Marsa Alam Video

Another genuine Christmas present ... this time details of a YouTube video posted by dive buddy Jan from the September 2009 visit to Marsa Alam ...lovely colours! Well done Jan!



Oh, and there are some super shots of Dennis the Dugong in this video! And if that sea creature isn't amazing enough , take a look at Jan's octopus video, which shows what a wonderful master of disguise the octopus is!

Happy Christmas to All Our Readers

Happy Christmas to all MDers and to all our many readers! We received a Christmas present from Canada today, details of the that are shown on our 'sister' blog on the Wreck of the T R Thompson, click HERE to read more about that.

Best wishes to you all and good diving for 2010.

Chris

Taba, Egypt ~ Only a Month Ago

Paul: "I tell you, it was that big!"

Andy, with the Egypt / Israel border fence on the rocks above

PADI Paddling Practice!

With snow , freezing conditions, black ice, rain and all the other English winter 'goodies' it's hard to remember it was only last month that three of us were diving of the coast of Taba. My dive buddy Paul , has sent some shots he took which I'll have to add to refresh myself of the contrast!

Happy Christmas Too!

Due to a number of reasons I am not able to get down to deliver cards etc before Xmas so to add to Ernie and Sheila's previous post I would like to add my happy Christmas greetings to all Meridian Divers and friends plus any others who read this blog!

Happy Xmas From Tad

Christmas & New Year Greetings

Ernie & I would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year. Looking forward to some good holidays, diving and social evenings in 2010.

Sheila

P.S. See Meridian Mutts re: New Year Walk.

Christmas Dinner 2009 ~ Done!

The Meridian Divers' Christmas Dinner was held at the Berwick Inn, Berwick on Wednesday 16th December. The Berwick Inn has been under new management since last April and landlord , Tony, has done a great deal on improving the Inn and creating a very welcoming atmosphere.

The 'traditional' MD pursuits of a Christmas raffle and Photo Competition were honoured. The photo competition was a challenge with over 100 photos taken from the blog over the last year being viewed, well just about anyway! Ernie took pole position with his black tipped reef shark , photo'd in the Caribbean !

After the dinner there was a compered quiz that had been arranged by the Inn and prizes were awarded for the winners, again courtesy of Tony , which we thought was a very friendly gesture.

The cold and dark night made us all think of warmer seas and good viz, lets hope we can get those plans acted upon as 2010 unfolds.

Diver Magazine ~ Meridian Divers & TWSAC

Meridian Divers & Tunbridge Wells Sub Aqua Club are mentioned extensively in an article by John LIDDIARD entilted "Newhaven New Identities" that is published in the DIVER Magazine (January 2010 edition, pages 72 to 76). The article covers several wrecks and in particular the T R Thompson , the subject of Meridian Divers NAS Wreck Project. John's article has some new pictures and extends our knowledge of the wreck , it really helps to have an expert on the team!

The article also promotes the Meridian Divers blog which is linked to our project blog. We hope that the national publicity will draw attention to the T R Thompson and that it will lead to even more people contacting us with more information . The project blog is a treasure chest of information on the wreck and we hope it will be a benfit to divers with an interest in the wreck's history.

Click HERE to view the T R THOMPSON Project Blog

Wreck Database & UK Hydrographic Service

The wrecksite has signed a license agreement with the UK Hydrographic Office and is now the most comprehensive resource of information about shipwrecks around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland.

Along with over 40,000 positions reported, it displays these wrecks on 172 true maritime charts. This includes over 25,600 detailed survey reports , derived from the UK Hydrographic Office database.

All of this information is available for a small annual subscription fee of 25 euros: sign up at www.wrecksite.eu

Raffle - Christmas Dinner

We will be doing the raffle again at the dinner. Prizes would be gratefully received.

Images of a small island

We left London on a cold and rainy November morning and arrived in the Turks & Caicos Islands (T.C.I.) to a very comfortable 28 degrees.

We stayed at the Beaches Resort in Grace Bay. This resort was absolutely fantastic. It had 16 Restaurants from white glove service down to an American Fifties Dinner (yes we ate at all of them).

This was an all inclusive holiday which really was all inclusive.We did not have to spend a penny whilst there. There was even a bar in our room with every alcoholic drink you could think of (shame we don't drink). For those who want to be active there was a fully equipped gym and spa complex. All the water sports were included, hobbie cats, kayaks, water bikes, snorkelling (off shore and boat) and last but not least 2 dives a day with a choice of four dive boats from a very well run dive centre.

Just one of the dive boats we used

As well as five pools there was a large water park for the children

White sand and blue sea. What more could you want?

Below is a selection of the marine life we encountered on our 20 dives.

Goodbye from T.C.I.

Halcyon Equipment Workshop ~Saturday 12th December

Halcyon have agreed to put on an equipment workshop at Ocean View this Saturday,they will be bringing along about 6 sets of equipment including single tank systems as well as twin set up's including the new Cinch set up,8.5L cylinders,torches etc etc.
There will be a chance to try these sets out in the pool between 12.00 and 3.00pm they will also be bringing some of their other products for people to look at.
If there is anything that anyone genuinly would like to look at, let Graeme know and he will call them.

