As we enter the 21st Century, there are two great adventures left for the inhabitants of planet earth; exploration of space and exploration of the vast blue abyss that it the sea.

While space exploration is only an option for a handful of highly trained people with the support of huge government agencies such as NASA in the USA, underwater exploration is a much more achievable and simpler goal. Ever since a certain Jacques Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan invented the aqualung in 1940s Vichy France, the world of underwater exploration has revolutionised into a sport for almost everyone; Cousteau would later describe S.C.U.B.A diving as a sport for active grandmothers!

With over 70% of the earths surface covered in water, only a fraction of it has ever been properly explored. Even in Irish waters with only 5,000 scuba divers on the entire island, we are still only beginning to scratch the surface of underwater Ireland, with many hundreds of shipwrecks still undiscovered.

For anyone with a spirit of adventure looking for a new hobby in 2013, mark 30th January in your calendar. On this night Matt Culotty, currently training officer with the club, will be running a beginners’ scuba diving course. The venue will be the Blackwater Sub Aqua Clubhouse on Rathealy Road, Fermoy; start time 7.00. The course will last for 14 weeks with each night having a balance between theory and practical. During the course, the candidates will learn practical skills such as mask and snorkel clearing, finning technique, equipment assembly, air sharing exercises, buoyancy control, towing and E.A.R, entry techniques and breath holding skills. During the theoretical segment, there will be lectures on gas laws, diving physics, buoyancy, the sea, decompression, diving equipment, snorkel techniques, dive tables and hand signals among others. At the end of the 15 weeks, everyone who completes the course will be eligible for open water diving; after 3 open snorkels and 5 scuba dives they will then become CMAS one star divers. This grade is internationally recognised and will allow the diver to dive in almost every corner of the globe.

So far anyone looking for a new hobby in 2013, a whole new world of weightlessness, marine life and sunken shipwrecks can become a regular occurrence; to take the first step remember January 30th and the Blackwater Sub Aqua Club beginners’ scuba course. Contact Matt Culotty for more details at 087-8217069.

Looking for old phones, the search unit is currently looking for any old phones that people may have left over Christmas, if anyone has any lying around that they could pass on to the search unit; the donation would be greatly appreciated. Please pass on to any club members or alternatively contact Matt Culotty at the number above.

Diving in the past week has seen a huge flurry of activity with Graham Burke having organised 4 training dives in Bere Island in gale force conditions! while on Saturday another group, under the tutelage of Noel Hayes, completed some intensive search training patterns in the Blackwater near Fermoy bridge; while Sunday saw another group organise a well successful training dive in the frigid water of Lough Muskry. With such a great start to the year on so many fronts 2013 could yet be a year to remember, so make sure to get dived up to be eligible for upcoming dive trips.

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