BSAC London No. 1 Branch

Southern Africa Holiday Highlights
08 January 2008

A tiger shark and I

Mozambique is becoming a playground for the South Africans. More accurately, for the white Afrikaners, many of whom are based in Johannesburg area. I was in Inhambane which is actually about 1,000 km west of Johannesburg but that doesn't stop the South Africans driving all the way there (or flying their own planes there, in the case of two different blokes I dived with).

The attraction of Mozambique for me was to try and see manta rays and whale sharks. The mantas are fairly common and are in permanent residence, while the whale sharks turn up in the summer to hoover up the plankton.

After a couple of reasonable dives on the house reef we went out to Manta Reef the next day. The South African style of diving is as a large group with everyone on the RIB staying together and led by a divemaster (who has an SMB). This is very restrictive to the free-roaming British diver, especially as every other diver encountered only had PADI OW or AOW. The advantage is that staying together does reduce the risk of divers surfacing away from the boat cover.

Surprisingly our shoal of divers didn't seem to bother the mantas, as one turned up five minutes after we got wet. It looked more like it was flying than swimming, with its huge wings flapping slowly and effortlessly. This propulsion was very effective though, as it moved quickly and with amazing grace. It made several runs, back and forth across the same cleaning station, although for my money it was having dinner, not a wash and scrub up. After awhile it moved to the edges of our visibility and we averted our attention back to the reef. As soon as we did this it was back again, apparently liking the attention.

We managed a second dive on Manta Reef two days later. This time it was even better with two of them gliding together. They were also much bigger—the largest was 5 m. Despite the size they were as graceful as the smaller one and flew together in synchronisation.

Between these amazing dives we stayed on the house reef. This reef had lots to look at but paled in comparison to watching mantas. It rapidly became frustrating that the dive centre was unwilling to go out to the "far reefs", despite being only 20 minutes away on the RIB. A concerted effort by me did see one further success, when they acrimoniously agreed to take me out to Pandane Reef.

Pandane Reef usually has strong currents present and post-dive we guessed the tide was running at 3 knots. I have only done a handful of drift dives before and none of them had a current as strong as this. If the manta dives were like a Sunday afternoon drive in the country, this was like Friday night street racing. We ducked in and out of the current, mostly along the base of a wall. Shoals and individual pelagic 'game' fish (trevally, barracuda, jacks) were whizzing about all over the place. It was alive and you knew bigger true game fish such as marlin and wahoo lived there and couldn't have been far away. A shoal of two dozen devil rays also passed overhead, silhouetted against the surface light.

To finish the dive off we dropped down through a vertical entrance to a large cavern. Inside all was still and a large green turtle was having a kip. By then our no-stop time was almost done but as I tried to leave the cavern a sudden powerful inflow of water not only stopped me in my tracks but forced me down onto the bottom. After a mild panic attack the current fortunately ended as abruptly as it had started and I whizzed out and started the ascent to the RIB.

This was the last dive of 2007 and also the best one of the year. Some more drift dives are now in order I think… Portland Bill on a spring tide anyone?

Posted byUnknown at 11:43 AM 0 comments    

Labels: mozambique, photos, trip report

My Life As a Dog
29 November 2007

Trip Report by Alex Soubeyrand

Ivan Petrovch Pavlov was a Russian scientist who brought the world the science of conditioned reflexes. He experimented with dogs, studying the relationship between salivation and digestion. By applying stimuli to the animals using a bell, he was able to make the animals salivate whether they were in the presence of food or not.

From Wikipedia: "The phrase "Pavlov's dog" is often used to describe someone who merely
reacts to a situation rather than use critical thinking."

The trip to the Red Sea was fantastic: good diving, excellent weather, excellent food, good atmosphere… as far as I am concerned, it was a success.

The introduction above about the Russian scientist comes from the common practice by live aboard guides and crew to signal their customers that it is time to dive or time to eat. They do so by ringing a bell. The same kind as last order bells used in pubs. I can tell you that Pavlov was right, as after only a couple of days the bell absolutely took over my behaviour and dictated my life. For the rest of the trip it was either time for diving or time for eating.

