Plymouth Easter trip - final details
Here are some details about the upcoming Plymouth trip. Hopefully you will find everything you need to know right here; if not please let me know. To those of you who have been to Plymouth many times before I apologise for my verbosity.
People going and accommodation
21 people have their name down for the trip. Most people are staying in the Mountbatten Centre with others arranging their own accommodation.
Borringdon Arms: Morgan & Hannah. Unfortunately I couldn’t get enough rooms in the Mountbatten centre so we had to move elsewhere. We will be about 10 minutes walk from everyone else.
Mountbatten Centre: We have two triple rooms and four twin rooms booked. It would be sensible for the three women (Nikki, Nadia and Megan) to share a triple room. Please leave one double room for the two driving the Land Rover (Jim Moroney and Alex Marshall). Otherwise sort your own rooms out.
People staying in the Mountbatten Centre are:
- Matthew Gentile
- Richard Grimshaw
- Bernie Smith
- Keith Graham
- Jon Chapper
- Chris Handley
- Alex Marshall
- Alex Soubeyrand
- Megan Peat
- Nikki Smith
- Nadia Ismael
- Joe Hesketh
- Jim Moroney
- Jim Bruce
Arranging Own Accommodation:
- Boris
- Andrej
- Daryl Spelman
- Phil Moloney
- George Vartolomeev
Mountbatten Centre
http://www.mount-batten-centre.com/
Tel: 01752 404 567 70
Lawrence Road
Plymstock
Plymouth
PL9 9SJ
We have a cage booked in the Male changing rooms; this is a very good place to store diving gear when not on the boat. People staying in the Mountbatten Centre get free car parking and use of all the facilities, everyone else must pay to park their car and a small fee to use the changing rooms etc. Please use the Mountbatten Centre car park as much as possible. There is a free car park across the road if need be, but don’t use the one belonging to the Mountbatten Hotel. Everything we need is within a few minutes walk so you should not need to use your car at all over the weekend. The centre is open 24 hours so you do not need to ‘phone ahead if you are late arriving on Thursday night, however the front door may be temporarily locked if the receptionist wanders off. Please pay the Mountbatten Centre directly for your room – I will refund your £20 deposit at some point over the weekend.
Directions #1 (from the Deep Blue website)
Head down the A38 Devon Expressway for Plymouth. This is a great road if you have a fast car / bike, but watch out for lurking Police. Take the City Centre turnoff next to Sainsbury’s. Head into Town, but watch out for speed cameras down this stretch of road. Follow signs for Kingsbridge which will take you over the River and heading East out of Plymouth. Keep your eyes peeled for the Mount Batten turnoff which is about half a mile after the bridge. Turn right at the turning ( there is a Mac D’s here too ) and then stay on this road heading for Mount Batten. You will come to a crossroads with traffic lights that has no signs on it. TURN RIGHT !. After turning right, simply stay on this road heading for Mount Batten.
Directions #2 (from the Mountbatten Centre website)
Turn left off A38 Expressway at Marsh Mills Roundabout onto A374 signed “Plymouth City Centre”. After ¾ of a mile, get into right hand lane and follow signs for “Kingsbridge A379. This will take you across Laira Bridge, keep to the right hand lane, Brown sign on right, follow all signs to Mount Batten. Right at roundabout, past McDonalds and Morrisons. Follow road until you arrive at the next set of Traffic lights ~ Turn right; go through next set of traffic lights. Stay on this road (approximate. 1½ miles) straight on through the roundabout at Yacht Haven and shortly after ~ TURN RIGHT we are below the “Tower”
Deep Blue Diving
http://www.deepbluediving.co.uk/
http://www.indeep.co.uk/
Tel: 01752 491490 or 01752 405400
Next door to the Mountbatten Centre In Deep (formerly Deep Blue Diving) is the dive shop where we fill our cylinders – they do Air and Nitrox. It is located right next door (ie. Two minutes walk) from the Mountbatten Centre. They should be able to arrange for any kit hire you need, and sell a few bits n’ bobs if you forget anything. The Deep Blue website contains (on the main page) visibility and water temperature reports. They haven’t been updated for almost a month, though.
