2025 Winner: Abroad and overall winner
Scuba diving trips when you’re based in the middle of the country often need a fair bit of forward preparation and organisation. With that in mind, Diving Officer Geoff hosted a Trip Planning evening on Thursday 30 July 2026 at the Hemel Hempstead Town Cricket Club. Thankfully it was cooler than it had been the past few days, so it was nice to get together by the bar and plan trips for later in 2026, 2027 and beyond.
Geoff split us into groups, each armed with a pen and flipchart paper, with the aim to brainstorm diving ideas both in and outside of the UK. Some retired outside in the breeze while others stayed closer to the bar, but all of us then pondered what and where we fancied diving.
In the UK there was a call to revisit Pembrokeshire (which we last dived in July 2024), as well as some discussion on how popular another Porthkerris trip might be and who might want to organise it. As Dacorum Scuba gains more diving members it was also thought that some trips could be more frequent or concurrent, to offer more members choices of when and where to go. Further north, the Farnes and Eyemouth were mentioned, though some seemed keen to sample the diving (to be determined) around Hull. A visit to Scapa Flow was also added back into the mix, with thoughts of Huskyan and skipper Emily’s presentations still fresh in the minds of many. The Firth of Forth and Southern Ireland were also considered as new potential destinations for the club.
The discussion then moved abroad, with consideration of how soon trips could be arranged to destinations such as the Philippines or Mexico, or (slightly closer) the Azores. Cost and saving up for the trips was discussed, with one person suggesting a monthly payment plan for infrequent bigger trips, on a more infrequent, possibly a 2-3 year basis.
Geoff rounded off the discussion by settling on the final trips to be looked into, with potential organisers slated to investigate possibilities (as many boats have changed owners or sites no longer operating as they used to) and report back to the group, so the trips can then be confirmed and offered to members.
With everyone assigned their tasks and thoughts of new destinations in everyone’s minds, we broke up for the night. Watch this space and look for the new trips being announced soon.
2025 Second place: Above Water
