Organised by Robin Johnson accompanied by 11 fellow divers, the trip commenced on Saturday 19th August for one week. The arrangements were for everyone to arrive Saturday evening at 7 pm. The best-made plans can go to pot, with the arrival of the Copson's at 9 pm. The journey took 5 hours to get to Plymouth due to holiday traffic, my longest journey yet. A Dive was booked for that afternoon at 3.30 pm and after a phone call explaining the delay to the skipper of the shuttle, he was happy to wait (this was probably due to the money involved 5 x £15.00). We dived the 'Rosehill'; it was a good dive - my first time on this wreck, enjoyable, did my first deco stops with MC. That 10 mins seemed forever.

On arrival at the McGREGOR, it was quite obvious everyone had arrived in good time and had bagged cabins and stored dive gear. We were "fortunate" to have # 2 cabin. This was next door to the loo, you may think that's handy, but trust me the pleasurable aromas emitted from the loos tended to seep into our cabin, probably due to the fact that all the toilet flushes were pumped down pipe work which ran through our cabin. YUK! Oh! I forgot: just for good measure the loos got blocked and that meant we all had to use the other loo in Robin's cabin. It was like Piccadilly Circus for a while! That fresh air aerosol came in handy.

The dive group consisted of: Robin, Elaine, David, Mandy, Malcolm, Carol, Phil M, John K, Jim, Wendy, John G, Andrew and uncle Tom Cobbley and all. The comradeship was lovely, every one got on tremendously and this made, for me, a first class holiday.

On Sunday morning we motored out for the start of our holiday. Our first and only dive of Sunday was the 'Murree'. Much to everyone's delight it was a good dive, however, care had to be taken whilst diving as the wreck was covered in fishing net/line not visible until caught up in it: I should know!

We were fortunate with the weather: the sun shone all week and it was glorious. However, the easterly wind restricted what dive sites were available to dive, as we had to take shelter behind islands. On my first dive my suit leaked through the dump valve in the arm. After a couple of dives and slowly getting wetter, MC checked it out for me, there appeared no reason for it to be leaking but unfortunately I got wetter. But not to complain, I dried my under suit etc, and continued to dive, and a very kind engineer offered to look at it for me, the result being my entire body got wet right down to the boots. Never let it be said I didn't trust an engineer! I was grateful that he tried. Thanks John.

We managed two dives a day for the rest of the week with the exception of Friday (a twelve-hour journey back in force gale 8) as it was a little rough. The skipper of the McGREGOR, Stewart was great, but was under pressure the whole week as he was doing everything himself; he could have done with a male crewmember to assist. One of my concerns for the week, was whether I would be able to get up the stepladder of the boat with all my kit. This anxiety resulted from a fall whilst diving in the Red Sea earlier this year when I damaged my shoulder and back. I had been going to the gym daily prior the holiday to strengthen my injuries which proved beneficial; I managed the ladder carrying a 15 Litre plus a pony on the first day!

We had some fun on the holiday by looking for a 'plonker' of the day award, and we gave the responsibility for nominating and presenting this award to our branch Chairman, David Petersen. The 'PLONKER' of the week I believe has to go to Phil, for attempting to dive with his PEE ZIP still open. Hence a wet and embarrassed Phil. (Sorry Phil).

This was my first liveaboard dive holiday in this country, and I must admit, I was apprehensive after the Red Sea trip earlier this year. I cannot disagree that, value for money, the Red Sea wins hands down, however, It was an enjoyable trip, not so many comforts etc, but I'm happy I went and would probably go again - next year to Scapa Flow.

We did manage to get ashore occasionally to visit Guernsey and Sark, a memorable evening on Sark, after a dinghy ride, a wade ashore, a cliff mountain walk (all of which took about 50 mins, with a couple of heart attacks along the way). Thank goodness we were all AV trained, and last but not least there was a nice pub at the end of the path. Guess what - we had to stumble back in the dark with only two torches, a lesson learnt, we all took torches for the next visit.

Thanks to Robin for arranging the holiday.