20:45 in Club Holidays, Cork, Diving, Ireland, Marine Life, SCUBA by riordandave
The first Saturday was the only day that no diving was possible due to weather. Sunday and Monday followed the pattern of a brief respite from overnight winds in the morning and early afternoon before it blew up again later. But two dives (albeit with lumpy boat trips) were possible both days. From Tuesday we were able to travel further afield round to the south side of Dursey Island.
Drift dives proved to be unexpectedly popular. I have seen four planned drift dives ever with Cork SAC (intentional ones as opposed to mis-timed slack water) and two of those were last week. It is something we should do a bit more often because they are a blast. We calculated that on the second drift dive on Friday, one buddy pair must have traveled almost two miles in 45 minutes. Unlike in Renvyle, when the first night dive was a highlight, this year the traditional night dive was nothing to write home about, so I won’t blog about it either. By Thursday things had calmed down enough for a dive at Crow head (where the octopus posed for the camera). By Friday my favourite dive site: the Cow was dive-able and that was a fabulous dive. Saturday we went back to the dive sites nearer Garnish Pier to allow the boats to be pulled earlier. The best diving was Thursday and Friday.
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Tags: Cork, Crow Head, Diving, Diving Scuba, Dursey Island, Garnish Pier, Ireland, Octopus, Recreational diving, SCUBA, Underwater diving
19:20 in Diving, Members, SCUBA by riordandave
Seven Members of Cork SAC: Denis, Jim, Diarmuid, Helen, Anthony, Fiona and Dave made a trip to the Brothers Islands and Hurghada Egypt. to sample the diving there. We were joined by ten divers from the UK and one from South Africa.
We spent six days on the liveaboard: “Hurricane” and one day ashore. After a first day spent diving near Hurghada at the coral reef: Erg Abu Ramada, and it’s nearby pinnacle Gota Abu Ramada, we sailed overnight for the Brothers Islands. The two Brothers Islands are about half a mile from each other about nine hours boat trip south east from Hurghada. They both have spactular fringing reefs. The dives on both the Brothers Islands were very challenging, with strong currents and some choppy seas, but they were also very rewarding. On at least half the dives we saw sharks, mainly Hammerheads and Grey Reef Sharks, although the UK diver pictured going head to head with the hammerhead opposite, Kris, also saw a thresher shark.
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Tags: Diving Scuba, Marine Wildlife, Nudibranch
17:59 in Club Holidays, Cork, Diving, Ireland, Marine Life, Members, SCUBA by riordandave
Ballinskelligs weekend June 2007. Clare drives the ‘garda’ boat with ‘Su’ in front and ‘ddy’ behind. (replacing the boat’s name with a crossword clue because I don’t want that kind of internet traffic) . One of the Declans looks a little concerned, the other enjoys his lollipop.
A wet and windy Saturday saw no diving, some went for a swim, others for a walk, and it was difficult to know who got wetter. Sunday was much better, and Monday glorious. But the sea had been churned up a bit, and was still too choppy for the Skelligs.
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Tags: Diving Scuba
