The HKUC has once again had a fine year of diving both in local waters and overseas. The Club managed to hold diving trips at least once every month, with most months seeing the boat going out twice and even three times in the month of June. Our season was generally unaffected by either typhoons or inclement weather however we had to make a single cancellation early in the year.

Dive sites visited this year included such favourites as Long Kei Wan, Tai Long Wan, Basalt, Bluff and Jin Islands and less frequented sites as far a field as Crescent, Round and Trio Islands, the Nine Pins group, High Island Dolosse Wall, and Hoi Ha Wan. David Taylor even managed to raise a handful of divers for an exploratory midweek night dive at Shek O.

2003 saw the celebration of BSAC's 50th birthday and not to be left out of the party the annual BSAC HK event was held at the, by now familiar, cement barge at Tai Long Wan, however this time with a total of more than 50 divers in the water on the day. The dive was followed by an equally damp beach BBQ (only dampened by the weather and not a reflection in spirits I hasten to add). Special mention should go to the Taylor family for the astonishing level of preparation they revealed for both the BBQ grill and the rain shelter that were much appreciated by all who attended. Having been lucky enough to attend my greatest number of dives with the Club in a given year over the past season it has unfortunately resulted in somewhat of a blurring together of the individual dive trip details. However, two particular trips are worthy of a mention and hopefully they may inspire some of our less frequent attending members to venture out in the coming year.

On 3rd August 2003 the weather was unexpectedly calm and we enjoyed fine diving at the unusual Dolosse Wall below High Island Reservoir Dam. Plenty of sealife was in abundance including reports of barracuda, moray eels, cornet fish and lionfish to name a few but more surprisingly we were rewarded by a turtle fly-by during lunch on the boat. Yes really - I have lots of witnesses - a true turtle sighting in Hong Kong! However, it's a shame that nobody was diving at the time.

Towards the end of September we were blessed with spectacularly good visibility on the trip to Tai Long Wan, where many of the divers saw the marbled ray (unfortunately missing its tail) and numerous grouper and sweetlips. The year saw the Club making 19 individual day trips and 2 camping trips with a total of more than 480 dives. The Club has an obvious division between the regulars and the part-timers with more than half of these dives being made by only 11 of our members. The ignominious title of HKUC's wettest diver goes this year to Amanda Blanksby, who has in excess of 32 dives in Hong Kong during the year.

In a break from recent Club tradition we must congratulate two of our members for achieving successful completion of BSAC training with the HKUC. Firstly, Debbie Ives has completed her Ocean Diver course, and secondly Amanda Blanksby has been awarded her Sports diver cross over from PADI. Well done to both of them for completing these qualifications and let';s hope that it is not too long before we are awarding another qualification within the Club

Overseas trips made by Club members included a recent stay on the turtle capital of South East Asia – Sipadan Island. An intrepid group of 5 girls and 2 guys spent a week on the island and were rewarded with magnificent sightings of the incredible, improbable, implausible and down right out of this world creatures. Without a doubt the highlight would have to be the school of 5 hammerhead sharks at dawn. Other destinations that have been visited by our members include Palau and Cyprus.

Closer to home the end of last year saw the end of an era for the Club. Unfortunately, Mr Yip (Junior) has decided to retire and has sold his junk and Mr Yip (Senior) has finally tied up his painter and will no longer be providing and coordinating the junk for the Club's local trips. After all, as he recently reminded us, he has been retired for 7 years. We wish them both well in their respective retirements.

This of course means that we are looking for a new long-term boat to serve the Club’s needs for the coming season and as yet we have not confirmed who this will be. As they say "watch this space!"

In brief, we have a full diving schedule planned for this season, with a total of 24 trips spread throughout the coming year, which I hope will offer our members a wide range of diving opportunities to suit their desires.

Having been lucky enough to serve as the Club's Diving Officer for the past two years I will be stepping down today to make way for new blood. I am sure that David Taylor will bring much needed enthusiasm for diving and possibly even training opportunities within the Club in the coming season.

My final note must be to thank all those who have made the diving in 2003 a great success for the Club and all the members. Special note goes to the charitable efforts of the dive marshal team of Ronald and David Taylor, James Field and Richard Colwill.

Tristan Green
Diving Officer
11th February 2004