Sea Donkeys Dive Club: News

All Advanced divers are qualified to 30m, this qualification will train you to dive to 40m. It will open up new dive sites such as the Neotsfield, Hunsdon etc.

The course will run over two days and price includes:

• deep diver crew pack
• certification card
• four mandatory dives
• enriched air (for those qualified)
and

• knowledge reviews

You only have to be over 18, and you will have to get wet! The cost for members is £125 (£185 for non-members).

Phone Paul for more details or to sign up, or leave a message at paul@seadonkeysdiveclub.com

As the club is now moving towards diving with Enriched Air (Nitrox), there will be a training course if you wish to avail of this facility.

The course will run over one day and price includes all course materials and certification.

You only have to be over 15, and you don't have to get wet! The cost for members is £70 (£105 for non-members).

Phone Paul for more details or to sign up, or leave a message at paul@seadonkeysdiveclub.com

Yippee the cold weather has gone away for another year !! The water has warmed up enough to get wet again and the donkeys will be back in the water over the Easter weekend. We will be diving from Ardglass harbour on Saturay 3rd - Monday 5th April. We plan to dive the sites of 3 wrecks in the area and will have dives from 12 metres for juniors to 30 metres for advanced divers. We plan on at least 2 dives each day with the option of a third if the water is warm enough.


We recently had an audit by Awards For All who provided funding a few years back for the club to buy our compressor. They seemed very pleased with the good use the money has been put to and that so many divers from all backgrounds are benefitting from the award. They also suggested we may like to apply for further grants to advance our club, again if you have any suggestions on how to impove our club, let us know.

Lough Neagh Rescue have invited the donkeys to enter a team for the Lough Neagh Raft race on 6th march. This is an event to raise money for the lifeboat service on the lough. If you are interested in helping build a raft and taking part in the race, let William know ASAP. No doubt we can build a speed raft and win the event. Donkeys kick ass after all .......

Happy New Year Donkeys....

Our pool sessions will return to normal this week. Meet at Portadown Swimming Pool every Friday at 7.30 for dive training, try dives, skills practice and fitness swimming. Afterwards we head to McDonalds for a Big Mac and a yarn. Everyone welcome.

New Year means membership renewal time. We ask that all donkeys forward their 2010 fee of £30 for individuals or £60 per family to Paul McKernan as soon as possible.

As many donkeys will be busy in nativity scenes over the next few weeks, the pool sessions will be cancelled until the new year. We hope the jolly fat man brings you all your heart desires. Merry Christmas !!!

Congratulations to Patricia McKernan who showed the world that she is still the third fastest bog snorkeller in all of Ireland for the second year in a row.

Our Easter Dive weekend was a great success ! With wonderful sunshine and not a hint of wind we had a great selection of dives around Donegal. Highlights included the day we met a big local star...

Will stroked a doggie...

And at the hostel a bunch of Polish visitors introduced Danielle to some "Polish" Vodka..... Always one to be helpful, Dan informed them that it was Russian and not Polish at all. Sometimes a person can be TOO helpful....

On Saturday 4th April all members were sent a membership pack. This pack contains lots of important information about the club and it's procedures. Each member should read this pack & complete the enclosed forms. These can be returned in the enclosed envelope or hand delivered to any committee member. We must receive the completed paperwork before you can use any club gear. If you have not received your pack by Wednesday of this week please let us know ASAP.

At last the weather has turned and a long dark winter is behind us. More importantly, a long and hopefully warm diving season lies before us! The club will be arranging regular dives but we expect that some divers will be in the water most weekends. If you fancy a dive and there isn't one planned then feel free to arrange one. Contact Lee and he can supply you with any gear you need, (see forum for booking procedures). Keep an eye on the forum for details of Club activities. We are finalising plans for an Easter dive and in May we will be hosting our first Family Fun Day !! There will be a barbeque, bouncy castle, archery, tug of war and lots more.... this will be a fundraiser for the club so rope in as many friends and family as you can ...

