Here are some pics I snapped from Friday’s RIB dive. I did not take as many as I would have liked as it was a bit challenging finding an unobtrusive spot to take shots between the tanks and everyone’s gear (very consciously trying not to be the man-overboard on trip 1!) …

Here are just a couple, from a phenomenal day we had… Weather was astoundingly good (blindingly azure skies all day), and after many an inauspicious hiccup prior to setting off, everything was absolutely hunky-dory. Hope everyone will be doing LOTS of RIB diving this year, and keeping both RIBS very busy!

Happy Easter!

Eric Buchanan

Remember, for those who pay up in March or April you get a voucher (non transferrable) entitling you to a free club RIB dive – a saving of £20 if you take up this fantastic offer and come diving with us in Newhaven (no cash alternative).

So come along with your cash or chequebooks and form an orderly queue!

We all headed off early in the morning to a sports centre near St Pauls in London to attend a freediving foundation course run by NoTanx. In place of BCDs, cylinders, torches, drysuits etc, we carried swimwear, towels, track suits, and rather fetching swimming caps! Yes, even those follicley-challenged amongst us had to wear them. Kevan Tulip was sent on a mission the day before to purchase a supply for the group. He returned with a number of bright pink ones and a child’s one with a shark’s face and fin for Bret Champion!

Mark's fetching swimming cap!

One of my personal objectives was to learn to swim underwater, something I’ve never been able to do – a few feet and I’m back on the surface! After only 1 ½ hours in the classroom and a little coaching in the water, I swam an entire length on the bottom of the pool, aided only by a pair of fins (admittedly it wasn’t an Olympic size pool).

Having all improved our body awareness in and out of the water, we dried off and stopped for a well-earned sandwich. During the break we watched some great video clips showing how the experts freedive – something for us to aspire to!

The afternoon session started with breathing exercises in the classroom. I think we all agreed that this was the most difficult element of the course. One of the reasons being the rather unfamiliar sitting positions that we had to adopt to allow us to breathe deeply and unrestricted. Traditional chairs were not an option! Instead we were ‘seated’ on foam sausages, foam blocks, or steps, with our legs tucked underneath us. It was tough keeping the mind focused on breathing correctly, rather than on our dead legs, squashed feet, and pins and needles!

The second pool session encompassed everything we had learned throughout the day. We practiced our buddy skills and static breath-hold underwater. I was buddied with one of the instructors: I was either very lucky or identified as a challenging student! Either way, I wasn’t complaining – it was a fantastic experience. I think we were all surprised at the length of time we could hold our breath in the pool and how incredibly relaxed we were. For all cynics out there, these techniques really do work!

Continuing with our buddies, we followed the process from start to finish: physically and mentally preparing; swimming lengths of the pool underwater; followed by safely ascending and recovering. For some, Kirstie Mitchell included, multiple lengths were completed in just one breath – very impressive.

We also had the opportunity to try mono-fins – a very strange experience. Getting them on was tricky enough; swimming with them proved even more challenging. Well done to Mark Cockram who made it look easy (and was far more graceful than I managed!)

Having pleaded with the sports centre staff to extend their opening times, the instructors eventually succeeded in dragging us out of the water 40 minutes over schedule. We just didn’t want to stop.

Particularly given those involved, I’m sure you can imagine the noise levels at the beginning of the day! As the day progressed the noise reduced, and by the end of the second pool session all that could be heard was the occasional ripple of the water, and encouraging words from supportive buddies. Quite an achievement for NoTanx!

The final session was back in the classroom where we learned about all eight competitive freediving disciplines. We were then presented with our certificates – something we should all be proud of.

The day ended with shouts of ‘anybody want to buy a twinset?’ and ‘how much do you think I can get for my scuba kit?’ There can surely be no greater recommendation of this course and activity. It really was a fantastic experience and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Well done to the following who attended:

1. Kirstie Mitchell
2. Dean Mitchell
3. Mark Cockram
4. Kevan Tulip
5. Jackie Maskell
6. Brian Maskell
7. Corinne Jacques
8. Bret Champion
9. Iain Richardson
10. Jim Molyneux
11. John Parrish
12. Alison Gatt

…and, of course, myself.

