Re: worlds best top 10 destinations

In article <1139689565.575552.61090@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:

> the Brit LUXURY divers in being
> TUFTY!

Myself and my wife did our open water training in the UK, in Stoney
Col(d)ve.......it was extremely cold, around 4c IIRC, i had a wetsuit on
that would not zip up and my chest was bare, i did did not wear gloves or
hood because i was "imagininig" that i could not get my mask to seal
correctly........lord when i think of those (for me) early days i shudder,
sadly those days are gone, i now have a dry suit, a hood that fits and
gloves, we dont get to dive here in the UK very often anymore ;^( we
now have to put up with long haul flights, suffer horrendos heat in
foreign climes, battle jungles and rain forest, dive in warm water
infested with large peleagics, the tiny'st of strange deadly critters,
and write about our ordeal in this unforgiving forum...........

So......rufty tufty........why yes........who except the highly dedicated
and hardened diver could put up with all that.........

Its brought my appetite back......cant wait for the next dangerous
mission.

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

In article <1139689565.575552.61090@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:

> the Brit LUXURY divers in being
> TUFTY!

Myself and my wife did our open water training in the UK, in Stoney
Col(d)ve.......it was extremely cold, around 4c IIRC, i had a wetsuit on
that would not zip up and my chest was bare, i did did not wear gloves or
hood because i was "imagininig" that i could not get my mask to seal
correctly........lord when i think of those (for me) early days i shudder,
sadly those days are gone, i now have a dry suit, a hood that fits and
gloves, we dont get to dive here in the UK very often anymore ;^( we
now have to put up with long haul flights, suffer horrendos heat in
foreign climes, battle jungles and rain forest, dive in warm water
infested with large peleagics, the tiny'st of strange deadly critters,
and write about our ordeal in this unforgiving forum...........

So......rufty tufty........why yes........who except the highly dedicated
and hardened diver could put up with all that.........

Its brought my appetite back......cant wait for the next dangerous
mission.

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> In article <1139689565.575552.61090@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
> Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:
>
> > the Brit LUXURY divers in being
> > TUFTY!
>
> Myself and my wife did our open water training in the UK, in Stoney
> Col(d)ve.......it was extremely cold, around 4c IIRC, i had a wetsuit on
> that would not zip up and my chest was bare, i did did not wear gloves or
> hood because i was "imagininig" that i could not get my mask to seal
> correctly........lord when i think of those (for me) early days i shudder,
> sadly those days are gone, i now have a dry suit, a hood that fits and
> gloves, we dont get to dive here in the UK very often anymore ;^(

The oldtimers have all heard my story of my ice-diver certification?).
dives -- in my 1/4" wetsuit (3 mil?) because the rental drysuit had a
neck seal 4 inches too small for my neck. So, between choking and
a little cold, I chose the cold.

Speaking of cold, I'll be visiting two divers in Fairbanks, Alaska next
month, in Alaskan WINTER. They are already telling me of the
-45F weather (not counting the windchill). Not sure what that
translates to in C. No diving though.

> we
> now have to put up with long haul flights, suffer horrendos heat in
> foreign climes, battle jungles and rain forest, dive in warm water
> infested with large peleagics, the tiny'st of strange deadly critters,
> and write about our ordeal in this unforgiving forum...........

I'll be seeing a little bit of that next week -- WITHOUT the long
haul flights, and will actually be diving a couple of days with
Greg Mossman and his gal., in the BEST "local dive site", Cozumel.

>
> So......rufty tufty........why yes........who except the highly dedicated
> and hardened diver could put up with all that.........

"Been there. Done that", as they say. I think I counted 52 hours
of real time coming back from Bali, via Singapore, Tokyo, Honolulu,
etc.

-- Bob.

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> In article <1139689565.575552.61090@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
> Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:
>
> > the Brit LUXURY divers in being
> > TUFTY!
>
> Myself and my wife did our open water training in the UK, in Stoney
> Col(d)ve.......it was extremely cold, around 4c IIRC, i had a wetsuit on
> that would not zip up and my chest was bare, i did did not wear gloves or
> hood because i was "imagininig" that i could not get my mask to seal
> correctly........lord when i think of those (for me) early days i shudder,
> sadly those days are gone, i now have a dry suit, a hood that fits and
> gloves, we dont get to dive here in the UK very often anymore ;^(

The oldtimers have all heard my story of my ice-diver certification?).
dives -- in my 1/4" wetsuit (3 mil?) because the rental drysuit had a
neck seal 4 inches too small for my neck. So, between choking and
a little cold, I chose the cold.

