First dive of 2016. Very sunny day, lots of people about Sandycove swimming. Calm seas in the bay. Surface Temperature about 22 degrees Celsius. Visability underwater wasn't the best at about 3 feet. Still a very nice dive and the first of many this year.

All Kitted up and ready to dive when my buddy's fin strap broke, snapped clean in two. Luckily I had a spare strap in my 'just in case' bag however the bag was back in the car! So it took me 30 minutes to get my gear off, get the strap from the car, replace the strap and get my gear back on again. Sweating in the 23 degree heat. Next time I will be bringing my spares with me! The Dive itself was sweet. A lovely relaxing dive. Loads of swimmers about, two free divers and ourselves, no other divers. I found a nice gully on the dive that we could swim down along. I hadn't seen it before on previous dives probably due to it being overgrown with sea weed. It looked tight in places so we just swam above it. Must try and locate it again on a future dive and investigate it some more. Oh yeah in the past two months I've shed some weight, healthy diet and all that. So it allowed me to shed some kilos on my dive. I'm down from 15g to 13kg. Here's to shedding some more Kg's

Second dive today and the return leg of the first Dive we did. Nice short second dive heading back on a southerly direction from south of the forty foot. A bit more of a swell as the tide was turning and beginning to run. Hence why it was a short return dive as we were being helped by the current. A nice relaxing dive.

Lots of Divers out today in Sandycove, hence parking was a problem! After ten minutes or so driving around the block I got a spot close to the beach. Mick left his gear with me then and headed off to find a place to park. Its busy in the cove these days with all the good weather we've been having. Beautiful day in Sandycove, overcast but very warm. Low tide was at 08:01 so we were diving with the incoming tide. The current was nice and slack though, sheltered bay, so it was an easy dive, very relaxing. Not much life about though, very few fish, 3-4 crab, that's about it. Made our way out to the middle of Scotsman's Bay, surfaced and began our second dive after a few minutes rest on the surface.

Our second dive today was very relaxing, short but relaxing. Water temp was 15 degrees Celsius so I was very glad I didn't wear my hood. Still lots of divers about on our way back in to shore. Two ribs showed up packed with divers (about 10 or so in each boat) as we surfaced near the shore. About 20 other divers , looked to be trainees from Oceandivers, in the water too. So a very busy spot for diving today. Still overcast when we surfaced but very very warm.

Got to Sandycove about 9:00, very busy there so it took a while to get parking. Eventually got a place but it was a bit away from the entry point at the beach. As luck would have it we were beside the Curragh Sub Aqua Club's boat house and as the tide was fully in we decided to make this our entry point for today. This location can only be accessed when there's a full tide. On low tide its strewn with boulders and a long distance from the bay itself. Dive was ok, very murky as its my understanding there's a dredger working in Dublin Port and it's creating bad underwater visability for the whole diving area around Dublin. There was very little life about but we did come across a lobster pot containing about six lobster. Diving was pleasant overall but would have loved if there was a bit more life in the bay. Hopefully next time.

Wonderful day in Sandycove, sun shining, light breeze, and plenty of people about. Plenty of divers about too. Low tide was 08:14 with high tide expected about 14:41 so our dive wasn't too deep. Very little life about. We must be diving in the wrong area as other divers are reporting a good amount of life in the area. All we saw today were a few crab and wrasse. Go figure! It was a pleasant dive all the same, a nice way to start off the morning.

Second dive this morning, the return leg of the first dive out into Scotsman's bay. The wind had picked up somewhat and it was a bit choppy on the surface. Tide was coming in, high tide today was 14:41, so the bay was filling up nicely. Quite a few swimmers, snorkelers, divers, dive boats and speed boats in the bay. Plenty of activity going on so a lot to keep an eye on while diving. We kept inside the yellow buoys, between them and the shore so we didn't have to worry about passing ribs and speed boats. A pleasant dive to wrap up the day.

Nice easy dive this morning. After the high winds yesterday the sea is very calm, pond like. We were at Sandycove early this morning so parking was a bit easier thank god. Nothing like having to spend a half hour just waiting for a spot to become available. Low tide today is at 12:24 so it was getting shallower as the dive progressed. With only a half tank of air and carrying less weight than normal i found it a bit difficult at first to stay down. As we got into deeper water 4m-5.5m it becam easier. Visibility was poor today but to be as expected after the high winds and rain yesterday. Still it was ok at about 2-3m. We could see each other just about so it was grand. Saw a few lobster about and quite a few crab. I tried out my new GoPro Hero 4 Silver and it's a treat to have a GoPro back in my hands diving, it make it so much easier to capture stuff. Nice relaxing dive

Nice second dive today, easy going on the return leg back to shore. Visibility picked up a bit, now at about 3-4m. Very few people about, swimmers, no divers. The tide was still running out but was nice and gentle in the bay. Still calm seas, like a pond.