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Saltfree in the sea

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guy

guy

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May 2, 2003
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Is anyone interested in doing some scenic/open water sessions this summer ? It might have to be shore dives since organising freedivers onto boats seems to be impossible. Any suggestions ?

I'm sure we could get some weekends planned and post them on the BFA website etc.

I've think you can do seal "snorkelling" trips in the Isles of Scilly, for example.

Guy
 
Hi Guy
this is certainly a plan - I was going to arrange a long weekend down in Cornwall but haven't got around to doing anything about it yet (kind of busy)
Other places that would be cool to go - Farne Islands (Seals!), Ireland west coast, and yes the Scillies are great!

if you want to put something together, go for it. I'm kind of snowed under with the comp at the moment but would love to come - how about sometime in July?

Sam
 
Farne Islands sound good to me - heard lots of good things. Martin and I were thinking of going in August (around the 14th) to do some diving so August would be good for us - could do it all at once without using any extra holiday up....
 
My list of places I would like to UK freedive are....

1. Cornwall/Scillies
2. Pembrokeshire
3. Weymouth/Portland
4. Farne Islands

Does anyone know any good shore-accessible sites in these places, or any other suggestions? I have never dived in the UK (apart from the NDC) so have no idea.

I have no holiday left so it will have to be just weekends for me.

Guy
 
Portland/Weymouth - in my experience at least - is a bit crap - and wouldn't be much good for freediving

BUT
here's a plan - I will investigate Cornwall, Donna - look at Farne Islands and Guy - somewhere else. Try and do them all as a weekend or long weekend so that we don't have to use holiday, and remember to check the saltFree dates. In Cornwall this weekend so will get my Dad (the fisherman!) to tell me when the best weekend in the summer would be from a tide point of view and put something up next week.

Scillies is good but gets more expensive - you need a hard stomach to take the ferry over!

Danger with any of these is that we get blown out and spend the weekend in the pub.. but would that really be such a problem!!

Sam
 
I'd be very interested in the seal thing. I've been lucky enough to freedive with sealions at Los Islotes, but not Seals.

Wouldn't it be great to charter a liveaboard on the Great Bahama Bank, and go diving with wild Atlantic spotted dolphins? ( There is a liveaboard that does that ).

Then there's whale sharks at Ningaloo, Manatees at Crystal Springs, the list goes on...

Too many creatures, not enough time ( or money! )

It's the pinnacle of freediving though ( for me anyway ).
 
OK I'll investigate the Farnes, though looking at my diary, the weekend we had in mind is a saltfree weekend! Maybe Saltfree weekend in the Farnes instead of NDC?

I have had a quick chat with a friend of mine who's dived the Farnes a fair bit and she didn't think there'd be anywhere suitable to dive from the shore, everything was boat orientated. I'll approach some boats and see what the general feeling is!

Donna
 
we can always get on a boat!
would rather it was not a NDC weekend as people are already relying on them!
thanks
 
I will look into Pembrokeshire.

It might be a nice idea to start a list of boats both in the UK and overseas, which will accept (certified?) freedivers.

Guy
 
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I'm a member of the university of Bristol SCUBA club. I've started a freediving faction within it. The SCUBA club go to Pembrokshire to camp and dive for two weeks every summer. This includes 3 weekends. People come and go and stay as long as they like. Last year I went and did loads of freediving including diving with seals, which was fantastic!! The club has 2 zodiac inflatables and do some really amazing sites. We dive out of martinshaven, which is good for shallow shorediving. The whole area is a nature reserve, so there is so much life to see, it is beautiful. If people wanted to come, they would have to join the club £15 for freedivers for a year. I would also have to check how many people could go. I'm sure we can fit in. Last year I just squeezed myself on every booat wave!! If anybody is interested can you let me know and I'll speak to the organisers about bringing a freediving troup!! It would be great to fill a boat with freedivers!!
Lisa
 
Sounds great Lisa.... I'd be interested..

I've spoken to a couple of boat people in the Farnes and they weren't too keen to have freedivers on their boats!!
 
Nice one Lisa ! I'm definitely interested, even if we can only shore dive - great place to camp out as well.

Guy
 
Yes, it's absolutely lovely there and there are loads of lovely people that go, so it's great in the evenings sat about in the field chatting and having a BBQ or going to the pub. I'll speak to the diving club and try to see how many freedivers they think they would be able to accomodate on boats. It could be that a pair could go in each boat wave when it's busy, but we can target the quieter times to have loads of freedivers. Hooray!!!!!!
 
CORNWALL TRIP

How are you fixed for a trip down to freedive/scubadive Cornwall on the 23-25th July (or just the weekend if you can't get the Friday off).

It will be neap tides so there won't be much current. I know a few shore dives and we may also be able to do some boat dives from Porthkerris. If I talk to Dad nicely, he might even lend us a boat so we can REALLY do our own thing!

Its not that deep around the coast, about 10m max unless you get a boat but there is loads of kelp to explore - wrasse, sand eels, sea bass, lobsters, crabs and sometimes the odd seal if you are really lucky. Enough to banish our soulfree nickname for a while anyway......

You can find more at:
http://www.porthkerris.com

http://www.divingcornwall.com/
check out Lamorna and
Porthkerris, amongst loads of others

and there are some photos of these sites on
http://www.geocities.com/samdive/cornwalluw.html

I have mates who run a pub/B and B near Porthkerris and can also fit a few people in our place. Let me know if you are interested and I will get prices.

If the weather was rubbish there are lots of other things to do instead, and because of the way the coast lies, if it is too windy to get in at one site, you can usually find another.

Names on a postcard please....

Sam
 
I'm in - sounds fun.

(Hardest) Dave from Plymouth reckons we could sort something out there as well, and at fairly short notice.

so, that sounds like about 3 trips to the sea, which is pretty good to be getting on with :t Now we just need a good summer.

Nice one everyone.

Guy
 
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