Speaking of cold, I'll be visiting two divers in Fairbanks, Alaska next
month, in Alaskan WINTER. They are already telling me of the
-45F weather (not counting the windchill). Not sure what that
translates to in C. No diving though.

> we
> now have to put up with long haul flights, suffer horrendos heat in
> foreign climes, battle jungles and rain forest, dive in warm water
> infested with large peleagics, the tiny'st of strange deadly critters,
> and write about our ordeal in this unforgiving forum...........

I'll be seeing a little bit of that next week -- WITHOUT the long
haul flights, and will actually be diving a couple of days with
Greg Mossman and his gal., in the BEST "local dive site", Cozumel.

>
> So......rufty tufty........why yes........who except the highly dedicated
> and hardened diver could put up with all that.........

"Been there. Done that", as they say. I think I counted 52 hours
of real time coming back from Bali, via Singapore, Tokyo, Honolulu,
etc.

-- Bob.

In article <1139837866.219962.210770@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups .com>,
Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:

> "Been there. Done that", as they say.

Oh and i forgot to mention the arty farty fancy food and wine they serve
in business..........give me good old pie and chips..........

Life's a beach, then we dive............

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

In article <1139837866.219962.210770@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups .com>,
Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:

> "Been there. Done that", as they say.

Oh and i forgot to mention the arty farty fancy food and wine they serve
in business..........give me good old pie and chips..........

Life's a beach, then we dive............

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

In article <c1qtt1djhi7ukk73odf6rbedvqgbk0b8vk@4ax.com>,
NOTbracuk@pathcom.com (Dan Bracuk) wrote:

> I think it could be fun.

Well for what its worth......here are my top ten........please be aware
that i can only judge from where i have dived........(now fancy that)

1. Lembeh Straights, Sulawesi.....(most recent trip)

2. Underneath SEAVENTURES resort off Mabul, Sabah.

3. Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia (not having done Bikini)

4. Sipadan, Sabah.

5. Around Kavieng, New Ireland Papua New Guinea.

6. Yucatan Senotes.

7. Yap, Micronesia.

8. Coral Sea, farther out than the GBR.

9. Christ i'm struggling here..........Bali, Fiji, Sharm, these are
places i have dived but are they the best............they may be MY best
but where do i want to go back to more than anything......

www.seatreker.com
Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

<morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Haqdnd_JvZZJtELeRVnyuQ@pipex.net...
> In article <c1qtt1djhi7ukk73odf6rbedvqgbk0b8vk@4ax.com>,
> NOTbracuk@pathcom.com (Dan Bracuk) wrote:
>
> > I think it could be fun.
>
> Well for what its worth......here are my top ten........please be aware
> that i can only judge from where i have dived........(now fancy that)
>
> 1. Lembeh Straights, Sulawesi.....(most recent trip)
>
> 2. Underneath SEAVENTURES resort off Mabul, Sabah.

I have to agree with this one. Some of my best dives have been under
Seaventures! And others have been "next door" onthe house reefs at Sipadan
Water Village Resort, on Mabul Island itself.

SWV has what I consider the best snorkeling I've done. You can see things
in the shallow water that you'll never see diving. And being able to
snorkel under your room has a certain charm.

Becky, Austin, TX, USA

Becky wrote:
> <morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:Haqdnd_JvZZJtELeRVnyuQ@pipex.net...
> > In article <c1qtt1djhi7ukk73odf6rbedvqgbk0b8vk@4ax.com>,
> > NOTbracuk@pathcom.com (Dan Bracuk) wrote:
> >
> > > I think it could be fun.
> >
> > Well for what its worth......here are my top ten........please be aware
> > that i can only judge from where i have dived........(now fancy that)
> >
> > 1. Lembeh Straights, Sulawesi.....(most recent trip)
> >
> > 2. Underneath SEAVENTURES resort off Mabul, Sabah.

THAT did it! I'll play, especially for Dave (morg) who must be quite
familiar with the "luxury diving" in the UK. Why go to those places
when you can have the BEST locations right under your nose?

Excerpt from my post citing the Brits in 1997:



It all started on Tue, 18 Feb 1997 09:52:18 +0000 when Chris wrote,

CP> The Feeesh has shamed me into EXPOSING myself here,

Nah. Chris is just a natural flasher.


