HORIZON NEWS

January 2008 - The newsletter of FIVE STAR IDC CENTRE New Horizons Dive Centre
Printable Version 

Happy New Year
All the staff at New Horizons would like to wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year. We hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday period. Now we can look forward to some great diving in 2008. 

New Year – New Management
After almost 15 years Steve and Ann have decided to move on to pastures new. New Horizons was a partnership owned by Steve and Ann, in December New Horizons Dive Centre Ltd was formed and acquired this business. Roger (who many of you will remember from the past!!) has come back to manage the new business. Steve, who is still a shareholder, will be around for the next couple of months to help with the handover after which he will be moving aside. Steve and Ann thank you all for your support over the years and wish you lots of great diving in the future with the new team. 

January SALE
Throughout January 2008 New Horizons is holding a massive SALE. Although some items are last years stock most of the gear in the SALE is current and the latest models on the market. Why not pick up a bargain ready for your diving in 2008? Below are just some of the items in the SALE. 

Aqualung Legend LX regulator with Legend octopus and triple console
– was £616 now £369. 

Seaquest BCDs at 20% OFF.
Seaquest are renowned for producing the best BCDs on the market offering a great range including ladies styles. Buy a regulator system at the same time and save an additional 5%. 

Aqualung regulators at 20% OFF - easy to breath from and very reliable, a great range of regulators. Buy a BCD at the same time and save an additional 5%. 

Wetsuits from just £25 

Suunto computers – prices slashed – 20% OFF. 
Examples – 
Gekko was £185 now £148; 
Vyper II was £349 now £279 and 
D9 was £750 now £600. 

SMB/Reel packages. 
Complete with clips and lanyards from just £55 

AZDRY drysuits reduced by £100. 

Aqualung large HD bag half price.
We are even offering some great deals on top brands such as Fourth Element technical clothing; Weezle undersuits; Tusa snorkelling equipment; Waterproof wetsuits/accessories and Greenforce torches. 

Why not pop in this January and get something new for 2008? 

Upcoming courses
Don’t let January/February get you down come along to a pool session or further your education by completing a classroom based course – we have lots on offer: 

Scuba Tune Up
Thursday 17th Jan 19:10 at Lymm or Sunday 20th Jan 20:15 at Macclesfield If you have been out of the water for awhile or are going on holiday in the near future this is the perfect way to practise your skills. Having completed this session you will feel more confident and be able to dive more safely. 

DPV (Pool session)
Sunday 03rd February 20:00 at Macclesfield LC. Have some winter FUN. This session introduces you to the excitement of using diver propulsion vehicles. These can be used with scuba gear and/or snorkelling gear. Cost just £25. Join in the fun!!! 

Emergency First Response Sun 10th February 10:00-16:00
An innovative First Aid/CPR course strongly recommended for all divers. Meets the prerequisites for the Rescue Diver course. 

Enriched Air Speciality Tuesday 12th February 19:00.
Complete the theory element for the NITROX course and then you can make the qualifying open water dives on a trip abroad or later on in the UK. 

Digital U/W Photography Wednesday 20th February 19:00 at NHDC - theory session.
Got a digital camera but not happy with your results or looking to purchase a new system? This evening presentation will teach you the basics of using digital cameras underwater. At the end of the session you will know how to go out and get good underwater photos and also helps you with any purchasing decisions. Follow this with either a pool session or open water dives to qualify for PADI speciality ratings. 

Rescue Diver course – starts Saturday 23rd February
Open to all Advanced Open Water divers with a first aid cert.(see EFR above). This course is the minimum level we recommend divers attain as it builds confidence and self reliance. 

Equipment Speciality Sunday 09th March 09:00 -16:00 
This course provides an insight into the care/maintenance of equipment; detailed knowledge on how it works and an opportunity to find out about all the latest gadgets. It is a classroom based course but includes a number of practical activities. 

Foreign trips update
Our foreign trips for 2008 have been as popular as ever. However if you fancy escaping those winter blues and enjoying a week in the Red Sea in February you could join us in Sharm from 23rd Feb- 01st March. This is based at the comfortable Hilton Sharm Dreams hotel with daily boat diving. A great weeks holiday for divers of all levels. At present all other foreign trips are full. 

UK trips – update
We have a very full programme of diving in the UK in 2008 with everything from one day trips in North Wales through to weeks in the Scilly Isles and Scapa Flow. These trips are very popular with many already fully booked. Full details of these trips are on our website or available in the shop – just give us a call. 

The first trip is over the Easter weekend to Plymouth which is always a great way to start the season with a mixture of wreck (including HMS Scylla) and scenic dives (1 place left). 

First Menai day trip diving from a hard boat with lift is on Saturday 12th April – places available. 

Farnes weekend 16th-18th May
Fantastic diving – great opportunity to see diver friendly seals and amazing wildlife around the islands themselves (2 places available). 

St Abbs weekend 11th-13th July
One of our most popular trips (as seen on Coast!!) with novice and experienced divers. A few places left - book up now or miss out. 

