| Archive for SUSAC forum Stirling University Sub-Aqua Club |
| Frazer |
Farne Islands, 16th AugustHello,Right i'm just off the phone with Geordie man. He launches from Beadnell which is about 10 miles away from Alnwick and about 20 mins boat ride away from the nearest dive sites. It's two dives during the day, and he provides refreshments during the surface interval. He's asked for a list of divers and a deposit of £100, so if we can see who from all the susac-ers are definatley coming, then we can start asking elsewhere. So far we have: 1 Me, 2 Gus, 3 Ben, 4 Scott, 5 Erika, 6 (hopefullly) Dot There are 10 places available, and it would be good if we could have lots of us, but will ask about on conger ally, other uni clubs etc. to fill in the gaps. If anyone else is wanting in, add your name asap. If we get 10 people it will cost us £35 for the two days + refreshments. As for accomodation hopefully going to be staying in Ben's Aunt's holiday home free of charge, (if he can confirm this it would be good!) so we just have to pay for the boat, fuel and any fills if we're after more dives, oh and beer! This is the boat we're on: http://www.farne-islands-diving.co.uk/ Any questions give me a text, Frazer x |
| Scotty Boy |
are we diving the saturday and sunday or just the saturday?? |
| enc01 |
I was thinking both which means that it would be £35 each day total £70. But i don't mind which.
Erika |
| Guest |
I've spoken to Gus, and we thought we'd prolly go for the option of boat dive on saturday then some shore diving on the sunday, this way it's alot cheaper meaning both myself and gus are able to make the trip (and hopefully i'll be able to convince euan to come too!), also it means we'll be able to get back at a more reasonable time on sunday evening - we could dive st. abbs or somewhere on the way back, or even somewhere reccomended by the dude with the boat - because i'm sure many people, such as myself, have work again on monday morning.
does this sound alright with everyone? Frazer x |
| Scotty Boy |
sounds like a plan!!! |
| Keith |
Can you add me to the list ?? I'm certainly up for this !
Keith |
| Scotty Boy |
1 Me,
2 Gus, 3 Ben, 4 Scott, 5 Erika, 6 (hopefullly) Dot 7 Keith woo 
|
| Guest |
I'm just off the phone to Euan, who's also coming now so
1 Me, 2 Gus, 3 Ben, 4 Scott, 5 Erika, 6 (hopefullly) Dot 7 Keith 8 Euan Just another two to go 
Would Pete be interested dot? Also Scott, if you could post on conger now that would be cool, cheers Frazer |
| enc01 |
Sweet, i'm getting alll excited, hope we see lots of seals!!!! shore diving is cool for the sunday as it means more money for beer/food. We should all chip in and buy Ben's Aunt something nice for letting us stay.
Erika |
| Scotty Boy |
hey guys, i've stuck a post on conger alley looking for 2 divers to fill the spaces.
S x |
| Keith |
By the way, when are we going to be heading down ? Friday night or early Saturday morning ?? What do we want to do about food ? We could stop at Makro on the way down if you want and get some catering packs of stuff for breakfast and evening meals if you want, to keep the costs down. Also, are we hiring a minibus or are we just taking cars ?? |
| gus |
hi keith,
think the timing depends on the accommodation arrangements. If bens aunts if free we will head down on the friday. it would be an early start on the sat to get there for half 8 if not. we thought about the transport, think it depends on if the club still has money in its account which should have been used on buses, if it does we should get a bus. if not or if its a new club year already then it think it will be cars. cheers |
| Frazer |
ok, I'm going to be sending the list of divers and deposit on wednesday, but will have to be a bit cheeky with the last two if the places have not been filled, by telling the chap that two people have dropped out... but sure we can accept people onto the boat until the day before.
So if anyone knows anyone else who wants to come please get them on board, if we don't have the numbers we will still be able to dive, but will have to pay £43.75 for the day instead of £35. Also check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPfdQiHzH0o Frazer x |
| Scotty Boy |
i quite fancy travelling down the friday evening. i dont mind cooking when we get there if nobody fancies going out for dinner. had no interest from the conger alley forum but iv spoke to the secretary at eastwood and she's going to ask around, so i'll let you know. i'll be up in stirling during the week to sort ou my stuff and borrow a couple of cylinders if anyone fancies a wee shandy one evening?? |
| Frazer |
I'm sure we can sort food stuff out a bit closer to the weekend, but as far as that shandy goes, no. But i'll go for a beer if you give me a text when you're up.
