Winter Snow & sea kayaking Isle of Man

This weekend provided an decidely wintry feel to our adventures :)

Some great colours and contrasts for photo's as well!

Laxey was calm and sheltered as predicted, snow showers, sunshine, vivid clouds and sun patterns and a great place to enhance sea kayak skills - journeying and playing through the rocks and inlets.

The odd sorte out to the tidal races during the week - spring tides giving excitement and opening pathways usually inaccessible...

Laxey also provided some amazement at the dedication of the Balla Africa charity swim team practicing for a wetsuited relay between IOM and England during TT week 2010!

http://www.ballaafrica.org.uk/fundraising-bigswim.htm

Brett and Gareth looked on great form in the snow :)

It instigated a talk amongst the paddlers on our upcoming Isle of Man Adventure Race, 26th - 27th June 2010 :)

A few of us are looking forward to the sea kayaking, but hoping to poach a few of the swimmers for that element of the race weekend...

...as much like most of the ice skating on display at the temporary rink at the Villa Marina in Douglas - some have more skill than others...

Immense fun and absolutely no control or ability to seen! :)

Training Courses & BCU Awards - Sea Kayaking Isle of Man

We've had an exceptional busy training time on the sea, with rough water boat handling and leadership, followed by BCU personal performance and leadership awards.

Congratulations on the Adventure Club members who completed their BCU Coastal Navigation & Tidal Planning course. The next course will begin 10th January, and run for 5 consecutive Sunday Evenings.

Well done those who also passed their BCU 2* and 3* Sea Awards.

A big well done to the Finnish & UK coaches - who have been training with us for the Rough Water handling, and then completed their BCU 4* Sea Leadership Assessment, and then went on to complete their 5* Sea Training.

Nigel Dennis and Trys Burke were on the Island to run the Awards and provide external verification.

We spent a lot of time trying to find landings around the Calf of Man, which were not already taken by the seal population!!

And of course wary of finding baby seal pups camouflaged on the beaches after we landed :)

Some beautiful sunsets, and early morning sunrises....

As well as the anticipated tidal Races and Overfalls provided by our unique Manx coastline!

With the long term forecast looking favourable for paddling (cold and clear) and the enquires we have received, we are providing more experiences and trips this Christmas - for our regular Adventure Club members, as well as families and visitors who fancy a paddle over the holidays :) Link below to our Calendar of scheduled events;

http://www.adventurousexperiences.com/events/

Gift Vouchers

The perfect Christmas gift - available for experiences with us or for values from £25. Buy online via paypal - or contact us for more info. Vouchers come inside a special gift certificate card, in time for Christmas!

Red Sea Diving!

We managed a week at Hurghada, Egypt - diving each day in warm water...

Some amazing sights, terrific people and plenty of sun!

The Turtle - photographed by Kez, swam straight up to him, then curiously cruised around us before heading off to a new location.

Staying at the Titanic Beach Resort made

walking a few yards to the resorts own beach each morning easy, and meeting with our guides.

Blue Spooted Ray - again captured by Kez.

Beginning with the Titanic Diving Centre's own 'House Reef' just off the pier on day one, we progressed to other reefs offshore before diving the 'Salem Express' and 'Thistlegorm', penetrating both the wrecks lying in 30m of water, and having an exclusive experience, just our group of 8 Manx lads onboard :)

A vast array of multi-coloured fish, Giant Moray's, Ray's, Nemo's..

The Dive Boat used by the Titanic Diving Centre was delightful, and lunch cooked and served onboard each day was delightful!

We'll upload more pics and descriptions shortly..

Many thanks to Dave and his team at Mann Scuba Divers - based in Port Erin on the Isle of Man whom we all trained with, both PADI Open Water Water and Advanced Open Water qualifications in preparation for Egypt!

a quick update on adventures on the Isle of Man...

It's been a while since we've had a second to update the Blog, as we're currently in our busiest winter period to date.

Coaching, as well as beginners trips on the sea have been immensely satisfying, despite the run of low pressure systems over the previous few weeks.

Rough Water Training

We're hosting students from Finland and the UK, on our training courses at present, and have been utilising the challenging conditions and tidal races around the Island for leadership decision making, rescue and incident scenarios, as well as general fun!

We have experienced some beautiful early mornings, some challenging following sea journeys, large swells in the rock gardens...

and the 1, 2, 3... GO!!

Launching technique with plenty of motivation for speed and efficiency... :)

Today begins the official BCU 4* Leadership Assessment for one group of students, three of whom are Finnish instructors who completed their 4* Training course with us last year.

Nigel Dennis and Trys Burke are on the Island to run courses, training sessions and as usual get some great paddling done!

Good luck with the assessment folks - and we'll hope for some pics and quotes from the BCU 5* Leadership Training course for the next update.

Keirron