If you want to give it a go (and I recommend you do) have a look at the NoTanx website for more detail on their courses (www.notanx.com). You can also sign up and contact them on:

email : info@NoTanx.com phone : +44 (0) 208 546 7302

Finally, a huge thank you to Kirstie who organized the day for K&E members, and to Marcus Greatwood and the NoTanx team.

With or without tanks, safe diving all.

By Gill Wilson

Entering the grounds of NDAC, we unloaded the cars, got our fills and spent some time setting up our gear.

Despite the cold we kitted up and jumped in for the first dive, Jo and I descending on the Wessex helicopter to meet the others after there deeper dive. David and Chris survived an hour long dive, both braving drysuit leaks. Tea and hot chocolate all round to keep the icicles at bay as we waited for our cylinders to be filled.

Mission 1 complete!!

After emptying half of Chepstow from his leg, David sent his drysuit in for an emergency repair, counting him out of dive 2. Chris also chose this time to dry out his kit. Darren, Jo and myself headed in for our second dive of the day. In my opinion,…. Great vis!

As the winter sun sunk behind the hills and the ice crystals began to form, we prepared our kit for the night dive. Jumping into an 8 degree lake in the dark didn’t seem like a very good idea at the time, and being my first night dive, I have to admit it was a little disorientating. With everyone comparing how bright their torches were, I soon got the hang of it and just followed the light.

After packing away the dive kit and thawing out, it was time to move into the wigwams.. Basically a garden shed with a toasty heater and comfy beds. Brilliant!!! All this cold water diving definitely builds up an appetite. So we headed into Chepstow for an awesome curry and a well earned pint or two at David’s local. Well,, that was just what the doctor ordered!

On Sunday morning we defrosted the cars, drove down to Vobster and were joined by our sixth Santa – Carl (friend of Jo). We kitted up, donned our Santa suites and tried to memorise each others fins… It’s tricky to find your buddies underwater when everyone has turned up in the same outfit as you!

After the dive we were greeted with a mince pie, cup of tea and the news that we had broken the previous record of 158. 161 – Scuba Santa’s in the water at one time!!! And the fantastic news that Vobster raised almost £10 000 for the RNLI.

Jo, Carl, David and myself jumped in for a second dive, descending through the tunnel, around the crushing works and back, only to notice that most of the other Santa’s had packed their sleighs and headed North!

As the weekend drew to an end and the light began to fade, David, Darren & myself took one final giant stride for RNLI. Ten minutes into the dive, Darren had some equipment failure and we aborted the dive, calling it a day.

All in all, it was a brilliant weekend and would like to thank David for organising it, and all our sponsors for helping to raise £120 for the RNLI .

Ho ho hope to see you there next year.

Shaun

26th January, 1st March, 12th April, 17th May, 12th July, 30th August, 4th October and 1st November.

The Annual General meeting is 29th November.

If a member has an item of business for discussion at any committee meeting, please contact Branch Secretary, Jo Kelly

As divers we all like to explore new dive locations so when it was suggested that we run a trip to the Black Sea in Bulgaria the places were snatched up.  The itinerary fuelled our excitement with promises of a jet aircraft, a Russian submarine, German landing crafts, torpedo boats, a cargo ship, steamship, and a Russian military ship.

The detailed briefing notes were distributed shortly before departure and we refused to let the realisation that we were diving from RIBs dampen our spirits.

Despite a slight delay to our flight to Budapest resulting in us running to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria, we were still all very excited (particularly Bret Champion who experienced a rather thorough frisk going through security!)

On arrival in our resort – Golden Sands – excitement was still running high: the sun was shining, the hotel was good, and we were 2 minutes walk from the jetty and even closer to the Pirates Beach Bar!  It had all the ingredients for an exceptionally good diving experience – or so we thought…

Sunday – RIB resurrection day:

The warning signs were there when we arrived on the harbour-front on day 1 to be greeted by our dive guide, Scott, who we discovered was running his dive centre from the back of a white van!

