Dive Weekend Part Deux - Discover Scuba for non divers.

daveg

Originally posted by Mick L
All the stories should wait until the pub on the weekend in question.

He won't be there to defend himself then..

Phil I'm looking at you to defend my honour as co-mod.

Evil Phil

I'm sure my naked antics on the last weekend away will be more than enough Dave.

Peace

Ok everyone has posted up...good stuff.
I've sent an email to Waterworld to get this weekend off the shelf.

Phil/Annie/Dr Pepper i've included your course requirements so there's no need for you guys to contact them individually. It would just cause confusion.

Also, i said that we wouldn't need a mea on friday evening since i assume it will be late in the evening before most people arrive down. I know it will be for myself and Mick. So if you want dinner from them on Friday night then mail/phone them yourself and sort it .

I'll post up as soon as i get a response.

Peace

This from Adquaventures

Dear Kevin,
Thank you for your e-mail, we have availability for the weekend for your group and plenty of instructors. Looking at your requirements, are the people requiring the double rooms bringing a partner with them? Also we do not have any bunk rooms - all the rooms are luxury en-suite.

The dry suit course will suit to start it on the Saturday afternoon - so Phil will be able to get two dives in on the Saturday morning. - we dive each day at 10.00 AM and do a two tank two location dive out and return to the centre at approximately 1.30 PM. After lunch we can do the video, lecture and pool session and the dry-suit dives on the Sunday morning with Phil and Annie. Having the Knowledge reviews done would be excellent. Dr. pepper's discover scuba - no problem.

I will provisionally book your group in for the weekend and you might confirm it as soon as possible.
Thanks and dive safely,
Ronnie.

Phil i told them that yourself and Annie would have your homework done....so don't let me down buddy.

So everyone start putting a few euro's away in a corner so noone misses out further down the line.... Should be a good weekend all round.

Mick L

Originally posted by Peace
we dive each day at 10.00 AM and do a two tank two location dive out and return to the centre at approximately 1.30 PM

Excellent, no unpacking of gear between dives

Dr Pepper

Cheers Peace,
Am I right in saying that we are all in the luxury en suite rooms now? Does that cost much more? (Not a problem, just curious!).

And.. what's the story with equipment? Do I need to organise my own for the Discover Scuba or do they provide all that?

Thanks again,
Brian

Peace

Originally posted by Dr Pepper
Cheers Peace,
Am I right in saying that we are all in the luxury en suite rooms now? Does that cost much more? (Not a problem, just curious!).

And.. what's the story with equipment? Do I need to organise my own for the Discover Scuba or do they provide all that?

Thanks again,
Brian

Well no, they said that they don't have bunk rooms so i'd imagine their prices are based on staying in single rooms etc.

Regards the gear they wouldn't expect someone who is just trying diving to own any equipment. However it would be a good idea to mail them and make sure they have a full kit for you, sometimes if dive centres are busy they run out of kit to rent to people.

You're booked in under Dr Pepper as i didn't know you're real name. All you need to tell them is that you need a full set of kit for the weekend as you are doing the discover scuba. They will be able to take it from there.

Peace

This from Aquaventures today..

Thank you for your e-mail, you can pay us on the weekend you are down - try and confirm numbers ASAP.

As you can see they want me to confirm that everyone will be able to attend.

So if anyone is haveing second thoughts now's the time to express them - not the week before we go. Cancelling close to the occasion is bad karma and will make me look bad.....the later is worst case scenario.

So, if everyone's got the green light from other halfs/bank manager/powers that be then post up and i'll fire off a mail and let Aquaventures know.

Mick L

Green Light for me

NordicDiver

Green Light for me

Evil Phil

Green light for me and offroadannie.

Dr Pepper

Just to be different...


(It's a picture of a green light just in case it doesn't work)
No partner (sob,sob)..

Evil Phil

Originally posted by Dr Pepper

No partner (sob,sob)..

Walk into the female showers naked, that should get you fixed up pretty sharpish.

Dr Pepper

Yeh.. fixed up in Tralee General Hospital

AL][EN

I need to do a scuba review before diving again, believe me when i say its been over a year since i've dived last and i miss it so much but im terrified to get back into the whole scuba thing i have no idea why!!??

i know this deely is for non divers but does waterworld in tralee do scuba reviews??

Peace

Originally posted by AL][EN
I need to do a scuba review before diving again, believe me when i say its been over a year since i've dived last and i miss it so much but im terrified to get back into the whole scuba thing i have no idea why!!??

i know this deely is for non divers but does waterworld in tralee do scuba reviews??

