Thursday 30 June 2011

Amazon Bookshop reduces price of Wrecks and reefs of Southeast Scotland

Hi All,
I have just noticed that Amazon have reduced the price of my book Wrecks and reefs of Southeast Scotland to just over £13 saving you over £5. I dont know how long this will last but dont miss out if you are interested in the book.
Mike Clark

Quick link to sale page below.



Exmouth Wreck Dive

Hi All,
Just to let you know that i managed to get out to the Exmouth this week and had a superb dive. Images and text will follow in due course.
Mike

Sport Diver Magazine Wreck Articles By Mike Clark

Hi All,
just to let you know, i have just had another couple of wreck articles published in Sport Diver. HMS. Pathfinder is featured in the June issue and a divers guide to the wrecks of the Sound of Mull can be found in the July edition.
Cheers
Mike

Friday 24 June 2011

On-line Simply Scuba Shopping Experience

On-line Simply Scuba Shopping Experience


I recently purchased some diving gear from the Simply Scuba website and was asked to report on how I got on. Here is an account of my experience-


Entering the site I found the home page to be clear and user friendly. Phone numbers for contact and customer service can be found here as well as tabs for popular departments. I didn’t want to phone I wanted to order online. I therefore perused the menu on the left hand side of the screen. Here you can choose to shop by department or by product type. I decided on the latter and clicked on Bags. Immediately a sub menu dropped down giving me different choices re types of bags. (Dive Bags, Mesh Bags, Reg Bags etc.). The range was very impressive and whilst I had initially thought about buying a traditional dive bag, I became interested in the range of mesh dive bags, because of the choice, (and I wanted as much water to drain off my kit before it goes back into my car). Another great tool to assist in my choice was Simply Scuba’s product videos. Here in my case different dive bags were displayed, pockets opened up, straps and handles clipped on etc. I also got a sense of scale of the product by comparing it to the staff member demonstrating it. I would say that these little video clips are the next best thing to actually being in a shop yourself and getting hands on with a product.
I was also interested in a lifting bag but initially I could not find them on the site. I looked in the reels and buoys section to no avail. To find them, I returned to the home page and used the search function and this found them. They are located in a drop down menu- under accessories. Once again there was a good range. Unfortunately the lift bag I was interested in was currently out of stock. There was a banner stating that the product would be available in 8 days time. As I write this review I have re visited the website and note that the lift bag is now back in stock.
With no lift bag being available at the time I decided to purchase a T shirt instead. I noted a favourite design. Opening the relevant page up I was given options of size and colour. Further down the page there was a size chart to assist me in getting the right size.
Checkout was very easy and I received an e mail to confirm my order and also to alert me that my order had been despatched.
The cost of delivery was very reasonable and it arrived quickly. In fact had I received my dive magazine quicker I could have benefitted from free postage with an offer code in the magazine.
So now we get to the important bit when the products arrive. I was happy to note that the bag I ordered was exactly as I expected. My T shirt had been supplied in the correct size and colour.
In conclusion I found this to be a pleasant buying experience. It’s the next best thing to actually being in a shop with hands on a product. But with the benefit of ordering from a huge range of diving products from the comfort of your own home. What about price? Well I thought prices across the range were neither high or low. However, what I did note was that if you see the same product cheaper else where Simply Scuba will price match, so I knew I was going to get the best deal.


I would happily shop online again with Simply Scuba.

Mike Clark

Diving Equipment

Saturday 18 June 2011

DIVE AND DIVER MAGAZINES REVIEW WRECKS AND REEFS OF SOUTHEAST SCOTLAND.

