There will be all kinds of diving and snorkelling, tours and table quizzes, barbecue’s and face painting and goodness knows what else. It is the place to be for the first weekend in July. All are welcome, divers and non divers, young and old. It will be a great weekend to come and visit the Sunny Southeast and if you are renting a house why not extend your holiday and stay a little longer.

Did you know that the first dive rally in Slade was organized by the Curragh SAC back in 1968 and members from the Curragh have fond memories of the area.

The South West region are also having a Regional Weekend on 18 & 19th May in Cahirsiveen, Co Kerry. All CFT clubs are welcome.

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Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st in Dublin
Tutor: Deirdre Greer
Contact us at seasearchIreland@gmail.com for more information

What is Seasearch?

Seasearch is a project for volunteer sports divers who have an interest in what they’re seeing
under water, want to learn more and want to help protect the marine environment around the
coasts of Britain and Ireland.

The main aim is to map out the various types of sea bed found in the near-shore zone around the
whole of the Britain and Ireland. In addition we are recording what lives in each area,
establishing the richest sites for marine life, the sites where there are problems and the sites
which need protection.

This is what one course participant diver thought about Seasearch
“I have been diving for 21 years and this is going to transform my diving.”

Ciaran O Murchu

The post Seasearch Observer Course appeared first on Irish Underwater Council.

The dive benefitted from a beautiful spring morning but with a forecast of a strong southerly wind due later in the day. The run up Mulroy Bay on board dive boat Deirdre was under the helm of Dry Coxswain Ryan Ward, who kindly offered up his dive on the morning to allow his fellow divers to complete their test.

Prior to conducting the dive time was spent placing a shot line at the 37 metre mark, which the divers used to descend to the seabed and demonstrate their in-water drills of following out a reel line, removing their mask and reeling back into the shot line again. Once all three divers had completed this drill they had entered decompression mode and then began their ascent with the first deep stop at 23m for 3 minutes at which time they conducted their gas change, where they successfully moved over from EAN 28 to EAN 40.

The divers then ascend to the 15m level where they conducted their second deep stop, this time for 2 minutes and after that they moved to the 6m mark where they finished out their decompression schedule prior to completing the dive. Having finished this test dive the three Sheephaven divers, Kevin Boylan, Doug Fox and Dearn Mc Clintock , are now qualified to conduct decompression  Nitrox dives to a depth of 45m for decompression times of up to 10 minutes and using Nitrox mix of up to 80% O₂.

On the recovery of the three test divers Kieran Fox and Ethel Mc Granghan took the opportunity to conduct their own dive as a second stick no-decompression dive getting the best out of the good in-water visibility of over five metres in the upper reaches of the water column and the increasingly warming water that recorded up to 8 degrees Celsius during the dive.

During the week Sheephaven divers were in water to train for the upcoming Tory snorkel, with a number of divers setting off from PortnaBlagh on Wednesday evening out past Rinnaraw Point and Otter Cove at the golf course and on for Killyhoey Beach

Last weekend three Sheephaven divers had the opportunity to complete their Advanced Nitrox Course when they conducted their practical in-water test on Saturday morning. The dive was planned and executed for a 37 metres decompression profile with two deep stops at 23 and 15 metres, using EAN 28 for bottom gas and EAN 40 for deco gas respectively. 

The dive benefitted from a beautiful spring morning but with a forecast of a strong southerly wind due later in the day. The run up Mulroy Bay on board dive boat Deirdre was under the helm of Dry Coxswain Ryan Ward, who kindly offered up his dive on the morning to allow his fellow divers to complete their test.

Prior to conducting the dive time was spent placing a shot line at the 37 metre mark, which the divers used to descend to the seabed and demonstrate their in-water drills of following out a reel line, removing their mask and reeling back into the shot line again. Once all three divers had completed this drill they had entered decompression mode and then began their ascent with the first deep stop at 23m for 3 minutes at which time they conducted their gas change, where they successfully moved over from EAN 28 to EAN 40.

The divers then ascend to the 15m level where they conducted their second deep stop, this time for 2 minutes and after that they moved to the 6m mark where they finished out their decompression schedule prior to completing the dive. Having finished this test dive the three Sheephaven divers, Kevin Boylan, Doug Fox and Dearn Mc Clintock , are now qualified to conduct decompression  Nitrox dives to a depth of 45m for decompression times of up to 10 minutes and using Nitrox mix of up to 80% O₂.

