Who are your members ?
We have a diverse set of 23 members ranging from engineers to teachers , builders to farmers , and we have five people waiting to join for training . We are seven Ocean Divers , seven Sports Divers , six Dive Leaders and three Advanced Divers . As for active instructors , we have two Assistant Diving Instructors , two Open Water Instructors and a National Instructor .
Does the club have any special focus ?
Several members take part in Seasearch and as a club we regularly help to recover lost lead and other fishing gear . Our primary focus is to dive , but the recovery work pulls our aims together and gives an even better outcome . We have some very experienced and talented divers and our aim is to pass on our skills to the less experienced and new members of the club by investing time in training .
What has the club achieved in the past year ?
Due to Covid-19 , not as much as we would have liked : plans have been postponed , but we survived . The pandemic curtailed everything : our environmental work , teaching , outreach snorkelling programme and our diving . All activity ceased mid-March ; our education and snorkelling programme is still suspended and will be until the summer of 2022 . We held some engaging Zoom meetings and online training to ensure we didn ’ t break the contacts we ’ ve worked so hard to establish across the membership ; and there were a few pool sessions when allowed . We were lucky enough to launch our boat a few times ; however just as we got going , we had to stop again . Also , during lockdown our equipment suffered ; with the suspension of our normal incomegenerating activities , we were unable to complete any repairs or upgrades .
What work do you need to do ?
Our boat is showing its age and needs some serious money spent on it . The long-term plan is to re-tube . We need to rebuild our boat trailer ; then our environmental
CLUBFOCUS
In Cyprus , post-Zenobia
activities will be able to restart . We also need to replace our junior snorkelling equipment . We have been running our outreach programme for the past 10 years , or so , and we have introduced around 400 young people to the safe use of masks and snorkels . Some go on to scuba dive with us ; others go on holiday with their families , safe in the knowledge that they can use the kit correctly . We want to ensure that it is up-todate , safe and ready for use .
Tell us about the snorkelling programme …
Working with local schools , swimming clubs and pools , we teach safe snorkelling to young people aged five to 16 . We have cross-qualified trainers so we offer the Swimming Teachers Association ( STA )
Group photo in Comino ; note the hardy soul in shorts
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