Skirmish -- Sunday 21st August 2011

by Miguel Garrido

OOOOOOOOUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

What a day! I don’t know if I was sorer from all the welts & bruises or just from the general running around all day, commando rolling, and power sliding. Either way, I hurt for over a week afterwards. Now before you say “I’m glad I missed out then…” you’ll have to hear the backstory first.

After our heroic day at the Brisbane Gun Club shooting clay targets I made the outrageous offer that if a certain amount of people booked on for Paintball, I would wear a high-vis vest over my camouflaged overalls. So I did. I stuck out like a sore thumb on the day and paid the price for it. When the fairy wings and tutu came into the deal I do not remember, but on the day there were too many people (holding me down) to say no. So there I was running around in a yellow vest with a pink and purple tutu and pink fairy wings.

You can imagine that everyone punished me accordingly. As for the rest of the group (those that actually were camouflaged), they had a blast. After every game people were running around trying to work out just who it was that pinned them up against barricades or between the trees and how many times they shot Mig in the back.

It was a lot of fun and once again we are excited for the next social club event, Go-Kart Racing at Kingston Park Raceway!

Santo, Vanuatu Trip Report -- July 2011

by Jo Boniface

At Pro Dive Brisbane's birthday celebrations last year I was the lucky winner of the giveaway trip and in July I travelled to Vanuatu to dive one of the largest most accessible wrecks in the world, the SS President Coolidge. WOW!

The Coolidge is a shore dive off the island of Espiritu Santo, you just walk in from the beach and then descend on down to the amazing underwater world of a shipwreck. The Coolidge was originally a 900 birth first class passenger liner, not unlike the Titanic in its stature, and it was commissioned into military service and outfitted as a troop carrier to carry 5000 troops during World War II. On 26th October 1942 while the Coolidge was heading into port, she struck friendly mines; the captain ran her aground saving most of the troops, although 2 did go down with the ship when she slipped off the reef. Now she is an awesome dive site lying on her side between 20 and 70 metres.

With an amazing group of divers and a pretty cool dive crew from Aquamarine we had a fantastic week of diving. Groups of 4-5 of us had our own dive guide to take us on tours through the sometimes hauntingly eerie decks and rooms of the Coolidge. We visited the Promenade Deck, Cargo Holds 1 and 2, the Medical Supply room where powdered medicines are still intact in glass bottles, we got to see and kiss the famous "Lady", the Engine Room, and the Swimming Pool. Our tech divers Smiley and Colin dived the Gauntlet, from the stern all the way up the middle of the ship. To try something different a group of divers went diving at Million Dollar point and others went out for some spectacular reef diving followed by a night dive to Cargo Holds 1 and 2 with the amazing flashlight fish. And what an amazing place for Geoff to complete his Wreck certification.

To off-gas on the last day we went out to the amazing Blue Holes, while some of the boys went fishing and caught us dinner. While having dinner at the Deco Stop Lodge we were entertained by the local village cultural show, it was fantastic, and what better way to end the trip!
The Coolidge is definitely on top of my list of dive sites to do again. A BIG thank you to Dale (dive leader) for local dive site knowledge, and his unquestionable dive skills and for making this another fantastic trip.

Beach Ball -- 16th July 2011

by Eirin Fondal

What a night!!! The theme for this year’s annual Dive ball was ‘Beach Party’, showing off the imagination of all in attendance. We had everything from Mermaids to Sailors, Gilligan’s Island crew & the classic relaxed beach bum look. The “beach” vibe was set with Palm trees, Beach Buckets & Spades. Not to forget the Beer Gardner's (the band's) efforts to get us singing and dancing to Beach Boys tunes... “some more then others” thank you Jeremy. Dinner was amazing and as always we all looked forward towards this year.

Best Buddy of the year went to Saille Clougher and Rob Horsley went home with Social Club member of the year. Congratulations to all our award winners and a big thank you for coming! It is with all your support we can make these events happen! Having said that, our ears are open for suggestions of a theme for next year. We can’t wait to hear from you all!

Thank you again from all of us at Snorkel Safari Brisbane!