[Gavin Yates]

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<font color='#000F22'>Gav's in a good mood(for once) after a fine night out and doing a bit of comedy MCing for the first time this year and in my happy state I started to think about my favourite dive of the year.

I'll immediately cheat cos I know some of you will  - by naming two in no particular order.

No1 - The Kronprinz Willhelm - Scapa Flow - The weather was rough-as-fuck and no-one wanted to dive except me and a delightful lady called Lindsey who sometimes works as a guide in Scapa.

The viz was still 10m and we went right underneath the beastie and had a superb dive  - even Lindsey that does it regularly said who much she enjoyed it. My fave Scapa dive so far.

No2 - Blue Corner - off Nusa Penida, Bali. A 5-6 knot drift - bollocked down to 45m to see 6 huge Eagle Rays and a couple of sharks. Total dive time less than 30mins cos it was full-on finning like mad for the whole dive but absolutely stunning seeing this fantastic chasm whilst shooting past.

So, that's me. Let's post a fair few, it might give guys a few ideas for 2004 and posters a chance to relive a few fine memories.

 

[[email protected]]

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Bloody hell, I had to get my log book out to remember this as I have had so many good dives. (I'm picky)

I'll go for the Koln in Scapa in August. I swam the entire length inside with the light shinning in through the sides, lots to see and clocked up a fair bit of deco but it was worth it. For those who have not done Scapa -GO.  

James

 

[peter k]

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Conger Ali, Loch Long;
It's never a difficult or an odd dive, but it's "always" amusing enough. I've dived there 30/40/50(A bit like folk with Stoney) times and always have a relaxed dive. Dead easy and chilled out. We can all go to XX depth, but nothing beats the sites you know inside out and can just relax on at 20mtrs.

IMHO
Peter

 

[Helen F H]

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<font color='#000080'>erm....gods, i have done loads of good dives this year, all good for different reasons.

Probably have to be the Markgraf when i went right inside with Ben who was doing my nitrox course.

 

[ANDY 64]

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<font color='#0000FF'>Not a dive as such, but THE most exciting time in the water.

Working in Cornwall with Deep Sea Expolation plc, searching for a 18th century packet ship. ( Company and people been looking for it for years ), anyhow after 2 months trawling a mag,and doing seabed seaches with metal detectors and found swwet F**k All, everyone was getting pi**ed off with wasting time.
My wife and boys came down to spend a week during the holidays, after work , they would go out and play in a super fast RhIB in the calm waters of Mounts Bay.
They left Penzance to travel back to Dover, when they stopped at Fleet services for the usual kiddie stop, My Director was just phoning my wife ,,, shouting down the phone " JO, he's a angel,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ANDY HAS FOUND IT ".  By this time we had left the site and drinking champers in the pub still wearing dry bags .

What had happened was, that we had got really close inshore up under the cliff, and whilst 3 of us was frigging about in the RhIB on a fine summers day,,,

I RAN ALONG THE RhIB tubes as fast as i could , slipping and in the drink i went ,

STANDING on a cannon from the lost ship.

I Do have some of photos,,,, if any ones to see.... may be on my new website soon .


ANdy


best dive, i suppose was taken a young lad in from the Dover SAC , for his last assessment for club diver in our local shallow bay.... did the assessment ... went back down.. deployed DSMB from a rock on the bottom , letting out all the line 10 mt depth ,, 100 mts of line out .
Acted like a sail , and we were whipped along on a really fast drift.

 

[Snash]

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Would like to say the Kylemore, an ex-Clyde Paddle Steamer off the Norfolk coast... Cracking dive with loads of life....

...but...

I think Jo, my (now) fiance, would kill me, so will have to go with a dive out in the Maldives in March where we got engaged underwater. Had to make sure I did not drop the ring.....

Cheers

Simon Nash

 

[722]

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Quote[/b] (Snash @ Dec. 19 2003,08:50)]I think Jo, my (now) fiance, would kill me, so will have to go with a dive out in the Maldives in March where we got engaged underwater. Had to make sure I did not drop the ring.....

I know someone who did just that, it's on the Thistlegorm somewhere...

My best dive of the year? A pootle around the engine room of the Rosalie Moller. Looking at the gauges, telegraph repeater etc. 46m on air though  

Adrian

 

[Mark Chase]

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I would love to say the Illinoys because of the extensive planning and the huge anticipation that went in to the dive but the viz didnt come out to play

I would also mention the Solsett but although fantastic that was a solo dive so I didnt get the apres dive DID YOU SEE THAT........

SO it has to be the first proper dive on the Duke. Great Viz a fantastic wreck Andrew as a dive buddy and big grins all round.

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[Spike Jackson]

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Aeolian (sp?) Sky with 12m vis and loads of life. Stunning.

