This issue includes ...

... update, courses coming up, new look next month, chamber move, air cards, Gunwharf back in action, servicing update, FREE magazines, easy AI schedule, NAS Part 1 course, new diving venue, ... and it's goodbye from him ...

Click here to get your copy ...

One of the principal changes, is the fact that the theory element of the AI (Assistant Instructor) programme can now be completed online as part of PADIs e-learning scheme.

We have an AI programme scheduled for April followed by an OWSI programme and then an IE (Instructor Examination) for those of you wanting to become PADI Instructors.

Want to know more?

We will be holding an open evening in early March for those of you wanting to find out more about becoming a PADI Instructor, so if you are interested in coming to this, give us a call or send us an e-mail and we'll let you know
when and where it will be held.

Remember also, that we still have a 100% success rate at the PADI Instructor Examinations, and although there's no such thing as a guaranteed pass, you can be sure that you'll be in very safe and experienced hands!

The prize is a superb Suunto Vyper Air and transmitter, with a total value of over £660!

There are a number of ways to enter this prize draw.

=> Every person who signs on to a PADI dive course in 2010 will automatically get one prize draw entry FREE OF CHARGE;

=> Divers signing on to any PADI Specialty course, will get two entries FREE OF CHARGE for every specialty course they book (i.e. book two courses - get four entries);

=> Every person who spends £100 on dives from Wightdiver will automatically get one prize draw entry FREE OF CHARGE;

=> Every person who spends £100 on equipment in the shop will automatically get one prize draw entry FREE OF CHARGE;

=> Additional entries can be bought for £5 per entry.

All profits from this prize draw will be donated to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

5th MAY 2010 - 7 nights

Depart from Gatwick 5th May

7 nights full board (excl. alcohol)
incl. unlimited shore diving (tanks & weights) & two guided dives by RIB on house reef per day
Incl. flights, transfers, full board (soft drinks, mineral water, coffee & tea, Light drinks, juices, Turkish coffee, ice cream, chocolate bars, crisps, alcoholic drinks available at extra charge) accommodation, diving

Return from Marsa Alam 12th May

TRIP COST - £819 per person

DAHAB

22nd SEPTEMBER 2010 - 7 nights

Depart from Bournemouth 22nd Sept.

7 nights B&B twin share at Coral Coast Hotel (3 star)
All rooms with AC and balcony/terrace
Diving with Fantasea Divers Dahab
(on site at the Coral Coast Hotel)
Incl. flights, transfers, accommodation (B&B basis)

5 day dive pack incl. tanks & weights £155

Return from Sharm 29th September

TRIP COST - £589 per person

Four Red Sea diving liveaboards were damaged in a fire which raged in a Suez dry dock on 30th January 2010, the Egyptian marine tourism authority has stated.

The country's Chamber of Diving and Watersports has said that the vessels Typhoon, VIP One, Hyatt and Sweet Dream were all damaged in the fire, which was spread by a strong wind and proved difficult to douse.

In the case of VIP One, its operator, Red Sea Diving College, has confirmed that, contrary to earlier reports, "damage is limited".

"If all goes according to plan, VIP One will be back in the water and resuming its normal schedule within 2-3 months," said RSDC Owner and Managing Director Guy Haywood. "We are already making alternative arrangements for the very early part of the season should it be required."

A fifth boat, Juliet, lay close to the others but was spared from the fire by the wind direction.

No injuries were suffered in the incident. "The authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the blaze, but preliminary reports indicate that the fire first started in the dry dock electricity wiring to MY Typhoon," said the CDWS.

"As a boating incident, the investigation has to be carried out by the Egyptian Maritime Authority."

In a personal message, CDWS MD Zeyad M El Bassel added: "Although the CDWS has no power to investigate such matters, we are in close contact with authorities about the incident. Thankfully no person was injured.

Owners, operators and international holiday agents are all working to find alternative berths for charterers who may be affected by any loss of operating capacity among the boats.

"Typhoon has given many happy memories to clients and staff alike and will be missed within the fleet. Plans are already in process to expand the fleet once again and we hope we will be announcing a new arrival in the near future."

From our perspective, we enjoyed an excellent trip aboard Typhoon for Christmas 2005 and took home some great memories, so are very sorry to hear of Typhoon's demise.

We hope that Typhoon's replacement will be every bit as good we are sure it will be.

We have been working hard behind the scenes during the winter carrying out planned maintenance and a bit of spring cleaning to make sure that Wightdiver is all spick and span and raring to go for the new season.

With our published schedule selling strongly, we wanted to let you know that some popular dives are already down to only a few spaces being available.

If you are thinking of booking certain dives, then don't leave it too late as
we expect some dates to sell out very shortly.

The current most popular dives are:-

U1195 and drift
9th May2010 £45

Prince Leopold and drift
22nd May 2010 £45

Moldavia
25th June 2010 £55

Fort Yale and drift
10th August 2010 £50

Don't forget, that Adventure Club members get a £5 discount off every Wightdiver dive - if you are an Adventure Club member and are not sure how to deduct this discount, just get in touch with us and we will guide you through the process.

We are going to be adding some new dates into the schedule very shortly, so keep an eye on the Wightdiver website (www.wightdiver.co.uk) and the online store (www.adventurecollege-online.co.uk) for details.

Lastly, if you can't find a date or a dive that takes your fancy and you have some mates or buddies who you'd like to go diving with, then let us know. If you can get six divers together, we can possibly sort out taking you to the dive site of your choice (subject to Wightdiver being available) and we will try and fill the other six spaces on the boat. This way, you get to choose the dive site and the date and we'll do the rest.

Just call us on 02392 691414 or e-mail at mail@adventurecollege.co.uk.

As the say on the telly - "Simples!"

Called the "Zoop" (short for Zooplankton), the new computer will be available from the end of March.

It has very similar features to the Gekko but now has a PC interface for profile downloading.

Phosphorescent LCD Display
Air and Nitrox modes
Suunto RGBM algorithm
Built in dive planner
Downloadable via optional PC interface
(available to purchase separately)

Our introductory price for this new computer will be £185 so will be a match for the current price of the Gekko.

The RRP of the Zoop is £199.