On Monday 29 at 06:22 it was time for diving and the dive was taking place on the Rosalie Moeller. The Rosalie Moeller lays upright at a maximum depth of 53 metres where she reaches the sea bed, with her upper deck at a depth of 35 metres.

I was to buddy with Jim on this dive and it would also be the first time we have dived together since I joined the club. We dropped down the shot line and after five minutes, we were hovering on the upper deck. The visibility was alright, like on a good British dive and after exchanging OK signals, Jim signalled towards the stern. We followed on the port side, swam pass some kind of cabins and dropped down one level through a large opening to an agreed maximum depth of 38 metres.

We continued our dive with a short swim through and regained the upper deck a few yard from the stern. Before turning back towards the shot line Jim started to wrestle with an abandoned line. We swam back on the starboard side, passed the shot line, swam some more toward the bow and then agreed that time was up. And so up we went on the shot line decompressing for some time before it started to rain divers.

This was a short, no fuss dive, and still, it remains one of my favourite. I am not exactly sure why. Maybe it is because it was so early in the morning and we were the only group of divers on the wreck. It seemed that Jim and I were the only divers on the stern side. All was silent and still, but for thousands of resident glass fish.

I must also mention a few words about our last night at Sharm El Sheikh. We were dumped in a not very nice all-inclusive resort specialised in holidays for Italians and Russians. As non all-inclusive, non Russian and non Italian, we were kind of outcasts to the staff and had to fight our way for just about everything: food, taxis, rooms, drinkable water… It was a cold shower after six relaxing days.

Maybe I am exaggerating a bit and the situation was not that bad. I believe I was to some extent affected by the "The Beach Syndrome". Let me explain: at one point in the film The Beach, the hero, after having spent time cut from the world on a paradisiacal island, gets back to touristy mainland Thailand. He observes with terror how awful life in society seems: loud music, strong flashing lights, horrendous traffic, noisy-shouty-drunk young adults and pollution. Add to this cheesy buildings and this is actually a good description of Sharm town.

To cut a long story short, after dinner we wanted to get to the Camel Bar in downtown Sharm. As you would expect, we had to bargain for a cab with the guys at the reception. Thanks to an inflexible George, the price dropped from 180 Egyptian pounds to 50. This is a very important detail: for the way back to the hotel, we found someone that asked straight away for 50. We should have known better but we just agreed: I quote George: "You know what my friend? I will give you 50!" and we got into an old blue Peugeot.

The engine was turned off and after two minutes of waiting that turned into five minutes which then turned into ten we understood that our young driver was actually waiting for one of his mate to bring "benzene" (petrol) to the car as the tank was empty. Why we didn't at that point jump out of the car, I am not quite sure—maybe the few shots at the end of a beer-drinking session helped. When the mate appeared with a five litre container of the precious liquid but no funnel and the two of them improvised with a rolled up magazine our impatience turned into laughter. We also started to notice other things about that car: the seat belts clips were bolted on the side windows? The rear mirror was hanging like a swing in a park! And it was starting to smell so bad of petrol inside that even George abstained of smoking.

After a few attempts to pump the petrol to the engine, the car finally started up and off we went. We were heading in the wrong direction though, so when we mentioned it to the driver he answered in broken English a response that we did not get at first. What we understood straight away though, is that, the same way we are advised to in English buses, it is not recommended to speak to the driver. Ahmed—our driver—would speak back to you and he kept on talking without looking where he was going, at full speed. Keith, who was sitting in the front seat, kept on saying, "Don't ask him any questions!".

To say that we were scared would be lying (once again, the few shots at the end of a beer drinking session helped) but certainly there was some anxiety within our nervous laughs. We got home eventually saint et sauf after a few more stops at local petrol stations.

Thanks to Richard and Morgan for having organised the trip.

