BSAC London No.1 Branch

Far away in the tropical waters of the Caribbean, two prawns were swimming around in the sea - one called Justin, and the other called Christian.
The prawns were constantly being harassed and threatened by sharks. Finally, one day Justin said to Christian, “I’m fed up with being a prawn. I wish I was a shark, then I wouldn’t have any worries about being eaten.”
A large mysterious cod then suddenly appeared and said, “Your wish is granted”, and lo and behold, Justin turned into a shark. Horrified, Christian immediately swam away, afraid of being eaten by his old mate.
Time passed and Justin found life as a shark boring and lonely. All his old mates simply swam away petrified whenever he came anywhere close to them.
While swimming alone one day Justin saw the mysterious cod again, and he thought perhaps the fish could change him back into a prawn - he missed his old life so.
He approached the cod and begged to be changed back, and, lo and behold, he found himself a prawn once more. With tears of joy in his tiny little eyes, Justin swam back to find his friends.
Looking around the gathering at the reef he couldn’t see his old pal. “Where’s Christian?” he asked. “He’s at home, still distraught that his best friend changed sides and became a shark”, came the reply.
Eager to put things right, Justin set off to Christian’s abode. As he opened the coral gate memories came flooding back. He banged on the door and shouted, “It’s me, Justin, your old friend. Come out and see me.”
Christian replied, “No way man, you’ll eat me. You’re a shark - I’ll not be tricked into being your dinner.”
Justin cried back “No, I’m not. That was the old me. I’ve changed - I’ve found Cod. Now I’m a prawn again, Christian”.
Boom boom.

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.

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What do you have planned for the Easter break? Scuba diving, of course!

Everyone who has been around London No 1 for more than a year knows that Easter means Plymouth, and this year is no different. Divers will be struggling to remember which way on their BC goes, realising that their cylinders are out of test, prodding sleepy Dogfish and giving a sharp intake of breath as they take their first dip in UK waters since last summer.

I have 12 places booked in Plymouth Mountbatten from Thursday night (5th April) to Sunday night. With the help of a little Global Warming (keep using those aerosols) we will be diving Friday through Monday inclusive. Come and experience the delights of a “Platters” fish supper, the rustic interior of the Dolphin Public House, and sample the delicious Ling (sorry, Pollock) at the New Inn.

There will already have been three day’s diving before the Plymouth trip this year: a one-day inland quarry trip and a weekend in Portland. This should mean that we will have no ‘virgin’ divers this year – everyone should have had at least a few dives in open water. Therefore we ought to be able to get some good diving in.

There is a sign-up sheet in the club room. Several places have already gone so if you want to come, get in touch as soon as you can!

Morgan

Here is a quick update on the diver training that we are doing at the moment.

Ocean Diver
The latest batch of Ocean Divers have all but finished their pool and theory training. Nadia has two lessons left; the rest will be taking their first Open Water dives in Portland this weekend.

Sports Diver
I’m hoping to concentrate over the next few weeks on people who are halfway through Sports Diver. Anyone who wants to finish off their SD qualification please let myself or Matthew Gentile know what lessons you have done and what you have left so we can organise the correct lessons for you.  Once the current batch of Sports Divers have finished their training we can start a new Sports Diver course for our newly-qualified Ocean Divers. I hope to start this shortly after Easter.

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