To make choosing and booking dives as easy as possible, the complete 2010 schedule is now online - you can view, select and book and pay for your dives from your own PC - now you don't have to call us, it can all be done in a few clicks!

To go to the new online booking system, just click here.

If you'd like us to order something in, please leave plenty of time - we would suggest that you pop in so we can check availability with our suppliers by 11th December as this is their busy time of year.

As always, we will always do our best to order items in, but do try and give us a fighting chance!

caption@tdc-dive.co.uk

We'll give a £10 gift voucher to the entry we judge to be the best/funniest. Closing date is 31st December 2009.

What's more, there's two lots of good news to make 2010 a great diving season!

Firstly, we have managed to hold most of our prices for the new
season; weekend days will still be £45 for a two dive day and a
weekday evening will still be £25.

A weekday two dive trip will increase slightly from £35 to £38, so
that's not too bad is it?

The second piece of good news is that we have been beavering away in the background to bring you an online booking system for all the Wightdiver dives next year.

On the right you can see a screenshot of the online booking page as a taster of what's to come!

Once completed, the website will have all the Wightdiver dives shown and you will be able to check availability and book/pay online, all from the comfort of your PC!

We believe this will make booking dives on Wightdiver as simple as possible and also mean that you will be able to see what's available and on what dates in your own time without having to call us.

As soon as the website becomes live, we will let everyone know so that you can all get booking!!!

Lastly, don't forget that Wightdiver is the only hardboat operating from the Portsmouth area with a huge dive deck and most importantly, a lift.

You can pay the same money locally for a RIB dive or a dive from a hardboat, with tea/coffee, toilet and diver lift - you decide!

You won't get an easier diving experience in the Portsmouth area.

Monday 21st December
10:00am to 5:30pm

Tuesday 22nd December
10:00am to 5:30pm

Wednesday 23rd December
10:00am to 1:00pm

Thursday 24th December to Monday 4th January
*** C L O S E D ***

Tuesday 5th January
10:00am to 5:30pm

We will then re-open as usual, Monday to Saturday 10:00am to 5:30pm.

These days, it's hard to find something original and which doesn't cost the earth, but this year it's different.

If you have seen our recent newsletters, you will have been seeing some
photos taken by one of our regular customers, Roland Brookes.

Roland's images are superb, and so many people have asked about having
copies of them, that Roland is now offering some of his best images fully mounted and framed in either A4 or A3 sizes at very attractive prices.

Here's what Roland says about his pictures:-

My name is Roland Brookes, and I just love to go diving. In my opinion,
it is the best sport ever! I particularly enjoy diving with a camera in my
hand. It never ceases to amaze me how stunning some of the underwater
creatures and scenery really is. I have therefore put together a few of my images that you might wish to purchase, either for yourself, a friend or a family member.

I hope that you enjoy viewing my images as much as I have enjoyed taking them.

Best wishes and happy and safe diving to you all.

Roland.

The images are pre-framed and ready to hang on the wall.

They are available either in A4 or A3 sizes.

The frame colours available are : Black, White, Beech, Dark Wood or Silver.

Prices

Framed A4 (12" x 8") print - £35

Framed A3 (16" x 12") print - £45

To see the images that are available and for details of how to book, click here.

The charity (Friends of Oncology and Radiotherapy Trust) based at St Marys hospital in Portsmouth arrange the event every year at Canoe Lake in Southsea, where small glow sticks are bought by supporters and floated out onto the lake in memory of cancer suffers and loved ones with the illness.

This year's event is on Monday 21st December between 5pm and 8pm - please come and lend your support and make a donation.

Thank you.

If you'd like to see the article full size, either you can purchase a copy of Sportdiver from the shop, or click here and the article can be downloaded.

We have already seen a huge amount of interest generated as a result of this article.

Claire is now looking to complete her training as a stunt-woman, so we look forward to seeing her on the credits of some famous movies in the future!

The 2010 IDC schedule is now also available.

To go to the course schedule on the website, click here.

Our trip to Marsa Shagra last September was so popular that we have been asked to organise another one.

So, your wish is our command - see below for details of our trip in May 2010.

We are also revisiting an old favourite by going back to Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula. This will be in September - a great time for visiting this part of the Red Sea.

And, just for something that little bit different, we have a liveaboard in February which features a videography workshop.

Here's all the details in date order then:-

MV HYATT LIVEABOARD

20th FEBRUARY 2010 - 7 nights

Jeff Goodman videography workshop available

Depart from Gatwick 20th February

7 nights full board (excl. alcohol)
Incl. all diving (tanks & weights)
Northern Red Sea itinerary
Incl. flights, transfers, full board, accommodation, diving & marine park fees
Videography workshop + £250

Return from Sharm 27th February

TRIP COST - £929 per person

______________________________________________________________

MARSA SHAGRA

5th MAY 2010 - 7 nights

Depart from Gatwick 12th May

7 nights full board (excl. alcohol)
incl. unlimited shore diving (tanks & weights) & two guided dives by RIB on house reef per day
Incl. flights, transfers, full board (soft drinks, mineral water, coffee & tea, Light drinks, juices, Turkish coffee, ice cream, chocolate bars, crisps, alcoholic drinks available at extra charge) accommodation, diving

Return from Marsa Alam 19th May

TRIP COST - £769 per person

______________________________________________________________

DAHAB

22nd SEPTEMBER 2010 - 7 nights

Depart from Bournemouth 22nd Sept.

7 nights B&B twin share at Coral Coast Hotel (3 star)
All rooms with AC and balcony/terrace
Diving with Fantasea Divers Dahab
(on site at the Coral Coast Hotel)

Incl. flights, transfers, accommodation (B&B basis)

5 day dive pack incl. tanks & weights £155

Return from Sharm 29th September

TRIP COST - £589 per person

If you have dived all season, then it's high time you got your kit serviced - remember that most manufacturers recommend that regulators are serviced every year or after 100 dives - whichever comes first.

As an incentive, we are offering a 10% discount on the servicing costs of all regulators, computers and cylinders brought in for service/test before THE END OF DECEMBER 2009.

As an added bonus, if you have your kit serviced now and then store it away for the rest of the winter, our technician will perform a FREE pre-season check and tune-up for any regulators that have been serviced but then unused.

