Its Brrrrrrrrrloody Freezing out there so why not give us a call and get yourself something hot and sunny to look forward to … How about diving into a superb weeks diving and fun with a great set of scubapursuits buddies in the Red Sea in February, everyone welcome and giggles guaranteed (and that’s a promise from Mark) !

We’ve managed to put together a great little “sneaky break” that’s just perfect for escaping the winter doom and gloom and we’re even flying from Manchester too so no need for a ridiculous drive down to London before we get underway. Its been out there in the stores for a little while and with 22 booked on the trip already looks set to be a legend of a holiday, so come and dive in before this latest batch of tickets are all snapped up …

Its 5th February 2012 to Sharm el Sheikh, staying at the Falcon Naama Star Hotel (descent middle of the road hotel, see below) and diving all the best of the local Red Sea sights with Emperor Divers … Its currently on a B&B basis, cos I’m fairly certain there may be a few outings into town on the cards for the darkness hours !?! so I figured that would do us, although there is an All Inclusive Upgrade available at £91 …

Its set to be a doozer of a trip with our very own gaffer, Mark, and is coming it at just £539 for the Holiday bit and we’ve got the Diving at £149 for five days boat diving, inc cylinder and weights … With only another 6 places on hold w’ere guessing they’re going to go fast, so to help you out we’ve agreed a super low Christmas time deposit at just £130 pp to give you a chance to get it booked an on the kitchen calendar before they’re all gone …

So what are you waiting for, give us a call and get you first scuba adventure of 2012 booked and underway !

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Roll Up Roll Up ! Its time to get yourself out of the house and into your suit, we’re all meeting up for a Christmas Club Dive at Stoney Cove on Friday 30th December at 10am … Short and sweet, and not our usual waffley style eNews article (well apart from this bit of course) but that’s all you need to know … See you there or be … … well not there I guess … Happy Christmas !

Hey there, its that time of year again when we have to look at, and roll out, the plans for next year. So here’s the first of them, and without doubt the best of em (especially for all you newbies looking to get your heads underwater for a bit of post-course practise) … How would you like FREE Pool Sessions, FREE Kit Hire and FREE Air in 2012 when you’re splashing around and perfecting your skills at the Club Pool venues ?

Sound too good to be true ? Well I guess there is a bit of a catch / marketing spin (but hell it wouldn’t be us if there wasn’t) but with the new Pool Passport we can honestly say its YOU that’s the winner this time around, after all an offer of FREE Pool Sessions, FREE Kit Hire and FREE Air is somewhat difficult to beat …

Ok, here’s the deal … To cut down on our admin and chasing around at the Club Pool Venues we are scrapping the weekly pool fees, binning the weekly cylinder fees and destroying the weekly kit hire charges … Instead we will be introducing a one off Annual Fee that covers the lot, yes whatever you need for all of 2012 ! … So for the weekly swimmers, adhoc pre-holiday hirers and newbie splashers looking to perfect their skills there will be just a single one-off annual payment to cover the lot, aka the Pool Passport 2012 …

The Pool Passport will normally cost £69 for a full 12 months (and before you ask, yes that’s still seriously good for your wallet just check out the maths at the end) BUT grab yours in the next 15 days, before the end of December and get it for just £49 … Yes that’s £49 for unlimited use of all three Club Pool Venues, Unlimited Hire Kit and Unlimited Cylinder Use at the pools right through to the end of 2012 !

Here’s the Pool Passport  maths:-

The Swimmer – There’s 52 weeks in a year and if you swim just once a week at a venue for £2.50 then you only need to swim 28 times to break a profit with your Pool Passport … and with £20 Off its just ridiculous how much you get for FREE !

The Adhoc Holiday Practiser – If you go on holiday three times and visit the pool just three times before each trip to hire a cylinder at £8 for your gear then you are already quids in with your Pool Passport … and with £20 Off its just ridiculous how much you get for FREE !

The Newbie Keen to Practise – Once you climb out of the lake we know you’ll want to get right back underwater, so visit the pool just 5 times to hire gear at £15 for a play and a practise and you are already winning with your Pool Passport … and with £20 Off its just ridiculous how much you get for FREE !

Ok, that’s the plan and if we do say so ourselves we are pretty damn proud of it … So what next, well quite simply its a case of grabbing the phone and calling Scott, Danny, Mark, Sarah or Bob toot sweet to get your extra special sooper dooper Christmas bonus amazing Pool Passport – £20 Off Deal !!

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PS – Don’t hang around the £20 Special Offer will end strictly on 31st December 2012 (and we close early on that day too) !

Terms:- The Pool Passport is valid for 12 months from the end of the month purchased; All users require their own individual Pool Passport and they are non-transferable or refundable; Pool Passport Users can use any of the three main Club Pool Venues at any open session; Equipment an Cylinder Hire must be pre-booked via the Centres or HQ and will be allocated on a first come basis; Damage to any equipment must be paid for in full; Pool Passport identity must be available for inspection at any session and failure to present it will rsult in normal fees being levied on that occasion; The FREE Usage / Hire refers to usage after an initial period of visits, based on Pool / Hire Fees then saved; Management reserve the right to refuse admission; Standard Safe Diving practises apply; Standard Terms and Conditions apply.

Its that time of year again when its all toys out of the window, man eat man and a general competitive attitude ensues. Yes its the Annual Underwater Fancy Dress Competition, and its Cannock Pool v Solihull Pool v Stoke Pool, so come on its time to put your venue on your sleeve and join in the fun !

