On this page we will offer Articles about anything we hope will be of interest to Divers. Please feel free to contribute. It is said that everyone has a book in them trying to get out ! So shed a tear and let it out!

If you are planning a Summer holiday with some diving, how about writing an article for the Website. We are all keen to find somewhere new or different to dive so don't keep it all to yourself. Send in a story and some photos. Let us all join you on your holiday.

The Maltese Islands are great. The people are very friendly, though they drive like maniacs. Road signals are optional and road signs are open to interpretation!? The Diving could be brilliant IF there were more fish. Perhaps the Maltese Government should declare the whole coast line out from the shore by 1 or 2 kilometres as a Marine Nature Reserve. I’m sure this would improve matters no end and boost Diver Tourism. But perhaps this is not such a good idea as this might result in the same kind of diver saturation and damage as has been caused in the northern Red Sea.

In this photo of the Azure Window from underwater, you can see the outline of the arch above the surface.

This photo of the Azure Window shows the sea a little rougher than is comfortable.

A shoal of Saupe photographed at Reqqa Reef. One of the few reasonable shoals of fish seen in Gozo waters.

The Blue Hole area is a "must" when visiting Gozo. You could go in the water here and just sit at the entrance to the cave or perhaps wander across to the support pillar of the Azure Window. The fish are around but you do have to look for them a little. Having a Marine Nature Reserve in this area would be fantastic, turning it in to one of the best Dives in Europe.

There are more photos of Malta & Gozo above and below water at: www.flickr.com/photos/keithwaugh/sets

AS TIME GOES BY

                                                     by Alan W. Hubbard

‘Spawned’ is possibly a less than appropriate word for a salt water based club, but from the old Clydebank Pool and its training arose, at the time, 130 active members (note, ye of little faith) and later the branches of Allander and Drumchapel., quite an achievement!

Like so many other pastimes, diving in Clydebank and elsewhere moved with equipment development –or some may say:-“lagged “.Ha, the ‘Twin Hose’, beautifully illustrated in the reading matter and manuals through to the nineteen seventies:- ‘spaceman style’, a tube each side of the mouthpiece. Older members will recall the technique of lying on one side and squeezing the exhaust tube to clear valve flooding. For the less fastidious, ‘DRINKING  DOWN ‘ the residual water could be tried.; good for stomach upsets, even if the pool filtration was working or open waters declared unpolluted. Stick to alcohol, which one New Year we did, passing round a bottle of Whisky underwater at ‘Allies Reef’- slightly  diluted on the final ‘dram’.

The ‘Single Hose’, so much easier to use, was at first rather reluctantly adopted especially when a crab was observed at Tarbert clinging determinedly to an air hose to the detriment of the user. But what are ‘Buddies For’, he survived? Club training practices for a number of years sustained the use of the ‘twin hose’. Sharing with the ‘TWIN’, became almost an act of conceit; but also a great confidence builder for open water, except for the’ sensitive stomach brigade’. Apart from ‘rebreather’ and other ‘full face mask’ procedures, most development for the leisure diver has followed single hose practice, but what next?

How brave we all were in our ‘wet suits, often fitting where they touched, and How Cold! Many were made in expanded neoprene from standard patterns by members before the commercial suits became affordable. The Forestry Hut at Arrochar had an uncertain air of romance with non diving wives and girl friends stoking up the log fire, for the ‘steaming strip off’.

The ‘Dry Suit’ began to appear and apart from some surplus Royal Navy suits –quickly snapped up-there was a far from general switch over –expense  again.  But climate triumphed and complete with ‘woolly bear’ and additions such as walking socks and even ladies panty hose warmth came into its own, with yet another adjustment to the ‘Training Schedule. for Buoyancy Control

At this period the ‘Horse Collar’ buoyancy aid was in general use as the final floatation resource or ’bale out’. Good dry suit practice was deemed to be:- “ use the dry suit’s own air expansion or ‘dumping’ on rising” and keep the "HC’s" buoyancy for emergency. We could have added ‘And Avoid Possible Strangulation! Thankfully the ‘Stab Jacket’  (nothing to do with street crime) removed that fear!

Inevitably the computer age has come in on us. To those of us accustomed to reading the Naval Decompression tables (or not, as visibility failed), the emergence of the ‘wrist computer’ caused a predictable risk controversy. The writer having used Naval Tables for 26 years only surrendered to the computer in 1995 on a trip to the Red Sea., and even then with an eye on the original tables. So let development be your guide but SAFTEY FIRST!

Webmaster's Note: Thanks Alan. Ah! how I yearn for my Royal Mistral Twin Hose Demand Valve(above). It would have been great for Photography and scared the hell out of "modern" divers.

 When is a Dive not a Dive?