The only stipulation is that the kit is intact in its sealed bag from the previous service.

Please be aware that the turn-around time now is no more than two weeks - in March/April next year, this will rise to 4-6 weeks, so now is very much the time to get your equipment servicing completed.

The course is available at a special winter price of just £79 - that's a huge discount of £60 off the normal course price.

Don't forget as well that our course price INCLUDES THE USE OF A DRYSUIT.

Not everyone includes the use of a drysuit in the course price and other centres may make you hire a suit - we don't think that's fair so we don't charge extra.

Open Water

Madeleine Brown
David Taylor
Katherine Trim
Ragai Shaban

Peak Performance Buoyancy

George Gosden
Keria Saville
Adrian Leach
Ragai Shaban

Dry Suit

Jamie Killeen
Andy Bottle
Uwe Klos
Carl Smith
Nick Cater
Stewart Hibburd
Paul Cardy

Well done to all of you and we hope you really enjoyed your various courses!

Whatever you call it, night diving has a special allure and makes an ordinary daylight dive completely different when done in the dark.

Seizing the chance to get a night dive in, a sizable group gathered in October at Gunwharf Quays for a nocturnal dip in the lock.

They enjoyed up to an hour exploring the various nooks and crannies of the lock and saw various night-time residents who came out to meet their visitors!

We also had lots of interest from members of the public who passed by and saw the diving activity taking place.

All of the intrepid night divers had a great dive and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

They all saw lots of aquatic life and snapped some great pictures just to prove the point.

We have another night dive scheduled for Wednesday 11th November - the cost is just £10 and meet time at the dive centre is 6.30pm.

Why not come and join in the fun?

There are photos from the night dive in the TDC photo gallery so you can see what went on.

As it's now firmly autumn and pressing on into winter, we though we'd schedule some more courses in the run-up to Christmas, but this time we'd run some "dry" courses that can be completed in the warmth and comfort of the classroom.

So here's three additional PADI courses to tempt you and to make them even more appealing, we have knocked an incredible £30 off every one, which is a saving of around 30% off each course's normal price.

PADI Nitrox Diver

Friday (eve) 4th December

Give yourself longer dive times and shorter surface intervals with the PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Course.

Over the course of a single evening, you will learn all about diving with oxygen mixes between 22% and 40%, thus reducing the amount of nitrogen you breathe.

This means you can attain longer bottom times whilst reducing your nitrogen uptake. Classroom only with NO DIVES TO COMPLETE!

PADI Equipment Specialty

only £59 (normal price £89)

Saturday 5th December

Learn all about equipment care techniques and how to best look after all your expensive dive kit.

This one day classroom-based course will show you how to best care for your equipment, how to conduct some simple repairs and how to store dive kit when not in use.

You will also look at how various pieces of equipment work and what steps you can take to keep your kit in tip-top condition.

This certification also counts towards PADI Master Scuba Diver.

Emergency First Response (First Aid/CPR)

only £65 (normal price £95)

Saturday 12th December

An essential life-skill, first aid and CPR is something that everyone should know how to do.

This course is non-diving specific, so is ideal for all the family - even the kids can do it!

This one day course will show you vital life-saving first aid and CPR techniques that are easy to do and may well save someone's life.

Can you afford to be without this qualification?

Want to book? Then call us on 02392 691414 to secure your space - spaces are limited and at these prices, they won't be there long, so don't leave it too late.

Talk about popular! The last e-mail we sent out with PADI Specialty Courses at great prices proved so popular, that we have had to schedule more courses to meet demand!

The Dry Suit course on 1st November is now completely full, so we have put another on because so many of you have asked for it.

Details of this new course and some other great PADI Specialty courses at remarkable prices are detailed below.

Remember being the only local dive centre to have full diving access to the Vernon Lock at Gunwharf Quays, there's now no need to travel hours to get to an open water dive site for your course - only 15 minutes drive to a superb, sheltered open water dive facility!

Here are the PADI Specialty courses we have coming up:-

PADI Dry Suit Diver - only £79 (normal price £139)

Saturday 28th November - this is a new date

Do you stop diving once the summer ends? Do you wish you could dive year round? Well, you can when you dive dry. The PADI Drysuit Specialty course gives you the knowledge, skills and tips for diving in a drysuit and you will also gets lots of help and advice on which suit to look for if you are thinking of buying one. Special deals also available if you purchase a drysuit and undersuit having signed up for this course.

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PADI Underwater Navigator - only £89 (normal price £139)

Saturday 7th November - this is a new date

Every diver needs to know a little bit about navigating, whether it be using a compass or natural navigation techniques. Find your entry point again at the end of your dive with ease, use less air by not having to make long surface swims at the end of your dive, see everything you want to on your dive without worrying about getting back to the boat. Navigation underwater is easy - once you know the tips and tricks involved! We'll show you how it's done during the three course open water dives.

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PADI Search & Recovery Diver - only £129 - (normal price £199)

Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November - this is a new date

Ever lost something underwater? Torch, compass, computer? If you have, you'll know how satisfying it is to be able to locate the lost item again, and we'll show you all the techniques on how to search for items underwater (both small and large) and then how to safely recover them to the surface, using lift bags. This great fun course (four open water dives) will provide a great opportunity to play "treasure hunter" and allow you to plan dives where lost items are being searched for.

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Want to book? Then call us on 02392 691414 to secure your space - spaces are limited and at these prices, they won't be there long, so don't leave it too late.

Don't forget, that all three of these courses also count towards Master Scuba Diver which is the highest non-professional rating in the PADI System of diver education. It signifies that you've acquired significant training and experience in a variety of dive environments. When you’re a Master Scuba Diver, you can write your own ticket to endless exploration and limitless adventure.

To become a PADI Master Scuba Diver or learn about life as a PADI Divemaster, call us on 02392 691414 or email at mail@tdc-dive.co.uk and we’ll get you started on your next dive training adventure.

All the best

Adventure College Dive Team

The dates for the courses are:-

24th and 25th September
5th and 6th October

The course costs £250 per person and runs with a minimum of two and a maximum of three.

