The Club has simple booking procedures and minimum experience requirements for the safety and smooth-running of club trips.
We have a number of simple hints and tips on Boat Diving to help increase the fun on club trips. Our guide to Boat Diving and Guidelines for booking on a trip are available on the Membership Info Page.
You can also download the Dive Calendar by clicking on the link below
The club has an Oxygen resusitation kit and several First Aid Kits, available for use on Club Trips.
Roho Dive Club Day Trip to Farne Islands 17th April 2010
Report by Ruth Hair...
There I was at 7.30am quietly snoozing in my van in the car park in Seahouses next to Tim n Lizs gently rocking camper and I get a call from Steve T and Steve A (as opposed to Steve S and Steve F who were still ont A1 confused? I am!) .... were here where are you?.
Bloody enthusiastic divers I ask you what can you do with em??? I said 9am so they turn up at 7.30am! But then again, at least they turned up, unlike some who rang at 8am to say they where locked out of thier house by an unexpected volcanic eruption and was holed up in Cedar Court totally unable to get her hair wet in the North Sea!
So there we all were on the harbour. 20mph winds were forecast but luckily they they were nowhere to be found around the Farnes that morning. Instead we had flat sea, blue sky, a dribble of a breeze, warming sunshine, playful puffins and snoozing seals who looked with considerable interest at Steve T's hat, wondering if it was a culled colleague. It was all looking too perfect to be true. Ok the water would be 7 degrees, but the tropical northern sun would warm us heartily between dives so all would be well.
But then our luck ran out. Not quite so perfect under the surface! We plopped in at Longstone to be greeted by lots of thick green seaweed soup and in my case, no other diver in sight. Reminded me of my solo hard hat dive where I was forced to sing all by myself... dont wanna be.... in true Bridget Jones style. Thankfully me, Mark, John and Andy mustve been wearing magnetic kit and soon I was part of a foursome, crawling along the rock wall, clinging to it in case we lost it in the murk, before being caught in a current, sucked up and eventually spat out at the surface like a bunch of corks.
Not quite a text book dive, but one where Mark at least discovered that he was good at reg recovery after being kicked in the face by my size 8 fins and Andy found out his new blow and go worked perfectly well in a horizontal current as well as a vertical one.
Second dive was to the wreck of the Abyssinia through waving kelp forest, along the old boats chains strewn dramatically about on the shallow seabed and down to the enormous boilers lying in refreshingly still waters with no current.
Personally I really enjoyed this dive I thought the boilers were well impressive, very evocative with the visibility so much better. Just a shame that the only sea life we came across really were Tim n Liz, although I think Andy spotted a seal fleetingly but that couldve been either Tim or Liz I suppose.
So we cruised back to harbour a happy band (I think? I hope?) and celebrated our survival with a pint of ale in Ye Olde Shipe, or whatever its called, before heading home in the sunset down that road that we all know and love so well not!.
Thanks everyone for a great first club dive trip of the season. I laughed a lot, learnt a lot and as usual love diving in British waters with you lot whatever the conditions!
St Abbs 8th and 9th May 2010
Diving with Dive Stay
(two nights accommodation) 18 to 30 metres (Scenic) Price £99.00 TRIP SOLD OUT...(12 Divers) Trip Sec...Liz
Sorry trip
blown off
due to bad weather
Roho Club trip to Lochaline 28/05/10 31/05/10
Elation set in shortly after crossing the Scottish border and even a traffic jam in the centre of Glasgow whilst urgently needing a pee did not deflate me n Joe.
Heading ever northwards, the eerie atmosphere on Rannoch Moor, which always makes my spine tingle, and the grandeur of Glen Coe just totally washed all the work stress n other West Yorkshire baggage away and left it far behind. The little Corran ferry got us across to the Lochaline coastline and it was just an hour on single track road through stunning scenery until the Sound of Mull appeared in view and my sat nav took me to the wrong place in a tiny village cos its a very silly piece of machinery.
I was first on site but nae-shame -Angela n Paul followed swiftly behind. The owner of the rather splendid Lochaline Dive Centre, who also doubles as the coastguard and probably does a spot of mountain rescue on the side, whisked us down to a white sandy beach by an astonishingly aquamarine sea so that a shore dive could be had. Me and Joe did shore cover from the nearby pub.