Only one way to find out - dive@iol.ie - they are pretty quick about getting back to people, well have been with me.

Evil Phil

I'd imagine they'd do scuba reviews.

Peace

So its 3 weeks to the big bust up.... I just wanted to touch base* with everyone and make sure we're all stilll on track, as if there are any cancellations to be done now is the time to do it!!

*You asked for it Phil....

offroadannie

yep

Mick L

Yep, still on

NordicDiver

Yep

Dr Pepper

Yep..

(Homer, that was 6 days ago... Doh!)

Any of yeez boys (or girl) goin to the beers (March 5th)? I wouldn't mind sayin hello to the people who will be dragging me into the cold, dark depths of the atlantic in a couple of weeks..

offroadannie

no go on 5th for me - working...

Peace

I'll be skipping the beers as well....gots to see a man about a dog 'n all..

Evil Phil

Moving forward into Saturday will see everybody arriving ...

Peace

The weather we had last weekend doesn't seem seet to repeat itself...

From www.MetEireann.ie
Heavy rain will extend eastwards across the country during the day. Friday will bring further heavy rain, though winds will be moderating.

Good news about the rain, i really didn't want to be fighting my way back onto the boat in a big swell. But bring your warm hats and thermal flasks for the boat..... Its gonna be a wet one.

dublinbay

Have a great weekend guys.

daveg

Yep have a great weekend lads. Make sure you give us a dive report first thing Monday morning.

Dr Pepper

I'm leavin Dublin at about 4pm on Friday evening if anybody wants a lift ??

I'm gonna ring them today and ask about gear, etc. to bring (especially wetsuit) and make sure I'm OK for arriving late-ish Friday..

Dr Pepper

Originally posted by Evil Phil
Moving forward into Saturday will see everybody arriving ...

By the way: What does this mean?

Peace

Well.....the wetaher has properly closed in over the last 12 hours.. Not going to be a weekend in the sun either!

From MetEireann.ie
On Friday night the showers will become much more scattered and most places will stay dry. Frost may form under clearing skies. The weather will remain showery too for Saturday and some of the showers may develop into more prolonged spells of rain. There will also be bright sunny periods during the day. Again the weather will tend to become clearer on Saturday night. More general rain and strong winds (which will veer from Southeast to Southwest) will make Sunday a wet and windy day.

Rain and wind.... just the weather that turned the whole dive boat against Phil the last time we were down in Killary.... I tell ya the other divers wanted to lynch him... from a tree!

This time i think i'll goad them on rather than cool them off.

This time...its personal.

Mick L

Originally posted by Peace
turned the whole dive boat against Phil the last time we were down in Killary.... I tell ya the other divers wanted to lynch him... from a tree!

This time i think i'll goad them on rather than cool them off.

This time...its personal.

Phil, if it happens again, tell them all to go and (insert suitable expletive) themselves. No one forced them back onto the boat earlier than you apart from their own dive profiles, there was no emergency. Although it's easy for me to say, I was snug and warm in my drysuit and had finally gotten rid of the hangover

Peace

Originally posted by Mick L
Phil, if it happens again, tell them all to go and (insert suitable expletive) themselves. No one forced them back onto the boat earlier than you apart from their own dive profiles, there was no emergency. Although it's easy for me to say, I was snug and warm in my drysuit and had finally gotten rid of the hangover

aaahhh yes....fond memories of the hangover.... mmmm

Dr Pepper

Peace,
Could you (or anyone else) please PM me your mobile number(s) before 4pm cause I'll be headin off soon and I still havn't made contact with any of ye :dunno:

Cheers,
Brian

Peace

Well we're all back in one piece. I thikn everyone was a little nackered by the end of it all....even though there was very little diving done!

The weather got the best of the weekend and Waterworld didn't even put their boat in the water as there was no chance of having a safe dive due to high winds and rough seas. :mad:

However we did come up with some stuff to keep ourselves occupied in the mean time. A spot of horse riding was in order - Myself & GF, Evil Phil & GF - all braved the rain and driving wind and headed out on our steady smelly steeds. It was a grand way to spend the morning which otherwise would have been spend looking out the window complaining about not diving.

Saturday afternoon was marred by a complete FUBAR navigation error! Needless to say we drove around for a hour and never even came near the hillwalk we were seeking!

