The Big Freeze
Great clear conditions but no-one able to travel to beautiful white Baltimore on ungritted roads - we went out looking for whales & dolphins the other day on flat calm seas, brilliant colours, wonderful sunshine but helas no whales. However, we did have loads of dolphins just a couple of miles south of the Beacon and went on to the Fastnet for a for a coffee break (no we didn't disembark, but just slowed down to enjoy a picture perfect moment), travelling back through Roardingwater Bay with a magnificent sunset behind us overlooking the islands.
Diving, Snorkelling & Eco-Tours round West Cork's rugged Coastline
Search This Blog
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Halloween spooky weather - forecast has changed somewhat since we started tracking it for planning dives Sat 30 and Sun 31 Oct. Perhaps some night diving in the calmer waters of Lough Hyne (we have the permits after all) and a Thai evening meal afterwards to warm up from the inside out might be good! We'll get an extra hour sleep too.....
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
What a day! A trip out to the Fastnet in beautiful sunny conditions, diving the rock with brilliant viz & teaming with life/colours plus a seal to provide a little interaction. Then we rescued a rhib that got propped followed by providing a hardboat for helicopter exercise and finally a dive with at least 5 octopus..... and all with a nice bunch of diving friends.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Great viz, great company and great diving (Kowloon twice, Fastnet Lighthouse, U260, Whale Rock, Gascanane Sound and the Kedges) plus of course the pods of dolphins all helped to make it a great August bank holiday diving weekend. Thanks for all the individuals who helped with the chopping, shopping, cooking and eating - we look forward to seeing you again soon. Well done to Derek on completing the PADI Deep Diver specialty.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Whale-Watching eco tour tomorrow afternoon - still some spaces available on the "Wave Chieftain", departing Baltimore Harbour at 2 p.m.
Sightings this week included killer whales, basking sharks, harbour porpoises, dolpins & seals.
Cost €40 adults / €30 youngsters under 16 & hot drinks provided. Call Rianne to book your space(s) 087-7961456 or info@aquaventures.ie
Sightings this week included killer whales, basking sharks, harbour porpoises, dolpins & seals.
Cost €40 adults / €30 youngsters under 16 & hot drinks provided. Call Rianne to book your space(s) 087-7961456 or info@aquaventures.ie
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Jerry took a couple of professional photographers to the Fastnet lighthouse yesterday evening for some stunning pictures of the sunset and full moon. Check them out on http://ping.fm/Nthhs
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Diving the West Cork wrecks in superb conditions
Saturday morning's early sunshine promised another fine day of diving with light winds forecast. Everyone enjoyed a great breakfast with home-baked breads and a leisurely timescale to get the gear set up for diving the Kowloon Bridge on the noon slack. The viz was great at 12 to 15 mtrs, plenty of life but the most surprising element of the dive was the water temperature - a balmy 16 degrees (really!). Not so for the Sunday morning dive on the Submarine.
Again a good forecast and very pleasant boat journey out with a 7 mtr basking shark near the Sherkin breakwater. We didn't have time to jump in however as we had to hit the slack for the U260. The temperature going down the shotline dropped quickly from 16 at the surface to 12 at the bottom (around 40 mtrs) but with good viz and a relatively short bottom time of 15 minutes this didn't seem to bother anyone, including those in semi-drysuits. Every one enjoyed the dive, which is so special when you can see the whole wreck (66 mtr long and 5 mtr wide) in one go including the conning tower, open hatch, periscope, df aerial, propellers, gun mounting, ballast tubes etc etc. Also note-worthy was the fact that all 12 divers came back onto the boat with 100 mtr plus bar in their tanks so a safe dive profile for all.
The other 2 dives were a drift along the south Kedges on Saturday afternoon with beautiful gullies and walls covered in sponges and anemones with the occasional conger and crayfish watching us, and the Sunday afternoon on the Arches where a seal finished off another great weekend in Baltimore with Aquaventures.
Again a good forecast and very pleasant boat journey out with a 7 mtr basking shark near the Sherkin breakwater. We didn't have time to jump in however as we had to hit the slack for the U260. The temperature going down the shotline dropped quickly from 16 at the surface to 12 at the bottom (around 40 mtrs) but with good viz and a relatively short bottom time of 15 minutes this didn't seem to bother anyone, including those in semi-drysuits. Every one enjoyed the dive, which is so special when you can see the whole wreck (66 mtr long and 5 mtr wide) in one go including the conning tower, open hatch, periscope, df aerial, propellers, gun mounting, ballast tubes etc etc. Also note-worthy was the fact that all 12 divers came back onto the boat with 100 mtr plus bar in their tanks so a safe dive profile for all.
