17 taken out 17 very happy divers brought back.

From Martin Weddell

Well welcome back to rain and England

First let me say on a personal note what a privilege and an honour it was to dive with such nice people. The group was absolutely wonderful, thank you for making the trip so memorable. My sincere thanks to Jan and Mark for such great support and making sure I got out of the water safely.

You will recall the first of my many speeches (sorry about that) I mentioned the trip was all about a celebration of the Red Sea and your diving. I will point out the significant achievements in a moment but please applaud yourselves on your own personal goals and achievements, be it better buoyancy, better air consumption, reducing the weight carried, better photographs, or just seeing some of the wonders of the Red Sea including shark, dolphin and turtle. Not forgetting the great trip to Elphinstone. The diving just got better and better, well done.  

Before we even got into the water we celebrated Mark becoming a Dive Master. Well done.

The celebrations just kept coming. Con ed divers congratulations on becoming an Advanced Open Water Diver: Nigel, Sarah, Mark, Oly (Shark Bait) and Brian (Doc). 

 

 

 

Mark Fowke showing how energetic you have to be diving in the Red Sea when undertaking the Advanced Open Water course. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it.

 

 

 

 

The Deep Specialty divers Andrew and Sue (hang tank). Double congratulations on becoming Master Scuba Divers. This is PADI’s highest qualification (the black belt) for recreational scuba diving unless you turn professional. You need to get your MSD application in with the Dive Centre.  

 

Andrew Mackie and Sue (Hang tank) Weddell nee Coffey, prepare for their deep speciality on board the Empress Elite, in the Jacuzzi!!!!

 

 

 

 

Jenny on completing 150 dives. Well done.

Martin (Shark man) on 400 dives.

Divers who successfully did the DSMB workshop, seen with erect DSMB’s and not floppies.

Also those that undertook the hang tank workshop.  

Hopefully I have not missed anyone, I am sure you will let me know if I have.

Finally, two things of note. Firstly Emperor spoke to me about the group saying what a fun and great lot you were. They were really appreciative and enjoyed looking after us, they would definitely like to see us all again next year and that was heartfelt and sincere  not commercial jargon. The guides: Tarek, Sarah and Tracey were blown away by the groups generosity. Thank you.

Ian and Michelle Ware pose in front of the Emperor Elite, the Platinum

Safari boat that the Marsa Alam 2011 group spent three days aboard.

Secondly, please do feed back to Collin on your experience of the trip and the con ed. As you know I am not a full time instructor (I have a mortgage to pay) but I have a real passion for scuba diving and the Red Sea especially; diving with nice people and making new friends and dive buddies. Your feedback helps in ensuring I continue to lead Dive Crew dive holidays in the future and ensuring Collin remains confident in my abilities to take a dive group away (and bring them back). Your feedback is greatly appreciated and feel free to be completely honest (except Michelle).

If you leave a USB at the dive centre (email me to say you have) I will down load my photographs. Please note these are for your personal use as I retain copyright on aquatic life shots. I will then email you and let you know your USB is ready for collection. You can then keep or delete what pictures you want.

Thank you again for choosing to come along on the Dive Crew Marsa Alam Celebration Trip 2011, you have “Dived & Survived” with Martin. Remember to get your name down for next year, target date is 18^th July 2012. Keep an eye of the Dive Crew web site. Many thanks too for the kind wishes on Sue and I getting married.

Enjoy the rest of the week (it will soon be the weekend), I look forward to the time when I can dive again with you all.

Martin

 

Feedback from the group

Hi Colin,
Hope you are well?
Just wanted to say what a fantastic holiday we have just had! Martin, the crews/guides on the boats and the other divers on the trip made it so enjoyable. It’s a real shame it had to end.
I have some kit to return and I am hoping to pop along on Sat if that’s OK to return it?
Thanks
Kind regards
Michelle

Hi Martin and Sue,
Thank you so much for making the trip the best sports based trip I have ever been on. That includes a large number of ski trips over the years as well as other water sports activities.  It was a genuine privilege for both Sarah and I to have been able to experience so much with you both and the others on the trip.
Your professionalism in helping Sarah overcome her nerves and fears was exceptional as was your patience when I decided to make several “rookie” errors. It is testament to the way you ran the trip that Mark F is so keen to become a DM and have you as his mentor.
I’m on my way later to the centre to sort out a few bits and pieces and will leave a memory stick there. Whether there is enough space on it I’m not sure but if not let me know and I will leave another at some point. I’m also going to confirm with Collin that we will be signing up for next years trip.
Very many thanks again.
Best wishes
Mark Tredwin

 

from Mark Fowke

I would like to say a big thank you to Martin for the holiday to marsa alam egypt I had a fantastic time and would recommend it to anybody
It was my first diving holiday and Martin yan and mark made it stress free and it will not be my last these guys are a asset to divecrew once again thanks guys and thanks for getting me through my advanced divemarster code here I come

From Brain Booth

Hi Martin

just a huge thank you for making this trip such a success for me personally; I felt ‘looked after’ all the way from the meet and greet session at the pool and the advanced open water briefing at Divecrew base, to the amazing organisation of the week’s diving in Marsa Alam with such an experienced group of divers and the care that was given down to the finest detail. I felt very safe. It was tremendously enjoyable and a wonderful holiday as well. I have sent my deposit for next July! Thank you for the pics which I shall collect today.

best wishes, Brian

From Andrew

Thanks Martin – yes doing the deep speciality was well worth while and particularly relevant to the clear waters (and high temps) of the Red Sea where one could be tempted to go to depth quite easily.  I would recommend it as a particularly relevant speciality for the Red Sea where at least some of our diving is well off-shore with only your buddy as immediate support.  Fortunately I survived the learning curve – however I had the advantage of a very good instructor, your good self, and also a very reliable source of emergency air in the form of your good wife as a buddy!  Thanks for offering to download your holiday photo’s  – I will be dropping a USB drive into the shop for this purpose – needless to say no hurry.  Best Regards, Andrew.
Andrew Mackie