The centre is set up very well idyllic setting on the sound of Mull with a small dive shop selling a few essentials, compressor, drying room, self catering kitchen, cafe and lounge area.
We had all our meals on site which worked well as wed brought our own beer, although Im not sure the slightly more demur group from London on the slow boat we overtook several time to cries of losers would entirely agree, but never mind. All the bedrooms were en suite but unfortunately the walls were not constructed to withhold the noise and vibrations caused by Michael Dalbys snoring but then Im not sure even a nuclear bunker could do such a job so I wont mark the Centre down in points for that.
So, all in all, a cracking place to stay.
So Saturday dawned slightly overcast but still and warm and our rather lovely little boat from Tobermory, expertly skippered by Paul, arrived at a leisurely 10.30 to whisk us off to the Rondo for our first dive. Shotted to about 6 metres to the stern, and then lying steeply against the shore down to 54 metres, this wreck was a great first dive enabling those of us who didnt want to go deeper than 30m to stay within our comfort zone whilst still being able to dive an amazing wreck.
With no tide and good viz it was a lovely dive with astonishing colours and life all over the wreck including rather gorgeous cuckoo wrasse. Next dive was the Thesis, a Belfast steamer that went down in1889 with its bow at 12 metres and its stern at 30m. Again a wreck totally encrusted with life of all sorts and colours with eerie atmospheric vistas at every turn.
Blooomin huge Lions mane jellyfish on shot too.
Next day was tropically glorious with flat sea and no wind. Our super speedy boat whisked us two hours out of the Sound to a wreck called the Aurania which has some lovely old boilers in fact two sets of lovely old boilers (or were Micks compass skills as bad as mine) and wreckage spread over a wide area of lovely clear water.
Cracking dive was generally the opinion across the boat but my total and utter favourite was the next dive on the Tapti off the coast of a little Hebridean island called Coll. After Tim had frightened off all the basking shark with his zebra hat, we jumped in on top of the wreck in clear still waters with sunlight shafting through to heighten all the colours of life on the ships shattered bulk.
The huge bow festooned with anemones, the ropes hanging like washing lines dripping with life of all sorts., astonishing nudibranchs, glittering red scorpion fish, playful seals, amusing sea squirts... this was surely UK diving at its very best. Was for me anyhow my best UK dive ever.
Think Angela and Paul would agree too as they were nearly suckered into a Basking Sharks filtration system on their safety stop ..... or was that really just the excuse they made up to get out of having to run round the deck naked the decreed punishment for anyone overstepping the 45 minute dive time rule. Tut tut!
That evening I did a good trade in ear plugs but to no avail cos after more vibrational snoring for some and sleeplessness for others, we awoke (or not as the case may be) to ANOTHER glorious day wondering why we were so blessed. We did the Shuna in the morning and the Hispania in the afternoon after a spot of lunch in Tobermory - both cracking dives for various reasons, but neither were as amazing as the Tapti for me... and its me writing this report so my word goes!!! Lol. Liz might disagree of course as the Hispania was her last dive as a spinster of this parish and a last dive as Miss Hattersley.
Ah... the end of an era.... and what better way to finish than clinging to a rather slimy old Scottish wreck before beginning a new life clinging to a slightly different West Yorkshire one on that harbour in St Abbs next Friday at 3pm!!!!? (Bet he doesnt keep this comment in the trip report!!! Lol)
Now Im in a wigwam (bizarre and unexpected!) in the highlands and all my fellow divers have headed south.
It strikes me that a lot of people in the Club have quite stressful stuff going on in their lives at the moment but the beauty of the place this weekend, the friendliness of the people and the adventure of the dives made all that disappear for a few precious days. All I saw were smiles, all I heard was laughter (and Michaels snoring of course) and all I had was amazing totally amazing. My head is full of images of shifting shot lines and memories of eerie metal frames festooned with living beauty, a new vista with every turn of the head. Thanks all you buddies awesome weekend. Yet another brilliant Roho Dive Club trip.
Roho Club trip to Lochaline 28/05/10 31/05/10 starred the following buddies;
Michael Dalby not diving but always on the quayside to help thanks for that Michael. Get yer nasal passages sorted and youd be near perfect buddy!
Joe Hair/Roger the Cabin Boy trainee observing diver, chief blob spotter and skippers right hand man. You kept out the way beautifully Joe well done.
