This year is the year of The Gathering so OceanAddicts are entering into the spirit of the year by hosting a Submerged Gathering here in Kinsale. The Submerged Gathering takes place on the weekend of the 20th and 21st of April. The weekend will be a mixture of diving and talking about diving and a chance to catch up with old friends and make new friends. Proceeds from the weekend will be presented to the RNLI
On the Saturday morning we will hold the Submerged Gathering where we hope to get as many divers as we can into the water. Registration will be at 9.30am and after a dive brief we will be heading out to the dive site for our Submerged Gathering
In the Afternoon we have two fantastic speakers Paul Rose will be joining us from the UK and our own John Collins will present two entertaining and informative talks, the location for these talks is the Trident Hotel. Later that evening there will be music in the bar of the Trident Hotel. On the Sunday we go diving again. For those interested in Seasearch, Dr Tim Butter, CFT’s scientific officer, will be leading a dive and talking about seasearch and our marine environment. this dive is open to divers from all diving agencies.
We are working to make this a fantastic Dive Weekend in Kinsale and with your help by attending and by spreading the word with us we can all together raise much needed funds for the RNLI and have a great diving weekend as well.
Timing is good if divers would like to bring their partners for a weekend in Kinsale as also happening this weekend is the Kinsale Chowder Cook Off. There will be a street market on Saturday and the Chowder Cook-off on Sunday, with lots of “foodie stuff” happening around town.
If you would like some more information contact me at anne@oceanaddicts.ie
Our Speakers
Paul Rose
Paul Rose is a man at the front line of exploration and one of the world’s most experienced divers and polar experts, Paul has been helping scientists unlock global mysteries for the past 30 years in the most remote and challenging regions of the planet.
With unique access across a wide range of expert fields, Paul is constantly working to raise awareness of global issues such as the understanding and protection of our ecosystems and biodiversity, climate change and sustainability. He is an award-winning champion for inspiring and motivating the next generation of field scientists and explorers.
His professional diving work includes science support diving in Antarctica as the British Antarctic Survey’s Institute Diving Officer, and in the Indian Ocean as Diving Ops Advisor to the RGS Shoals of Capricorn project.
He ran the US Navy diver training programme at Great Lakes Naval Training Centre and has trained many emergency response dive teams including the Police, Fire Department and Underwater Recovery Teams. And he remains a current and active PADI Dive Instructor.
Paul’s television presenting credits include: Britain’s Secret Seas, Oceans, Voyages of Discovery, Take One Museum, Meltdown, Wind Scrapheap Challenge., and Frank Wild: Antarctica’s Forgotten Hero
Paul is Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society and Chair of the Expeditions and Fieldwork Division.
He was the Base Commander of Rothera Research Station, Antarctica for the British Antarctic Survey for 10 years and was awarded HM The Queen’s Polar Medal.
For his work with NASA and the Mars Lander project on Mt Erebus, Antarctica he was awarded the US Polar Medal.
He is a published author: Paul co-authored his BBC linked book, Oceans. He writes numerous commissioned magazine articles, and has recently completed writing on Humboldt and Magellan for a new book on Great Explorers. He is a freelance Journalist and a member of the Society of Authors.
John Collins
John Collins is an award-winning photographer, based in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Ireland. Originally from Limerick, he discovered photography as a teenager and with it a life-long passion to capture images of the world around us. While studying Pharmacy in Trinity College Dublin, he learned to scuba-dive with Dublin University Sub-Aqua Club and went on to gain experience both in Ireland and abroad, eventually becoming a diving instructor in 1991.
John is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography course in professional photography. On land, John continues to work on landscape and documentary photographs, producing unique images of the beautiful areas around Kinsale and west Cork.
John specializes in Underwater Photography, particularly in his home waters and other temperate seas that are less visited and appreciated than the coral seas of the tropics. A collection of these images have been published in the book, Cool Waters Emerald Seas, published by Atrium in 2006. Many of John’s photographs have been successful in competition and are widely published internationally. As Divers we can really appreciate John’s ability to capture glimpses of our unique underwater landscape, the life that inhabits it and the ships that have been wrecked in it.
Tim Butter
Tim has a degree in marine biology and both a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in environmental engineering. He has over 20 years experience as a professional scientist and has worked in such diverse fields as fisheries research, the detection of insect pests in bulk grain storage, the chemistry of biotoxins in shellfish, parasitology, and the development of treatment processes for industrial waste waters. Tim has also undertaken lecturing in biological sciences in the University of Leeds and at the Cork Institute of Technology. He is a certified auditor with experience in quality management systems, particularly in laboratory environments.
Tim is a member of Cork Sub Aqua Club, he has been fascinated by marine life since childhood. Tim is now the Scientific Officer with the Irish Underwater Council, and is involved with SeaSearch in Ireland. Tim has a wealth of knowledge of the marine environment and the critters that live in it.
