Beach cleaning you say? Bring out the Side Mounts . . .

We had a very bizarre morning on Wednesday. Staff, divers of all types and snorkelers from the Hilton, Intercontinental and the Westin Hotels all grouped together in a big team effort to clean up Dragonara reef, Casino Reef and the Roman Baths.

After another of our “expertly” drawn maps was constructed everyone volunteering got split into groups with an Instructor to guide them.

Everyone was briefed on where they would be collecting rubbish and they were each given a bag.

While this was going on Ed was strapping himself into a Razor Harness to try it out for size.

Nearly there, now the other one . . .

I think that’s the first time I’ve seen him laugh! we must be on to a winner with these . . .

The snorkelers headed off out on the boat with Phil. Their job being to collect any floating rubbish and - if they are good at duck diving – some rubbish off the bottom.

The divers went off to their allocated section of the Reef with their guide and collected want rubbish they came across along the bottom.

With Jason leading the way his group managed to collect some odd items of rubbish!

Well if you know Jason you know he’s always up for a bit of a challenge . . .

I just hope that pipe wasn’t connecting anything important :s

After all the hard work everyone involved was rewarded with a buffet of sandwiches, cakes, fruit and every non-alcoholic drink you can think of, courtesy of the Westin Hotel.

Naturally Nev and Alan made sure anything left over was stored safely in the fridge for later . . .

Dry suit and Steel tanks? It can be done . . .

Before the Side Mount course began Steve did a dive to the P29 on his Side Mounts with the some of the Techwise staff and some of the people who did the course.

There has been some scepticism about using steel tanks and dry suits in side mount diving. The aim of this dive was to show everyone that diving Side Mounts with steel tanks and a dry suit can indeed be done . . .

Side Mount Course, Day 1

First they invaded and successfully destroyed Sarah’s clean classroom

Then they headed outside to play with their box of goodies . . .

Their first new toy was the razor harness

Steve selected his model for the course . . .

They had to adjust the harness so that everything that attaches to it will be easily accessible . . .

It is defiantly one streamlined piece of kit! You get the option of switching to low profile D rings if you prefer.

Nowadays all people who do the side mount course with Steve must purchase the razor harness as in the past when people used to turn up with whatever harness they owned he found it very difficult, even impossible to teach the skills he wanted to because the equipment simply made the skills impossible to perform. In the end most course participants ended up buying the razor harness after the course anyway. So now to make sure everyone gets the most out of their time on the course he insists they purchase the harness to begin with.

Then there was the pouch . . .

The Bat wing came next . . .

The way it is set up depends on whether you are diving in a dry suit or a wet suit . . .

Jason also contributed to the work load . . .

Until he got distracted by the mystery of his missing sandwich . . .

I wonder who that was . . .

Then it was time to suit up assemble the equipment

And head to the pool . . .

Where, after Steve had made sure they had attached the side mounts correctly . . .

They were let loose in the pool to work out how much weight they need to add

I for one was very jealous.

Boo boo was in awe at how good his buoyancy was with the side mounts saying its definalty a winner for him!

Boo boo, Yogi and David’s Normoxic Trimix Course . . .

It’s been hard work but Jason reported they passed with flying colours yesterday . . . well done guys! Now let’s see what mischief you got up to beneath the waves . . .

Well if you’re going to do a course you want to visit a wreck . . .

Locate the smallest hole, and see if you can fit in it . . .

Yeah . . . easy!

As always you’re going to be using a spool at some point . . .

And you’ll probably have to lay a line . . .

You should also take some time out to admire the resident marine life . . .

KC and the Sunshine Band's Malta 2011 Adventure . . .

KC and the sunshine band said their goodbyes yesterday . . . until next year guys! They have very kindly left us some photographs of their 2011 Malta trip. So I thought I’d share some with you . . .

So they took to the waves by shore . . .

By boat . . .

By tunnel . . .

And air! . . .

They explored the shallows . . .

And delved into the deep . . .

It seems they’ve explored and documented every dive site on malta in the time they’ve been here!

They ventured into many wrecks . . .

And saw the odd fish . . .

It was AMAZING!