Baltimore Report - Click here for images

Baltimore, Co. Cork was the venue for the club’s October Bank Holiday weekend away. A party of fourteen travelled southwest to enjoy the hospitality of Gerry and Rianne of Aquaventures Dive Centre. A leisurely trip south was made all the more leisurely by the Stop-Go system in operation in Abbeyleix - too much ‘Stop’; not enough ‘Go’. Still the newly opened Fermoy by-pass offered some compensation. Accommodations were at #1 Harbour Drive (nice), The Stone House B&B (great breakfast) and The Olde Post House (scary). We dropped into Bushes Bar for a few beers on Friday evening.

Saturday morning dawned with a palpable sense of relief as I had survived a night in The Olde Post House.  The weather on Saturday and generally over the weekend was overcast and damp. The club’s recent decision to stop slaughtering trainees as a sacrifice to the Sun God Lugh may need to be re-examined. Thankfully, though, the weather did not impact on the weekend’s diving. After a quick trip to Aquaventures, we set off for the nearby harbour to enjoy some good-natured banter with the genial and easy-going locals on the pier who attempted to run over our gear with a forklift.

Our transport to dive sites over the weekend was provided by Aquaventure’s recently acquired hard boat that has a capacity of twelve divers and two crew. Two back-to-back benches running the length of the boat from the wheelhouse to the stern offer ample space to attach cylinders and stow equipment. The boat also comes complete with a mechanised hoist / platform at the stern that divers use to re-enter the boat after a dive. The platform is lowered into the water and, once the diver steps on, is then raised parallel to the deck allowing the diver to essentially ‘walk’ back on board. They also serve tea, coffee and hot chocolate! Saturday’s morning dive was to Cape Clear Island’s North Harbour - a trip of approximately 40minutes from Baltimore. Visibility was poor but an improvement on conditions experienced recently off Ireland’s Eye. On return to Baltimore, tanks were returned to Aquaventures and lunch was enjoyed in La Jolie Brise - named after the yacht that won the inaugural Fastnet Race in 1925.  Just in case you were wondering.

Saturday’s afternoon dive was to the Kowloon Bridge. A number of additional divers joined us so Aquaventures deployed both the hard boat and RIB for the trip. Conditions on the Kowloon were not ideal with poor visibility causing a number of divers to become separated from one another during the dive. After returning to Baltimore, Bushes Bar was the venue for a pre-dinner pint. The suggestion that the TV be switched over from the Munster-v-Burgoine game to the Compromise Rules game drew a hostile response from the locals. Dinner was enjoyed in The Mews restaurant. Apologies for the delay in calculating the per-head cost after the meal - I was working out an estimated tax liability for PSAC’s favourite cash-only restaurant. A quick pint in Bushes brought the day to a close.

On Sunday morning, we headed out for a wreck dive - ‘The Alondra’ if memory serves me correctly. Visibility had improved somewhat and a reasonable dive was to be had pottering around the various gullies and examining various parts of the wreck that lay scattered about.

Some of the club’s hard-core divers departed for Lough Hyne after lunch while the remaining so-called divers in the club went craft shopping in Skibbereen. The Lough Hyne dive was, by all accounts, an enjoyable one with reasonable visibility and plenty of life. On Monday morning, a dive on the wreck of The Illyrian was organised. The Illyrian ran aground in fog in 1884 just under the lighthouse on Cape Clear Island. Again visibility was good and there was a lot of life around.

Thanks to Mike for organising the diving with Aquaventures. Thanks also to Leah for organising the accommodations and providing a detailed information sheet. Many thanks to John G for towing the inflatable. Please accept our sincerest apologies for not opening the door of the B&B to you when you arrived early on Saturday.

October 31st, 2006

Images - Click a picture to view a larger image