Tim Saville dive marshal and trip sec but dont ask him any questions.
Liz Hattersley spinster of the parish, soon to disappear and re-emerge as a Saville
Johnny Stanton the most buoyant man in the universe
Julie Price often to be found lying San Tropez style on the bow peacefully sunning herself
David Mason chief guitarist and provider of all things musical apart from the eurovision song contest. We might have won if youd be on it.
Ruth Hair drama queen with unfeasibly large bum and mouth to match
John Halmshaw best buddy award goes to you on this trip, in my view, but I may be biased!
Mick Silkstone a good hug in a crisis. Chief spotter of nudibranchs on this trip.
Steve Stapleton always with a joke or tale to tell. Chief SMB reel mender.
Angela Robson refused to run naked despite her 59 minute dive inside a basking shark. Nae shame!
Paul Robson did run naked when Angela wasnt looking. Well done Paul!
Dunbar 12th and 13th June 2010
Diving with Fourth Diving...18 to 30 metres (Scenic)...(Two nights Accommodation) Price £99.00 (12 Divers) Trip Sec...Dennis
Trip report to follow...
Farne Islands 26th and 27th June
Farne Islands...second Farne's trip of the year...but this time it's more than a day trip...it's two 26th and 27th June Diving with William Shiel...18 to 30 metres (Scenic) Price £99.00 (12 Divers) lots of seals. Trip Sec...Peter Kirk
Anglesey 3rd and 4th July 2010
Glorious sunshine awaited us once again (our trips have been somewhat blessed this year have they not?) when we arrived at the pier in Menai on Saturday morning. Skipper Scots 38 Halmatic Dive Boat, powered by twin 265 Perkin in-board engines with a top speed of 26 knots, just looked like a big rib to me ... but I thought Id look those facts up on the web to satisfy any techno heads out there who want a serious dive report.
So.... we all bobbed out off shore a bit to find some wreckage with lots of fish on it and threw our kit on in a most professional manner, all except Julie who poked a hole through her dry suit neck seal to try and get out of diving.
Unfortunately for Julie, Skippers puncture repair kit plus a bit of trusty gaffer tape had her sealed up in no time and into the water we all plopped.
Our first wreck lay about 3 miles North West of the Great Orme, thought to be the old steamer "Mermaid". The wreck is basically just the metal bits of the boat now so lots of piping, bits of engine and a large boiler. Little comedic blennies poked out of the boiler holes, impressively dwarfed by the enormous dirty great big conger that lurks in the hole on the bottom right you know the one.
A couple of his mates were interlaced in some wreckage a bit further away well I think there were two of them maybe it was one great big one with a head on each end. Either way, every hole I looked though seemed to have a bit more conger in it, so that bugger was BIG! Glad he stayed where he was. The wreckage lies over a small area on sandy bottom but there seemed to be a massive amount and variety of life all concentrated in this little patch. There were all sorts of fish all over the place (or plaice!) I really must get a fish identification book - maybe it was the fish equivalent of a pub on a Friday night come on boys, lets go down the Mermaid and watch some of those silly divers blowing bubbles and shining torches in our faces.
Unfortunately all parts of the food chain were present which meant that jellies abounded too and everyone except Paul got stung (whats your secret Paul?). John had a man sting and was convinced he had turned into the elephant man and required facial surgery, whilst Steve retired to a corner to deal with his sting in a quieter more dignified I am going pale and am about to die sort of manner.
Tim put gaffer tape over his and then had a facial hair wax when he took if off. Poor old Matthew had it really bad and had to sit out the next dive feeling right poorly. Us girls didnt have man-stings so we just dealt with the pain and got on with stuff. Jellies should be banned death to all jellies.
To deal with the jellies, Scot had a method of putting cling film over your face before a dive but we decided wed rather be able to breathe and get stung than die of cling film induced suffocation. Jareds method for avoiding any more stings was to put his thumbs through his wrist seal but, like the Julie scenario, that didnt work either as we just mercilessly stripped Matthew down whilst he lay in the wheel house feel jelly-pecked, and his dry suit fitted Jared perfectly so he had to go in.