If you are interested please call Ocean view on 01903 767224

All welcome and a happy Christmas to you all.

All you ever didn't want to know about Diving Cylinders

For all info the latest update on the manufacture , inspection & carriage of diving cylinders , click HERE!

Muddy Puddle Dive Anyone

Its that time of year again, the summer is a long way off and I dont know about everyone else but I am starting to get withdrawl symptons.

I am up for suggestions for a dip in a local puddle or maybe think about one a bit further afield .

Post a comment if interested.

Taba ~ Frog Fish Fables

All-white Frog Fish

Just back from another jaunt over to the Red Sea at Taba. Taba is situated right on the Egyptian / Israeli border . The marine border is marked in a low key way by having two Egyptian Police Officers sitting in a small dinghy , probably the worst posting there is!

Moray Eel

It was a bit of a lazy holiday in diving terms, with just five dives (2x shore dives, 3x boat dives), my diving buds were Paul and Andy. I have trained them both in the past and previously signed-off Paul's MSD and some specialties for Andy, so it was nice just to do some relaxing dives.

Traditional 'turning-left' signal!

We dived with Aqua Sport who have dive centres at the adjacent Hilton & Movenpick Hotels, both right on the waters edge. We saw frog fish on every dive , several frog fish on some dives. I learnt that photographing them was easy as they just sit still for you ....but that it's not easy to get a good photo of fish that are so highly camouflaged that they are hard to see in the view finder and the final shot! The solution is to find the plain coloured ones which curiously seemed harder to find (or they were just less in number!).

No dive complete without a clown fish pic!

The dive time limit at Aqua Sport is 45 minutes , although with such personal service my average dive time over the five was 48 minutes. Most of the staff we met and dived with were Egyptian , although Karina , a German Instructor led the boat dives.

Say "Arrrrh" for the camera!

The coral was not the best I have seen in the Red Sea but it encouraged a close look to find interesting marine life and in that regard there was plenty to see.

Soft Coral Snacker!

Christmas Dinner

I am still waiting for some deposits & menu choices!! An email has been sent to those concerned but if you want to come & not yet paid or given me your choices you need to do so by the END OF THIS WEEK!

There are still places available so email me or add a comment

Thank you

Tech Talk at Ocean View

I trundled down to Ocean View to listen to the the talk given by Mark Powell as an intro to Tech Diving. Having done the PADI tec rec course almost 10 years ago I thought it may be a good idea to refresh myself on what is happening around the training of Tech Divers and maybe look at opportunities to update skills that I haven't really used since doing the course.

Mark's talk was very informative and gave me the itch to carry out a refresher couse on the tech basics and perhaps progress to the next level, trimix.

The benefit of this sort of diving to me is that I may not necessarily want to dive to great depths, but to do the dives I do now for longer and with a clearer head. So Mark I may well be knocking on your door next year.

Thanks to Ocean View for the invite to the talk and an enjoyable evening.

To see the courses Mark has to offer, go to his website at www.dive-tech.co.uk

Tad

Pool Session - Sovereign Centre, Eastbourne

Pool Session - 3/11/09 (Tuesday)

Meet at 19:45.
When you arrive at the Pool go towards the car park and then turn right into a slip road at the side of the building.

Sheila & Ernie
Chris & Sue
Tracey
Therese
Mandy.

See you there.

Marine Conservation Zones off the Sussex Coast

On Monday 2nd Novenber at 7.30pm on BBC One , Inside Out South East takes a close up look at Marine Conservation Zones - one of the hottest topics for naturalists across Sussex today. For video , links and more information cick HERE.

For information on delivering marine conservation zones and the wok of Balance Seas click HERE. Balanced Seas is one of four regional projects in England that will work with sea users and interest groups to identify and recommend Marine Conservation Zones to Government. These new protected areas will be designated at the end of 2012.

Seazones - Saturday 31st October

Message from Mick Luff:

Spaces available on Seazones on Saturday, diving the Brisbane (28 metres max) followed by a drift. Ropes off Newhaven 07:45.

If interested phone Mick on 07729 277651

Ernie

Mark Powell Talk ~ 7.30pm Friday 6th November

Hi all,
Just thought I'd post this to see if anyone would like to attend Oceanview on the above date for a talk/presentation given by one of Britain's leading technical instructors Mark Powell.

The talk will have something for everybody, especially aimed at recreational divers looking to go further and deeper or stay longer including redundancy, kit configuration, basic deco, advanced nitrox, trimix and not forgetting intro into technical diving.

The talk is already filling-up so if anyone is interested please let me know numbers either by email mattwest1@hotmail.co.uk or by phone, Tad and Tracy have my mobile number and are free to give it out.

If anyone went to the diveshow you'll know Mark's talk was one of the highlight's and was standing room only on both days.

http://www.dive-tech.co.uk/

Many thanks

Matt