 horsepower engines cut-ting through the waves getting us out to the dive site and back - quickly!
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14 April 2007

Lyme Regis Saturday 14th April - Pete Mowatt
Eleven divers plus one non-diver enjoyed an excellent day aboard Miss Pattie diving the Bagitano and the Sawtooth ledges. The weather could hardly have been kinder, slightly overcast until the afternoon, and at about 20˚C above water, just perfect for drysuits. Calm seas, viz of 5-7m and virtually no current to speak of (even for the Sawtooth ledges drift) made for perfect diving conditions.
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22 July 2005

Marine Identification Course
Did you ever wonder what on earth that "thing" that you saw on the wreck last weekend was, or even whether it was animal, vegetable or mineral? Could you identify an elephantine sponge, or differentiate between that and a gooseberry, grated carrot or breadcrumb sponge? Did you know that a crab can regenerate its limbs if it loses one in a fight and can even swap from being left to right-handed?
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20 June 2005

White Nothe Landing Craft
Little is known about this Landing Craft lying about two miles south south west of the cliff of White Nothe, just east of Weymouth . From the size of the wreck it is probable that she was a LCM (landing craft mechanised).
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20 June 2005

The Saint Dunstan
The Saint Dunstan as a turn of the century bucket dredger sunk by a mine on September 23rd 1917. She is almost the perfect size wreck, small enough to see on one dive but large enough not to get crowded. Lying in 29 meters of water a five miles south of West Bay in Lyme Bay she is upside down and partially intact. There are always huge shoals of bib and poor cod milling around this wreck, as well as plentiful conger eels inside the engine room.
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20 June 2005

The M2
The M2 started life in 1916 as K19 but due to major problems with the K class of submarines work was suspended after the keel was laid. A new class of submarines, based on the keel of the K class was designed.
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21 June 2004

The Philipines
I’ve been living the last three months in a dream. "If you can imagine a place so remote that it takes three days to travel there and involves a total of eighteen hours on three planes, a nine hour bus journey along rough, dirt tracks and a two hour boat trip over clear blue sea. Two hotels, a trip to the immigration office and endless rainforest scenery. On this island I spent a summer diving coral reefs and sunbathing, and it is an experience I will never forget".
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01 October 2003

Mexico - Gavin Bashford

Fifteen divers, six planes, two dive boats, two countries and over a metric ton of dive kit; this was to be the most complicated logistic expedition ever mounted by the High Wycombe branch of BSAC.

02 August 2003

Farne Islands

7 divers from High Wycombe set off for a long weekend diving of the Farne Islands, north of Newcastle. After an epic drive up we all arrived as the pub shut, so sadly missed a well-needed pint. After a good sleep we headed into breakfast and met the skipper and mate that would be looking after us for the trip. We headed down to the boat and loaded up in the calm harbour, all looking forward to good days diving ahead.

20 June 2000

Scapa Flow 2000
With high hopes for a great week 4 cars set off at completely random times in an attempt to get the ferry from Scrabster to Stomness. 650 miles later every body some how managed to arrive at roughly the same time, and few quick phone calls managed to get everybody on the same boat. The trip across promised at fine diving ahead. The infamous Pentland Firth was as flat as a pancake, the sun was shining and the dolphins leaping. The resident expert on Scapa, Megan gloomily looked at the sky and said " this will never last."
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08 January 1999

Sharm El Sheikh Holiday
"We dived every day, except the last day when we flew home - 14 dives in 6 days. The vis went from 10-20m, even in the blue. I saw barracuda, turtle, dolphins, a reef shark (when snorkelling one lunchtime unfortunately!), a blue spotted stingray, moray eels, parrotfish, pufferfish, triggerfish, lionfish, clownfish, jacks, batfish, butterflyfish, snappers, triggerfish etc. etc. and gorgeous corals and anemones" - complete with pictures.
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