 

[Jules]

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The third dive we did on the Thistlegorm, all the italiens had gone and it was just our group from the liveaboard. I gave Matt (aged 14) the torch and he led the dive looking at everything he had missed in the two earlier busy dives. Brilliant.

or Snorkelling with two Wild Dolphins with Bethi one eveningwhen the liveaboard was moored up for the night.

or some of the many dives we have done in the sound of Mull this summer. really special.

looking forward to loads more next year.

 

[John Gulliver]

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It has to be my first dive on the plateau at the north end of Elphinstone Reef. The current was strong, as always, and we quickly used up our air, so that it was a short dive, but we saw several grey reef sharks, a shoal of 20 or so barracudas, 2 Napoleon wrasse, a big shoal of jacks and more anthias then I've ever seen in one place before.

 

[MATTBIN]

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Damn difficult that question, I enjoyed so many.
So I suppose I'll narrow it down to diving with the Seals up in the Farnes and a shallow dive in Cornwall at Porthkerris.

The again a couple of weeks ago I dive the sub in Stoney and was really pleased at the way I dived, felt very controlled and together on the wing, bugger all to see that I hadnt seen before, or Wraysbury a few weeks earlier when I used the wing for the first time. Oh its impossible.

But I dont think there has been a dive I havent enjoyed really.

Matt

 

[Kate R]

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hmmm, loads for me as well, especially since i started the year with sipadan!

one that stands out was a shore dive at hemmick beach in cornwall. empty beach, gorgeous scenery, just me and boyfriend turn up and go diving.....

the water was crystal clear blue - i'd never dived in the uk south of stoney before then, and have never seen vis like that! reeeeallly long shallow dive, kelp gullies, white sand, very pretty, with hundreds of anemones, wrasse, tompot blennies, lobsters, dogfish etc etc

just very very chilled out.

also enjoyed inner hebrides wrecks, but not any one more than others. seals in the farnes were great too, and of course sipadan  

but in general agree with matt - don't think there was a dive i didn't enjoy!

 

[Diving Dude]

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My best dive,  either the Koln in Scapa or Aeolian Sky on the swanage gig rearlier in the year with Andy P or the Thesis in the Sound Of Mull on Peter Ks gig in March.

My best time in a drysuit and scuba gear was surface swimming in to the Hopper at the Farne Islands into about 100 seals, they slipped off the rocks as we got to about 10 ft away.
We had 20/30 seals in the water in front of us looking at us, the same on the rocks beside us, the same behind us and 10 or so under us, nipping our fins etc. Depth max. 2 feet.

However the year is not over yet and l've still got the dive on the 28th with the dodgy skipper with his new boat out of Dover.  

 

[Kate R]

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oh my god, how could i forget?!

three bottlenose dolphins on a dive just off skye

and we got to play with them on the surface afterwards!

magic

 

[Dave Crampton]

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<font color='#000080'>I think my best dive would have to be Moon Pool on the SE corner of Menorca. The second dive of it was from the shore as the Wind was blowing the sea up. We entered the water 100m round the corner from a 4m cliff. Into the sea with fins under arm and BCD deflated. Then paddled round to 15m depth and in to the cave entrance. The Moon Pool is a cavern with a surface sump which you enter from under neath. A great dive with a bowl half way in where rocks are stired round by the sea making them cpherical in shape. The bottom of the entrance is a sandy shelf. Very dark inside and quite atmospheric.

Dave C

Link follows:

http://www.salgardiving.com/english/divesites.html

 

[daz]

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It is difficult to choose just one, but I guess a couple of really memorable ones are :-

Brothers Islands,  2 specific dives,  Hammerheads and a cheeky little deep dive on the Aida.

Porthkerris,  a great shore dive around the outside of the rocks with 2 good friends, Jason and Dave.

And just for the masocistic value.  Vobster Quay a few weeks ago when we did a dive down the tunnel and the vis awas awesome with the crushing works silhouetted against the sky from the end of the tunnel.

And I'm sure I could think of more.  

Daz

 

[Mark Powell]

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For me it would have to be a tie between The Merchant Royal in Lyme Bay and the Hispania in Oban.

The pic on the left is me on the Hispania.

 

[Andy Phillips]

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Hmmmm, had a few good ones this year but two stand out;

The Aeolian Sky, very early on in the season but the vis was fab, did the swim thru the engine and out the funnel, just fantastic, added to by the people who were on the trip.

The Duke of Bucclea, the first dive on this was just awsome, still can't get over the sight of all that pottery / glassware just sitting there, Mark and I just had our noses stuck in every hole we could, big grins.

I simply couldn't choose between those two

Andrew

 

[DanE]

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Think it would have to be my first sea dive in the UK, on a wreck called "Iron Ore".  Dropped 20m down the shotline onto a fairly broken up wreck, but so much sea life!  Bib everywhere, spider crabs, normal looking crabs, scallops and the biggest eel I've ever seen.  With 20C water with great viz, I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face for days

 

dan.