The other 2 dives were a drift along the south Kedges on Saturday afternoon with beautiful gullies and walls covered in sponges and anemones with the occasional conger and crayfish watching us, and the Sunday afternoon on the Arches where a seal finished off another great weekend in Baltimore with Aquaventures.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Dolphins
Dolphins were spotted in Baltimore harbour this morning, both from the ferry and other boats as well as from the shore. A great sign of active marine wildlife close-up with sightings of basking sharks continuing too. The good weather will be with us for a little while longer as high pressure surrounds us. Long may it last........
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Another lovely dive on the Kowloon Bridge today with a group from Dive In Scuba (Joe & Audry Pryme) with sunny conditions and basking sharks on the return journey near Trafraska. The afternoon dive was on the colourful "Spain Reef" - a wall with jewel anemones, large lobsters, congers and blennies which everyone enjoyed. After a couple of drinks in the square everyone returned to the centre for a BBQ (cooked superbly by Prue = a true Aussie who says that's the only way they cook at home) followed by apple & rhubarb crumble. We're all looking forward to tomorrow's diving......
Friday, June 11, 2010
Guided Snorkel Tour
The Ballincollig YMCA came on a guided snorkelling tour yesterday and the rhib "Vagabond" headed out to the Kedges, hoping to catch a glimpse of some wildlife along the way. The sun was shining and the views of Sherkin Island & the Baltimore Beacon were breathtaking - as always you are reminded of the raw nature of the coastline, with no houses or man-made structures except for stone walls that were probably built over 200 years ago.
The boat navigated around the Kedges to look for the calmest spot and we ended up in the northwestern point - what we call "The Arches" - where we were joined by about 25 seals including with the group, even nibbling a fin here and there for the very calm amongst us (make a sudden move and they're gone). Somehow you lose track of time when snorkelling or diving but after an hour and a half everyone was ready for the entry back into the boat and a hot cup of chocolate, tea or coffee and a cruise back to the harbour.
We didn't spot any basking sharks or dolphins but everyone enjoyed seeing the seals, urchins, anemones, starfish, wrasse, pollack and big kelp leaves moving gently in the gullies.
Anyone interesting in a guided snorkelling tour - you have to be in good general health, be able to swim and all equipment is provided including diving wetsuits (very warm), mask, fins & snorkel, booties, gloves and snorkelling vest (buoyancy aid) and the guide is in the water with you for extra safety and pointing out interesting marine life. Minimum age is 6 and suitable for families and groups of 4 people or more. Give Rianne a call for further details or visit http://www.aquaventures.ie/snorkelling.htm
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
June bank holiday - Got wrecked !
The bank holiday weekend provided us with much better weather than the forecasters had predicted. We had very calm but overcast conditions on Saturday and dropped 22 divers on the Kowloon Bridge. Viz was between 14 and 18 mtrs and a number of divers had never dived it before - this is one super big wreck (920 ft long) and needs to be dived a number of times to get acquainted.
The afternoon dive was on the Alondra for the hardboat and the Arches for the rhib. Wave Chieftain on Sunday did the U260 (great sunny weather although wind picked up in the afternoon)and the pinnacle or 78 Rock (beautiful scenic dive for those who can't/don't want to dive to 40 mtrs) and the East Kedge on the return leg. The rhib did the south Kedge and Spain Reef. Monday's weather started "soft" and windy but still gave us a nice trip to Crab Rock in the Gascanane Sound, and a couple of us did an Advanced Open Water Diver course in the afternoon with navigation skills and a night dive. Great weekend overall and thank you to all who dived with us for your support and great craic.