This is a great, fun course that involves learning all about boat handling skills in a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB).

Check with us for more details or to book your space.

This year's Christmas "do" will be held at Tiger Tiger, in Gunwharf Quays (how appropriate …) in Portsmouth on Saturday 5th December.

The event will start at 7pm and carry on until the early hours!

We will be enjoying a 3 course meal (menu options will be available) and then sampling all the delights that Tiger Tiger has to offer.

Tickets cost just £25.00 per person - Adventure Club members tickets are just £15.00 per person.

This promises to be a great evening with all your diving buddies and friends, so let's make it a good one!

Tickets are available now by calling the dive centre on 02392 691 414 or get yours next time your pay us a visit.

Rather bravely, Hellen is running in this year's Great South Run on Sunday 25th October.

This now famous 10 mile run, wends its way through Portsmouth, through the historic dockyard, round the city centre and down to Eastney before returning along the seafront to the finish line by the Pyramids complex.

Hellen has elected to run on behalf of the RNLI, which is a charity very close to our hearts!

With our very own dive boat, Wightdiver, we are always conscious of the fact that we may need the services of the RNLI from time to time, so we are delighted that Hellen is running to raise funds for this very worthwhile cause.

We are forging ever closer links with our local lifeboat station at Eastney, the MCA Coastguards and the rescue helicopter and have recently attended two events with our outdoor pool to help them raise funds.

If we can in some small part help to raise funds for this essential service, then we are happy to do so.

In Hellen's own words:-

As a diving instructor and a skipper of a dive charter boat - Wightdiver working in the Portsmouth area, I spend a lot of time at sea and so its makes perfect sense to me to take this opportunity to fundraise on behalf of such a worthy organisation and to say a big thank you for the help they have given me and my colleagues already - see picture above right!

We hope everyone will donate some cash to Hellen - be it £1 - as they say, every little helps.

Hellen has an online fundraising page, which you can find at:-

www.justgiving.com/hellen-armstrong

Just cut and paste the link above into your browser.

Please be generous - as divers and users of the sea, let's support our lifeboat crews and help raise as much as we can.

Good luck to Hellen!

The Dive Show Specials will run from:-

Saturday 17th October

to

Sunday 1st November

Here are the deals and offers we will have on:-

25% off all shop stock
(excluding all special order items)

half price air fills

25% off nitrox fills

10% off all dive courses
(excluding Divemaster and above)

10% off all kit rental

spend £100 and get a FREE £10 gift voucher

There will also be other special deals and offers - check the September newsletter for more details

We will primarily be there promoting Wightdiver, but will also be spreading the word about our diving and other activities as part of the Adventure College group.

If you are intending visiting the dive show, be sure to come and say hello to the team who will be in the UK Diving Village.

Out latest course started with twelve students - one of the largest we have run in recent months.

Congratulations to all the following who completed their PADI Open Water Diver course with us most recently in August:-

Neil White
Elizabeth Baker
Adrian Leach
George Gosden
Faye Lock
Tom McDermott
Katherine McDermott
Ben McDermott
Kiera Saville

Wednesday
14th October

Wednesday
11th November

Meet time 6.30pm
at the dive centre.

Dives will be in the lock at Gunwharf Quays.

£10 per diver

Why not bring the family along to watch you explore the inky depths and then meet up for a drink afterwards?

Call the dive centre to book your place.

This is the large lock close to the Custom House pub, and measures 66 metres long by 20 metres wide with a depth of about 7 metres.

What does this news mean for our diving customers?

Well, firstly it means that a significant proportion of our course schedule can now be accommodated in a local open water venue.

Although we will still use Wraysbury for some dives and of course, Chepstow for the deeper dives, the Gunwharf lock provides us with an excellent, weather-proof and safe environment for us to conduct training dives.

With year-round access and good underwater visibility, this means less travel and therefore less stress than diving with other centres - no hiking down to Vobster or Portland - open water diving on our doorstep!

Also, we are able to offer night dives for qualified divers, which since the demise of Horsea, have been harder to arrange.

Now we can again offer the opportunity to dive in the dark!

To celebrate this great link-up with Gunwharf Quays, we have scheduled some specialty courses at great prices and also some night dives:-

Saturday 31st October

usually £109 - special price £69 !!!

Sunday 1st November

usually £139 - special price £79 !!!

Spaces on these two courses are limited, so don't delay - call to book your place and be one of the first to dive our new site!

We are also offering Try Kayaking sessions at Gunwharf on the following dates:-

Saturday 3rd October
Saturday 31st October
Sunday 1st November
Saturday 14th November

These sessions cost £25 per person - call the shop to book your session.

This is a great family activity and one that the kids love!

The outdoor pool especially, is a superb asset, being 1.8 metres deep and large enough to run open water courses and try dives.

We have prepared a leaflet with further details, so if you are interested in this option please get in touch with us at the shop.

The apartment is
privately owned by one of our staff, so we will put you in touch with them to finalise arrangements.

A great, cost-effective option if fixed dates are problematic.

The trip cost is from £719 per person and we will need to close the trip in the next few days.

If you are interested or require any further details, the please feel free to get in touch with us at the shop or call us on 02392 691414.

The show is on in early September and what better way to arrive than by RIB?

It's quicker than the car, there's no parking and it's so much more fun!

How about it?

The cost is £36 including entry to the boat show and the return trip.

The boat will be leaving from the Hayling Ferry pontoon at 9.30am and will return by 5.30pm.

If you want to book a space, contact Jed or Jim at JJ Ribs by 6th September.

Their e-mail address is jjribs@sky.com.

Why this time you ask?

Well, Roland recently took himself away on a Red Sea trip with the aim of improving his underwater photographic skills.

When he showed us some of his images, we were so impressed, we thought they deserved a wider audience, so we have put a selection in the "gallery" album of our own website photo gallery.

Take a few minutes to have a look - good aren't they?

Thanks also to Jon Strickland, who having popped into the shop on 31st July to get an air fill, was roped in to be our grand draw master, and who drew out the winning tickets completely at random.

4th prize - Kapitol Reef "Kadence" snorkel - worth £50
Mike Taylor

Congratulations to all our prize winners - we hope you all enjoy using your prizes!