Also i've put an e-mail to Strathclyde uni BDO x |
| enc01 |
Frazer that film is ace! I want to hug a seal!!! I think heading down on the friday at somepoint would be good. I've taken the day off work so can go any time. Erika |
| Frazer |
Goods news and Bad news:
Band news: I just got a text from ben, who's not been able to get us any accomodation, which means that tomorrow i'm going to be phoning around some camp sites looking for the friday and saturday accomodation, going to see if it's not too late for a static caravan with some tent pitches, or something along those lines. Ben also told me his parents may coming up on the saturday, which means he may have to back out of the trip too 
Good news: I have recieved an e-mail from people at Strathclyde, who have filled the two spaces left at the end, which means that the price for the diving has come down. At the moment 1 Me, 2 Gus, 3 Ben, 4 Scott, 5 Erika, 6 (hopefullly) Dot 7 Keith 8 Euan 9.Graeme McCallum (Strathclyde) 10. Steve Kane (Strathclyde) Will let you know about the camping and the Ben situation tomorrow. Frazer x |
| Scotty Boy |
thats cool, where we staying then?
and also, ben tell ur rents you've got other priorities!! |
| Frazer |
Hello,
Right, Accomodation i sorted, we have two nights booked in this place, which is an absolute jackpot, especially because it was the one half way down the list of places i phoned , it's costing a tenner each per night bringing the grand total to £55 (each) for the weekend, plus fills petrol and beer etc.
http://www.bluebellfarmbelford.co.uk/bunkbarn.html Gus is currently looking into whether it's possible to hire a minibus through the sports union to take us down, and if we do get the mini bus i'm we'll be able to swing down and pick up Graeme and Steve on the way through, but we'll see how this one pans out. Finally i've still not heard from Ben; if he can make it or not, but if he does pull out then we do have people that can take his place so as far as price goes we should be alright. I think that's everything for today and the big things sorted, if anyone can spot something that i've missed please let me know so we can fix it before it becomes a problem, seroiusly it wouldn't surprise me i spent my evening splitting up an autistic fight over who got to use the bath first. I love my job HA Frazer x |
| Frazer |
oh yeah that was the extra bit about Bluebell farm, We're going to be in dorms, one eight bed and one four (the four will prolly be sharing with two others, the woman (who sounded lovely like she might make us bacon in the morning) said it wasn't booked when i phoned earlier but sounded like it prolly will be when we get there)
As i said it costs a tenner a night, but if you want to borrow bed linnen then it'll be an extra fiver, i told her we'd bring our own sleeping bags, sheets etc. to save some cash. Sleeping bags need to bring pillow cases too, i'm going to just take a pillow because that way i'll have two
x |
| gus |
hello,
looks like a good place to stay. i went in and saw the new sports union president. as he is in so is the new budget, so we cant use last years funds. we could however use next years money IF we were all to join the club and sports union at this point prior to booking the bus. Now this seems like a lot of hastle and for us summer crew to be using up the years budget so early on seems a little unfair. So i feel we should use private transport. if Kieth could get the trailer he used in May that could be very useful, or it may be worth looking into hiring a van outwith the university. who can take a car and we can figure out the space. cheers |
| Scotty Boy |
bunk looks good, i cant take my car as it most likely wouldnt make it as far as the farnes. what time are we likely to be leaving on the friday?? i'm supposed to be in work until 4 but could maybe get away a bit early if we're not too busy. |
| Guest |
The neighbour that I borrowed the trailer from is on holiday at the moment but I know someone else that may have one that I can get hold of. Problem is that I can't get the wife's jeep as she will be going North with my daughter and friends and my car doesn't have a tow bar so we'd need to have a vehicle that could tow a 6x4 trailer plus gear. I can certainly take my car for transport but the boot is not that enormous so I would be limited as to the amount of kit that I could carry.
Let me know if you want me to find out about the trailer but you can mark my car down as transport ( I'll see if I can persuade the wife to do a car swap for the weekend but I'm not holding my breath !!). KC |
| Keith |
Don't know why I got logged on as guest but it was me that posted the message above in case you didn't know !!!!
Keith |
| enc01 |
Hiya, I'll have my car, it does have a tow bar but I haven't used it for a while so not too keen on towing lots of heavy gear as not sure how my breaks would like it.
Erika |
| Frazer |
We have an (almost final) dive list, both Ben and Euan have pulled out, but Pete is going to come too, so that means we have nine divers all together, Dot and Pete will be joining us on the friday night but leaving on saturday night, so they will have their own transport.