The afternoon dive was on the Alondra for the hardboat and the Arches for the rhib. Wave Chieftain on Sunday did the U260 (great sunny weather although wind picked up in the afternoon)and the pinnacle or 78 Rock (beautiful scenic dive for those who can't/don't want to dive to 40 mtrs) and the East Kedge on the return leg. The rhib did the south Kedge and Spain Reef. Monday's weather started "soft" and windy but still gave us a nice trip to Crab Rock in the Gascanane Sound, and a couple of us did an Advanced Open Water Diver course in the afternoon with navigation skills and a night dive. Great weekend overall and thank you to all who dived with us for your support and great craic.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Festival
This weekend head on down to Baltimore for the Wooden Boat and Seafood Festival. Build your own boat with prizes for design, floatability and yes - sail it in the race! Traditional boat races, parades, kids crab fishing competition and the wonderful food market selling the best that Cork has on offer. Music in the square and free plates of seafood with Guinness products.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wreck Diving Ireland
Next weekend (June bank holiday) for those interested and dived up, we're planning on doing the Kowloon on Saturday and the Sub on Sunday. Slacks are good around neap tides and there are still spaces on the rhib"Vagabond" sorry - "Wave Chieftain" hardboat is fully booked). Contact rianne@aquaventures.ie or call 028-20511 to book.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Night Dive
Anyone interested in a night dive tomorrow (Tue 25 May), meet at Aquaventures Dive Centre for 9 p.m. You'll need a torch - please book by phone or email today (rianne@aquaventures.ie).
Sunday, May 23, 2010
ISA Diver Coxswain Course
Congratulations to Liam Keohane, Dan Hartnett & Paddy Finn on completing the ISA Diver Cox'n course over the last 2 days. It was a pleasure to have you with us and we wish you and all the members of Limerick Sub Aqua Club happy "boating" and diving with "Plassey Bird". You missed a sighting of basking sharks at the harbour's mouth after you'd gone home!
Jerry & Rianne
Jerry & Rianne
A beautiful bright blue sky woke us yesterday morning and we could look forward to a sunny day on and in the water. Two boats went out with divers. One to Tonelunga Rock on the north side of Cape Clear, just beyond the harbour entrance, the other to the northwest side of Kedge Island - a dive site we call the Arches. The visibility was better here than around Cape and the sandy bottom between walls, gullies and reefs reflected the light well. We had a couple of seals following us, showing off their agility and keeping an eye on what we were doing and where we changed direction. The second dive was East of Spain Point, again with gullies and reefs teaming with fish and pretty colours on the walls (anemones, urchins, starfish of all sizes including the purple and orange bloody henry, sponges and deadman's fingers galore). The lads with me were doing a few buoyancy skills as it was their first dive of the season. Despite relatively low temperatures we did two dives of just over 40 minutes and 18 to 19 mtr depth including our safety stops. Baltimore harbour is still relatively quiet with few boats, but it will no doubt fill up quickly, particularly next weekend with the Wooden Boat Festival and Sea Food Festival activities.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Diving this weekend
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Diver Cox'n Training
This weekend Aquaventures will be on the water more than in it - as Limerick Sub-Aqua Club have acquired a nice new rhib and three of the club members are doing their ISA Dive Coxswain course with us. We'll be dropping some divers in the water too, as part of the skills practical and assessments on typical dive sites including a drift dive. The forecast is good and although there are classroom lessons involved too, a lot of the "work" is practical based so we look forward to perhaps spotting some basking sharks and dolphins around Sherkin and Cape Clear.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Night Diving
Last night's sky was littered with stars, no rain or wind and perfect for a night dive in Trafraska. Temperature again was 12 degrees and with low tide, we snorkelled out to gain a bit of depth and dropped into 6 metres for our descent. The visibility was excellent and there were a couple of huge spider crabs. One was just enjoying his dinner when our lights obviously disturbed him. He gave us an angry look, then took off from his perch on the wall and absailed, legs wide apart which must have measured at least half a metre, landing like a space craft in front of our faces. We reached one spot where there were loads of fish whilst other areas were totally deserted except for all manner of crabs. All cracks and holes in the wall had life inside peaking out such as smiley tompot blennies, gobies and baby conger. There were the usual urchins, common starfish, bloody henry and dahlia anemones. We had a pleasant 34 minute dive with maximum depth of 7.7 mtrs (nice and easy). Unfortunately there was no moon, hence no phosphorescence. Our UKC8 torches were wonderful and bright and we didn't need our back-ups. I love night diving but it does get too late in the height of summer when it doesn't get dark until after 11 pm
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Social Media
We're learning .................... and have set up a proper facebook page for Aquaventures Diving & Snorkelling (as well as the personal facebook pages for Jerry and Rianne - please become a fan or friend.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Diving in Lough Hyne
Despite fine settled weather, there are few divers around. We therefore resorted to getting permits for Lough Hyne to do some PADI specialty training (new drysuit for a dive buddy). The viz was around 8 to 10 mtrs and water temperature 12 degrees with plenty of fish life and a good variety of creepy crawly animals on the silty bottom and rocky walls. We spotted plenty of scallops of all sizes and the small ones were "flapping" or swimming around when starfish got too close for comfort - always a nice sight.