Thanks to all our suppliers for donating prizes and especially to Suunto for generously donating such a superb first prize.

We are pleased to say that we raised over £130 for the Air Ambulance fund, so an excellent result all round.

Congratulations to six engineers from HMS Nottingham who recently completed their PADI Open Water Diver

course with us.

The six lads -

Phil Shields
Mark Hardy
Sam Reffold
Chris "Ginge" O'Grady
Rob Sims
Chris "Hoddy" Hodkin

completed their learn to dive scuba course in a single week, taking advantage
of our ability to alter pool times to suit their work schedule.

We also think it's fair to say that they had a great time.

We are now looking forward to getting postcards from far-flung places where they have dived (excludingDevonport and Rosyth maybe …)

With our unique ability to take our pool to various local events and have it filled up, we can be far more flexible in terms of offering scuba diving to a wider audience.

One of many attractions on offer during the weekend, our pool was kept constantly busy.

Thanks to all the AC staff who helped with the Mary Rose and NAS events and made them both such a success for all the organisations involved.

Our Try Dive pool was right outside the main entrance to the museum and we offered Try Dives to visitors to the dockyard over the weekend.

You never know, they may be the ones to find the next "Mary Rose" in years to come

023 9269 1414

This will be the new 'phone number for the centre and will be the one number for dive, kayak and Wightdiver in the future.

We will gradually be phasing out the previous 698 700 number.

The course qualifies you to mix nitrox blends up to 100% oxygen and the various more popular blends such as 32% and 36%.

The syllabus covers safety considerations, oxygen cleaning and compatibility regulations as well as the more practical aspects of calculating and mixing blends.

You will also get hand-on experience of mixing various nitrox blends, analysing the gasses and completing the nitrox fill log.

The course lasts one day and costs £149 including all materials and certification.

If you are interested, please call us in the shop and we can discuss dates, which are flexible.

Well, if you haven't then you could be missing out on some great benefits and discounts.

Membership of the club is just £10 per month (payable either by regular standing order mandate or annually in full) and attracts the following list of member benefits:-

They are super-flexible and can even be tied in a know without restricting the flow.

Not only that, they last over twice as long as conventional hoses.

They are slightly more expensive than typical diving hoses - a 70cm regulator hose comes in at £26 rather than £17.

However, their rugged design, flexibility and the fact that they are available in a range of colours will make them very popular.

Ask about them in the shop next time you call in.

There's nothing quite like the thrill of blasting around the Solent on a RIB and with this course under your belt, you'll know how to do it properly.

Course dates available this summer:-

16th and 17th July
6th and 7th August
5th and 6th September
24th and 25th September
5th and 6th October

The course cost is £250 per person and they can be booked directly with us here in the centre.

We need a minimum of two people to run a course with a maximum of only three, so you will get plenty of hands-on experience during your course.

Not only are we able to offer powerboating courses, but pleasure trips and RIB rides are also available.

So if you fancy getting a group of mates together for a tour round the dockyard, a blast over to the Isle of Wight for lunch or just a gentle tootle around the Solent on a summer's afternoon, then get in touch with us and we can take care of all the arrangements.

One of the sites we have found is the wreck of an aircraft (no - not the Dakota - we know about that one!)

We think the wreck is that of a bomber aircraft, although having only recently found it, we are not sure of exactly what it is though we know it has four-bladed propellers.

The wreck sits in about 15metres of water near Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.

We are planning return dives in the near future to see if we can identify it, so watch this space for more news.

On 18th and 19th July, we will be at the Nautical Archaeology Society's open weekend, at Fort Cumberland for the third year running.

The weekend is a free event and everyone is welcome.

The event includes lots of activities for the whole family and is a great fun way to learn more about our coastline and it's heritage.

We will be offering free try dives in the pool for both adults and kids over 10 years old, so if you have friends and family that would like a great day out with the chance of a dive too, then this is your opportunity.

For more information on what the NAS does, or if you are interested in finding out more about shipwrecks, check out www.nasportsmouth.org.uk

After a brief rest, the pool will be out again at the Mary Rose Exhibition in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard over the weekend of 1st and 2nd August.

Again, we will be offering try dives to everyone over the age of 10 years and we will be right outside the exhibition's main entrance, so you won't be able to miss us.

If you at either event this summer, come along and say hello to the team and bring them a lolly!

As we move to an all-encompassing business, we have now also introduced a newsletter regarding the kayaking and canoeing side of Adventure College.

Both Tash and Tim are busy promoting being on the water, so if you want to find out what they are up to, get yourself along to www.adventurecollege.co.uk and click through to the "news" page where you will find a link to download a copy of the newsletter.

In time, we will publish a newsletter across the whole business, so you have a one-stop shop for all your diving, kayaking, canoeing and powerboat news.

We are going to Marsa Nakari, which is south of Marsa Alam.

The trip will be for one week, and will be based in tented accommodation which was hugely popular during the previous trip in April this year!

Trip details and itinerary …

23 September 2009

Depart Gatwick to Marsa Alam.

Transfer to Eco Village.

24 September 2009

7 nights tented accommodation Marsa Nakari on a Full Board basis including normal soft drinks, mineral water, coffee & tea. Light drinks, juices, Turkish coffee, ice cream, chocolate bars, crisps, alcoholic drinks etc. available for an extra charge.

5 days shore diving package including 2 guided dives by truck outside the Eco-lodge or by zodiac and unlimited diving on the house reef.

30 September 2009

Transfer to Marsa Alam airport

Depart Marsa Alam to Gatwick.

£719.00

including flights, transfers, 7 nights Full Board tented accommodation, 5 day dive package including tanks & weights as above based on 2 sharing.

Available upgrades

Hut Accommodation £50pppw

Chalet Accommodation £100pppw

Alternative Dive option

Fury Shoal Explorer Mini Liveaboard.

£175 per person

This mini safari can also be combined with our land based diving package so that guests can take full advantage of any remaining days in their holiday (accommodation will be based in Nakari).

Fancy visiting unspoiled and largely untouched coral reefs?

Want to get away from the hustle and bustle of Sharm and Hurghada?

Looking for something a bit different from the usual hotels?