Saturday night was different story though. Myself, MickL and NordicDiver kitted up at about 8.30pm and headed in for a night dive off the pier. Often night dives are held in adverse conditions fromt he shore due to frustration with not being able to get a boat out during the day. This was no exception. The wind and rain and rough seas paid no heed to us walking down the slipway. Our dive was spent trying to keep in contact since the Vis was at about 1M plus it was properly dark! So a few skills & drills later we got out and made a B Line for the pub. A grand relaxing evening....just what the doctor ordered.

Sunday night brought gale force winds and little hope for any diving to get done. Tis was confirmed by the Waterworld staff after breakfast. So the morning was taken up with watching Evil Phil complete his dry suit dives under the pier. Job done! And who can forget the ritual washing of the dive kit. Always a serious PITA!

3pm sunday afternoon pretty much saw the last of the boards heads sitting into their cars and splitting like a bananah.

The Verdict:
IMHO is was a quality weekend. Everyone was in good form and up for a laugh. The accomdation was very nice and comfortable. Food servered up was of a high standard. Not gourmet but more up market than what us lowly divers are used to anyway!
Waterworld as a diving operation seems impressive and they seem to have an ample staff that are more than willing to sit down and help you out with whatever you need. Personally i had long conversations with Ronnie (the head guy) about technical diving and he had some wise words indeed to say. Also he took the whole groupd down to take a look at their range of underwater camera's and again departed some useful information on the subject.

Would i go back?
Yes i would. The fact that we didn't get to dive shouldn't really reflect on Waterwolrd themselvels. They can't control the weather and to drop us in unsafe conditions would be ignoring their duty of care for the divers that go there. The stories of the diving that is to be done their though almost had me salavating! There was talk of seals, dolphins, pilot whales and the photo's they have hanging up around the house really go to show that the diving can be first rate. Also stories of the visability reaching upwards of 30m i could easily believe.
All that said, if i was going back i wouldn't be bringing my twinset. They do have a hard boat but they would have had us diving from a rib if we went out . Rib's & twins aren't a great mix. Anyway, the dives that are to be done in the area can be achieved on a single cylinder so no great loss there.

Thumbs up - looking forward to Boards.ie Dive - Part Trois.

[EDIT]
And serious kudoo's to NordicDiver who serviced my reg for me F.O.C! Not only did he save me the bones of a hundred euro he also saved me waiting for the mandatory 2 weeks for a dive shop to get off their arse and do the job. Unfortunately i didn't get the chance to buy you many Tom Collins's :eek: Sat night so hopefully next time mate
[/EDIT]

Mick L

Not a bad way to spend a weekend, pity about the lack of diving. Waterworld is a very nice diving centre, nicest and biggest I've ever been to anyway.

Well done to Phil on getting his dry suit cert.
Well done to Dr Pepper for taking the plunge and giving diving a go.

daveg

Jesus lads.... sorry to hear about the diving. Sounds like a you made the best of the weekend though which is the main thing.

Role on part three.....

Peace... red sea.... liveaboard?

Peace

Originally posted by daveg
Peace... red sea.... liveaboard?

I do like em but i could eat a whole one.

Unfortunately dave no, the missus has different plans for my holiday this year and since i'm not working i can't afford two holidays!

Pity, it's a blast of a week.

Dr Pepper

Thanks a million guys,

Great weekend. Sound bunch of guys and girls.. I didn't mind not getting in the sea dive in the end (in fact it was almost a relief.. looked mighty cold :eek: and the vis was probably not good enough for a first dive). I really enjoyed the pool session and I will defo be back in the Summertime (probably do the open water cert). The accommodation was superb and the whole package was very affordable.
I learned 10 times more about the equipment and diving just chattin to you guys and listening to ye talkin than I did in my class!

Thanks again. I hope to see ya'll again soon.. Keep in touch,

Brian

donny

Hey lads. Glad it went well even if ye didn't really get diving. I'll have to try and go on one of the next trips assuming I'm not working that weekend as well. Anyway I'm off to Donegal diving for 5 days

AL][EN

good news is i got a job back in dublin bad news is i wont have a scuba review till mid may so i'll have to miss this one (last time) once im back and diving then you bet i'll go for the 3rd boards dive.

so good luck lads hope it goes well and i'll deff be seeing you on the next dive
(if i can work up the courage to go back in the water its been 18 months since ive been on a dive)

keep the fingers crossed lads

daveg

Originally posted by AL][EN
good news is i got a job back in dublin

Congrats Al][en....