Best wishes for a happy New Year to all MDers and their dive buddies. Let's hope that we can make 2009 an active diving year , have fun and support all those who support us and our diving mania!
Its no doubt going to be a tough year with a serious recession on the cards, so let's not forget those who we rely on as they too rely on us as customers. In particular we should not forget the friendship , goodwill and willingness of those who contributed to the socials we have enjoyed , such as the Christmas Party. In particular:-
Graeme at Ocean View
Steve at Channel Divers
Mick at Seazones
Showing posts with label Crystal Balls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crystal Balls. Show all posts
31 December 2008
05 November 2008
Now with Added Newhaven
The Sink One 4 Seaford project has widened it's appeal by the inclusion of 'Newhaven' in it's title which has shown as "Sink One 4 Seaford And Newhaven ".
This seems to make a lot of sense as divers wanting to dive a purposely sunk naval vessel off the coast of Seaford are likely to make use of the Port of Newhaven. There has been some concern voiced at public meetings as to quite how far the benefits any economic regeneration from the project would extend. A central issue seems to have been 'how many divers who would stay overnight in the area ?' as day-tripping divers would have less positive economic impact as they would not pay for accommodation and probably purchase less refreshments / meals etc.
Of course an increase in divers using the Port of Newhaven would benefit related businesses in or around the Port, so it does make good sense to recognise Newhaven in the project name.
With the certainty of a recession on the horizon, the owners of the Port of Newhaven and the various developers will likely have got cold feet in respect of the much discussed major developments of the Port. Certainly there were plenty of people, up to a few months ago, confidently predicting that the Port developments would go ahead with visible improvements . I don't think many would bet much on that prospect at the moment.
The future of the Port , for many many years, has been characteised by a 'stop-go-stop-go-stop' round of ideas. Some ideas have materialised , like all the new housing, whereas , other ideas have been stopped mid-way, arguably leaving a deficit. For example, how we all miss the Coral Cabin for our post-dive bacon butties!
Wherever we are on the stop-go cycle the Port & users have to work with what they are left with , constantly adapting to the prevailing circumstances however uncertain. Quite Darwinian in a sort of evolutionary way! I think we will continue new species emerging for some while yet. Evolution is fascinating but it does produce some implausible entities - the duck-billed platypus for example!
[For a critical assessment of the Port click : Here]
This seems to make a lot of sense as divers wanting to dive a purposely sunk naval vessel off the coast of Seaford are likely to make use of the Port of Newhaven. There has been some concern voiced at public meetings as to quite how far the benefits any economic regeneration from the project would extend. A central issue seems to have been 'how many divers who would stay overnight in the area ?' as day-tripping divers would have less positive economic impact as they would not pay for accommodation and probably purchase less refreshments / meals etc.
Of course an increase in divers using the Port of Newhaven would benefit related businesses in or around the Port, so it does make good sense to recognise Newhaven in the project name.
With the certainty of a recession on the horizon, the owners of the Port of Newhaven and the various developers will likely have got cold feet in respect of the much discussed major developments of the Port. Certainly there were plenty of people, up to a few months ago, confidently predicting that the Port developments would go ahead with visible improvements . I don't think many would bet much on that prospect at the moment.
The future of the Port , for many many years, has been characteised by a 'stop-go-stop-go-stop' round of ideas. Some ideas have materialised , like all the new housing, whereas , other ideas have been stopped mid-way, arguably leaving a deficit. For example, how we all miss the Coral Cabin for our post-dive bacon butties!
Wherever we are on the stop-go cycle the Port & users have to work with what they are left with , constantly adapting to the prevailing circumstances however uncertain. Quite Darwinian in a sort of evolutionary way! I think we will continue new species emerging for some while yet. Evolution is fascinating but it does produce some implausible entities - the duck-billed platypus for example!
[For a critical assessment of the Port click : Here]
25 September 2008
Good Luck to Ocean View's New Owners
Meridian Divers would like to wish Good luck to Graham and Sue who are taking over from Den at Ocean View and offer our support for their new venture. Also good luck to Den & Co with whatever their future plans maybe.
13 September 2008
All change !
Looks as though we will be seeing some more changes in dive service providers in the Meridian area. As predicted some while ago the dive market is changing , ever faster. I don't suppose we will see it stabilising for sometime to come. More details in due course!
23 July 2008
Collaboration in Action
Recent Meridian Diver socials and dive trips have shown the benefits of collaboration and mutual support , what has been achieved has been utterly impressive, way beyond anything I have previously experienced in the world of SCUBA diving.
