Bicester Divers

Starting in January 2009 we'll be holding an activity night on the 1st Monday of the month (where possible). Most of the activities will try to focus on some aspect of scuba-diving, but we'll also be organising other fun evenings too. The current programme of event include: Knots, The Sea Search project, hand signals, and navigation. If any club members have suggestions for other subjects they'd like to see covered please forward them to Steve, Alan or Lorna.

The 1st Activity night will be Knots and will be on Monday 12th January 2009

Please support the club and try and make it along. "The more the merrier" as they say.

Chesil Beach - The Treasurers' Tale

Lowlights:Being woken up at 4am by icebergs and polar bears trying to sink my narrowboat; kitting up in 2 degrees (brrr); losing Steve in zero viz; getting out of the surf the wrong way up; scrabbling up the near-vertical pebble beach in full kit determined not to have to do two journeys; a very damp dry suit; a dead computer; getting dressed (brrr); not being able to wash my kit down for days due to frozen water pipes

Highlights:Meteorite storm (superb shooting stars in a perfectly clear night sky); Alan (no fins) English; finding nudibranchs in zero viz; finding Steve in zero viz; hot beef stew and a pint in the pub; hot tea in the café; that tired but satisfied feeling that comes from doing an exhilarating UK dive; doing a UK dive and not getting blown out!

Bicester Sub Aqua Club: First Dive of 2009: Saturday January 3rd. Chesil Cove, Portland, Dorset.

The Diving Officer's Tale

(Photos)

05:15 Raucous alarm sounds BU**ER I've only just got back to sleep, whose idea was this? Well I'm awake AGAIN now so might as well get up; (put note in diary: "Organise Witch Hunt ASAP") Next thirty minutes deleted as minors (or anyone else for that matter) may actually read this. Good job I packed all my kit in the car yesterday afternoon; just get in the car and go to pick up Rod. Look outside, bit of a frost, start car check air temp: MINUS FORTY! (all right four) don't you just hate Global Warming? Leave the car running with both windscreen defrost controls and the heated seats on MAX while I go in for a cup of tea. Preparation is the key to a good dive so I run over my well used mental checklist of kit and supplies once more; remember to pack energy drinks and bars plus spare pants (annoying leak in dry suit HONEST!)

(Trip photos)

The cold crisp morning of Saturday 3rd January 2009, saw 4 hardy fellows (some might say stupid), Steve, Pete, Rod and Alan, head for the shores of the Dorset coast, to brave the depths of the calm winter seas. Fortunately at that time of the morning most were still in bed so the journey down was pleasant and uneventful. At some stages of the journey however the air temperature did read -7 degrees C.

We met in the car park of Hotel Aqua in Castletown, Portland to be joined by another frequent flyer on Bicester Dive Club trips, Sharky. It appears we weren't the only loonies to be diving as there were others in the car park preparing to head out to sea.