Want the option of unlimited diving on the house reef just a walk down the beach?

Want to be right by the Red Sea, just a stone's throw from the water's edge?

Are you answering "Yes"? Then this is the trip for you!

To book your place on this superb trip, just call in to the shop and we'll do the rest for you.

Due to popular demand, we have added some new dates and also changed some existing dives to ones you have asked to go back to.

The latest new dive is on Sunday 14th June to the Polo - leave time 07:15 - cost £45 per person.

Check the website or pick up a copy of the latest schedule when you are next in the shop for the latest list of what's available.

As with all things in life, the cost to us has increased, so we have had to increase their selling price a little.

The cartridge prices are now:-

1 for £2.10
3 for £5.70
5 for £9.25
10 for £19.00

The project, which is nearing completion, will see Portsmouth gain Europe's largest hospital, and as part of the interior fit-out, the designers have themed each level of the hospital.

They have chosen each of the levels to have the following themes:-

- under the sea
- on the sea
- on the land
- in the sky

For each theme, the designers were looking for images to put on the hospital landings, and they have chosen three of Nick's underwater images for the "under the sea" level.

The images, featuring a jellyfish, some divers' bubbles and coral reefs will be blown up to over 6ft tall.

If you end up visiting the new QA, have a look at the pictures on the landings - not quite Van Gogh, but a close second!

1st prize

Suunto HelO2 dive computer - worth £695 !!!

Plus free kayak taster session worth £25

2nd prize

Momentum M1 steel diver's watch - worth £79.

Plus free kayak taster session worth £25

3rd prize

McMahon dive reel - worth £45.

Plus free kayak taster session worth £25

All monies raised will be donated to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

This means that we will re-commence servicing runs on Thursday 25th June and from there, we expect the turnaround time to be two weeks.

If you need items testing/servicing in between these times, please contact us as we can make alternative arrangements for you.

If you need kit serviced for holidays etc. please factor the above break into your schedule so you don't leave it all to the last minute (like most people seem to do!)

We will be open as usual on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th April.

We have moved the compressor and the air banks to their new homes and are now just waiting for the panels to come back from their overhaul and service.

We expect them to be back for the early part of this week (w/c 6th April) and then we will be back in business.

Thanks to everyone for bearing with us in the meantime.

Nick

As part of the move, we are having the fill panels fully serviced before re-installing them. This means that we will have no panels between Saturday 28th March and Friday 3rd April (1 week).

During this time, we will still be able to fill cylinders, but it will be on a 24 hour turnaround basis.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but we are sure you will appreciate the importance of getting the system fully serviced and re-installed prior to the dive season starting in earnest!

With settled, calm and mainly fine weather, the divers were even treated to up to 4 metre visibility on the Prince Leopold on the Saturday!

Maybe, just maybe, this summer will be kind to us and the weather will allow some decent diving off Wightdiver.

We fervently hope that this most recent weekend is a small sign of things to come for the rest of the year!

Keep your fingers crossed folks!!!

Images from the trips to Dahab and also our liveaboard trip on the Whirlwind over Christmas are featured.

The Dahab album features a collection of all your photos, so if you went, have a look in there to see the pics. You took.

We have also scheduled a DSAT Trimix Blender course on 2nd and 3rd May, again taught by Tim.

The course covers all aspects of blending trimix including the theory aspects as well as a practical session where you will get the opportunity to mix gases.

The cost will be £125 per person which includes all materials, gas and certification.

The course will be on 18th and 19th April with Tim Baker and will cost £149 inclusive of all theory materials and certification.

This is the course for you if you have or are thinking or purchasing a twinset and want to configure it correctly and are looking for tips to help you dive with a twinset competently and safely.

The course consists of some theory (book and DVD), confined water (pool dives) and two open water dives.

Contact the shop if you are interested in taking part in this course.

Most divers these days have heard of Tec diving, you may even have been on the same boat as a load of techies. Whether it was a twinset or a Rebreather, there's no doubt that Tec diving is now far more popular than ever with more people realising just what Tec diving can offer and what dives suddenly become available.

Now, it is true that Tec diving can require the use of a lot of equipment. But that doesn't have to be the case; neither do you have to be a "hard core" techie just to use a twinset. Even in recreational scuba, the humble twinset still has its place; in fact, recreational scuba is where the twinset was born.

Perhaps one of the first questions that we should look at is whether Tec diving is for everyone. The simple answer to this is that it is not, most people are quite happy to dive within recreational limits, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But for the diver looking for something else, for a challenge, then Tec might be the route to go down. Can you imagine drifting down onto the deck of the Britannic at 120 metres of crystal clear blue water?

So for anyone thinking of exploring Tec, the "challenge" is what we get you doing in the water. Think back to when you learnt to dive, going from non-diver to Open Water or Ocean Diver, just what you had to do; well a similar analogy can be applied here.

And when we're done with you, you can hold your head high, safe in the knowledge that you earned your certification.

How far you go with your technical diving is of course entirely down to you. At TDC we are fortunate to be able to offer training from two different agencies taught by instructors who are knowledgeable and passionate about technical diving, and as it happens, instructors who are regular faces in the dive centre, Tim Baker, Steve Nash, both senior instructors for TDC and Vernon Vas, our Course Director.

So, where to start? If you're thinking about having a go with Tec diving, then Discover Tec is for you, during your session you'll learn some of the theory, explore why the equipment is configured in a certain way, and then you'll get to have a play with the kit in the pool. This isn't a prerequisite but like the discover scuba, it will give you an idea of what you could expect.

You then have a couple of options to think about as to which agency you might want to train with. Now how many other centres in the area can say that? DSAT is the Tec side to PADI, and as such the training and materials follow similar lines.

TDI was formed as a Tec agency, and have a course for just about everything technical diving.

DSAT's nitrox level decompression diving course is the Tec Deep program.

The Tec Deep program can be split into 3 sub courses, Tec Basics, Tec Level 1 and Tec Deep.

Tec Basics looks at using a twinset safely and correctly for recreational diving. Tec Level 1 moves this on to multi level gas switch extended no decompression diving to 40 metres using up to 60% oxygen. And Tec Deep completes the whole program. At the end of the 12 open water dives you will be qualified to dive to 50 metres, capable of undertaking decompression diving using nitrox up to 100% as a bottom gas and for deco and accelerated decompression requirements.

