Hi all!

[Irishdiver]

Hi Conor. Derry, huh? Well, I guess I can forgive you for that. My father-in-law was a Derry man. As a matter of fact, I was up in Belfast and Bangor last weekend. Not diving, just social. Next time I'm up I'll give them all your regards!

ut:

 

[Conor]

you went up north to avoid the potholes

 

[Irishdiver]

Actually, no: I went north because I crave excitement and like to live dangerously!

You ever make it 'home' these days or is Cambridge home now?

 

[Conor]

I have a daughter in Cambridge so in a way my home is here now, but I guess my true home will always be Ireland. My parents live in Cork now so most of my visits are there. Generally nowadays I only get to Cork or Derry for weddings and funerals.

I am planning on trying some diving in the UK soon and if I take to it then I can see myself doing a bit of Irish diving on future visits. So far my diving has been in Crete, Malta, Israel and Egypt so its a big leap to start thinking of the gulf stream around Cork being 'warm' again.

 

[Irishdiver]

Conor once bubbled...
So far my diving has been in Crete, Malta, Israel and Egypt so its a big leap to start thinking of the gulf stream around Cork being 'warm' again.

My heart bleeds for you.

There's great diving off Cork: I dive with a club in Wicklow and we've spent a number of weeks in Baltimore. We've dived the Kowloon Bridge, the Glandore Sub, the Fastnet Rock, and many more. The Aquaventures dive centre in Baltimore - Gerry and Riann - is particularly good.

Some of the reef diving down there is absolutely stunning. Walls of jewel anenomes with more colours than you will believe.

I've dived Sharm and some of the club members have dived out of Eilat. What's Crete and Malta like? I've been promising to go there, but I have heard some very mixed reviews.

 

[Conor]

..... I have been lucky.

Malta is probably my favourite place so far, though the water wasn't as warm as the Red Sea and there wasn't the colours/quantity of coral and fish, there is a lot of decent wrecks and Geologically interesting dives, and just about all can be reached from the shore. Its cheap and they even drive on the left (at least officially). Its kind of a warmer more compact version of the Northern European Archipelago (that may be slightly to PC) with better vis from what I can tell.

Crete was where I learned to dive, but I didn't get the impression there was as much interesting diving as the other locations. I guess if I was going on a diving holiday I would go somewhere else, but if I was going there on holiday anyway I would enjoy the diving.

I am still very much a newby, so weight my opinions accordingly (i.e. have a pinch of salt handy).

As for Ireland, I used to spend my summers off the south coast, sailing, fishing etc., so I would really love a chance to sea below the surface.

 

[pbgormley]

hello conor, so you're originally from derry ? - fair play..
I'm from Co Derry myself.
Are you City or County ?