News
Message in a bottle from UK boy found by dive club in Belgium
Harrison Keeley attends Park Avenue Nursery in Deal, and as part of one of their activities, eight children wrote letters and drawings and put them inside a bottle to send off Deal beach on Friday 19th June.
Harrison drew a picture of an octopus and the nursery put the address and date and asked whoever found it to let them know how far it had gone.
On Tuesday 23rd June, it was found by the Recreational Diving Society in De Haan, a seaside resort between Ostend and Zeebrugge.
The group were taking part in their annual rescue training.
Member Rik Demeyer said: “The sea was very rough and one of our members lost a fin. While looking for it, she found a sealed little plastic bottle with a message.
“As scuba divers, we always recover plastic objects from the sea. This message said it came from the Park Avenue Nursery and After School Club in Deal.
“It was a letter from Harrison, aged four, and contained a drawing of an octopus. It had travelled 70 miles across the sea.”
Evelyne Becu, who found the bottle, sent a letter back to the nursery to let them know it had been discovered.
In her letter, Mrs Becu said: “We were all so very charmed by your beautiful drawing of an octopus.
“We were surprised to discover that you send us a drawing of an octopus as we often encounter them on our scuba diving trips. They are really very beautiful and amazing animals.
“So, dear Harrison, I would like to thank you for your beautiful letter.
And in return I send you a copy of the local paper and a drawing of an octopus made by my daughter Jeanne (aged 7).”
Stephanie McGahan, proprietor at Park Avenue Nursery said she hadn’t expected a response.
She said: “They’d been learning about pirates all week. On a Friday afternoon the children go out and do something and they thought they would write a letter and put it in a bottle. They all did one.
“We didn’t actually think they would be found.”
Source: www.kentonline.co.uk
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 3
Today we are diving one of the outer reefs from an inflatable. As we reach the bottom, a reef octopus eases its way into the cover of a small crack in the coral while displaying it’s incredible ability to change colour. They are arguably one of the most charismatic of reef dwellers and it is always exciting for me to simply hover and watch. I would have spent longer and waited for it to come and investigate me, but as dive time is limited we wanted to move on and find a turtle.
The waters around Somabay are well protected and hold a rich variety of marine life. The reef edges are thriving colonies of coral and shoaling fish, while nearer the sea bed plenty of wildlife is still to be found.
Then we located the turtles. They are very used to divers and so show little concern when slowly approached. In fact occasionally one will come over to see what you are doing. There is always huge excitement when diving with a turtle. The shear thrill of sharing a moment with another species.
What a fantastic way to finish a wonderful few days diving and I would like to thank SOMABAY, ORCA DIVING and THE BREAKERS for making my stay such a good one.
I had a great time, with diving everyday either on the house reef or on one of the offshore reefs by inflatable or larger day boat. Orca diving provided high quality equipment and facilities while the staff were all very friendly and welcoming. The Breakers was right on the coast with nice rooms, good food and once again friendly staff making the whole trip a real pleasure.
Soma Bay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds.
As well as scuba diving, Somabay caters for many other sports and activities, and so is perfect for families as well as individuals and/or groups. And of course there is always time to lay peacefully on the beach under the Egyptian sun.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 2
Day three of my trip to Somabay and we were spending the day on the Lady Christina and diving on the wreck of the Salem Express.
Diving wrecks for me is always one of mixed emotions. The excitement of diving a wreck is more than often tempered by the thought of loss of life when she sank. The Salem Express was a passenger ship and a roll-on/roll-off ferry travelling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Safaga, Egypt. Most passengers were of poor class travelling home from their holidays while around 150 people were returning home from their pilgrimage to Mecca.
The ship struck a reef and sank within 20 minutes. Passengers were trapped below deck and the ship was filled with fear and panic.
The wreck area is strewn with personal belongings from the crew and passengers such as a transistor radio and a flat iron for clothes. A diver at sometime has put them in a prominent place to be seen.
Tragically only one life boat was launched while the others went down with the ship. More than 600 men, women and children lost their lives here.
It’s a stark reminder that the sea can be unforgiving and so when we dive on such wrecks we should do so with humble regard.
Returning to the surface, shoals of fish are gathered under our boat and seem to be welcoming us back into the light.
Back at the Breakers I sat in the dining area with a beer and a very good meal while my thoughts still remained with the day’s dive on the Salem Express.
Check in for part 3 tomorrow for Jeff’s last day of diving with Somabay on the off-shore reefs looking for turtles.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
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