On the recovery of the three test divers Kieran Fox and Ethel Mc Granghan took the opportunity to conduct their own dive as a second stick no-decompression dive getting the best out of the good in-water visibility of over five metres in the upper reaches of the water column and the increasingly warming water that recorded up to 8 degrees Celsius during the dive.

During the week Sheephaven divers were in water to train for the upcoming Tory snorkel, with a number of divers setting off from PortnaBlagh on Wednesday evening out past Rinnaraw Point and Otter Cove at the golf course and on for Killyhoey Beach.

By Dearn Mc Clintock

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CFT’s candidate for the CMAS presidency, Kevin O’Shaughnessy, of Aughinish Diving Club, was unsuccessful in his attempt at the weekend.

Kevin failed to secure a sufficient number of votes. The position has gone to Anna Arzhanova (pictured), from Russia, who is believed to have gained 126 votes. Kevin, a former NDO and RDO (south-west), has been involved with scuba diving at CMAS level for the past five years, having joined the CMAS Technical Committee, of which he is the outgoing president.

CMAS (Comité des Sports Sous-Marins) held elections for all its governing body positions in the Philippines over the weekend.

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 Rory Golden was the first Irish diver to see Titanic from a Russian MIR submersible in 2000 and again in 2005 at a depth of 3875metres.  More people have been to outer space than to these depths of the ocean.

The presentation will take place on Sat 13th April at 7.30pm
Venue:  The Jack Doyle Room at the Commodore Hotel, Cobh, Co. Cork
The Admission fee €5

Rory will give a fascinating insight to his knowledge and personal experiences with the Titanic since its discovery in 1985, including artifact recovery expeditions, and personal recollections of actually diving to the ship.

Go back 100 years and share in the pride of Harland and Wolff as it built the worlds biggest liner.

Re-live the shock of the disaster and the rescue of survivors. Why did over 1500 people die?

Get a new insight into the successful French/American expedition of 1985 that discovered Titanic, from the journal and images of cameraman Ralph White, who went on to make 35 dives to the wreck site.

See the artifacts on the seabed and on recovery. Appreciate their significance. “Smell” the perfume.

Feel what it is like to be in a submersible. Wonder at life in the deep. Learn about the pressure.

Join Rory on his dives around the wreck. Re-live a major and significant find, and the honour of leaving memorials from Cobh and Belfast in tribute to the victims of the disaster.

Experience what is like to view Titanic only inches away, but physically impossible to touch by human hand, in the great depths of the North Atlantic. Look at how the great ship is crumbling away in front of us.

 Come along on the 13^th  April for the fascinating talk  - something not to be missed!

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Friday 12^th July, will see you meeting your fellow guests in Baltimore before taking the aptly names Mystic Waters ferry to Sherkin Island for a well earned drink, meal and maybe a stroll to the Jolly Roger Pub.

Saturday 13^th July a morning and afternoon walk on Cape Clear Island will be broken by lunch by the harbour.  These walks are 2/2.30 hrs and 1.30/2hrs respectively and are easy walks for people of all fitness levels.  We return back to Sherkin Island for an evening of food, music and revelry.

Sunday 14^th July our guide, Nic Slocum of Whale Watch West Cork, will get us out as far as the iconic Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse if the weather conditions are suitable; a trip only possible on a handful of days a year.  Returning via the Tourane Rocks we explore the upper part of the Ilen River estuary before taking the scenic route back to Baltimore.

Sea Shepherd Ireland is a chapter of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) which is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization.  Our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. 

Some of the organisations courageous and heroic and works have been documented in Animal Planet’s documentaries ‘Whale Wars’.

Sea Shepherd Ireland volunteer Sonya Cronin has been involved in mountaineering and hiking for fourteen years.  She has a particular penchant for winter climbing, and more specifically ice climbing; climbing in the Himalayas and Europe, as well as all over Ireland.  With a passion for all animals, both land and ocean dweller Sonya is a fantastic source of information.  

Nic Slocum of Whale Watch West Cork is a long time supporter of Sea Shepherd.  Nic has been watching marine mammals around the UK and Irish coast for nearly 25 years.  Committed to the sustainable

development of marine tourism and the conservation of West Cork’s marine wildlife Nic started offering whale and dolphin watching tours during the early part of 2005 growing rapidly to become, as many claim, Ireland’s leading whale and dolphin watch operator.  Nic’s on board commentaries have become legendary; we hope that you enjoy them!

More information and booking forms:

Ireland@seashepherd.org

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