The History of ET

Up until a year or so ago, Easter Training, or ET as it is fondly known, had involved everybody travelling down to Porthkerris beach in Cornwall at Easter to finalise some training and generally have lots of fun. Trainees could finish their Ocean and Sports Diver Training, as well as managing to go on a cool selection of dives to wrecks such as the 1896 wreck of the liner Mohegan and the 1917 wreck of the ammunition ship Volnay, plus nature sites such as Rico's Rock and Raglan Reef. Existing Sports Divers could brush up on their skills and maybe finish off those Dive Leader qualifications...etc etc. And after a hard day relaxing on the beach everybody wanted to party...... not a lot's changed there then ....... you would be amazed what we got up to - or not!

Daytime for Divers on Porthkerris beach

Evening at the Caravan Site

Initial open water dives for the Trainees would take place off Porthkerris beach, which was a rather cool place to dive, especially around the reef. The diving range was extended by using a couple of 'RIBs' - Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats - which allowed us to navigate to dive sites which are further off-shore. There are several articles from Diver Magazine about diving out of Porthkerris. Read about summer diving here, and read about winter diving here, plus read about diving off the Manacles Reef here and diving the wreck of the Volnay here.

When not in the water the facilities of the Porthkerris Dive Center were available to our visiting divers.

• All day tropical restaurant - good place for lunch, snacks & cups of tea
• Diving accessory & clothing shop
• And that most important facility for cold water divers - toilets

Accomodation was at a caravan site overlooking picturesque Kennack Sands during the evening. Each caravan housed roughly 6 people, or 6 people roughly, and also offered basic cooking and sleeping facilities.

As mentioned earlier, ET took place this year off the coast of South Devon, based around Torquay & Plymouth, and a Link to the 2008 ET Report can be found in both the ET and Dive Trips drop down menus.