Despite this and the usual first day faffing, we kept smiling and set off in 2 RIBs: 5 in a small yellow 1, and 8 in a larger orange 1, which was affectionately named the Muppet RIB for no other reason than it amused Bret!  But those on the Muppet RIB had the last laugh later as you’ll see…

Our check dive – a German torpedo boat – was a little disappointing with surprisingly poor visibility and colder than expected water temperature.  However, we did see hundreds of mussels both on the wreck and on the silty seabed.

Visibility on our 2^nd dive – a cargo ship – also disappointed but again there was no shortage of mussels to look at.

Safely back on the boats, warming up in the glorious sunshine, the poor vis was soon forgotten when the yellow RIB failed to start. Tow rope in place, we commenced a slow journey back…until the tow-rope broke!

Luck was on our side however and we succeeded in getting the yellow RIB started again. Within 5 minutes we all wished we hadn’t: the wind was up and the cox of the Muppet RIB – Geoff – wanted to make up some time (but clearly didn’t want to make any friends) and throttled forward through the waves making it an extremely uncomfortable ride.  Polite requests for him to slow down were met with less than friendly responses so we hung on, gritted our teeth, and after 20 minutes, breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived back on dry land.

Monday – one RIB day:

Refusing to allow the chaos and disappointments of day 1 dampen our spirits, we arrived on the jetty early all looking forward to diving the recently sunk jet aircraft.  On the basis that the yellow RIB wasn’t even in the water, it was pretty clear it wasn’t operational; diving in shifts from the Muppet RIB was the only option.

Group 1 went out and the first 2 buddy pairs descended the shot line only to surface again very quickly: they’d reached the wreck but couldn’t see it!

Changing plans and divers, the next dive site was an unknown wreck (probably a German patrol boat), which was an enjoyable little bimble, again with plenty of mussels to seen.

The last shift of the day was a local, shallow dive, again fairly uneventful other than Jackie Maskell losing her mask over the side of the boat; flooding her computer by failing to seal it properly after changing the battery; and losing her buddy in 3 meters of water – perhaps we now had a reason to call it the Muppet RIB!

We finished the day by celebrating Cynthia Doughty’s 65^th birthday with champagne (or Bulgarian sparkling wine), and dinner out where Gill and Kev ordered that traditional Bulgarian dish, spare ribs (could have done with some of those earlier in the day)!

Tuesday – yellow submarine RIB day:

Good news: the yellow RIB was working again and we were taking mechanic, Martin, with us as back-up!

The not so good news: chaos and indecision!

The plan was to dive a Russian submarine and stay out all day meaning we had to carry 2^nd cylinders.  Following disagreements between Scott (from the dive centre) and Geoff (cox of the Muppet RIB) about space and weight on the RIBs, we loaded our kit, a spare cylinder each and set off slowly…very slowly.

It was evident very quickly that taking spare cylinders with us wasn’t a good idea: the nose of the yellow RIB was so low in the water it was named the yellow submarine!

Back to the harbour to unload the spare cylinders and eventually we set off again, this time at a reasonable speed.

It was worth it.  The sub was great and a first for some of us.  Visibility wasn’t bad either (or perhaps we’d all just lowered our expectations by then!)  Lots of mussels too!

The 2^nd dive of the day was an upside-down tank landing craft.  A pleasant little dive with an abundance of mussels!

All-in-all a great day: 2 good dives and both RIBs working for the duration – a great way for Graham Harvey (non-club member) to celebrate his 50^th birthday.

Wednesday – two RIB day:

Both RIBs working again today – hurrah!

We returned to the jet aircraft again but visibility hadn’t improved sufficiently so we abandoned that and dived the Carole, a German cargo ship, and a 2^nd German landing craft, this time the right way up.

