Fabulous Weekend at Pentewan Sands with Sal Diving

It really was a fabulous event hosted by Sal Diving with Pentewan Sands at their stunning location in Cornwall. Over 500 people attended and a fabulous time was had by all. There was great diving both from the shore as well as from the boats and PADI, Oceanic, Triton Scuba, Sea & Sea, Oonas Crew and Freedive UK all exhibited as well as Midlands Rebreather Diver Training showcasing their new courses, products and trips. There were chances to try out Freediving techniques, rebreather training from Matt as well as trying out a Hollis SMS50 side mount system with Triton Scuba

which was really amazing, particularly good for anyone who has a bad back as the weight of the tank is supported on the side instead of on your back. Fancy dress was the all the rage on Saturday night with many groups bringing along crazy costumes for the Curry Night whilst the live band played. There was a quiz night and again many prizes were on offer from Oceanic, Oonas Crew and Midlands Rebreather Diving to name a few. It really was an incredible atmosphere and everyone is already excited about Pentewan Divefest 2013. Looking forward to seeing everyone there already .... Here are a few photos from the event and a special thank you goes to Ali, Jane and Kelvin from Oceanic, David Jones from Triton Scuba and an amazing one to Tamsin and Sal for hosting such an amazing event at short notice.

Scubapro Day with PADI and SSI at Ocean View Diving in Lancing, Susex

So after a short 9 hour skip and a jump down the motorway from Yorkshire to Brighton I was all set to go and catch up with the lovely team of Ocean View Diving Services in Lancing West Sussex and Scubapro, PADI and SSI for their Scubapro Event. We got the chance to try on all of Scubapro's new equipment range, twinsets, drysuits and regulators as well as the new Apnea free diving range by Subgear. Talking of free diving, Corrie from SSI was also sharing breathing techniques and a full insight into the different free diving courses offered by themselves and the lovely author, Emma Farrell. The club was absolutely buzzing on Sunday afternoon with lots of members turning up and jumping in to try out the gear and new free diving techniques. The team will be at Stoney on Wednesday, Blue Lagoon on Thursday before heading up to C&C Marine at Largs, Scotland on Saturday. I really hope that the sunshine is going to be with them all the way. If you are close by, do pop along, they really are a fabulous team and guarantee a great time.

3 hr Evening Course at Gomersal Park Hotel, Leeds

What an amazing evening, despite the raindrops, a warm welcome and a lovely fresh coffee were waiting to welcome Linda to the Gomersal Park Hotel in Leeds with her Canon Powershot G12. She was up and running in no time taking control of her settings and playing with her apertures understanding how to change her aperture to create different effects for the macro subjects which she loved. It was then time to head to the pool for an hour long pool session and we ended up having the whole pool to ourselves to practice followed by a quick dip in the jacuzzi ... It was absolute BLISS and all Linda could say was, when can I come back to do another course. In fact, she emailed me the next day asking if I could go back up to Ripon to help her group with their underwater photography skills ... Looks like I'll be back on the coach up there with the plastic fish very, very soon ...