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Oyster Diving Host First Ever Underwater Summer Games in London (Watch Video)
On the 14th July, Oyster Diving held the first ever Underwater Summer Games: a series of Olympic style sports for scuba divers at The Marshall Street Leisure Centre in Soho, London to raise money for Excellent Development and The Scuba Trust.
The championships included events such as the Underwater Discuss, 60 Metre Sprint with No Fins, 60 Metre Sprint with Fins, Fastest Underwater Equipment Exchange in pairs, Fastest Tired Diver Tow, which team could make a 3 litre cylinder last the longest, and fastest to set up their scuba equipment.
Mark Murphy, from Oyster Diving said:
“When we came up with the idea of the Underwater Summer Games we really wanted to start an annual event that could grow and generate some money for two really worthwhile charities. We couldn’t have envisaged how much fun that the participants have had at the same time though, and we are very excited about next years event already.”
The event was hosted by ‘Dancing on Ice’ winner Vanessa Bauer who is also a keen scuba diver. Vanessa told us:
“I am really happy to be supporting the Underwater Summer Games as it is for two great causes. As well as dancing on ice, one of my other passions is scuba diving, so this event is close to my heart. Having it in Central London makes it easy for divers to reach and go out and celebrate their victories afterwards. Oyster Diving have done a great job putting this event together and I hope that this will be the first of many annual events”.
About Oyster Diving: Oyster Diving are a multi-award winning PADI scuba diving school that offer a variety of professional PADI scuba diving course around the UK such as private lessons, group diving holidays and children’s scuba parties and an active dive club.
About Excellent Development: is an international charity that helps people around the world living in drylands to build sand dams enabling them to access clean drinking water therefore being able to grow enough food to feed and support their families. Sand dams have been used for thousands of years and they are a proven way of supplying communities with a lifelong stock of clean water, changing thousands of people’s lives.
About Scuba Trust: The Scuba Trust helps those with disabilities to experience the wonders and freedom of scuba diving. The Scuba Trusts aim is to deliver a level playing field by arranging the appropriate training and obtaining the much-needed funding to subsidise applicants who, due to disability, encounter difficulty in finding suitable instruction and who may face a greater outlay for training and recreation diving after certification.
For more information about Oyster Diving, visit their website by clicking here.
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.
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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