Meals
Breakfast and lunch is usually bought in the Mountbatten Centre or at a café next door to the shipyard nearby. Breakfast is not included in the price of your room. Alternatively there are two supermarkets and a number of small local shops nearby where you can buy sandwiches – you will pass them all on your way through Plymouth so keep your eyes peeled.
Evening meals will be within walking distance of Mountbatten – generally in Plymouth Old Town reached via the Mountbatten ferry.
Timings
Accommodation is booked for four nights – Thursday through Monday. We will be diving from Friday until Monday.
There are an awful lot of people coming on the trip. The boat will be in pretty much constant use running at least four trips per day (with about ten divers per trip). Since each trip will be up to two-and-a-half hours long this is going to make for a busy weekend!
This means I have no choice but to be strict with timings. You will be told what time the boat departs on each trip and the boat will leave at this time. If you are not sitting on the boat with all your kit at the required time the boat will leave without you and you will miss your dive. The boat will be full for each trip so you will not be able to join the next one. If you delay the boat by even a few minutes it may mean that due to darkness the last trip of the day may not be able to leave, guaranteeing you the wrath of at least one boatload of people. You have been warned…
Each trip will have two dedicated ‘crew’: one to drive the boat and one to watch out for SMBs, help divers with their kit, etc. These people will be very busy since they will be on the boat for most of the day. Please be nice to them by offering to take their air cylinders to be filled, bring them a sandwich for lunch, etc. They are giving up their free time so you can have an enjoyable day so please try to make theirs a little more enjoyable too.
You will be given a maximum dive time on each trip. You must plan to finish your dive within this time. If you have a longer dive than you should then not only will you worry the boat crew (who will think you have had an incident) but you will delay the next boatload of divers. You should only do this if you want every subsequent dive of the weekend to be at six metres, behind the breakwater.
To make your lives a little easier here is a list of who is on which ‘wave’ on Friday morning. The boat will leave at 9am. Those on the first wave should be at the Mountbatten Centre pontoon with all their kit ready by quarter to nine. The second wave can have a lie-in but should be ready to leave by 11.30.
First Wave (9am on Friday)
Boat Handlers
- Keith Graham
- Morgan Peat
Divers
- Alex Marshal
- Alex Soubeyrand
- Jon Chapper
- Megan Peat
- George Vartolomeev
- Phil Moloney
- Matthew Gentile
- Richard Grimshaw
- Jim Bruce
- Hannah Bleakley
Second Wave (11.30 on Friday)
Boat Handlers
- Alex Marshal
- Hannah Bleakley
Divers
- Joe Hesketh
- Morgan Peat
- Jim Moroney
- Keith Graham
- Boris
- Andrej
- Nadia Ismael
- Nikki Smith
- Chris Handley
Dive Kit to bring
I’m not going to insult anyone (more than I have already done) by telling you what dive kit you will need. But for those of you who are new to diving here are a few additional items you should bring.
- A collapsible flag (similar to this) which straps to the side of your dive cylinder. It is a club rule that you must have one of these in order to dive from our boat.
- A SMB and reel. If you don’t have one don’t worry, you will be able to borrow one…
- Woolly hat for use on the boat.
- Windproof coat for wearing over wet wetsuits on the boat.
- One diving cylinder should suffice – air fills are less than a five minute walk away.
- A goodie (mesh) bag to keep your fins etc in. With up to 20 sets of fins on the boat, you don’t really want them to get muddled up.
- Cash. There is no cashpoint at Mountbatten; the nearest is across the ferry in Plymouth.
- Cheque book. There is no excuse for not paying for your dives!
- Possibly a flask of hot drink for the boat and some sweets, but don’t expect to keep them to yourself…
Dive Sites
For those who are interested and want to read up a little before we go to Plymouth here are a few details of the sites that we may be diving.
Reefs
Wrecks
Contact Numbers
Mountbatten Centre 01752 404 567
Deep Blue (air fills / kit hire) 01752 491490
Royal Navy Doctor 07831 151 523
April 4th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Don’t forget to bring a towel, too.