Holland 5 Diving Opportunity

At the meeting last week I mentioned that Jamie from TWSAC was applying for a licence to dive the Holland 5 submarine next year. TWSAC has offered any Meridian Divers the opportunity to be named on the licence to dive this protected wreck as guests of TWSAC on their ribs.

If you are interested please add a comment including your dive qualifications, experience and if you have any maritime archeological experience such as N.A.S dont worry if you dont have this it wont prevent you diving the wreck.

The object of the dives will be to gather photo, video and marine life data plus general visual inspection which can be added to the data already gathered.

Tad

NAS Link to Holland V Project , Click HERE

English Heritage Maritime Archeology Unit

I am in the process of arranging a visit next Month from Alison Hamer from English Heritage Maritime Archeology Unit. Alison has kindly agreed to come and give a talk on the protected wrecksites off the Sussex Coast and how we can support and be involved in some of the planned project work in the future on these sites. Alison recently featured in Diver Magazine (June issue p 98)

This could be a great opportunity for divers who have an interest in preserving some of our maritime history.

The talk will be open to all interested divers and date and time will be posted here once confirmed.

Tad

Boat Diving on Channel Diver ~ Bookings

Dive bookings:-

Wednesday 24th June (Pentrych)
1. Ernie
2. Tad

Tuesday 7th July (Alunia) ~ CANCELLED DUE TO POOR WEATHER (6/7/09)
1. Chris
2. Ernie
3. Tad

Sunday 19th July (Jaffa) ~ CANCELLED DUE TO POOR WEATHER (18/7/09)
1. Ernie
2. Chris
3. Tad
4. Simon

Friday 24th July (TRT)
1. Ernie
2. Tad

Thursday 13th August (Oceana & Air Show)
1. Simon
2. Ernie
3. Tad
4. Chris

Please enter a comment if you are interested in joining us on the above dives.

Ernie

Dives on Channel Diver

I have picked out some dive dates which do not clash with other Meridian Diver events:

Wednesday 24th June - Pentrych - 10 spaces. (Brighton). £42.00
Tuesday 7th July - Alunnia - 10 spaces (Eastbourne). £42.00
Wednesday 8th July - Oceana - 7 spaces (Eastbourne). £42.00
Friday 10th July - Fortuna - 10 spaces (Brighton). £42.00
Sunday 19th July - Jaffa - 6 spaces (Brighton). £45.00
Fridy 24th July - T R Thompson - 9 spaces (Brighton). £45.00
Thursday 13th August - Oceana & Air Show (Eastbourne.) £45.00
Friday 14th August - Pottery wreck & Air Show (Eastbourne). £45.00

If any one is interested in any of these dives, please post a comment in the usual way.

Ernie

Gentle sea bimble anyone?

Hi all, time to start easing myself back into rufty-tufty UK sea diving. I notice on http://www.mulberrydivers.com/ there are seven places on their rib departing 11:45 for
the Far Mulberry dive site. Anybody fancy joining me? Oops! Thanks to Tad for pointing
out the fact that I failed to mention the date. Doh! It's Sunday, 3rd May.

Sundays T.R.Thompson 91st Anniversary Dive Report

March 29th is always going to be an important date on my dive calender as it is the anniversary of the sinking of the T.R.Thompson and after last years success with project on the wreck there is a strong commitment to continue with the project and this years diving season started with the dive last Sunday on the 29th March with a dive on the T.R.T .

With hopes high we met at Newhaven to board Mick Luff's Sea Zones for the trip out to the wreck site in glorious warm spring sunshine with Divers from MD, Eastbourne BSAC and GUE making up the dive teams for the day.

On arriving at the site we joined 2 other local dive boats and a shot had already been dropped and we were invited to use this, thanks guys. The big disappointment was the water colour, brown and full of plankton so the underwater conditions didn't look promising and we were right.

Kitted up and in the water we descended into the coffee coloured water, there was at a push about a meter viz and it seemed to take forever to reach the wreck in the pitch black. Even in torch light it was difficult to actually see anything due to the backscatter from the plankton in the water so it was a bit of a fumble around the wreck more than a dive but it did give me a chance to silently pass on our regards to the lost crewmen.

There comes a point when you question the wisdom of diving in conditions such as they were on Sunday purely for safety reasons as the wreck is covered in discarded fishing tackle as one of the divers on our boat discovered , so after 29 minutes we called it a day and started our ascent to the surface and for the name legendary sea scones provided by skipper Mick. We also phoned (T.R.T relative) Norman Jack from the boat to tell him about the dive.

We are now looking forward to the better conditions to continue with the project work and plans are underway for some more exciting developments on the Thompson later in the year, watch this space. Catching up with old dive chums both on the water and in the cafe after the dive it was a great day out hopefully the omens are good for this forthcoming season.

Tad

Update - T R Thompson - 29th March 2009

Times for the anniversary dive on TRT are:-
10:45 Meet Newhaven Marina
11:30 Ropes Off

High Tide 13:40.
Dive Depth 34 metres Approx.

I will text Saturday evening to confirm on/off. At the moment Mick said it looks good.

Ernie

T R Thompson Anniversary Dive 2009

Sea Zones has been provisionally booked for Sunday 29th March to enable Meridian Divers to pay our respects once more on the anniversary of her sinking. Anyone wishing to dive this day please add a comment ASAP. We need to let Mick know as quickly as possible if we can fill the boat.

1. Ernie
2. Jim
3. Tad
4. Chris P
5. Graham
6.
7.
8.

Ernie

Selsey Lifeboat Station ~ Saturday 25th April

Had to go to Tenerife for a few days last week for bank stuff. I managed to sneak-off for a morning shore dive on the Wednesday. Cuttlefish, octopus, a biiig friendly trumpet fish and lots more.
Great stuff, anyway, it's made me get my diary out to sort out a UK shore dive. Mulberry Divers are doing a marshalled dive re the above, meeting time is 14:30. Anyone care to join me?

1). Simon
2). Chris-P
3).
4).

Seazones 10th May & 12th July 2009

I have booked Seazones for Sunday 10th May (high tide 12:55) and Sunday 12th July (high tide 15:11). No decision has been made where to go. If you are interested in either of the dates please post a comment and any preference of what to dive.

10th May 2009
1. Ernie
2. Tad
3. Chris-P
4. Therese
5. Simon
6. Tracey
7. Sean
8. Prometheus
Reserve 1.
Reserve 2.

12th July 2009
1. Ernie
2. Tad
3. Chris-P
4. Therese
5. Simon
6. Tracey
7. Sean
8. Prometheus
Reservce 1.
Reserve 2.

Ernie

Shipwrecks and Dive Sites of Sussex and Kent

As discussed at the last meeting a new blog site has been created to act as a resource for everyone that dives of the coast of both Sussex and Kent. The idea of this blog is that clubs, individuals and others that are interested can add to the blog to build a useful site containing info on diveable shipwrecks and divesites in Kent and Sussex

www.divingsussexshipwrecks.blogspot.com