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BSAC's coveted Heinke Trophy has been won by Clidive, a London-based dive club.
 
Military divers have tagged 15 sharks off the island of Cocos in Costa Rica.
 
Divers have found bottles of 200-year-old champagne in a wreck in the Baltic Sea. The bottles are believed to date from 1780s and were probably a cargo en route to Russia.
 
The Marine Conservation Zone Project has launched an interactive online map showing where marine species have been spotted and where different underwater habitats are located around the UK coast.
 
The UK franchise of technical diver training agency IANTD has been bought by Martin and Amy Stanton, who own inland dive site Vobster Quay.
 

 

 

Recent Diving Trips

Example content imageWhile most in the diving community will agree the last few summers have been exceptionally bad, we here at Hazel Grove have done our best to still get out. While the majority of diving is carried out around Angelsey and Local inland dive sites, in the last few years we have also managed to arrange trips to the following diving destinations:

Many of the dives have a purpose, with many divers in the club also having other interests within the diving sphere. All divers are expected to post notice to dive cards for planned trips and use either the website calendar or the ScubaText system to inform other divers of events.

Anglesey and North wales diving accounts for some 70% of our dives with Quarry and inland sites accounting for the 20% and Holidays and trips the remaining 10%.

Diving Report From A Recent local Dive

The SS Normandy Coast (launched the Lady Chloe) was a British Cargo Steamer of 1,428 tons built in 1916. On the 11th January 1945 when on route from London for Liverpool carrying a cargo of 266 tons of steel plates when she was torpedoed by German submarine U-1055 and sunk approximately 5 miles south-west of South Stack Lighthouse, Angelsey. Nineteen crew were lost from a total of 2.7
On 27 July 2008 a group of eight divers from made up the team that would take the two delta ribs and dive the wreck of the "Normandy Coast" that afternoon on low water.
The day started early for some coming to Treaddur Bay from Stockport. Not so for those of us who were already on the island, a leisurely drive was all it took to meet and set up our equipment and launch the Ribs in to a mirror calm sea.

SS Norman court

After an uneventful high speed “steam” to the dive site it was time to find the wreck and “shot” it, which
was a lot harder than usual due to the small profile of the stern section of the wreck. After several attempts we all agreed we had placed a shot line on the wreck.
We then waited for low water, drifting with the outgoing tide for an hour or so on an unusually clear and sunny day, wondering if the shot was in the wreck or not?
As low water approached, the buoy on the shot line came to the surface after being held under by the cur-rent. Soon the buoy sat bolt upright showing it was the time to get kited up and dive.
We were able to dive in one wave as we had two dedicated coxswain. So in we went, on to the shot and down into the Irish sea to our goal, the rear section of the “Normandy Coast”. If the shot was in the right place?
At around 42 metres in the glow of an expensive diving light any thoughts of a missed shot were put
to rest, the shadow of the wreck could be seen below. As the depth increased the detail could be seen and an unusual noise could be heard, not the sound of bubbles but a steady rasping.
Finning away from the shot, a good look round to orientate ourselves and off down the port side of the wreck. Fish caught in the beams of torches swam into the bent and twisted remains of the wreck whilst lobsters with big strong claws stood their ground, ready to put up a fight. A quick grab but the lobsters were ready for us and backed off into the tangle of metal, out of reach. Fresh lobster was not on the menu today for us.
A bit more finning and the shattered end of the stern section was there on our right, this is where the U-boat’s torpedo struck and ripped the ship in two. Over to the starboard side, passing over the spilled innards of the wrecks engine room. Here on the seabed lay part of the funnel, ventilators and other parts of the

After forty minuets it was time to turn around and return to the shot line, the tide was starting to turn. Then on to the shot line and a steady ascent to our deco. Stop.
Twenty minutes hanging at six meters gets a bit boring but watching the snow (plankton) and playing I spy passes the time. Then back up to the surface de-kit and scramble back in to the Rib. After checking we had everyone from the water and securing our kit we recovered the shot and had an uneventful steam back to Treaddur Bay.
Once back we recovered the Ribs onto the trailers. An hour later we had tidied up. The dive kit stowed in our cars with the Ribs cleaned and refueled, ready for the next adventure. Tides, wives and weather willing