The one thing that stood out though was the presence of nudibranch eggs everywhere, on rocks, walls, shells - truly amazing in colour and shape (and more than I have ever seen). Of course this was a dive where I didn't have the camera - isn't that always the case!
We've enjoyed light northerly winds for a number of weeks now which meant the locations west of Baltimore were all good for easy shore dives and good viz. The hardboat will get back into the water for the June bank holiday and we'll look forward to doing the Kowloon Bridge and U260 that weekend with excellent neap tides. There are still some spaces left if anyone is interested.
The one thing that stood out though was the presence of nudibranch eggs everywhere, on rocks, walls, shells - truly amazing in colour and shape (and more than I have ever seen). Of course this was a dive where I didn't have the camera - isn't that always the case!
We've enjoyed light northerly winds for a number of weeks now which meant the locations west of Baltimore were all good for easy shore dives and good viz. The hardboat will get back into the water for the June bank holiday and we'll look forward to doing the Kowloon Bridge and U260 that weekend with excellent neap tides. There are still some spaces left if anyone is interested.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Basking Shark & Orcas
Divers had a great time over the Easter weekend with favourable weather. Surface conditions were calm on the south side with NW winds, the sun was shining and despite stormy conditions earlier in the week the viz had recovered to 8 - 10 mtr. Those in wetsuits wished they'd been in drysuits though as the water temperature was only 8 degrees C.
Whilst dropping divers on the Illyrian Jerry spotted a small (3 mtr) basking shark very close to the shore. By the time divers surfaced it was still feeding and cruising around gently. We kept an eye out too for the 5 orcas that were seen between The Stags and Cape Clear the previous weekend but there were no further sightings of them.
Whilst dropping divers on the Illyrian Jerry spotted a small (3 mtr) basking shark very close to the shore. By the time divers surfaced it was still feeding and cruising around gently. We kept an eye out too for the 5 orcas that were seen between The Stags and Cape Clear the previous weekend but there were no further sightings of them.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
St. Patrick's Day
Congratulations IRELAND, on St. Patrick's Day - with mild temperatures and no rain, it surely is a day to be enjoyed relaxing, visiting a Parade nearby (Skibbereen at 14:30) and meeting up with friends.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Early Bird offers
For those on a tighter budget, Aquaventures now offers room only packages as well as B&B in The Stone House for divers this summer - subject to availability and prebooking. Check www.aquaventures.ie for further details.
PADI 5* Resort Centre
Aquaventures has upgraded to 5* Dive Resort status, formerly Gold Palm Dive Resort. PADI 5* Dive Resorts excel in providing divers with memorable scuba diving experiences, customer satisfaction, diver safety and underwater environmental awareness by providing professional and outstanding service.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Humpbacks and Dolphins
A lifeboat crew from Baltimore took the relief ALB Tyne to Kilmore Quay on Thursday and were blessed with fairly calm conditions. They spotted loads of dolphins along the whole southcoast trip and closer to Kilmore Quay saw other boats, hoping to catch a glimps perhaps of the humpback that featured on RTE news last Monday and Tuesday.
Check it out on http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1064981 as well as the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group website http://www.iwdg.ie
As soon as we have sightings closer to home (typically our area covers Galley Head to Mizen Head) we'll be running trips.
Check it out on http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1064981 as well as the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group website http://www.iwdg.ie
As soon as we have sightings closer to home (typically our area covers Galley Head to Mizen Head) we'll be running trips.
Group trips summer 2010
Anyone thinking of organising a group package with diving and accommodation there's currently 20% discount available on the website: http://www.aquaventures.ie/special_offers.htm (certain conditions apply).
UK divers - we can also offer tickets with the new Fastnet Line (M.V. Julia - Swansea to Cork overnight) and Stena Line on their routes.
UK divers - we can also offer tickets with the new Fastnet Line (M.V. Julia - Swansea to Cork overnight) and Stena Line on their routes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)