HORIZON NEWS

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

Lots of Diving!!!
We have had a busy few weeks with lots of diving going on. There has been a trip to El Gouna in the Red Sea, Lleyn Peninsula and Farne Islands in the UK as well as a number of days at either Capernwray or Stoney cove. The water has warmed up plenty now and is well into double figures. With this in mind if you haven’t been out diving yet this season then its about time you did!!

Some Upcoming courses

SMB Diver Speciality - Saturday 31st May at Capernwray
The correct deployment and use of Surface Marker Buoys is crucial to diving safely in the sea. Like most equipment used correctly they are key to your safe diving but misused real problems can occur. This day offers vital experience in their use and leads to a PADI certification.

Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality - Saturday 31st May at Capernwray

You will learn more about correct weighting; streamlining and being able to hover motioness. This will improve your air consumption and allow you to stop and observe things underwater without stirring up the bottom and damaging marine life. This course is suitable for divers of all levels.

Advanced Open Water – Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June

A must do course for all Open Water divers. A fun filled programme of five dives where you learn new skills and practise your old ones under the guidance of an instructor.

Emergency First Response - Sunday 20th May 10:00 until 16:00
This is a general first aid course that is just as suitable for non diving situations. In fact the EFR course meets the requirements for one day appointed person.If you have already done this course but your certification is running out you can do your refresher on the same day.

New Opening Times

In order to make New Horizons more accessible to you we have decided to start opening on Sundays. We do want our hard working staff to be able to have some time off though so we will be closed on Mondays. These new times will be in effect as from the week commencing 2nd June:

• Monday Closed
• Tuesday 09:00 – 17:30
• Wednesday 09:00 – 17:30
• Thursday 09:00 – 19:00
• Friday 09:00 – 17:30
• Saturday 09:00 – 17:00
• Sunday 10:00 – 17:00

Foreign Trips for 2009

We are ready to start on our trips for 2009. The first two trips are held so we are ready to take bookings:

Red Sea Liveaboard 16th-23rd January -This trip has been a favourite for many years now. It offers a fantastic mixture of reef and wreck diving in the world renown waters of the Red Sea. We are chartering the M/Y Superior, departing from Hurghada and following a northern Itinerary. We have 20 places, but if you want to go on this trip don’t delay booking as it always fills quickly.

Sharm El Sheikh 15th-22nd February - We are staying at the Rosetta hotel which is right next door to Emperor divers. Sharm has been a popular resort for many years now and offers and fantastic mixture of diving, nice hotels and a variety of places to go in the evenings. We only have 16 places for this trip so don’t delay in booking.

UK Dive Trips
We still have spaces on a couple of our UK trips:

Menai

Menai offers good opportunities for the diver who just wants a one day trip to the coast to see some of our nativemarine life and doesn’t want to travel too far. We have spaces available on the following dates:
Friday 30th May, Monday 11th August, and Saturday 4th October.

St Abbs

St Abbs is a small fishing village just north of Eyemouth in Berwickshire. The local coastline is unspoilt with a great wealth of animal and plant life. The local bird reserve boasts puffins and kittiwakes amongst other sea birds. The beautiful coastline offers miles of walks and local sites of interest include Lindisfarne. The sea is clear with a rich variety of animals and plants of Arctic and Atlantic origins. The generally good water clarity and spectacular underwater scenery contribute to some of the best diving in Britain. The local inshore waters have been a voluntary marine reserve since 1984 owing to the outstanding biological richness. There is some fantastic diving on offer here and a lot of divers consider St Abbs to be there favourite spot in the UK.

We have 5 places left on our trip 12th–14th September.

O’THREE Drysuits come to New Horizon

We are now Stockists of O’THREE neoprene drysuits. O’THREE have established themselves as a maker of very good quality drysuits that are backed up by superb after sales service. There are two main suits in the range, the MSF 500 Flex, a 5mm neoprene suit that offers a great amount of warmth whilst providing excellent flexibility and movement. The other main suit is the Ri 2/100 which is 2.5mm compressed neoprene. The fact that the neoprene is pre compressed means that you don’t get as much buoyancy change at depth. The trade off for this is in the thermal protection off the suit, you have to wear some additional layers to achieve the same amount of warmth. The Ri in the name stands for resin impregnated, this is to reduce drying times of the suit.