Both good dives with a reasonable amount of life.  Oh, and plenty of mussels!

Thursday – dead RIBs day:

The diving (and RIB reliability) had improved as the week progressed so we were all looking forward to a good day’s diving further around the coast.  We drove for an hour and met the 2 RIBs in a small fishing cove.

You can imagine our disbelief when the steering cable snapped on the Muppet RIB just after we set off!  Determined to reach the dive site, we took turns at manually steering.

Eventually we arrived at the site, kitted up, and the first buddy pairs descended… and quickly ascended – the water temperature went from 23˚ on the surface to 10˚ at about 4 meters!

Congratulations go to buddy pairs Len Hards and John Fowles, and Kevan Tulip and Gill Wilson who were the only divers who managed a recordable dive time of 36 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.

Having slowly manually steered the Muppet RIB back to the cove, 4 hardy (or daft) divers (Ros Hepple, Len Hards, Jim Molyneux and Kev Tulip) went back out again in the yellow RIB for a final dive of the holiday in 10˚ water.

What they got was a short ride around the corner, a completely dead engine, frustrated and sunburnt!  Fortunately, they got it working again long enough to be able to return to shore 1½ hours later.

At the end of the day we headed back to the resort with the option of visiting a mussel farm en route.  It probably comes as no surprise that we declined the offer, feeling we’d probably seen enough mussels to last us a lifetime.

With the diving over for the week, we enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate John Fowles’ birthday.  Who would believe we would be celebrating 3 birthdays in 1 week?  But then who would believe the saga of the 2 RIBs?!

Friday – no need for RIB day:

This was the usual chill-out day by the pool and on the beach with no worries about RIB reliability.  Ah, bliss!

Summary:

Despite the unreliable RIBs, disappointing visibility and water temperature, and a disorganised dive centre, this was a holiday to be remembered.  It was different, challenging, and above all, it was great fun.

I’m sure none of us will be rushing back to Bulgaria for the diving but if you don’t try it you’ll never know.  I guess there’s a reason people go back to the Red Sea year after year!

Thanks not only go to Ros Hepple for organising the trip but to all of you who made it what it was.

As divers we all like to explore new dive locations so when it was suggested that we run a trip to the Black Sea in Bulgaria the places were snatched up.  The itinerary fuelled our excitement with promises of a jet aircraft, a Russian submarine, German landing crafts, torpedo boats, a cargo ship, steamship, and a Russian military ship.

The detailed briefing notes were distributed shortly before departure and we refused to let the realisation that we were diving from RIBs dampen our spirits.

Despite a slight delay to our flight to Budapest resulting in us running to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria, we were still all very excited (particularly Bret Champion who experienced a rather thorough frisk going through security!)

On arrival in our resort – Golden Sands – excitement was still running high: the sun was shining, the hotel was good, and we were 2 minutes walk from the jetty and even closer to the Pirates Beach Bar!  It had all the ingredients for an exceptionally good diving experience – or so we thought…

Sunday – RIB resurrection day:

The warning signs were there when we arrived on the harbour-front on day 1 to be greeted by our dive guide, Scott, who we discovered was running his dive centre from the back of a white van!

Despite this and the usual first day faffing, we kept smiling and set off in 2 RIBs: 5 in a small yellow 1, and 8 in a larger orange 1, which was affectionately named the Muppet RIB for no other reason than it amused Bret!  But those on the Muppet RIB had the last laugh later as you’ll see…

Our check dive – a German torpedo boat – was a little disappointing with surprisingly poor visibility and colder than expected water temperature.  However, we did see hundreds of mussels both on the wreck and on the silty seabed.

Visibility on our 2^nd dive – a cargo ship – also disappointed but again there was no shortage of mussels to look at.

Safely back on the boats, warming up in the glorious sunshine, the poor vis was soon forgotten when the yellow RIB failed to start. Tow rope in place, we commenced a slow journey back…until the tow-rope broke!