I think the MD network has shown the way for others to follow and I think, not least with the economic downturn that the whole country is facing that businesses too are likely to look more and more at collaborative approaches. It doesn't make great economic sense to have assets sitting around under used so the best use of resources may be for businesses to break-down their traditional boundaries and work in a more networked collaborative fashion. SCUBA industries will probably increasingly discover this as necessity is the mother of invention (even if we're not sure who the father is!!)
Keeping boats, dive sites and providing other diving services is costly and if disposable income continues to drop we will undoubtedly see greater collaboration in the industry. This is good news for a network of divers (or customers if you prefer) all looking for quality opportunities and able to share information on 'what's good'! Of course something to watch-out for in any economic downtown is cost-cutting causing a downward pressure on standards!
I think the MD network has shown the way for others to follow and I think, not least with the economic downturn that the whole country is facing that businesses too are likely to look more and more at collaborative approaches. It doesn't make great economic sense to have assets sitting around under used so the best use of resources may be for businesses to break-down their traditional boundaries and work in a more networked collaborative fashion. SCUBA industries will probably increasingly discover this as necessity is the mother of invention (even if we're not sure who the father is!!)
Keeping boats, dive sites and providing other diving services is costly and if disposable income continues to drop we will undoubtedly see greater collaboration in the industry. This is good news for a network of divers (or customers if you prefer) all looking for quality opportunities and able to share information on 'what's good'! Of course something to watch-out for in any economic downtown is cost-cutting causing a downward pressure on standards!
03 July 2008
R.I.P Horsea Island
Well as we are getting over the binned weekend in Looe some of you may be thinking to go for a inland site just to get wet, well you won`t be going to Horsea again EVER it seems.
Yes, its finally been closed after much campaigning as of 30/06/08 no civillian entry is permitted, although the the memories of my open water course nil vis,f reezing cold, mask flooding at this site seemed like hell on earth at the time I think we`ve lost a good training and kit testing site
Yes, its finally been closed after much campaigning as of 30/06/08 no civillian entry is permitted, although the the memories of my open water course nil vis,f reezing cold, mask flooding at this site seemed like hell on earth at the time I think we`ve lost a good training and kit testing site
24 February 2008
An MD Consultancy?
It's always nice to be flattered. And when that flattery is given in the sincerest form you know that you must be doing a good job well! The efforts of Meridian Divers is clearly being recognised and it is a delight to see others following in our footsteps.
Some people would say there is no such thing as a new idea, they may be right , but it is satisfying to see our successful ideas being taken up by divers and it's also good to know that MD is driving-up standards . May be we ought offer a consultancy service? Heck, what am I saying? We are already doing that and for no charge. Keep-up the good work MDers!
Some people would say there is no such thing as a new idea, they may be right , but it is satisfying to see our successful ideas being taken up by divers and it's also good to know that MD is driving-up standards . May be we ought offer a consultancy service? Heck, what am I saying? We are already doing that and for no charge. Keep-up the good work MDers!
26 January 2008
Iles Diving
As you may of heard Iles World of Diving is closing down. They are however, going to continue operating dives on their rib. Attached is link for dives in March and April. Their rib takes 8 divers - if we can get 8 divers, 7 pay and the 8th goes free! May be worth looking at - they have some evening dives and quite a few are fairly shallow. I have to admit - a fair few of them I haven't even heard of! For more details check out http://www.scubatraining.com/BoatCharter.htm
31 December 2007
Nearly the End of 2007! What will 2008 Bring?
We are very nearly at the end of 2007, just hours to go and we will soon see the pundits giving their predictions for 2008. Updating the blog ,as I am ,I thought it would be interesting to look at what was predicted for blogging during 2007.
One such pundit 'Modern Life' commented "Blogging will get harder - Well, not harder per se - but as more and more people cotton onto this 'get blog, get famous, make money' mentality (old media included) hopefully we'll see greater competition and more rivalry for blogging recognition." See:-
http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/article/new-year-new-look-2007-predictions
As time has passed it seems that it was a fairly accurate prediction. It's certainly not harder to blog and the increased use of blogs should be good for the blog reader. Whether blogs will make money, is of course, not something that will concern Meridian Divers!
One such pundit 'Modern Life' commented "Blogging will get harder - Well, not harder per se - but as more and more people cotton onto this 'get blog, get famous, make money' mentality (old media included) hopefully we'll see greater competition and more rivalry for blogging recognition." See:-
http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/article/new-year-new-look-2007-predictions
As time has passed it seems that it was a fairly accurate prediction. It's certainly not harder to blog and the increased use of blogs should be good for the blog reader. Whether blogs will make money, is of course, not something that will concern Meridian Divers!
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