Rocking & Rolling at West Beach ~ 4th January

Isn't there some expression about 'mad dogs and English men' ? Well Sunday's dive was a mirror image .....loads of dogs and mad English men!! A really good turn-out of surface support meant that the five mad Englishmen who decided to brave the sea did so to the sound of disbelieving cheers and clicking camera lenses. No point getting old if you don't get wise was the motto of some of the support team! Whatever the wimps came up with as their defence it's 'Hat's Off' to the new "Famous Five" who stood bravely looking out to a 5 Degree C low viz dive!

Entry into the sea was all part of an entertaining afternoon, fins, backsides, fins again , gloved hands and backsides rotated in the surf as the cameras rolled - but the last shred of common decency remaining has prevented me using all the shots!


Getting out in the surge for, shall we say chilled dry suit divers, was even more fun than getting in (not!) . So whilst we had five divers there were a few paddlers amongst the support team (who Bless them, also helped a lady diver who was diving with a buddy outside of our organised event). When expedition leader Matt came out he was asked "How was the vis?" With his cold mouth tucked in his hood we think he said "Far Call", probably some sort of technical diving expression. Anyway with divers still struggling with heavy kit the support team did there best by tuckibg into the coffee & choccies (thanks Tracey & Sean).

Congratulations boys on giving it a go on a very gold and grey Newhaven afternoon.

Newhaven Shore Dive ~ 4th Jan

THIS DIVE IS GOING AHEAD!!!!!
SEE YOU ALL THERE

This will still be going ahead as long as we don`t get any hurricanes, typhoons or tsunamis in the mean time! Meet at 14.00hrs ready to dive at 14.45hrs , if its blown or latte maybe a mass dive in sheltered waters then off for a beer in the Marina? Only a tenner? It was crystal clear yesterday!

Any way see you guys next year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

High Water Slack at Newhaven Arm

Can anyone give me the definitive answer to this please? I have been given many different answers from 1.5hrs -0.5hrs before highwater, and how long is slack before it turns.
Seeing as this is home waters for you guy's, 'll ask here!

[Matt , nothing like a good old thorny question on Boxing Day to revive the ailing grey matter! Slack times are a science of their own! I took a look at the PADI website for the answer, it's crammed full of usefull information dive planning as you would expect (;-)) , so check out THIS!]

Newhaven Shore Dive ~ Sunday 4th Jan 2009

Matt is planning a shore dive at Newhaven on Sunday 4th January . Harbour Arm (West) , West Beach / Gullies options . Details to follow . Hope the weather will provide some viz and not an grand impression of a Latte Coffee! If interested let Matt know / add a comment!

Update - 16th November Seazones

All 6 divers requesting spaces are booked on to Seazones (2 spaces available if ayone else wants to join us). The plan is to dive the City of Waterford. Meet Newhaven Marina 10:00. Ropes of 10:45. Dive 12:30ish. Back in port 15:00ish.
Weather looks good at the moment and I will check with Mick Saturday afternoon and text you all to confirm on or off.
Ernie

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]

Fortuna - 11th October 2008

Final details for dive on the Fortuna with Seazones on 11th October are as follows-
Meet 06:45 (Newhaven)
Ropes off 07:30
Max depth. approx. 34 metres.
Confirmed divers are:-
Therese
Jim
Chris A
Ernie.
Fingers crossed for good weather.
Ernie.

Wreck Dive (Newhaven) ~ Saturday 16th August

Had a call last night from another diver in Plumpton, Brian. He and two of his mates have provisionally booked Mistress out of Newhaven for a wreck + drift. They need a minimum of
6 to firm the booking up. Cost approx £40 and I believe ropes off to be 09:00.

TRT will probably be the wreck. Anyone interested out there in MD land?

BOAT CANCELLED

DUE TO WEATHER (again!)

Seaford BBQ ~ 3rd August

Weather View ~ Newhaven 1023am Sunday 3rd August

CANCELLED
DUE TO WEATHER!!

Spaces with Sea Zones this Sunday

Just in from Mick Luff


Hi All,

I have 4 spaces for This Sunday to Dive the City of Brisbane on the 13:27 HW slack (Max depth 28m to bottom 25m to top.

Give me a call or e-mail if you are interested.

Thanks
Mick

Sea-Zones boat charter (Newhaven)
Tel 07729 277651
www.sea-zones.co.uk

West Beach BBQ ~ Today ~ 8th June

For those that might find it helpful, the Google Maps link below will direct you to Fort Road , Newhaven. To reach the BBQ site go South in Fort Road to it's very end (an entrance to a car park), pay (sorry!) to park , go into the car park , turn right (East) and go as far as you can in that direction , past the Harbour Arm and we'll set up around there!