Luck was on our side however and we succeeded in getting the yellow RIB started again. Within 5 minutes we all wished we hadn’t: the wind was up and the cox of the Muppet RIB – Geoff – wanted to make up some time (but clearly didn’t want to make any friends) and throttled forward through the waves making it an extremely uncomfortable ride.  Polite requests for him to slow down were met with less than friendly responses so we hung on, gritted our teeth, and after 20 minutes, breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived back on dry land.

Monday – one RIB day:

Refusing to allow the chaos and disappointments of day 1 dampen our spirits, we arrived on the jetty early all looking forward to diving the recently sunk jet aircraft.  On the basis that the yellow RIB wasn’t even in the water, it was pretty clear it wasn’t operational; diving in shifts from the Muppet RIB was the only option.

Group 1 went out and the first 2 buddy pairs descended the shot line only to surface again very quickly: they’d reached the wreck but couldn’t see it!

Changing plans and divers, the next dive site was an unknown wreck (probably a German patrol boat), which was an enjoyable little bimble, again with plenty of mussels to seen.

The last shift of the day was a local, shallow dive, again fairly uneventful other than Jackie Maskell losing her mask over the side of the boat; flooding her computer by failing to seal it properly after changing the battery; and losing her buddy in 3 meters of water – perhaps we now had a reason to call it the Muppet RIB!

We finished the day by celebrating Cynthia Doughty’s 65^th birthday with champagne (or Bulgarian sparkling wine), and dinner out where Gill and Kev ordered that traditional Bulgarian dish, spare ribs (could have done with some of those earlier in the day)!

Tuesday – yellow submarine RIB day:

Good news: the yellow RIB was working again and we were taking mechanic, Martin, with us as back-up!

The not so good news: chaos and indecision!

The plan was to dive a Russian submarine and stay out all day meaning we had to carry 2^nd cylinders.  Following disagreements between Scott (from the dive centre) and Geoff (cox of the Muppet RIB) about space and weight on the RIBs, we loaded our kit, a spare cylinder each and set off slowly…very slowly.

It was evident very quickly that taking spare cylinders with us wasn’t a good idea: the nose of the yellow RIB was so low in the water it was named the yellow submarine!

Back to the harbour to unload the spare cylinders and eventually we set off again, this time at a reasonable speed.

It was worth it.  The sub was great and a first for some of us.  Visibility wasn’t bad either (or perhaps we’d all just lowered our expectations by then!)  Lots of mussels too!

The 2^nd dive of the day was an upside-down tank landing craft.  A pleasant little dive with an abundance of mussels!

All-in-all a great day: 2 good dives and both RIBs working for the duration – a great way for Graham Harvey (non-club member) to celebrate his 50^th birthday.

Wednesday – two RIB day:

Both RIBs working again today – hurrah!

We returned to the jet aircraft again but visibility hadn’t improved sufficiently so we abandoned that and dived the Carole, a German cargo ship, and a 2^nd German landing craft, this time the right way up.

Both good dives with a reasonable amount of life.  Oh, and plenty of mussels!

Thursday – dead RIBs day:

The diving (and RIB reliability) had improved as the week progressed so we were all looking forward to a good day’s diving further around the coast.  We drove for an hour and met the 2 RIBs in a small fishing cove.

You can imagine our disbelief when the steering cable snapped on the Muppet RIB just after we set off!  Determined to reach the dive site, we took turns at manually steering.

Eventually we arrived at the site, kitted up, and the first buddy pairs descended… and quickly ascended – the water temperature went from 23˚ on the surface to 10˚ at about 4 meters!

Congratulations go to buddy pairs Len Hards and John Fowles, and Kevan Tulip and Gill Wilson who were the only divers who managed a recordable dive time of 36 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.

Having slowly manually steered the Muppet RIB back to the cove, 4 hardy (or daft) divers (Ros Hepple, Len Hards, Jim Molyneux and Kev Tulip) went back out again in the yellow RIB for a final dive of the holiday in 10˚ water.