CP> On Mon 17 Feb, Helen Johnstone wrote:
CP>
CP> Most of the diving in the North Sea is hostile - cold
CP> (around 2 Celcius in winter), dark (zero viz - where you
CP> can't see your gauges even when pressed up against your
CP> mask), large unpredicatble tides, serious winter storms,
CP> etc.
CP>
CP> LUXURY!!!!
CP>
CP> I've dived in water sooooo thick you couldn't even _move_
CP> your arm to put your guages against your mask. _And_ the
CP> tides was running at 5 knots, and completely reversing
CP> direction every 3 minutes, while a tornado was raging
CP> above the water so I had to hold the boat's anchor chain
CP> between my teeth to stop it from being dragged away.

Then the Stoney Cove, rufty-tufty Brits chimed in ... but Helen
had the last word:

Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 15:33:06 GMT
From: Helen Johnstone <johnst...@ENTERPRISE.BT.CO.UK>

HJ> >>> Chris Pitts scrawled:
HJ> >>> I've dived in water sooooo thick you couldn't even _move_
HJ> >>> your arm to put your guages against your mask.
HJ>
HJ> >> Andy (Kilkenny Kid) Johnson drawled:
HJ> >> You think you had it tough ya big girls blouse, we dont
HJ> >> even use masks!
HJ>
HJ> > Dean Cording scratched:
HJ> > Water? Water! Pure luxury! Nought like that 'round ere. Best we

HJ> > can do is damp mud. And then only if we all stand 'round and
HJ> > spit on it. Our DM has to tie us to back o' tractor and pull us
HJ> > through, its so thick.
HJ>
HJ>
HJ> Damp mud! You're lucky to dive in damp mud. We DREAM of diving in
HJ> damp mud. It would be like paradise to us. We have to dive in an
HJ> old cess pit sunk in the back of garden. When we go diving in
HJ> cess pit, we get kitted up by having a load of raw sewage dumped
HJ> over us! Damp Mud! Huh!
HJ>
HJ> And when I say "us", there are a hundred and fifty of us, all
HJ> diving in the cess pit built for an outside privy.
HJ>
HJ> And we have to get up at 10 o'clock at night, half an hour before
HJ> we go to bed, get kitted up, eat cold gravel (we can't afford
HJ> weight-belts), and dive on a single breath for 3 hours in t'cess
HJ> pit, along with one hundred and forty nine other divers,
HJ> scrubbing cess pit clean with our tongues. We get out of t' cess
HJ> pit, get run over 10 times by a speedboat on a trailer with its
HJ> outboard running, get de-kitted by having more fresh sewage
HJ> dumped over us, and then get arrested by the drug squad.
HJ>
HJ> And you try telling the novices of today that. And they won't
HJ> believe you.
HJ>
HJ< - Helen

Yup, Chris. You're getting soft in your old age. And where ARE you
LUXURY divers these days, Andy, Dean, Helen, et al?

I don't think any of you Aussies, Kiwis, Asians, Africans, Europeans,
and Americans are gonna top Helen and the Brit LUXURY divers in being
TUFTY!

-- Bob.

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> In article <1139689565.575552.61090@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
> Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote:
>
> > the Brit LUXURY divers in being
> > TUFTY!
>
> Myself and my wife did our open water training in the UK, in Stoney
> Col(d)ve.......it was extremely cold, around 4c IIRC, i had a wetsuit on
> that would not zip up and my chest was bare, i did did not wear gloves or
> hood because i was "imagininig" that i could not get my mask to seal
> correctly........lord when i think of those (for me) early days i shudder,
> sadly those days are gone, i now have a dry suit, a hood that fits and
> gloves, we dont get to dive here in the UK very often anymore ;^(

The oldtimers have all heard my story of my ice-diver certification?).
dives -- in my 1/4" wetsuit (3 mil?) because the rental drysuit had a
neck seal 4 inches too small for my neck. So, between choking and
a little cold, I chose the cold.

Speaking of cold, I'll be visiting two divers in Fairbanks, Alaska next
month, in Alaskan WINTER. They are already telling me of the
-45F weather (not counting the windchill). Not sure what that
translates to in C. No diving though.

> we
> now have to put up with long haul flights, suffer horrendos heat in
> foreign climes, battle jungles and rain forest, dive in warm water
> infested with large peleagics, the tiny'st of strange deadly critters,
> and write about our ordeal in this unforgiving forum...........

I'll be seeing a little bit of that next week -- WITHOUT the long
haul flights, and will actually be diving a couple of days with
Greg Mossman and his gal., in the BEST "local dive site", Cozumel.

>
> So......rufty tufty........why yes........who except the highly dedicated
> and hardened diver could put up with all that.........

"Been there. Done that", as they say. I think I counted 52 hours
of real time coming back from Bali, via Singapore, Tokyo, Honolulu,
etc.

-- Bob.