Cockney Blue Calypso was a Scuba Diving expedition with the ULOTC that took place in Gozo from 11 – 22 July 2010. It consisted of 29 students and 5 instructors. We were divided into two groups for the duration of the expedition; the novices, who would be undertaking the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) Ocean Diver course and those who had dived before, undertaking the BSAC Sports Diver and Dive Leader courses.
The island of Gozo is ideal for both the training and the subsequent dives, offering sheltered harbours and calm water spots for training dives while still having plenty of wrecks, reefs and other interesting dives within everyone’s depth limits once people are qualified.
The training went well and by the midpoint of the expedition, the Ocean and Sports Divers were successfully qualified meaning that everyone could start doing deeper dives and building up their experience and confidence. The Dive Leader trainees were able to advance their training by leading the now qualified Ocean and Sports Divers. The highlight must be ‘Cathedral Cave’, a site that involved walking down (and back-up) over 150 steps cut in the cliff face in full kit, but well worth the arduous tab! It was a fantastic expedition which everyone enjoyed and I hope that many of them will continue diving, be it with the ULOTC or not!
OCdt R Draper