SHEEPHAVEN SUB AQUA CLUB

Apr 06 2014 Posted by Office Administraton


SHEEPHAVEN SUB AQUA CLUB NOTES

30th March 2014.

Sheephaven divers were in the water bright and early on Saturday morning, diving at Campbells Bed with a surface to surface time of nearly 40 minutes to a maximum depth of 27 metres. The one stick dive was conducted thanks to Kevin Boylan who kindly gave up his dive to provide dry coxswain duties on the day. The dive commenced at 17 metres in good visibility of around 4 metres horizontally and then the divers proceeded in a southerly direction following the reef on their left hand side.

The weather conditions were cool enough in the brisk easterly wind, while the sea conditions were dominated by the strong spring tides, peaking at nearly 5 metres on Saturday morning. The effect of the ebbing spring tide was so strong it was pulling down the Mulroy Bridge Port Navigation Buoy, which can be observed by looking at the video footage on the club Facebook page; Sheephaven SAC and website www.sheephavensubaquaclub.com.

At long last on Sunday morning the big day had come for the Sheephaven Trainee Class of 2014 – as they conducted their first open water dive in PortnaBlagh Harbour. After a winter of lectures, pool work and open water snorkels they were taken by their instructors to depths of no greater than 5 metres for times of around 20 minutes.

Water visibility was a bit better than of recent past, at about 1 to 2 metres max but still not great.  Nevertheless it was a very exciting morning for the all of the Sheephaven trainees present as they took to the open water for their first open water dive. In addition to the trainees first dive club snorkelers and divers also took to the water on a beautiful Mothers Day, with near perfect calmness prevailing across the harbour.

Ethel Mc Grenaghan was Dive Officer of the Day and she very capably got all the different trainees, instructors, divers and snorkelers in the water in good order.  Also while we were there our colleagues from Strabane SAC arrived and put to sea for a boat dive off Horn Head. Well done indeed to all involved and a truly unforgettable day for the trainees.

Ireland’s BioBlitz 2014 is planned to get underway on the 23rd and 24th May at four heritage sites, under the auspices of National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford.   The recording sites are in Glenarm Estate, Co. Antrim, Cong. Co. Mayo, Howth Head Co. Dublin and Derryane, Co. Kerry. Basically it involves getting teams of recorders at the four sites and recording all the species they find – it is great fun and a great way to promote biological recording.

Ireland’s BioBlitz brings together scientists and recorders in a race against time to see how many species can be recorded in a 24-hour biological survey of four of Ireland’s heritage sites. The public is invited to observe the activities, to interact with the recorders and to participate in the range of other activities arranged by the host venues.

By pitting the four venues against each other, it will bring an added dimension to the event, allowing comparisons to be made between the sites, and to gain further insights into the relative biological richness of the different habitats.

Ireland’s BioBlitz is designed to increase public awareness of the variety of life in Ireland and to highlight some of the ecological services that biodiversity provides to enhance our quality of life at the global and the local level. While one of its aims is to demonstrate the high level of skill and expertise required to study many aspects of Irelands biological diversity it also helps to promote to concept of the Citizen Scientist and the important contribution the general public can make to monitoring our environment.

Two of this year’s sites, Derrynane and Howth Head have a marine component – and apparently Portmarmock Sub-Aqua Club is very interested in getting involved at Howth Head. It is expected that Seasearch will be able to give them advice on how to help with the recording. If anyone is interested in what would be a brilliant way to spread the message of marine recording, see the website http://bioblitz.biodiversityireland.ie/.

 

2014-03-29 Campbells Bed Saturdayt Morning Dive Party