The first club dive of the year was on the 1st March. At last we had a day with decent weather.... despite Robbie's boat playing a few mind games and some minor issues with hoses we finally sent some divers to sea. there were smiles all around as they left the harbour, donkeys went to sea and drowned rats came back, what happened in between? A combination of waves and cold water with the occasional starfish thrown in for variation. Some odd balls even decided to venture out for a second dive, this one had so much more to see, a few lobsters saw us and ran for their lives but a large collection of golf balls were found ( we were diving close to a golf course ). All in all a great start to the year. thanks to all who came along, see you all next time....

On 6th March the Sea Donkeys will be hosting a BIG QUIZ in Portadown Rugby Club @ 7.30pm. We need YOUR HELP. We are asking EVERY DONKEY to come along and bring at least one team with them. It should be a great night and we have some great prizes to give away. Tell everyone you know and even people you don't know. The more the merrier.... see you there!

As of 1st March 2009 prices for air fills will be as follow:

3ltr pony £1
12ltr £3
15ltr £4

Our New Committee is made up as follows.....
Lee McCart, Chairman
Keith McElveen, Vice-Chair
Paul McKernan, Treasurer
Philip Orr, Public Relations
William Dugan, Secretary

Your feedback would be very welcome by 8th February

The Donkeys were well fed, hydrated and exercised at the Christmas Dinner in The Burn on 12th Dec 08. Some even thought they could be chickens?

Check out the photos on DNKY DAN flickr album.

An excellent turnout of donkeys arrived at the Grouse to have their brain cells taxed (and MOT'd!) and the results weren't pretty!

Winners of the Quiz were Ghostbusters sponsored by Aquatech Vision Technicians.

The 2008 Fancy Dress Awards went to:

BEST COSTUME - Keith & Linda
Most Scariest Costume - Lee (as himself)
Most Original Costume - Sean & Anne
Sexiest Costume - Beth
Funniest Costume - Ghostbusters

Check out the photos on DNKY DAN flickr album.

A gang of fearless donkeys battled through the donegal gales on sunday in search of diving and were not disappointed!

Mikey's Point and Cassan Sound, you were worth the drive :-)

Check out the photos on DNKY DAN flickr album.

Re-live the trip's highlights on the forum :-)

Calling all donkeys!

There will be fancy dress Halloween party and quiz at the Famous Grouse, Ballyhagan on Saturday 1st November. All divers are invited. We hope to raise a few quid for the club and have a lot of fun!

The Sea Donkeys Independent Dive Club Christmas dinner will be held in eh Ashburn Hotel, Lurgan, on Friday 12th December. Tickets are £25 and include your meal and all the dancing you can manage!

A deposit is needed to book your place at the table! Please contact Danielle as soon as you can.

S. Donkey

All Try-Divers are reminded that they must complete a Medical Form and a Liability Release Form prior to taking their Try-Dive.

These forms are linked below. Please download the forms, complete the relevant sections and present them to the instructor before your Try-Dive. This speeds up the boring form-filling bit, allowing you more time in the water! Result!

Both files are PDF format!
Medical Form - Liability Release
S. Donkey

The recent trip by members to Malin Beg turned out to be a great success despite storm force winds and rain.

Because the site was sheltered the divers were able to dive at either the harbour or the small slip at Glenn Colum Cille. Everyone was able to get at least six dives and the variety of fish available was amazing!

Conger eels, sand eels, mackrel, pollock, red mullet, cuckoo wrasse, ballan wrasse, gurnard, crab, lobster, squat lobster, shrimp, weaver fish and blenneys were all to be found over the weekend!

We'll have video soon, plus never before seen footage of Glenn and Sean peeling potatoes!

In the meantime here are a few photos:

S. Donkey

Just a quick reminder that pool sessions are back to normal this Friday.

See you there!

S. Donkey

As many of our members are on Holidays and the rest are going diving in Donegal this weekend, there will be no pool this Friday.

Expect normal service next week!

S. Donkey

The updated Member's price list is on the Membership page.

Check out how cheap a day's SCUBA diving can be!

S. Donkey

Club members are hoping to travel to Donegal for a couple of days diving on the bank holiday weekend - 23, 24 25th August.

Would any interested divers let Glenn know - anyone who wants to book a place in the hostel may need to pay a small deposit.

Those who wish to bring a tent can do so as well!

We hope to get Robbie and the boat down for a day and will probably be based around Malinbeg Harbour near Glen Colm Cille.

Go on! You know you want to!

S. Donkey