Posted byUnknown at 12:13 PM 0 comments    

Labels: photos, red sea, trip report

Photos from Plymouth—Easter 2007
09 April 2007

Photos by Joe Hesketh


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Posted byUnknown at 2:28 PM 0 comments    

Labels: photos, plymouth

Plymouth Easter trip – final details
03 April 2007

Announcement from Morgan Peat

Here are some details about the upcoming Plymouth trip. Hopefully you will find everything you need to know right here; if not please let me know. To those of you who have been to Plymouth many times before I apologise for my verbosity.

People going and accommodation

21 people have their name down for the trip. Most people are staying in the Mountbatten Centre with others arranging their own accommodation.

Borringdon Arms: Morgan & Hannah. Unfortunately I couldn't get enough rooms in the Mountbatten centre so we had to move elsewhere. We will be about 10 minutes walk from everyone else.

Mountbatten Centre: We have two triple rooms and four twin rooms booked. It would be sensible for the three women (Nikki, Nadia and Megan) to share a triple room. Please leave one double room for the two driving the Land Rover (Jim Moroney and Alex Marshall). Otherwise sort your own rooms out.

Posted byUnknown at 11:35 AM 0 comments    

Labels: announcement, diving officer, plymouth

Trainee weekend in Portland, 24–25 March 2007
02 April 2007

Trip report by Joe Hesketh

The weekend of 24–25 March saw three of our new trainees experience diving in the sea for the first time on an early season training trip to Portland. Despite some issues with the weather, cold water temperatures, lack of viz and lack of marine life, a good time was had by all ;). Trust me guys, it’s all good from here…

Here are a few photos taken from Chesil Cove.

Posted byUnknown at 11:55 AM 0 comments    

Labels: photos, portland, trip report

21 April 2007 – Marine Medic Course
30 March 2007

Announcement from Morgan Peat

Hannah and I are attending a "Marine Mammal Medic" course run by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) on Saturday 21st April. It is a one-day course run in Bewl Water, Kent.



Marine Mammal Medics are used by the BDMLR to help rescue stranded and injured marine life. You will have seen them in action with the "Thames Whale" and they are currently helping to rescue oiled birds from the beached container ship MV Napoli.

Details of the BDMLR and the course are at their website.

The first part of the course comprises lectures about dolphin-spotting and the various first-aid techniques used to help marine mammals. The second part is made up of practical sessions practising rescues of seals, dolphins and whales using life-sized water-filled balloons.

If you are interested in doing the course please contact the BDMLR directly. I'm sure the course will be very entertaining and it would be good to have a few more friends along. Don't be put off by the fact that nearly every high-profile rescue involving the BDMLR has resulted in the casualty's death. This course is geared towards practising first aid and rescue, not euthanasia. I doubt water-filled models would respond too well to clubbing.

Posted byUnknown at 11:07 AM 0 comments    

Labels: announcement, diving officer, social

Plymouth – Easter 2007

Annoucement from Morgan Peat

What do you have planned for the Easter break? Scuba diving, of course!

Everyone who has been around London No 1 for more than a year knows that Easter means Plymouth, and this year is no different. Divers will be struggling to remember which way on their BC goes, realising that their cylinders are out of test, prodding sleepy Dogfish and giving a sharp intake of breath as they take their first dip in UK waters since last summer.

I have 12 places booked in Plymouth Mountbatten from Thursday night (5th April) to Sunday night. With the help of a little Global Warming (keep using those aerosols) we will be diving Friday through Monday inclusive. Come and experience the delights of a "Platters" fish supper, the rustic interior of the Dolphin Public House, and sample the delicious Ling (sorry, Pollock) at the New Inn.

There will already have been three day's diving before the Plymouth trip this year: a one-day inland quarry trip and a weekend in Portland. This should mean that we will have no 'virgin' divers this year – everyone should have had at least a few dives in open water. Therefore we ought to be able to get some good diving in.

There is a sign-up sheet in the club room. Several places have already gone so if you want to come, get in touch as soon as you can!

Posted byUnknown at 11:00 AM 0 comments    

Labels: announcement, diving officer, plymouth