Last Wednesday (July 19th) was a special night, once of those times when everything just comes together to make a great night. You couldn’t have had a better night if you had planned for it.  
 
The email from Fiona said Wednesday night dive, Howth, 7.00 pm ready to go. When Fiona is the DO, 7.00pm ready to go means everyone sitting in the boat, all the gear stowed, pulling away at 7.00pm and God help you if you aren’t ready you will undoubtedly be left behind to wave to us as we depart. However, the evening was warm, the mood was relaxed and the crew was in good form. A couple of phone calls to say that people were delayed by traffic would usually be met with a blunt tough, they should have left earlier, but not on this occasion. And so it was that at 7.30pm, the fleet departed with a full crew, including the latecomers and set sail for Lambay.

On the way out our trainee cox, Donal, displayed his boat handling skills with great finesse. As we made our way to Lambay there was a warm breeze blowing, the sea was full of sail boats and other pleasure craft. Conditions were perfect. And then on both sides of our boat, we saw porpoises swimming alongside us, their curved backs breaking the surface as they swam parallel to our boat. As we approached Lambay, the sea surface suddenly changed to an absolutely mirror like calm, as we made our way to the back of the island towards the wreck of the French trawler, our dive site.  
 
As we approached the dive site, we were close to the island and noticed a number of deer clambering about on the steep cliffs, including a mother and a young deer. What a surprise! How many of you have ever seen deer before on a dive? At this point the trainee cox displayed more expert boat handling.  It then came to light that a certain member, who shall remain nameless (don’t worry Mike, I won’t tell) had left his weight belt behind, not on the pier, but in his house. We borrowed a spare weight belt from our sister boat and then commenced to dive, however, not before stopping to marvel at the skill of the trainee cox.  Before we commenced our dive, we noticed that Patricia who was on board Martello 1, had taken to the water to snorkel rather than to dive.  
 
The dive was ok. The vis wasn t great, but the trainee cox showed excellent skill again by dropping us exactly on top of the wreck. We pottered around for a while seeing the usual collection of wreckage, fish and lobsters and then we saw him the King Kong of lobsters. This guy was big, really big. In fact he was huge - truly the King Kong of lobsters and he didn’t give a fig about us. No scurrying back into a hole in the rocks. Oh no, this guy was ready to take on all comers. He was about 2 feet long and had a pair of enormous claws, big enough Mike said to snap your hand off . He was encrusted with small barnacles and growth. He was missing most of one of his antennae, both claws seemed to be almost fossilised, but he was ready to take on anyone and anything. What a brute! He reminded me of a certain club member, but in the interest of self-preservation, I cannot name him. Eventually, we left him alone and carried on.  
 
When we surfaced, after a 35 minute dive, Patricia was still snorkelling alone, happy in her element. Our trainee cox once again displayed his boat handling skills by deftly sliding up beside us in a perfect manoeuvre. We boarded and began take off our gear. 
 
One very positive aspect of the dive was that we had a great selection of goodies on board. The COD had provided a bag of Lion bars, the trainee cox had provided a bag of Moro bars and another diver (Willie) had provided a bag of wine gums. I can now share a little known fact with you, which you may find fascinating. Due to my dislike of bobbing boats, which tend to induce a bout of mal de mer in my delicate tummy, I returned to the water. Whilst there, I asked Matthew to kindly pass me a wine gum. He then proceeded to toss a green wine gum in my direction. Now apart from the fact that green wine gums are very difficult to spot in the sea, wine gums do not float. Not many people know this fact, which I am confident that many people will find fascinating, should you choose to share this information with them. 
Back on board, we happily sat there chewing our wine gums and eating our Lion bars and Moro bars. There were 23 Lion Bars, 20 Moro bars and a large packet of wine gums between six of us, Fiona having deserted us for Martello 1 (though not before having helped herself to a generous portion of Moro and Lion bars). I suspect that the reason for her literally jumping ship may have had something to do with getting away from me.  

Looking over at the divers on board Martello 1, we realised they had no goodies, no chocolate, no wine gums, nothing. Tempted as we were to say tough, we relented and passed over some of our supplies. From a distance it appeared as if a mutiny had broken out on board that unhappy boat as the divers and crew alike fought tooth and nail for the goodies. Talk about a shoal of Piranha! Meanwhile Patricia continued to snorkel about in the sea. Good grief, she was there for ages!  
    
Finally, Martello 1 recovered all of its divers and Patricia, who must have snorkelled for miles, back and forth, back and forth.  
 
It was a lovely evening and as we made our way back towards Howth, a warm breeze suddenly swept over us. The geologists, meteorologists, climatologists and volcanologists on board had a very intense discussion and decided that this was caused by the land on Lambay retaining heat from the sun and then warming the offshore breeze. And you thought this was only a diving club. The things you learn on a dive are amazing.  
 
As we approached Howth harbour, we were delighted to see a three masted sailing ship anchored outside the harbour and as we got closer, we saw that it was out engine s namesake, the Jeanie Johnston. Junior met senior on the high seas. Both our boats circled the Jeanie Johnston to get a really close look, which was a real treat and as we left a mist gradually rose up around the Jeanie Johnston. It was at this point, that Peter Fairbanks got to use his camera for the first time that evening and the amazing results looked like a ghost ship. You can see a Peter’s photo on our website at http://www.psac.net/2006/07/21/ghost-ship/ .  
 
Everyone was in great form, so much so that nobody seemed to be in any hurry to go home. As we unloaded the gear, Jenny K offered to go and get fish and chips and asked for orders. As Jenny went off to give Beshofs their single biggest order in a decade, we basked in the warm tropical like weather. As Mike Whitty said, you felt like you had stolen something on a mid week night, when, if we hadn’t been there, we would probably have wasted it doing nothing. Meanwhile streaks of lightening lit up the sky way out at sea and peals of thunder rolled in over Howth.  
 
We all made our way to the end of the pier near the Aqua restaurant and waited for Jenny K. She not only  returned with fish and chips and fish cakes, but she also produced wine and beer and a selection of fine foods and condiments and we promptly proceeded to have a club picnic, at 11.00pm, at the end of the pier, in warm Mediterranean like conditions, as lightening lit up the sky over the sea and not a drop of rain to be seen. What an amazing evening. As  I said, you couldn t have planned it better. In fact, you couldn t have planned an evening like this, it just happened.  
 
If you ever wondered whether a mid week dive was worth the trouble, this was an evening to remember and the dive was probably the least interesting part of it. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones who were there, you missed a great evening and you may never experience such an evening again, no matter how many mid week dives you go on, but it’s definitely worth a try.

Eammon Corcoran