Its now an annual event and as you can see more than a little bit crazy. So if you’ve ever fancied evolving into an Underwater Lion, doing a Scuba Santa or simply dressing up as daft’ly as possible for a bit of fun then now is the time to get your thinking caps on.

This years Underwater Fancy Dress dates are:- Rugeley Pool, Sunday 11th December at 5.30pm (for the Cannock Store); Stoke Pool, Wednesday 14th December at 8.30pm; and Solihull Pool, Thursday 15th December at 8.30pm.

With a higher than ever competitive spirit its really hotting up this year, with talk of a pantomime cow even making an appearance at one of the pools. So come on, give your local S+O Store Manager some support and dig out your best outfit and head on down to the pools for a bit of pre Christmas Scuba Fun before we wrap it up for Christmas.

If you’re still new to it, and haven’t quite managed to bring yourself to smash the piggy bank for some gear then no problem, normal Pool Hire Kit available (just call us to book it).

Check out last years efforts at Facebook SCUBApursuits

PS – These are then the last club pool dates before Christmas and we re-open 12th January onwards. The shops of course will be open right through, so no worries on what to do with your Santa Cash when you get it ;o)

The Lundy Dive 2012 has finally been released so hold onto your mouses and grab your phones, this one will surely be filled within no time !

Lundy Island is a Granite Outcrop three and a half miles long and only half a mile wide, situated off the North Coast of Devon right where the Atlantic meets the Bristol Channel. Its position directly in the path of two opposing forces of water has led to an unimaginable amount and variation of marine wildlife in, on, around and under it … wildlife that we will of course be taking you to explore !

If any of you have ever caught Danny, our Solihull Scuba Centre Manager, on the subject of Lundy then you know just how passionate he is about it and the diving there. So with that in mind and his many trips worth of experience he has in the area, Danny will of course be leading this Doing It Scuba Club Diving weekend.

We will be diving on Sat 5th, Sun 6th and Mon 7th of May, aka the May Bank Holiday, and not only that we will even be staying on Lundy Island itself in the Barn Accommodation. With plentiful fish life, anemones, lobsters and of course the ever popular ………………………….. seals (Ooooooo Yeaa Baby !) we know this will be a great way to spend an otherwise uneventful Bank Holiday.

The diving around Lundy is not too demanding so we have set a minimum diver level of PADI Advanced / BSAC Sports Diver with 20 dives for this one. We would of course be expecting full self sufficiency in terms of Reels, SMB’s, Knives, Torches etc, we’ll just provide the Danny and the rah rah happy clapping for the evening.

We will be casting off on the morning of Saturday 5th May and heading over to Lundy for our first days diving, then hoping off onto the island to spend the night (self catering) in the mid/late afternoon before another two days underwater fun on the Sunday and Monday.

If you fancy joining Danny for this great scuba-adventure in 2012 then its just £285pp, with an initial deposit of only £150 payable at time of booking. We know this one will fill up fast, and with only 12 places available you’ll need to be on the phone pretty swift in the morning to get your place, so fingers crossed you get your hands on the adventure !

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Ok, next adventure for 2012 (after the 48h dash filled Oban before most of you had time to blink) and its the ever popular and always amazing Farne Islands aka Seal Playtime Weekend …

After the success of the trip last year (check out the Facebook Album – Weekends) we can understand why you guys and gals have been pushing us so hard to get the 2012 one released. So without further ado, here it is Farnes 2012, and based on the amount of requests we’re guessing its a case of here it is and there it went …

We will be diving with one of the local Farne Island Diving Charters, on board on of the seven boats from the Glad Tidings fleet. The diving vessels have divers lifts, so no need to even lift a fin when we get back to the boat after our great diving adventures and are of course fully MA licenced.  So we can be pretty assured were in safe hands on this one …

Local knowledge of course is always the key with any Coastal Boat Diving and our skipper is one of the best, and sure to show us the best that The Farnes has to offer. We have not pinned down the specifics on the sites, other than of course we must visit the Seal Colony at least once or twice. Other sites may include the Wreck of the Kris Kristenson, a Danish Steamer that ran aground in 1915 that sits at approx 18m; The Northern Hares Reef; or the superb Staple Island where we can find the wreck of the St Andrea, huge shoals of Ballen Wrasse and visibility that on occasions stretches up to 20m …

With this being an offshore boat diving weekend the list of Personal Safety Equipment required by each diver is a must, and includes Delayed SMB and Reel, Knife or Scissors, Torch, Whistle and in addition we recommend a Strobe. If you need any assistance or advice with these items then Scott, Danny or Alan will be more than happy to assist …

So whose it for, well the dives over this weekend are a little more demanding, but still suitable for PADI Advanced or BSAC Sports Divers with 20+ dives under their belts. Again we would be expecting all divers on this trip to be self sufficient in their diving abilities, however our S+O Group Leader will of course be on hand to help out with Boat Diving Protocol, Surface and Safety Considerations and of course general Helping Out and Rah Rah Happy Clapping – especially in the evening ;o) …

This Farnes 2012 trip does not include accommodation, but we know you’re resourceful enough to sort that one out yourselves, and comes in at just £129 per person (Payment in Full at Time of Booking). We will be completing two dives a day, on a shuttle basis, on this one. So come on don’t hang around and give Scott, Sarah, Danny or Mark a call to get your place on this superb diving weekend booked !

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Accommodation Ideas (Plenty more on Google though):- Bamburgh Castle Inn – 01665 720283 / Olde Ship Inn – 01665 720200 / Beach House Hotel – 01665 720337 / Malabar Guest House – 01665 720531