Second dive was the Dakota single screw steamship off East Mouse Island which was a very long ride up the coast of Anglesey and what a beautiful island Anglesey is. We were even honoured with porpoises breaching alongside the boat as we journeyed north up the coastline. It sank it 1877 (the boat, not Anglesey) and all 4332 tones of it full of crockery, cutlery, bottles of wine and cognac now lies at 19 metres.
Didnt find any cognac, but there were lots of plates, a few divers and lots of silt. Some of us drifted off the wreck to collect scallops or play with dogfish and no one had any jelly drama on this dive which was good. All a bit sunburnt though Steves nose was beaming more powerfully than the lighthouse as we came back up the Straits.
A few pints of ale in the Liverpool Arms followed by a rather splendid meal at the Straits Restaurant... followed by a few more pints of ale in the Liverpool Arms ...is just what you need before a days diving in 33mph winds off Anglesey. We did get a bit of a lie in though, which was good for those who got in really really really late, but denied it (Tim, Steve-just-have-another-one and Julie you know who you are!).
For a first dive we went round the end of Puffin Island and as it suddenly felt like we were all on a trampoline, we turned round and headed back into the shelter of the Island and jumped in there. Seals came to play, dogfish were aplenty and we all got back on the boat OK and the sun sort of came out through the Welsh mist.
Twas a bit murky though so we then had a 15 minute conversation about whether wed all rather go back to the pub than have a second dive and we call ourselves a DIVE club!!! However, sense prevailed and we all plopped in for the fourth and final time just off the coast of Anglesey near the quarries for a pleasant little drift in nice warm, calm but distinctly murky water. Splendid.
And then it all got rather exciting! We did the white knuckle Mouth of Menai ride back in holding onto anything solid for dear life, men and bottles flying everywhere. I clutched hold of the toilet door handle, screaming girly noises (I chose the toilet door handle to keep whatever it was Tim had left in there safely sealed within!), whilst Peter, Paul and Jared formed a manly ring around the bottles at the back of the boat trying to stop the kit from hurting the seagulls up high.
Steve just threw himself flat on the floor in a star shape and lay there giggling hysterically which wasnt really very helpful. Liz n Julie were doing their nails calmly in the wheelhouse. The skipper was just laughing. The walls of water either side of the boat kept looming and crashing. It was all very dramatic. I thought were all dooooooomed.....
... Great ending to yet another great Roho Club weekend.
Divers on trip ;
Tim Saville
Liz Saville
Jared West
Paul Holroyd
Ruth Hair
Julie Price
John Halmshaw
Steve Thompson
Peter Kirk
Matthew Kirk
Farne Islands (Day trip) 17th July
Farne Islands Day trip Saturday 17th July 2010...Diving with William Shiel...18 to 30 metres (Scenic) Price £40.00(16 Divers)
Trip Sec Andrew C
Trip Report tp follow...
Scapa Flow 17th to 25th July 2010
Please note that this trip involves deep dives...Diving with Dive Cellers Price £560.00 (does not include transport or ferry crossing to Scapa)
Trip Report to follow...
Plymouth 14th and 15th August 2010
Plymouth 14th and 15th August 2010 (Two nights Accommodation) Diving with Ceeking 18 to 30 metres...Price £99 (12 Divers) Trip Sec Andy F
Trip Report by Ruth Hair
Roho Independent Dive Club Trip to Plymouth 13th August 16th August 2010
How do you do a short trip report for four days of fab diving out of Plymouth with a bunch of hilarious people? Ill try to keep it brief, but itll be tricky. Lets start by listing the stars in attendance during the weekend;
A-Team (the four dayers)
Tim Timternet Saville
Liz legs akimbo over the side of the boat Saville
Stuart man in sexy new crushed neoprene Fox
Graham I can eat a whole farmyard in one sitting Watters
Ruth inner suit dipped in the toilet several times Hair
Mark missed the drop off cos of kelp fetish Ludlam
Andy never going to dive with Ruth & Mark ever again Crowther
B- team (the three dayers)
Stephen lets not forget the weight belt Stapleton
Stephen lets not forget the sun hat Free
Julie all we seem to do is sleep and dive Price
Jared I can do more deco than you lot put together West
Paul nobody likes you cos you saw an octopus Holroyd
Thats the full team. Now the setting Plymouth Harbour not quite St Abbs me and Julie found an après dive shopping centre that sold shoes and handbags something which our usual rural dive sites dont have. Once wed sorted out how the trolley system, security gate keycodes and number plate recognition parking arrangements worked, and found our boat Cee King amongst the huge array of gorgeous floaty things that seem to picturesquely litter the harbour but never hit open water, all we had to do was haul all the kit down the hideously long pontoons to our happy skipper. Where do you want the kit skipper? we enquired politely ... on the fin boat came the growly response from skipper Richard who was lurking in the boat with a jollier co-skipper Alan. Having got all the kit on the fin boat and presumably by-passed skippers assessment of who was fit to dive which according to him was none of us.... off we went past all Plymouths regal fortifications to cruise along the Cornish coast to our first dive site, the Scylla.