Red Sea – Soma Bay diving trip by Hazel Dockney
On 7th December, 10 enthusiastic divers decided to escape the festive madness and get some winter sun (and of course some fantastic diving too!). The Red Sea is both the largest enclosed coral sea, and the saltiest living sea in the world- offering year round fantastic visibility, a temperate climate and a broad spectrum of sea life along with easily accessible and diverse dive sites. We arrived in the early evening at the luxurious Sheraton Hotel to find that EVERYONE had been given double beds- this caused great amusement amongst ‘non-couples’ like Mac and Mark, Don and Brian, and Eileen and Alex…however the confusion was swiftly resolved and before long, the mojitos (and, in Mark’s case, beers!) were flowing in the hotel bar… 
The first of 6 days diving began with a ‘check dive’ on the house reef ‘Abu Soma’, these relaxed, easy dives gave us an opportunity to see the usual ‘Red Sea suspects’ including lionfish, blue spotted rays, pipefish, parrotfish, masked butterfly fish, longtailed bannerfish, clownfish, moray eels and the occasional nudibranch. The next two days were spent doing 2 half- day trips diving from our day boat, 'Dreamlife’. We were lucky enough to have this huge boat pretty much to ourselves and there was plenty of space to gear up, kick back and relax… As an added bonus, NITROX 32% was free all week! The last three days were full day trips. Diving the Salem Express, a passenger ferry that sank on 16th December 1991, ‘Panorama Reef’ and ‘Abu Kafan’. The latter roughly translates as ‘The Deep One’ or ‘Father of the Deep’ (depending on which you prefer!) These dives featured stunning 300m+ drop-offs with a plateau at each end and it was like swimming around in an aquarium. Alternative (drier!) highlights for the non-divers amongst us ranged from some stunning day-trips to Cairo, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, along with activities closer to home in the form of Quad-Biking and an exhilarating trip on a Catamaran. Negotiation highlights included Eileen arranging a taxi from the Sheraton to Safaga and Hurghada in pursuit of some authentic Egyptian food and ended up with us being driven all over Hurghada trying to find a decent restaurant! And Mark, who managed to get us all guided dives all week at no extra charge from the Orca Dive Company. 
A massive THANK YOU goes out to Mark for looking after us all week!!! A truly excellent week’s diving and relaxing time was had by all. 

Dive Society meetings
Dive Society meetings will continue on the first Monday of each month at Macclesfield Rugby Club starting at 20:00. We already have a good selection of guest speakers/presentations lined up for you. In January Tony Gilbert is talking about diving in the UK; February a presentation on technical diving which will dispel some of the myths associated with it; March an audiovisual presentation on diving Truk lagoon and then in April a talk on diving in the Sudan. Come along, meet other divers and enjoy these great presentations. 

Proposed Foreign Trips
We are now looking to organise a couple of extra trips for later in the year. In late Autumn (Sept/Oct) a one week trip to either the Red Sea or other convenient destination. If you are interested and have any preferences please let us know – either destinations or dates (in school holidays/out of school holidays etc??). 

In the first two weeks in November we are looking at a trip to South Africa and Mozambique. This will offer some amazing diving including sharks and manta rays along with the opportunity to visit the game reserves on land. Full info should be out shortly. 

New for 2008
IANTD Advanced Nitrox
New Horizons are now offering IANTD Technical diving courses – starting with Advanced NITROX diver. Julie Morrissey is our IANTD instructor and the first courses are scheduled for March; May and June. This is a great course for the experienced diver who is looking for ways to extend bottom time on dives. You will find this especially useful when diving on wrecks and reefs between 25 and 42m. The course covers the use of twin sets and decompression using stage cylinders. 
Once you have completed your training New Horizons will not leave you ‘high and dry’ wondering what to do with your new skills but will offer you trips to put these into practise and explore new sites with like minded divers. For course dates and costs please contact the shop. 

IMPORTANT DATES 2008
07th January Social evening at Macclesfield Rugby Club 20:00
17th January Scuba Tune UP Lymm Leisure Centre 19:10
20th January Scuba Tune UP Macclesfield LC 20:15
03rd February Sea Scooter (DPV) Pool session Macclesfield LC 20:15
04th February Social evening at Macclesfield Rugby Club 20:00
10th February Emergency First Response 10:00 at NHDC
12th February Enriched Air (NITROX) – theory 19:00 NHDC
21st February Digital Underwater Photography – New Horizons 19:00
23rd February Rescue Diver course starts
23rd Feb-01st Mar Sharm -el – Sheik trip
04th March Introduction to Dive Computers 19:00 NHDC
09th March Equipment Speciality New Horizons 09:00
20th-24th March Plymouth trip – Easter weekend
12th April Hard boat diving – day trip from Menai, Anglesey
04th-19th Nov Mexico trip

Congratulations: the following people have qualified as follows: 

Open Water Referral
Kathryn Nave 

Open Water Diver
Rachel Moore 

Advanced Open Water
James Stillings
Mark Stillings 

Specialties
Grant Shuttleworth x 3
Philip Drummond
Shelley Hesford
Darren Jones x 3
Patsy Penny x 3
Peter Drummond
Fiona Palabinskas

New Horizons Dive Centre Ltd
51-53, Park Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6TX
T 01625 611108 F 01625 611969 e-mail: info@new-horizon.co.uk website: www.new-horizon.co.uk