Also, I'm able to take my car if needed (however i would prefer not to), but keep in mind it's tiny and a sh1t tip, It would be able to take either two people with kit, or four people without. This means that we have enough drivers and enough cars to make the trip, but if we can get this trailer on board we can get down with even less of everything. If we were able to put tanks and weights in the cars, then everything else in the trailor would that be alright with you erika? 1 Me, 2 Gus, 3 Pete 4 Scott, 5 Erika, 6 Dot 7 Keith 8 Steve Kane (Strathclyde) 9.Graeme McCallum (Strathclyde) 10. Frazer x |
| Frazer |
ps. Is anyone interested in a dive on the friday on the way down if we can find somewhere to get some fills in the evening? |
| Scotty Boy |
yeh i y not!! maybe a st abbs evening dive?
what time are we likely to be leaving at on the friday and is anyone coming via glasgow by any chance?? just saves me a trip to stirling!! |
| Keith |
Don't know if I'd be able to make the evening dive but there is a small dive shop at St Abbs just on the harbour front that do fills but I'm pretty sure that they had a notice up saying that they only filled until about 6pm |
| enc01 |
Ok first of all anyone going in Frazer's car make sure he has break down cover as he's got no spare wheel, it got nicked apparently.
Yeah that should be fine re trailer and just kit. So lets see we are 9 less Dot and Pete that are making their own travel arrangements, so down to 7. I take it the Strathclyde 2 are making their own travel arrangements too? so down to 5. So 5 people in 2 cars works so mine with the trailer and 2 people and keith's with 3 (if that's ok with him?). Scott if you could come to Stirling that would be easier unless you want to travel with the Strathclyde duo. As we'll be heading straight down the east coast i think. Erika |
| Keith |
good news ! Wife is taking my car for weekend and I now have jeep AND trailer. I can also put on the roof box so I can take 5 (Inc me) plus kit if that works for you all. I'm in Aberdeen for the weekend but will be on line of you have any questions. |
| Scotty Boy |
good stuff, yeh i'll pop thru to stirling then thats fine, what time will we be leaving at roughly?? |
| Frazer |
This is brilliant, thanks very much keith, no worries if there's no time for a dive on the way down, we're going to have two awesome days of diving anyway.
Otherwise you mentioned Makro for food on the way down, would that still be an option? Frazer |
| Scotty Boy |
anyone have a rough time for leaving stirling yet?? |
| Keith |
Hi all
I've got a conference call with my company's board in the US at 3pm but that should be finished by 4pm latest.... and I can do some of that on run if need be. I can then take the 4x4 and trailer down to the container (cage) for loading unless anyone fancies doing this on Thursday evening in which case I can put the loaded trailer into my garage on Thurs night with all the gear on board and we can make a 'break for the border' earlier on Friday ( I don't have a cage / container key so I'd need someone else there). If this doesn't work for everyone; I know some others have work commitments as well; then we can just load up on Friday at 4'ish and then make our way down after that. Makro can be done on the way down the road if you guys want and could be a good idea for cheap food - I can bring an electric cooler box if we plan on buying anything frozen (Makro will give us a fill of ice to cover stuff - and it is useful for drinks / keeping beer cold when we get there !). I'll bring the box anyway. We could possibly pick up some stuff cheap on a Friday night that will be date limited and needs to be eaten at the weekend but that should suit us fine as I don't think we'll be wanting to bring it home ! Obviously if we are towing a trailer with heavy gear on board we are going to be limited to speed so it will take us at least an hour and a half (I think) from Makro to the bunkhouse, so the earlier that we can leave, the better. Perhaps large pizzas or something similar would work for the first night ?? I'll also need to know if you think I need the roof box on the 4x4 ....its handy, and my missus has already said "no wet scuba gear in the back of the jeep, coz it smells later !!" so the gear is either on the trailer or on the roof (all your overnight gear and sleeping bags, etc, can go in the back of course !!!) Scotty What time could you get to Stirling ? Is a 4pm'ish time okay for you ?? If it is okay with everyone, I'll fill the 4X4 when we leave Stirling and refill when we get back and just split the refill cost between us. She's actually a very efficient beast but I've never towed over distance with weight so don't know how much she will drink, but honestly don't think that it will hurt any of us. Any questions or problems, just let me know. All the best Keith |
| Sam |
Sup dudes, I have a super trailer that you can borrow if you wish (tho it is a little on the large side!).
S |
| Scotty Boy |
4pm might be a bit early, i'll see what i can do.
other possibility...is it makro in hillington your planning on going to? if so i can make it there in 10 minutes from my house and could meet you there? i have all my dive kit here so i wouldnt need anyone to load it for me. S |
| Guest |
No, it was Makro at sighthill I was planning on going to. I'm not really wanting to go thru Glasgow on a Friday afternoon as we'd then have to double back to get down the east coast. What time can you get to Stirling? |
| gus |
hello,
this all sounds very good, i think if we all get to the cage at 4 and load up whenever you can arrive keith. sounds like we will have time then as scotty will be a little later anyway. we could possibly meet scotty at the train or bus station in stirling at about half 4 (or whenever is earliest possible) if that would be handy. cheers |
| Scotty Boy |
i'll have the car i think, it was jus to try and avoid having to leave the car in stirling. if i can get away from work maybe half an hr early i could be in stirling for around half 4. will need to leave the car somewhere tho. |
| Keith |
If you can't find somewhere to park it up in Stirling you can park it in my driveway if you want. We can then just load your stuff straight into the trailer and then head down to the cage. You know where my house is right ?? |
| gus |
the uni is a fairly safe place to park, no need for any permits at the moment and they have cameras on most of the carpark bits, though possibly not on the bit nearest to the cage.