This Frigate is 113 metres in length (ie HUGE!) and lies at 24 metres to the seabed, about 17 to the deck. The Royal Navy boat was sunk in 2004 after years of loyal service in Iceland (waters, not supermarket for cheap nasty food) and the Cod Wars amongst other things, to create an artificial reef for us divers. I think most of us penetrated to the extent of our experience (and thats the kind of phrase which resulted in tonnes of smutty innuendo and hilarity from our boat load of sex obsessed lunatics over the weekend) some doing dark n scary the rest of us doing short passageways where exits were clear. The bridge was the best inside bit for playing captain and peering out through the vacant windows, waving at the streams of Wrasse, Pouting, Bib and Pollack swimming by. The ship is colonising nicely and the fish are starting to hang out there quite happily - I saw three beautiful John Dorys as I followed the outside of the ship down its side. Stunning dive on the whole. You cant do it all in one dive though..... but as we werent the full complement of divers due on the trip, we had a cunning plan to return.
Second dive of the day was the James Egan Layne. Theres a reason why its lauded as one of the most popular classic wreck sites in Europe its cos its fab, totally fab. It is huge, atmospherically broken and beautifully colonised what more can you ask for? The ship was 120 metres in length, now lying at 24 metres, and she was a US Liberty Ship torpedoed by German U-1195 on 21st March 1945 after ferrying men and materials across the world for the war effort. Swimming in and out of the ribs of this beautiful historic site brings you into area after area of shattered remains of cargo and infrastructure covered in anemones, soft corals and Pink Sea fans ; home to Wrasse, Cod, Gobies, Bib, Tompot Blennies, Starfish, Crabs and Congers amongst others. Another wreck that could not possibly be done in one dive its splendour just went on and on and on. I didnt want to leave it was all so intoxicatingly beautiful ... but Tim would shout if we went over the 60 minutes dive time rule so we had to go. Its relatively easy to get back to the shot at the bow which lies just at 7 metres .... but if you want to really humiliate your strangely compliant buddy you can make them put their blob up quite near to the shot and do a safety stop with their fins practically touching the deck whilst hanging on the reel. (Narcosis moment perhaps my dear buddy???).
All in all a fabulous day and despite Skipper Richard supplying us with warming soup after every dive it was now time to consume a high calorie scabby dog just to wind him and his nutritional fixation up totally! During the course of the day we had discovered that under his crusty crab like exterior there lay a caring little spongebob, just waiting to be loved and played with, particularly by Julie and Liz (think he was a bit unsure what to do with me). So we loved him ... and wound him up, and batted the banter back, giving as good as we got. End result good boat, good lift, entertaining top notch skippers and safe happy diving with lumpy indistinguishably flavoured soup in vast quantities.
After an après dive tipple or two in the sunshine in the harbour bar, a few more in Witherspoons, all topped off with a very excellent curry and then a full English breakfast, it was suddenly time to dive again and we were a full complement of 12 with the arrival of Jared and Paul. For a first dive, as it was reasonably sunny and calm, we trundled a very long way out (9 miles to be precise Steve I know EXACTLY how far it is to shore) to dive Hands Deep out near Eddystone Lighthouse. This is bigged up as a most fantastically scenic dive with stunning walls of jewel anemones and huge drop offs... so most of us had a fantastically scenic dive amongst the stunning walls of jewel anemones and dropped off the huge drops offs. Others however did a bit of jewel anemones in a gully and then hung about with a buddy that obviously had a kelp fetish for half the dive. Some of us were more enterprising and found the cucumber that Steve S placed in a rock cleft. Story behind the cucumber is that he found it in the bedside table of the guesthouse ... and wondered why it was there? He kept it in a plastic bag until he got it under water you never know what you might catch off a cucumber that you find in a bedside table in a guesthouse do you?
