Each month we feature a selection of your letters
Each month we feature a selection of your letters
We ’ re still looking for a new prize for a Star Letter , so please bear with us for a while longer . It ’ s a difficult time for the diving industry , so sponsorships are a tricky proposition at the moment .
ChatSend your letters to simon @ scubamagazine . co . uk
Active at Aberdeen
ABERDEEN SUB-AQUA CLUB RETURNED to Oban for our annual week-long Easter trip this year . The first half of the week consisted of training and experience dives for our Ocean Divers in the making , as well as some fun dives for other members . We now have five new Ocean Divers in the club – congratulations to new Ocean Divers Iona Garland , Keilidh Ewan , Hannah Bloch , Hannah Johnson and Dom Buxton !
Our Training Officer , Rachael Green and other instructors have done a fantastic job of organising and conducting lectures , pool sessions , training dives and other logisitics . The second half of the week consisted of using two RIBs and chartering Dive Oban ’ s Cearban with Shane Wasik .
The club has been growing significantly in the last few years and we hope to welcome even more members to our 80-strong team in the future . We had 27 divers in Oban who safely completed 210 dives over the course of the week at various sites including the Hispania , Breda , Shuna , Rondo , Calf Island , Queenie Reef , Ard-na-Cuille and Maiden Island .
Several of our divers are working towards Dive Leader , Sports Diver and Advanced Diver qualifications , and these sites offered a variety of experience dives .
Our youngest diver , Tilly Taylor , 12 , proved to be a strong member of the group , and we have great hopes for her in the future . More than half of the trip attendees were women .
We like to think of our club as inclusive and dynamic , offering encouragement and support to everyone who wants to learn to dive .
Our recently established Diving for All programme and Junior Section have taken off , allowing us to include a greater diversity of people in the club . Anyone visiting or living in the Aberdeenshire area , please feel free to get in touch , even if it ’ s just to hang out .
Wildlife highlights of the Oban trip included sleeping dogfish on the Shuna , mermaid ’ s purses at Ard-na-Cuille and porpoises dancing in the waves alongside the Cearban . We are also always very excited to spot one of our favourite molluscs , the nudibranch .
A few of our divers also joined Bob Anderson and BSAC Expedition Officer Andy Hunt for two days to get involved with Operation Oyster on MV Clasina and a live native oyster was found ! The project seeks to find elusive native oyster beds for scientific research and conservation efforts .
For any other clubs heading to Oban , Tralee Bay Holiday Park offers a fantastic base , including a launch site for easy access to the Breda and beyond . We always have a few BBQs , and this year we made tasty fajitas and Bolognese .
Shane is a great skipper , whose knowledge of the tides and the best sites to visit guarantees some of the best diving possible in the Sound of Mull . Liveaboards MV Honeydew and MV Clasina also frequent the area and offer terrific experiences . Roll on Oban 2024 ! JIM BURKE , Aberdeen BSAC
Generation Ginge
MY GRANDSON , TOMMY , IS MESMERISED with the photos in SCUBA . He loves the National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth and pretty much anything diving related . Can ’ t understand why ... GINGE CROOK , Chief Instructor , JSSADC
Menai rainbow
WE RECENTLY PARTICIPATED IN THE MENAI BOAT RUN ; IT WAS A brilliant day out with the other BSAC clubs , and for a very worthy cause . I happened to be taking some GoPro footage and managed to catch one of the other club RIBs next to ours under a natural rainbow on the day . I thought it was a great shot and wondered if you ’ d like to publish it . The stills are taken from the original GoPro video footage , so they ’ re the best quality I could get . I don ’ t know which club the pictured RIB belongs to ... perhaps they would like to write in if they ’ d like some footage ? Dan Cox , Equipment Officer , WAPSAC
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