Which ever suit you go for you are backed by O’THREE’s fantastic service which means that if an off the peg size doesn’t quite fit you we send the suit back to there U.K. based work shops where they can carruy out any number of adjustments to get the best fit.

AquaLung Regulator offer
There is only about 4 weeks left of the Aqualung offer where you get a free octopus with your regulator. This can save you upto £117.00. This offer is on the Legend regulators, Titan Supreme and the new Mikron.

Trip Reports

Below are a couple of reports from the recently run trips.

Fun in the Farnes By Shelley Hesford

The trip to the Farnes was a very pleasant weekend away for the 11 of us who went. We managed 3 dives during the weekend, 2 on the first day. The conditions were very good – visibility was approx 5 metres, the water wasn’t too cold and the seals were very playful. Several of us have bite marks in our fins from their fun and games. Pete D almost had teethmarks in his calf from one of the more inquisitive pups! Despite the number of seals, fish were rather scarce. We are not sure if the seals in the Farnes are vegetarian, but there were plenty of starfish including a couple of large sunstars, corals and
anemones. The B&B’s were great, the pubs had superb ale and we even learned how to make DIY split fins during the weekend. Just get that Black and Decker out!

A great weekend away and thanks to Greg for leading it. Roll on St Abbs!

Red Sea Trip report By Phil Wood

El Gouna is approximately 5 hours flight time from Manchester and a world away from Capernwray and Stoney Cove. The water is 24 degrees centrigrade at this time of year and the air temperature is 30 degrees plus. What would you rather be doing ?

Arriving a little late we were quickly transfered from Hurghada airport to the expanse of the Movenpick hotel, our base for the week in El Gouna. The hotel is set in extensive grounds with lots of leisure facilities and restaurants, in addition to The Dive Tribe dive centre.

Early the next morning New Horizons travellers checked in at Dive Tribe, transfered our gear to the dive boxes and were transported by the shuttle boat or RIB to the marina. We were greeted by the captain and crew of Lilliom and met our guides Dolphin and Sayed. By 9.15am we were on our way to the Northern sites of Erg Abu Nugar and Abu Nugar, typical Red Sea reefs with large table and soft corals, lion fish, blue spotted rays, banner fish, butterfly fish, inquisitive octopus, eagle ray etc etc, the list goes on, all there in abundance.

Over the next couple of days, with an increasing wind from the North, the sea became choppy which meant we had to dive some of the sheltered sites around El Fanidir, Saqua, Amm Gamar and Shabrour Umm Gamar. All excellent dive sites with the added bonus of dolphins visiting us at Amm Gamar. These fabulous animals cruised along the line of divers as if carefully checking out everyone individually. Rob claimed to be on particularly good terms and asked about getting a PADI dolphin specialty signed off. Dolphins were also present at Dolphin House, this time with youngsters.

The wind eased a little but alas we were not able to get to the Northern wreck site of Abu Nuhas to dive on the Ghiannis D or Carnatic. This is something for next time. We continued diving the reefs of El Gilwa North and South. Two very nice sites in about 10 to 15 metres of water with the usual array of colour, clown fish, trigger, puffer and angel fish.

Evenings tended to be a visit to the Downtown area of El Gouna or the posh Marina of Abu Tig. Plentiful shopping and restaurants for those wanting to pick up a bargain and have a nice meal. The hotel shuttle bus service provided an easy way to get around but much more fun were the Tuc Tuc’s which zoomed around the place.

On a final note, congratulations to Gina on completing her Advanced Open Water qualification and Becky on her Nitrox qualification. Overall a great trip and I am sure NHDC divers will be back next year so why not take a trip. Just think about it, Capernwray or the Red Sea, where would you rather be ?

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For details on these or any other events of for advice on gear sales; diving insurance or unaccompanied dive travel, please contact:

New Horizons Snorkel & Dive Centre, 51 - 53, Park Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6TX

Tel: 01625 611108
Fax: 01625 611969
info@new-horizon.co.uk www.new-horizon.co.uk