Eire 18/19th June 2005

Staying in a hostelry only 30 metres from the waters edge in view of the Maharee Islands formed the core of our carefully planned expedition. Waterworld were our welcoming hosts with the biggest RIB we'd ever seen and a rather fine restaurant.
Our team was John, Paul, Mark, Lydia, Martin, Jane, Eric, Malcolm, Steve, Rory, Neil and his mate Paul. Breakfast was served at the very civilised hour of 9am, and then a short walk down to the pier where the 12m RIB and our kit awaited us.

waterworld RIB , Maharee bay

The first days diving was on the Maheree Islands, where we saw seals in the distance. These were two shallow scenic dives with an hours surface interval. Air gaspers were a little concerned at the 10 litre tanks, but everyone got a good dive time. Sometimes a little discipline (and tank) can be a good thing. Depths were 19 metres, with kelp down to 12m. we saw crabs, lobsters and dogfish. There were some interesting anemones, one of which was eating a jellyfish. Dingle is reckoned to benefit from the Gulf stream but was at 14 degrees, one degree cooler than the channel on the previous weekend. Visibility was excellent at over 10 metres, one of the many attractions of diving on the west of Ireland.

pier at night , jellyfish

We returned in the early afternoon and resorted to drinking Guinness in the various bars of the locality. An excursion was also made to Dingle town. Chairman Copley and Web Officer d'Souza proposed that the next days diving should be at the famous Brandon Point. Some club members expressed surprise at encountering such meticulous dive planning. It soon transpired after interrogation, that chair and web had overheard divers from another club discussing possible dives whilst in a pub, and were thus unable to offer any further enlightenment on Brandon Point. (such as where it was or what it was like)

web officer prepares to enter the washing machine , now in the cave

Day two saw the RIB motor out to Sick Mans Cove at Brandon Point. This is one of the finest dives in the area and we swam round rocky gullies to 30metres, observing plenty of life. The Irish prohibition on divers lifting lobsters may have had some effect after all. After an hour surface interval we dived a swim through near Brandon Point at a depth of 12 to 22m. A lively time in the "washing machine" swell was had finding the entry to the lengthy swim through,which added to the excitement of an overhead environment. Again crustaceans proliferated, although I noticed my computer was going closer to deco than I would have normally expected for these dives, doubtlessly a function of the short surface interval. Waterworld do however claim a 30 year incident free record.

lobster , anenomes

After the excellent second days diving, we enjoyed fine luncheon at our billet, drank more guinness and then decided to walk up Brandon Point. We felt that it would be noble to walk up the landside of our mornings dives. The party split into the walkers and those who prefered to rest by a harbour bar. Later we met up again at a local pub for traditional music. Our expeditions officer showed his naval officer past with some fine singing and Malcolm also held up the barbers musical heritage. A committee meeting was held the following morning, since we had almost full attendance. Chairman Steve made diving history by agreeing to upgrade his his 25 year old valve, for one equipped with a new fangled octopus.

hangout of lazy inebriates (chair,expeditions etc), hearty walkers (treasurer,web,boat)

An excellent weekend, and thanks to Paul for hauling our dive kit in his landrover whilst the rest of us flew with handbags on Ryanair.