Second dive of the day the James Egan Layne. Like I said, one dive is not enough even to start seeing most of this stunning wreck and for Jared and Paul it was their first and only chance to explore the wreckage, find unopened boxes and NOT open them (very wise choice) and drink in the splendour of the eerie atmosphere. Have to say though guys viz wasnt as good as we had it on Friday ha ha ha ha! So, diving done ... après dive tipple sunk.... time to eat. Thats Grahams department, it truly is. It was at this point that we found the Jazz Bar which not only did Seamans Spunk cocktails but also delivered the entire contents of a slaughtered farmyard on a tray masquerading as a plate of mixed grill for Grahams consumption. Calorie and Cholesterol heaven we even took pictures to goad our nutritionally mis-guided skinny skipper and prove just how deeply unfit we all were to be diving.
Day three a 30 metre dive on the armed merchant ship, the Rosehill, used as a collier in the First World War and sunk by German sub U40 in 1917. Deep, dark and scary, some of us didnt rate this dive that highly. I loved it cos I dive with my own personal lighthouse and I just loved panning it across the massive shoals of Cod and Bib that were lurking in the murky depths. Its also good for blinding my buddy when Im feeling evil, which is most of the time. The wreck might now be a little more broken up than before as Stuart had purchased a new crushed neoprene suit to compensate for the fact that hed had to hang his underpants from the dive boats aerial cos hed got so wet the day before. Slightly over compensating with the lead for the new suit, I think future divers will find a Stuart shaped hole in the wrecks boilers from when he hit the deck on descent. Dive 2 back on the Scylla and what serious fun we all had weaving in and out of every hole we could find. Paul even found a typewriter thingy hes very knowledgeable about nautical things is our Paul. End of day three refuelling had to be fish and chips on the seafront in the Barbican area didnt it really. Lovely but some of those pubs are scarier than a 30 metre dive with no viz and a raging current!
Day four for those who were left brought brilliant sunshine, flat sea and fantastic visibility oh and a fabulous dive sorry you guys that went home but thats just what happens when you jib out!!! We dived the 31 metre Persier first a Belgian steamer that was torpedoed in WW2. It wasnt the wreck that was so impressive on this dive, although Im sure it was interesting as wrecks go it was the carpet of Pink Sea Fans all across the horizontal plates of the wreck ... and the blankets of fish shoal after shoal after shoal encircling us and entrancing us in the torchlight. Ive never seen so many fish in one location. Just stunning. Big buzz when we all got back on the boat as we all had such great dives, until Paul got on and said hed seen a HUGE octopus theres always one that has to see summat better isnt there!!? Mind you, guess that made up for the fact he had to hang on the line for 20 mins doing Jareds deco. Final dive nice scenic gullies with patchwork of colours, jewel anemones and all sorts of micro treasures to be found in the nooks and crannies. Loved it. Andy was a little alarmed at me chasing Mark through the kelp brandishing my dive knife, but he just doesnt understand our effective buddy communication system. Great end to a great four days of diving and just five hours of off-gassing in the car to get home. Good job I was driving solo! Thanks once again everyone for yet another brilliant Roho Club dive trip. Roll on next one.....
Farne Islands Sat 11th Sept 2010 (Day Trip)
Farne Islands last day trip of the year Sat 11th September 2010...Diving with William Shiel 18 to 30 meres (Scenic) Price £40.00 (16 Divers)
TRIP OPEN NOW OPEN
Tynemouth 25th and 26th September 2010
(Two night accommodation)...Diving with Alan Lopez 18 to 30 metres (Scenic)
Price £99.00 (12 Divers)
TRIP NOW OPEN
Anglessey 9th and 10th October 2010
(One night Accommodation)...Diving with Scott Waterman 30mm (Wrecks) Price £99.00 (10 Divers)
St Abbs 23rd and 24th October 2010
Last Sea Dive of the year...so why not finish it on a high...St Abbs is a great dive weekend to finish off the season...Diving with DiveStay...18 to 30 metres (Scenic) (Two night Accommodation) Price £99.00 (12 Divers)