There are some prerequisites, but the most notable are that the candidate must be at least Rescue Diver level, with nitrox and deep specialities.

TDI have distinctly separate courses, but the end result is exactly the same. You can come into TDI at the basic nitrox level, from there the route is Advanced nitrox, and then Deco Procedures. These three courses would qualify you to conduct decompression dives to 45 metres using up to 100% oxygen as bottom gas and for deco and accelerated decompression requirements. If you wish to go deeper whilst staying on nitrox, then TDI also offer the Extended Range course which qualifies the diver to 55 metres.

If all that sounds like a bit too much at the moment, but something you may want to consider in the future, then why not consider the Master Scuba Diver Challenge, we have devised a program of specialty courses with Tec in mind; courses that will give you a grounding in some of the fundamental skills you'll need if you do decide to start down the Tec route.

We anticipate that the move will take a few days, and naturally, during this time we will not be able to do air and nitrox fills on a "while-you-wait" basis, so please bear with us.

We will post more news on the dates of the move on the forum and news pages of the TDC website.

Here is the article in full:-

One of the Philippines' most renowned dive sites is under threat, and hundreds of macro critters and some fantastic coral growth could be destroyed.

DuCoMi pier, in Negros, is a "must dive" site in the region, with underwater photographers in particular flocking to get shots of the profuse marine life which has built up its own ecosystem around the supports. Frogfish, nudibranchs, shrimps and all manner of weird-and-wonderful critters live here among the pristine hard and soft corals.

Now the owners of the pier, Dumaguete Coconut Mills Inc., are going to repair and renovate the structure, which could have a devastating impact on the underwater wonderland beneath it. Work was due to start in mid-December, but it has been halted for three months while several meetings with environmental experts and dive operators discuss possibilities and options to rescue or conserve any part of this important eco-system.

We have teamed up with dive trip experts Hidden Depths Dive Tours to offer a range of UK and foreign trips for the 2009 season.

Hidden Depths have been organising and operating dive trips for many years, and are very experienced in offering the best value with the peace of mind of being fulled bonded - so in these tricky economic times, your money is completely safe.

Where are we going this year then?

April - Marsa Shagra, Red Sea - £739 per person

7 nights including flights, transfers, full board tented accommodation in an Eco Village right on the beach, 5 day dive package (tanks and weights) - based on 2 sharing.

May - Pembrokeshire - £185

3 nights including self-catering accommodation, 2 days boat charter. Diving the beautiful west Wales coast.

Transport to Pembrokeshire not included.

August - Lundy Island - £185

1 night bed and breakfast accommodation in Clovelly and 1 night camping on Lundy Island, boat dives and complimentary tea, coffe and biscuits.

Transport to Clovelly not included.

August - HMS Scylla - £169

2 nights bed and breakfast, packed lunch and 4 boat dives including air fills.

Transport to Looe not included.

August - Dahab, Red Sea - price TBC

7 nights half board at Fantasea Lodge and 5 days diving with Fantasea Divers, Dahab. return flight and transfers.

This trip is likely to be combined with Tec Diving courses which will be conducted during the week. Pleasure dives and other courses will be available.

For details of any of these trips, download a factsheet by going to our trips page by clicking here.

We have dives catering for all levels and abilities from 10m dives suitable for Open Water qualified divers through to dives in the 65m range for those with Technical qualifications.

What's even better, we have maintained some of our prices from 2008, so diving has just become even better value!

To book on any dive, just call on 02392 698700 with your credit/debit card details and we'll do the rest.

We advise early booking so you can secure your favourite dives - don't leave it to the last minute as we expect some dives to fill completely within a very short space of time.

To see the new schedule, click here ...

We look forward to seeing you on Wightdiver this year!

Malcolm Quiney has now fully edited the extensive video film he took on our Philippines trip in April last year and it is now getting its premiere in the UK!

We will be holding a video film night on Friday 30th January in Unit 19 where Malcolm will showcase his video of the trip.

The film lasts a little over an hour so we will have a video night with some beer and nibbles.

All welcome, just please let us know if you intend coming so that we can gauge numbers.

See you there.

Nick and Hellen

Well done Paul!

In total, these points have earned you, our customers, discounts totalling over £2,000 in that time!

We think that the scheme has now run it's course and also to bring our operations into line with our other activities we are discontinuing the loyalty points scheme with effect from close of business on 24th December 2008.

This will be the final date to redeem any points you may have.

The government have made it clear that retailers are under no obligation to pass on this 2½% reduction in VAT but we take the view (to coin another quite successful retailer's slogan) that "every little helps" and we will therefore pass this reduction on to our customers in full from Monday.

All our prices will remain marked and advertised as before however we will make the reduction at the till to take account of the rate change.

On the face of it, the change may not seem like making much difference to your purchases, but these small amounts do add up.

So to take advantage of a quieter time during the winter months, we will be moving the dive centre (in stages) across to Unit 19 starting in the next few weeks.

So from 5th January 2009, The Dive Connection shop and office will be co-located with Adventure College Kayak in Unit 19, Fairways Business Centre.

We will continue to use Unit 2 (where we are now) to store all the school dive equipment and all we will continue cylinder filling from Unit 2 for the time being.

By April 2009, we aim to have moved these remaining parts of the business across to Unit 19 so that by the start of the new dive season, we will be operating as a combined operation from one unit and Unit 2 will be no more …

We will have two classrooms (one the same size and one bigger than we have now) and more retail space.

It just makes sense to have everything we do under one roof where we will be able to offer a "one stop shop" for all your needs.

Along with other activities we are looking to bring to the group, "the future as they say, is bright!"

Monday to Saturday - 10:00 to 17:30
Sunday - closed

There will be no late opening on Fridays.

We will resume our usual opening hours from early April 2009.

