Details

For those of you that do not know Fathom & Blues, they are our preferred provider for transportation to the dive sites off of Portland (which is a posh way of saying we like them coz they feed us chocolate and hot Ribena after a dive). They also do the UK's best toasted sarnies! For more information on F&B check out their website (www.fathomandblues.co.uk).

A long weekend of fun UK diving. (Yes there is such a thing!)  We hope to do as many of the subs as possible according to the weather and tides. Having spoken to F&B the tides are in our favour that weekend so hopefully the weather will be as well.

This trip will only be open to Advanced Open Water divers (or equivalent) and above and with at least 30 UK dives.   For those that are keen to dive the P555 & UB74, Parky our Dive Officer has mandated that a series of progressively deeper dives leading up to these must be done before this weekend. All applicants will have to be sanctioned by the club Diving Officer as competent to dive. His word is final!  

Additionally, F&B have the following rule: “ Please don't book a dive you aren't qualified to dive. You must dive within your certification limits - if you haven't got a Deep qualification you won't be doing a deep dive!”   With these in mind this weekend presents us with the perfect opportunity to offer a PADI Deep Speciality course to those on the trip that do not already hold this qualification. For course costs and details, please see the training section of the club website.

If you are planning on diving with Nitrox please ensure you bring your certification cards as well as having access to an analyser. Again if anyone wishes to become Nitrox certified this can be arranged.  

If you are keen to get a few UK dives under your belt but you don't feel that you have the experience necessary to dive the subs, please do not let that put you off coming on the trip. The second dive of the day will be to a less challenging (and definitely shallower) site and we can arrange a different first dive of the day if required.  

There is a wealth of diving around Portland, from boat dives to shore dives. We don't recommend the shore dives though as you have to hump your kit across Chesil Beach and if your Dive Leader is particularly nasty you have to hump his kit as well! While Chesil beach is spectacular it's not my idea of fun to lug tank, weights, regs & bcd up and down a half mile wide stretch of beach! Much easier to get on a rib and fall off of it. The variety of sites caters for a range of experience with those just starting out seeing the wonders of the wrecks inside the harbour wall and those with a more technical bent "doing the subs".

Accommodation:
If enough interest is garnered for this trip a cottage may be rented which will reduce the cost of B&B's. However as the house only sleeps 6, spaces will be handed out on a first come first serve basis (and by that I mean the first people to hand over the deposit) with others staying in a local B&B. If there is substantial interest in this trip then it may be possible to organise another cottage.  

Costs:
Dives range from £25 to £38. (Average cost is approx £28) Doing one sub and one local the cost works out to approximately £200 for the four days.

B&B approx £25pppn. If we can get a house it should work out at around £15pppn (not including breakfast)
Don't forget about: Air fills; Petrol or travelling money; and most importantly food and drink for the weekend.