What they got was a short ride around the corner, a completely dead engine, frustrated and sunburnt!  Fortunately, they got it working again long enough to be able to return to shore 1½ hours later.

At the end of the day we headed back to the resort with the option of visiting a mussel farm en route.  It probably comes as no surprise that we declined the offer, feeling we’d probably seen enough mussels to last us a lifetime.

With the diving over for the week, we enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate John Fowles’ birthday.  Who would believe we would be celebrating 3 birthdays in 1 week?  But then who would believe the saga of the 2 RIBs?!

Friday – no need for RIB day:

This was the usual chill-out day by the pool and on the beach with no worries about RIB reliability.  Ah, bliss!

Summary:

Despite the unreliable RIBs, disappointing visibility and water temperature, and a disorganised dive centre, this was a holiday to be remembered.  It was different, challenging, and above all, it was great fun.

I’m sure none of us will be rushing back to Bulgaria for the diving but if you don’t try it you’ll never know.  I guess there’s a reason people go back to the Red Sea year after year!

Thanks not only go to Ros Hepple for organising the trip but to all of you who made it what it was.

A tale of two RIBs

As divers we all like to explore new dive locations so when it was suggested that we run a trip to the Black Sea in Bulgaria the places were snatched up.  The itinerary fuelled our excitement with promises of a jet aircraft, a Russian submarine, German landing crafts, torpedo boats, a cargo ship, steamship, and a Russian military ship.

The detailed briefing notes were distributed shortly before departure and we refused to let the realisation that we were diving from RIBs dampen our spirits.

Despite a slight delay to our flight to Budapest resulting in us running to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria, we were still all very excited (particularly Bret Champion who experienced a rather thorough frisk going through security!)

On arrival in our resort – Golden Sands – excitement was still running high: the sun was shining, the hotel was good, and we were 2 minutes walk from the jetty and even closer to the Pirates Beach Bar!  It had all the ingredients for an exceptionally good diving experience – or so we thought…

Sunday – RIB resurrection day:

The warning signs were there when we arrived on the harbour-front on day 1 to be greeted by our dive guide, Scott, who we discovered was running his dive centre from the back of a white van!

Despite this and the usual first day faffing, we kept smiling and set off in 2 RIBs: 5 in a small yellow 1, and 8 in a larger orange 1, which was affectionately named the Muppet RIB for no other reason than it amused Bret!  But those on the Muppet RIB had the last laugh later as you’ll see…

Our check dive – a German torpedo boat – was a little disappointing with surprisingly poor visibility and colder than expected water temperature.  However, we did see hundreds of mussels both on the wreck and on the silty seabed.

Visibility on our 2^nd dive – a cargo ship – also disappointed but again there was no shortage of mussels to look at.

Safely back on the boats, warming up in the glorious sunshine, the poor vis was soon forgotten when the yellow RIB failed to start. Tow rope in place, we commenced a slow journey back…until the tow-rope broke!

Luck was on our side however and we succeeded in getting the yellow RIB started again. Within 5 minutes we all wished we hadn’t: the wind was up and the cox of the Muppet RIB – Geoff – wanted to make up some time (but clearly didn’t want to make any friends) and throttled forward through the waves making it an extremely uncomfortable ride.  Polite requests for him to slow down were met with less than friendly responses so we hung on, gritted our teeth, and after 20 minutes, breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived back on dry land.

Monday – one RIB day:

Refusing to allow the chaos and disappointments of day 1 dampen our spirits, we arrived on the jetty early all looking forward to diving the recently sunk jet aircraft.  On the basis that the yellow RIB wasn’t even in the water, it was pretty clear it wasn’t operational; diving in shifts from the Muppet RIB was the only option.

Group 1 went out and the first 2 buddy pairs descended the shot line only to surface again very quickly: they’d reached the wreck but couldn’t see it!

Changing plans and divers, the next dive site was an unknown wreck (probably a German patrol boat), which was an enjoyable little bimble, again with plenty of mussels to seen.