outside my flat would prob be fairly safe too. your car has doors with locks yes? cheers |
| Scotty Boy |
yeh i'll just leave it in the uni, i know for sure the bit outside aquaculture has cameras so i'll just leave it there!! |
| Frazer |
Good news,
the last place has been taken by someone off conger ally, they say that they live an hour away from Beadnell but i've yet to talk to him/her and sort out the minor details, but we're looking like brilliant trip is about to take place, and i think i'm gonna need it because i'm not looking forward to friday, my wee blue car is going to the scrappy and i'm very upset about that
anyway smile Frazer |
| enc01 |
A good trip had by all I think. Name and shame time Scott decided to go for a wee dive WITHOUT doing up his drysuit zip!!!! Silly boy!!! Highly amusing for Keith and myself that decided to opt out of the sunday shore dive.
Keith decided to try diving like a little pig and had to borrow quite a bit of my air, took me back to my training days doing assents. But all was well! Photo's of the weekend to follow. |
| enc01 |
Oh yeah well done Frazer for organising a very good trip! |
| enc01 |
Photo's as promised
|
| enc01 |
And some more
|
| Scotty Boy |
yup i will admit i was a bit of a div!! oh well!! the most annoying thing was tht i got even wetter once my zip was done up, i was getting a fresh supply of cold water coming from somwhere!! sill trying to figure out where it was coming from!!
awesome weekend...well done frazer!! got some good fotos aswell, how do i put em on here?? S |
| prydain55 |
Nice pics! Brings back a memory or two dozen. And of course the obligatory picture of Scott getting drunk. I hope to hear more from you guys once the semester gets going. I don't know how much diving I'll be getting around here (Kansas).
Max |
| gus |
a good trip indeed,
i wish we could dive with seals like that more often. thats a cool picture picture of the lobster Erica, have you played with it or did it just turn out that clear? but no Seal Pictures? cheers |
| Frazer |
Sweet photos there Erica, but we're all waiting on the seals ....
anyone else got photos they can put up? thanks to everyone for making it such a kick ass dive trip
|
| Scotty Boy |
i've got a video and i think erika was the same. they were far too quick to catch in a foto!! will get some next time we go!! |
| Keith |
Superb trip !! Frazer - you did a great job matey !!
I've got a not bad ( but fairly short ) video clip of the seals but am not sure how you upload stuff to the forum. The pictures didn't turn out too good, but I'm sure I'll get better with experience !! I also thought inviting the guys from Strathclyde was a great idea and I think that we should do more "inter-club" dives as it can only raise the profile of SUSAC in ScotSAC. I'm sure that Graham and Steve will be interested in future trips and word of mouth has got to be good for the club |
| enc01 |
Ok to upload photo's instead of doing quick replys you have to click the Post Reply option. Which will open up a new window for you where you then simply type what you want then click the Attach File option at the bottom of the dialog box which is in Blue. Any problems just ask.
My photo's have not been altered as i don't know how too, i'm just that good (lol flukes most of them). I took all the close up's on my macro setting as it lets you get nice and close. I have 2 video's of seals but they did move to fast for stills. Nice name change Keith bye the way. So have you figured out why your suit was leaking air yet? Did you maybe have too much weight on? just a thought. Erika x |
| enc01 |
not sure if this will work but i'm going to try to add a video. Maybe Charlie could offer some help on this one if he's reading this and my attempt fails.
Cheers Erika it's not working so i might try something else. |
| enc01 |
Anyone know what the yellow and white worm thing is in the 3rd photo of the 2nd batch? Only thing i can think of is it's part of a brittle star arm but i didn't see any brittle stars there???
Erika |
| prydain55 |
If you want stills, you can take screenshots from the vids. Just a thought...
Max |
| enc01 |
Hey max, i'm not thattechnically advanced to be able to take stills from video. so i've uploaded the video's on to youtube instead take a look. Not brilliant i'm afraid as i don't have a red filter.
Erika http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XvSgksp0Jjg http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gvIqKeHiKSU&feature=related |
| prydain55 |
Who cares about the filter! Those are brilliant! (read: I'm living vicariously here)
Max |