If you click 'satellite' on the Google Maps you can see the area in more detail. If you get there around 1pm you'll be in good time, it's not an exact science!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=fort+road+newhaven+east+sussex+&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=10.989506,27.070313&ie=UTF8&ll=50.784607,0.054127&spn=0.005739,0.013218&z=16

If ths LONG URL is too long to be clickable , just copy & past it into your browser!

Newhaven Arm Dive 17th May 2008

Ernie & I took the opportunity to dive the Newhaven Arm. Conditions were pretty well prefect apart from it was cold wet and horrible and that was before we got in. (Pretty good really !). We were expecting to see lots more divers ( we will excuse those of you at NDAC) but it was just Ernie & I. Maybe they are not rufty tufty divers like us.
Viz was about 3 metres and we saw plenty of crabs, a couple of respectable sized lobsters, wrasse, tom pots and gobbies and star fish. We stayed in for 45 minutes and the temp. was 12 degrees,
Not a bad first beach dive for 12 months.

West Beach BBQ ~ Sun 8th June

Time to start getting some more meat on the bones of this plan , hmmm that's a thought, spare ribs might be an idea, surely there must be some spare RIBs around! I have had several emails from people saying they are coming ...but...as ever there are some logistics to sort out!

It's anyone's guess what the weather will be like , but lets hope it will be fine and say that will mean we'll need :-

KIT
A gazebo (covered area)
One or more BBQ cookers (Matt W says he has a big'un he bring!)
Disposable Plates / Cups / Cutlery
Bin Liners

FOOD & DRINK
Usual Rules , bring enough for yourself and a few others! It would be handy to start co-ordinating who is bringing what! Please add a comment to this log with YOUR plan! (or drop me an email).

Of course we are planning a shore dive on this date. The High Tide at Newhaven for afternoon of 8th June is 15.41hrs (BST) . The usual pratice (!) is to dive then eat so may be a good time for divers to meet is 14.30hrs (you might want to get there early if its great weather as parking might become fun -not!)

Newhaven Harbour Arm ~ 13th or 14th May

Does anyone fancy a go at the harbour arm Tuesday or Wednesday evening this week?
Round about half six tomorrow, half seven Wednesday. (unless my timings up the spout)
Jim

Shore Dive ~ West Beach Newhaven ~ Sat 10th May

I'm planning a shore dive on Saturday 10th May at the West Beach , Newhaven. The High Tide is 15:36hrs BST , rendezvous time & entry to be finalised but will be in the water approx 30mins before High Tide , weather & viz permitting!!! Water temperature expected to be around 10 Deg C. Anyone interested is welcome to join.

Sea Zones 8th March ~09:30 28M max

This has gone to plan B
We'll be at Wraysbury from 0930.
Jim

Hello.
I'm booked on Sea zones out of Newhaven on Saturday.
Not sure what we are doing but max depth will be 28M. 8th March-11.42 slack
The meet times would be approx 2/3 hours before depending on what we dive. Will post meeting times etc when I get them. 09:45 at a guess.
I think Mick has four spaces left. If anyone is interested contact Mick
mick@sea-zones.co.uk
07729 277651
http://uk.geocities.com/sea.zones@btinternet.com/#2008%20LOW%20SEASON
If it doesn't go ahead, we might be diverting to Wraysbury for some bobbing about.
Will confirm when I find out.
Jim

Newhaven Arm / West Beach Dive ~ Friday 24th August

Simon T has kindly drawn attention to a dive posted in the Yorkshire Divers Forum that is planned for Friday 24th August on the Newhaven Harbour West Arm :-

http://www.yorkshire-divers.com/forums/planned-trips-spare-spaces/59484-newhaven-arm-friday-24th-august.html#post749423

Looks like some old Newhaven faces / Meridian Divers might be making up the numbers so thought it was worth posting the link here.

An Armful on the Arm!

Jim & I opted for an ol'favourite by way of a dive today - the Newhaven Harbour Arm (West). It was not so much a bit of a handful but more a bit of an armful! Viz I mean, of course! The viz dropped off quickly beyond arms length (though was a little better in the shallower parts, probably through better light!). Not sure if we didn't see anything or if there was nothing to see, hard to tell! Jim tried a few camera shots - he can sometimes produce a silk piccie from a pigs ear!

A chat in the Divers Rest (Coral Cabin) with Glenn H indicated that the illusive viz is out there somewhere, Glenn reported 6m viz on the Clodmore recently! Not sure if he was narked when he made the assessment but we hope the exception becomes the rule!

Now we are at mid-April lets have some viz reports coming in!