Senator Dr. Keith Swanick

Diving Ireland

Our club and SAR unit members provided two rigid inflatable boats with crew for today's organised sea search for Rescue 116 crewmen Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby. Well done to everyone involved. A huge effort from all.

Irish Coast Guard

What awful news. So sad to hear this.

POLL: You decide who makes it to the final of the Le Crunch Apple of My Eye Song Contest | JOE.ie

Everyone here at Grainne Uaile SAC & Search & Recovery Unit would like if everyone could take a min and VOTE for KATIE CASSIDY who is from Ballina. Thanks folks.

Viral Thread

Very cool and simple answer to a big problem.

To all our members and friends we wish you and your families a very happy, safe and prosperous New Year. We would also like to thank everyone who has supported GUSAC Underwater Search & Recovery unit throughout the year.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, from everyone in Grainne Uaile SAC & Underwater Search & recovery unit.

Timeline Photos

Grainne Uaile Sub Aqua club are looking for people who are interested in learning to scuba dive. We will be running a new scuba training course early next year and are taking names now. No experience is necessary to do the course. Our club have highly experienced instructors who have world recognised qualifications and will be at hand to teach you in both the theory and practical elements of scuba. Also, If you have already got scuba qualifications we would be delighted to have you join us. Our club is an active vibrant club with members across all ages. From the month of April through to September we have scheduled dives 3 times per week to the waters off the Mayo coastline(weather permitting). For the rest of the year we try to take advantage of any break in the weather. If the any of the above sounds appealing to you please come along to our upcoming TRY A DIVE on November 20th @ 8pm in Ballina Swimming Pool, here you will be able to try on the scuba equipment and experience scuba diving in the safe confines of a pool with a qualified instructor. If you are interested in this please call 087 417 0074 to book your place. Feel free to share.

A short video from one of the club dives over the long weekend. Thankfully the weather has been good to allow us get some good diving activity in with about 5 club dives completed last weekend alone. Thanks to Lukasz for this video. Over the last number of weeks the club has continued to conduct 2 dives a week between night dives and trips further off shore at the weekends when we have the daylight to do so.

Update on club activity in the last week. The club have completed two night dives, dived the wreck on Sunday morning. And the big news is we had 3 divers complete and pass their club diver(CMAS 2* divers) test over the weekend. Firstly, congratulations to those who passed the club diver test. They have now gained a diving qualification which is recognised worldwide and is highly respected due to the level of competency achieved, this now allows them to dive anywhere in the world. The club diver involves logging over 25 open water dives in various depths up to 30 meters, attending numerous lectures on many dive related subjects and culminates with a test during which you a have to safely and competently lead a dive to 20 meters. As part of the test you have to simulate emergency situations such as "out of air", "buddy breathing", "free ascent" and "retrieve & replace your lost regulator(what you breathe from) along with your diving mask. On land you Demonstrate CPR & use of AED with a brief questions & answer test on all subjects diving related. Thank you to our friends in Galway Sub Aqua club for taking time to test our divers. OUR NIGHT DIVES. Thankfully we got a few breaks in the weather to allow us complete our night dives. It was also a pleasure to have Richie from Limerick Sub Aqua Club come along with us for a dive. Start time of these dives is 8:30 - 9 pm approx which means you have total and complete darkness underwater. The only source of light is your diving torch. Our first dive we spent 1 hour and 20 min underwater in a depth up to 15 meters, our second we were in 11 meters for 65 min. On the first dive the marine life on show was spectacular. We encountered the usual and familiar marine life such as Pollack, Wrasse, Dogfish, Lobsters(in abundance), a conger eel out and about on a hunt no doubt, pouting, Flounder, Dab, Plaice, Red Mullet, crab of many different types and a few small shoals of mackerel. Other species we don't normally encounter on our regular dives were a massive Angler fish(monkfish), Dragon Net, Scorpion Fish and the special one was two small Cuttlefish having a battle. Unfortunately our second night dive didn't live up to the standard set on the first with just the few of the usual marine species on show, but that's how it can go. On these dives it's always nice to just take a few minutes, to turn off your torch and as you feel completely weightless in total darkness, you experience something very special, thankfully as scuba divers we get the chance to experience this odd but immensely satisfying feeling. Until the next one. Regards, GUSAC. We will be starting a new training course soon and will post details in the near future.

Coast Guard member dies and colleague remains trapped in cave after boat capsizes

Very sad news. RIP to this brave lady. Our prayers and thoughts go to her family, crew members and Coast Guard Colleagues. Let's also hope for a safe and positive outcome for the crew member trapped.

Portacloy ,Stacks of Broadhaven 2016

Hi folks, just a quick update on recent club activity. Here is a short video of GUSAC's recent day diving from Portacloy on the 14th August, thank you to Bart for putting this together. Since that day up to Tuesday last, the club have been out for 4 dives as well as providing assistance to the Coleman Electrics Salmon Run Triathlon in Ballina. GUSAC have been helping Liquid Motion Triathlon Club since the very first race and look forward to continuing this support into the future. The diving is still excellent with good underwater visibility. With the day light hours getting less and less these days our dives on midweek evenings are starting to get a little darker from 25 meters on wards due to the fading light above water. With this the marine life tends to be a bit more plenty full. At this time of the year we all start to get a excited as we look forward to doing some night diving. Night diving is not for every diver, you can imagine being underwater in total and complete darkness with only your torch as a source of light. For some the feeling of weightlessness in mid water and the total darkness coupled with a lot more marine life out and about doing there thing in the dark makes for some exciting diving. Other divers in the club are busy getting ready for their test's next month which will take them the next level in their diving qualifications. All diving grades achieved through GUSAC are recognised internationally and will allow you to dive freely anywhere in the world. Feel free to share. Regards. GUSAC.