Scubapro Glide 1000 BCD - size small - only used about 6 times - SOLD

12 litre dumpy cylinder - out of test but good condition - £75

15 litre nitrox cylinder - tested until Sept. 09 but out of O2 cleaning - SOLD

Typhoon Nexus Membrane drysuit - size XL 11 boot - new neck seal - SOLD

Seac Membrane drysuit - size L 9 boot - new neck seal SOLD

Seac Membrane drysuit - size M 8 boot - SOLD

- 232 bar 3 litre pony cylinder - no test - SOLD

- Scubapro Glide 1000 BCD - size small and only used about 6 times -
excellent condition - SOLD

If you are interested in either of these items, then get in touch with us in the shop.

If you missed Tony's informal chat and audience on Tuesday 26th August, you missed a treat.

Tony is a man with some tales to tell, and he did just that, keeping his audience of over 40 Adventure Club members and guests rapt for over an hour and a half.

As a fresh young man in the Royal Navy, Tony decided he wanted to be a diver - in his words "Nothing else will do. Non-negotiable."

Following tales of early his Royal Navy training as a diver and bomb-disposal man, Tony went on to detail how he managed to be strung up for a "near mutiny" and as a punishment, was sent to a far-flung Indian Ocean island archipelago for three months to help clear mines left over from the second world war.

The island held a strategic airstrip and was therefore mined to prevent the enemy taking the islands.

Tony fondly reminisces about his time is a tropical paradise, which was meant to be a punishment duty.

Less fond are his memories of flying down there in an RAF Hercules transport aircraft - hardly club class!

The locals were also pleased to see the British bomb-disposal teams due to the fact that once the controlled
explosions had taken place in the sea, the immediate area was littered with thousands of dead fish, an unfortunate consequence of the blast, but one warmly received by the local fisherman who had an easy time scooping up boatloads of fish in the easiest catches they ever had.

Not every tale was as sun-filled though as Tony recounted tales of his time in the Falklands War of the early eighties.

Sent to the conflict as part of the Royal Navy's Fleet Clearance Diving Team, Tony's job with that of his colleagues, was to defuse and dispose of enemy ordinance that had failed to explode.

One such bomb was a 1,000lb British Mk17 bomb (yes British - we sold them to the Argentinians years before and then they dropped them on us).

The bomb had smashed through the magazine on HMS Argonaut and was lying amongst Sea Cat missiles. It took seven days to properly dispose of the bomb after defusing it, all the while, the war continuing unabated.

Tony gave graphic accounts of the loss of HMS Antelope, and also the RFAs Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram.

Some of Tony's photos form the time are truly amazing - fighter aircraft just feet above British ships with small arms fire trying to bring them down.

There was some humour though, with the return of the team to the UK. The "top brass" all received medals and gongs for largely doing nothing, while the men "at the sharp end" received little recognition.

The CO, not unsurprisingly, was not amused.

Beyond the navy, Tony recounted his time as a commercial diver in the North Sea, spending months in saturation with daily shifts of six hours at the bottom of the sea working on oil rigs.

Tony explained what it is like to spend months enclosed in a small bell with seven other blokes and some of the idiosyncrasies of life under the sea.

For those that were there to hear Tony's tales, they may never look at a loo in quite the same way again …

Not for the faint-hearted!

I'm sure that there's far more for Tony to tell and we'd love to have him back to tell more tales of his life as a diver.

If you can't wait for that or missed the evening, Tony has a book "Diver" where he tells of life both as a Royal Navy diver and also afterwards in the commercial world.

The book is just £9.95 as is the accompanying DVD, but if you buy them together, the pair comes in at only £14.95.

Each of the books are signed by Tony himself, but we only have a few left.

Thanks to Tony Groom for spending the evening with us.

For details of more Adventure Club events, check the club forum at www.seriousaboutadventure.co.uk.

Well, we all know the scenario, don't we?

Sat in the shop, minding our own business, when the front door "bing-bongs" and a couple of likely looking lads come up the stairs.

"Any vans you want to sell mate?" they ask. Or,

"Any scrap metal you wanna get rid of?"

I'm sure you know where we are coming from.

Well, just lately, we have had quite a lot of stuff "requisitioned" and "purloined" in our efforts to build new structures and platforms and the downstairs kit room has been awash with metalwork, fenders, buoys and all manner of useful stuff.

Thanks to Mike, Claire, Jezz and Brian to name but a few who have really excelled themselves in obtaining useful stuff for us recently.

We hate to think what your garages and garden sheds must look like, never mind the attic!

Ellen Powell completed her Open Water Diver course with instructor Colin McAdams and becomes a landmark student!

To mark the occasion of being the 1000th student to complete a dive course with us, Ellen receives a shop voucher for £50.

Congratulations to Ellen and we hope the £50 voucher comes in handy!

It is hoped that the next issue of Sportdiver magazine will have a response from the military - the magazine's editor Mark Evans is actively pursuing the Royal Navy for a response from them, so look out for next month's issue for any further developments.

The course lasts one day and involves classroom theory and then a practical session mixing different nitrox mixes varying from the common 32% and 36% mixes up to 70% and 80% deco. mixes.

The course costs £140 for non-club members or £126 for Adventure Club members.

The course cost includes the DSAT Gas Blender manual, nitrox mix CD and certification.

The pre-requisite for this course is nitrox diver.

The course will run over the following dates:-

13th/14th September

4 open water dives at NDAC Chepstow

The PADI Deep Diver course consists of four open water dives where you will learn all about the theory and techniques which will equip you to dive up to 40 deep.

The course covers equipment considerations, deep diving theory and gas consumption considerations as well as dive techniques and practices required for diving beyond 30m.

The Deep Diver course costs £175 for non-club members or £157.50 for Adventure Club members.

Don't forget that this course counts towards the prestigious PADI Master Scuba Diver rating - known as "the black belt in scuba diving."

Earn this rating by being a PADI Rescue Diver (with EFR), 5 PADI Specialty ratings and 50 logged dives.

If you need a Rescue or EFR qualification, then we also have these courses running in October.

If you would like to sign up for the Deep Diver course, then just call us or pop into the shop to collect your course materials and pay £100 deposit.

Please also bear in mind that there will be £15 entry fee per day into Chepstow and also B&B costs (approximately £40 per person).

Both are now available in the shop if you want to see what's been printed.

Effectively, there's almost half a page about reaction to the closure of Horsea Island Dive Centre, so it's worth a look.