To be honest, over the last couple of weeks, as the temperature dropped and the rain relentlessly drizzled, it was reasonably easy not to pine for a day of diving. But today I look out of my window, beyond the empty spot where my long-since dismantled and packed away camera, housing and strobes usually sit, to see a cloudless blue sky with the mercury heading back into the 20s. I know that it’s only going to get much harder over the coming weeks to be denied the whiff of warm neoprene and fabulous SCDC company - in fact I’m already having to make a conscious effort not to absent-mindedly spit on my glasses when I put them on or perform back rolls out of bed when I wake up in the morning. I hope you are all doing ok and that it won’t be too long before we can get back together.
In the meantime, there are a couple of important things to discuss…
SCDC Annual General Meeting
As announced in a recent newsletter, this year’s SCDC Annual General Meeting will be held at 7:30pm on Thursday 17th March. It was hoped that we might be able to hold the AGM in person at ABC, and we chose pretty much the latest possible date allowed by the constitution in the hope that the situation might allow us to do so.. However, it is pretty safe to assume that the AGM will be held via Zoom and a link will be sent to all members nearer the time. Please mark this in your calendars though as it’s important that we get a good turn out. The agenda for the AGM and financial accounts will be posted via the newsletter in due course.
Committee stalwarts taking a breather
Three long-time members of the SCDC committee, Mike B, James S and Stuart S have confirmed that they will be taking a break from committee servitude next year, to concentrate on their own diving and aspects of life in general. I’m relieved to note that each of them intends to continue as active and enthusiastic members of the club, but they will certainly be missed on the committee. I would like to personally thank each for the considerable contributions they have each made to SCDC - all three have been part of the backbone of the club for a number of years, giving their time, expertise, enthusiasm, wisdom and helping to cement SCDC as the strong, safe and vibrant club that it is.
Committee nominations - looking for new volunteers
With Mike, James and Stu stepping down, we are obviously on the hunt for some new committee members to step up at the AGM. Having been a member of SCDC for 15 years or so before putting my hand up to serve on the committee, I know I might be accused of being a converted sinner, but seriously, SCDC only survives and thrives because there are members willing to give back. Please feel free to get in touch with me directly if you are considering putting yourself forward for the committee, or speak to any member of the committee about what’s involved or any questions. There is some flexibility in roles that we are looking to fill, as existing committee members may well switch positions at the AGM, so if you would like to get involved in any capacity, please get in touch.
Something to look forward to when we do resume diving
As I’ve written about in a previous blog post here, one of our stated committee goals this past year has been to add variety to our dive calendar. I’m pleased to be able to report that we have made incredible progress on this, and that a number of dives in the 2022 calendar have been earmarked for a special focus or a particular event, in addition to opportunities to dive from some new boats. Massive thanks to our Expeditions Officer, Cath for her work on putting the schedule together, and hopefully it won’t be long before we can get back into action. To whet your appetites, some of the highlights that we can look forward to are listed below:
Flexible Dive Day: (Date TBC) Dive ‘your way’ with an opportunity for more flexibility than the usual 2 one-hour max, 2 wave dive day. Want to do more than 2 dives during the day…? Want to dive for longer than 60 minutes…? Want to choose your own buddy…? As long as you can convince the DM that you have a sensible and safe plan, the day is yours to design as you like.
Night Dives. To be confirmed depending on boat availability, we are planning to extend the diving into the evenings on a couple of dates to enable night dives.
SCDC Birthday Celebration (Sunday 1st May - TBC). After diving, we will head to the Rocky Harbour restaurant to celebrate the club’s anniversary with a seafood lunch, and no doubt a few drinks.
Two-day dive experiences. We aim to supplement our regular Dive Camp and Sam Mun Tsai fish-farm overnight venture with 2 more overnight ‘dive safaris’ The date for all of our 2-day experiences are:
7/8th May: Tap Mun overnight dive safari (to be confirmed - we need someone to take on the organisation of this following last year’s successful trial model)
28/29th May - adventurous safari on board Moji - a new boat for this year (tbc depending on boat availability)
10/11th September: Overnight on the SMT Fish Farm
12/13th November: Dive Camp
SCDC Taster Day for Guest Divers (Sunday 12th June). In order to introduce a number of potential new members to the joys of SCD, this day will be advertised as a special opportunity for qualified local divers to come along and experience a day with SCDC. There will be an introduction / social session on the Thursday beforehand.
Family Day (Sunday 10th July). This trip will be aboard another new boat for this year, Mad Divers. The plan is to encourage non-divers and younger family members to join us. They will disembark at a suitable beach for swimming, snorkelling and general beach fun whilst the diving takes place nearby. At the end of the diving, everyone will meet up on the beach for the chance for a late picnic or bbq lunch.
Exploration Days (17th July, 27th August & 20th November). These 3 trips in the second half of the year will be deliberately planned to explore previously un-dived sites in an attempt to expand our dive site repertoire as well as hone our dive planning skills.
Christmas Pot-luck Lunch & Drinks (3rd December) Following an impromptu event this past December, we will make this an ‘official’ event in the coming year - an opportunity for one dive followed by a warm-up with mulled wine, mince pies and other shared festive fayre.
Stay safe and best wishes everyone!
Andy