The last shift of the day was a local, shallow dive, again fairly uneventful other than Jackie Maskell losing her mask over the side of the boat; flooding her computer by failing to seal it properly after changing the battery; and losing her buddy in 3 meters of water – perhaps we now had a reason to call it the Muppet RIB!

We finished the day by celebrating Cynthia Doughty’s 65^th birthday with champagne (or Bulgarian sparkling wine), and dinner out where Gill and Kev ordered that traditional Bulgarian dish, spare ribs (could have done with some of those earlier in the day)!

Tuesday – yellow submarine RIB day:

Good news: the yellow RIB was working again and we were taking mechanic, Martin, with us as back-up!

The not so good news: chaos and indecision!

The plan was to dive a Russian submarine and stay out all day meaning we had to carry 2^nd cylinders.  Following disagreements between Scott (from the dive centre) and Geoff (cox of the Muppet RIB) about space and weight on the RIBs, we loaded our kit, a spare cylinder each and set off slowly…very slowly.

It was evident very quickly that taking spare cylinders with us wasn’t a good idea: the nose of the yellow RIB was so low in the water it was named the yellow submarine!

Back to the harbour to unload the spare cylinders and eventually we set off again, this time at a reasonable speed.

It was worth it.  The sub was great and a first for some of us.  Visibility wasn’t bad either (or perhaps we’d all just lowered our expectations by then!)  Lots of mussels too!

The 2^nd dive of the day was an upside-down tank landing craft.  A pleasant little dive with an abundance of mussels!

All-in-all a great day: 2 good dives and both RIBs working for the duration – a great way for Graham Harvey (non-club member) to celebrate his 50^th birthday.

Wednesday – two RIB day:

Both RIBs working again today – hurrah!

We returned to the jet aircraft again but visibility hadn’t improved sufficiently so we abandoned that and dived the Carole, a German cargo ship, and a 2^nd German landing craft, this time the right way up.

Both good dives with a reasonable amount of life.  Oh, and plenty of mussels!

Thursday – dead RIBs day:

The diving (and RIB reliability) had improved as the week progressed so we were all looking forward to a good day’s diving further around the coast.  We drove for an hour and met the 2 RIBs in a small fishing cove.

You can imagine our disbelief when the steering cable snapped on the Muppet RIB just after we set off!  Determined to reach the dive site, we took turns at manually steering.

Eventually we arrived at the site, kitted up, and the first buddy pairs descended… and quickly ascended – the water temperature went from 23˚ on the surface to 10˚ at about 4 meters!

Congratulations go to buddy pairs Len Hards and John Fowles, and Kevan Tulip and Gill Wilson who were the only divers who managed a recordable dive time of 36 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.

Having slowly manually steered the Muppet RIB back to the cove, 4 hardy (or daft) divers (Ros Hepple, Len Hards, Jim Molyneux and Kev Tulip) went back out again in the yellow RIB for a final dive of the holiday in 10˚ water.

What they got was a short ride around the corner, a completely dead engine, frustrated and sunburnt!  Fortunately, they got it working again long enough to be able to return to shore 1½ hours later.

At the end of the day we headed back to the resort with the option of visiting a mussel farm en route.  It probably comes as no surprise that we declined the offer, feeling we’d probably seen enough mussels to last us a lifetime.

With the diving over for the week, we enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate John Fowles’ birthday.  Who would believe we would be celebrating 3 birthdays in 1 week?  But then who would believe the saga of the 2 RIBs?!

Friday – no need for RIB day:

This was the usual chill-out day by the pool and on the beach with no worries about RIB reliability.  Ah, bliss!

Summary:

Despite the unreliable RIBs, disappointing visibility and water temperature, and a disorganised dive centre, this was a holiday to be remembered.  It was different, challenging, and above all, it was great fun.

I’m sure none of us will be rushing back to Bulgaria for the diving but if you don’t try it you’ll never know.  I guess there’s a reason people go back to the Red Sea year after year!

Thanks not only go to Ros Hepple for organising the trip but to all of you who made it what it was.