Another season has passed, this year will be my 30^th year as a charter boat skipper. The changes that have occurred in that time to the diving industry is amazing, self assembled glued wet suites bought from Exchange and Mart to the first commercially available dry suit with valves made by Poseidon. Plain old air to nitrox, trimix and the Re-breather.

How charter boats have changed and improved over the years. When I first started as a skipper divers were going to sea in boats used for commercial fishing, the skippers would take out divers at the weekends to boost their income. Then gradually the boats became dedicated dive vessels, with the improvement in electronics, from the Decca navigator system to satellite navigation, from ladders to dive lifts, mono hulls to catamarans, tea and coffee to full blown meals on some boats or as in my case home made soup.

The 2009 season on the whole was reasonable. A good start from April to mid June, then the wind started to blow through until September, but the viz held up well. We did are usual trip down to Salcombe with Mole Valley SAC diving the the Maine, Persier, Totnes Castle, Riversdale, Herzogin Cecilie etc. The weather was superb, best week of the season.

The Olympics are fast approaching with the Sailing Academy Olympic venue now finished and a new marina completed. I was involved with the French Sailing Federation back in September taking out the committee to watch there team compete in Sail for Gold, Seven hundred sailing boats from all over the world were competing, quite a spectacular sight.

What is new for 2010 with Divetime? We intend to run a mid week program this year with small groups, out to the most popular and not so well dived wrecks. Watch the available dates page for details. and of course new soup recipes.

Safe diving in 2010

Paul