Wrecks and reefs of Southeast scotland has been receiving great reviews since it was released in October 2010. Now the editors of 2 of the biggest UK Diving Magazines had their chance to review the book. Here is what Simon Rogerson of Dive Magazine and Steve Weinman of Diver Magazine had to say about the Wrecks and Reefs of Southeast Scotland

Simon Rogerson Editor Dive Magazine published june 2011

WRECKS AND REEFS OF SOUTHEAST SCOTLAND
by Mike Clark

 Whittles Publishing

The best of this month's batch of dive site guides comes from the Pen of Mike Clark, a Prolific scuba
journalist who specialises in this corner of his native Scotland. lt follows the Firth of Forth from west to east, taking in 100 sites
(apparently the obligatory figure for books of this sort) along
the way. Mike's site descriptions are incredibly detailed' and
speak of a diver who takes his logbook very seriously indeed'
Many visitors to Scotland tend to head for Oban and the
Hebrides, but Mike is on a mission to show that there's plenty
of meat on the east coast. His book is divided into five sections
covering Burntisland, North Berwick, Dunbar' St Abbs and
Eyemouth. So, not a massive area
but as the book demonstrates, there's plenty of substance to the local sites'
Each dive is treated with a general descriptive passage of
about 4OO words, neatly laid out with location photographs
and essential information. Mike's photography is excellent and
is used to good effect throughout' Overall' it's a very nicely
produced Guide that should be a must-buy for anyone with
an interest in diving this overlooked corner of Scotland' SR

Steve Weinman Editor Diver Magazine Published October 2010

Wrecks & Reefs of Southeast Scotland, by Mike Clark



The author of this guide to dive sites in the Firth of Forth and further east was at 0ne time a regular contributor to Diver. His style then was very much "wreck tour" (or reef tour), in that he liked to guide the reader around mainly Scottish sites in blow-by-blow detail. Mike Clark's first book takes a more general approach to each of his chosen locations, with the words backed up by sound underwater photographs. Anyone looking to dive what is in effect the Edinburgh author's underwater backyard can be sure that the information offered here is based on first-hand and often repeated experience. The Forth contains a number of interesting wrecks, from warships such as SMS Munchen and HMS Saucy to the liner Campania, aircraft and even midget submarines. The port of Leith and Rosyth dockyard gave rise to heavy river traffic, and the casualties may have run into storms, wartime attacks or each other.
The action starts at Burntisland (on a shark dive at the local aquarium) and moves east through North Berwick and Dunbar in the Firth estuary. Lesser-known wrecks lie in the deeper waters here, including steam-powered submarines off the isle of May. Wreck-divers should note that only about 40 of the 100 sites in the book are in fact wrecks, and scenic dives predominate as Clark moves out of the Firth and down to St Abbs and Eyemouth, an area already well-covered by diving guides.
This is a well-written and useful addition to the UK dive guide canon.

Steve Weinman

Whittles Publishing

ISBN 9781 8499 SO1O724O, Softback 224pp, l8.99




Friday 10 June 2011

FOR SALE RWATER HOUSING AND CAMERA

Hi All,
I have recently upgraded my camera and I am now selling my current underwater Housing and camera
Details are as follows.

Sea and Sea NX 70D Housing
Nikon D 70 camera Body (Boxed with all cables, battery and other accessories)
4 compact flash cards- 2 sandisc extreme 3 4GB cards, 1 sandisc extreme3 1 GB card and a further unused 2GB card

All are in excellent condition and are in full working order.
I will include in the price postage in the UK and a 1 day training course explaining how to use the system. (transport not included. Location of course St. Abbs or sea lochs)

Just to confirm ports and lenses are not included in this sale.

This is an excellent package for the underwater photographer to get into underwater photography with a SLR camera. Image quality is superb and this is the system i used for the photography in my book Wrecks and Reefs of Southeast Scotland, which you can view to see the images.

Total price for above items posted in the UK is £650

if you have any questions re the camera system please just ask
contact me via email or on tel 07722887278

Regards
Mike Clark

Buy Underwater and Topside prints

Hi All,
I hope you are enjoying my Blog. If you are why not look at my main website www.underwater-photos.co.uk To get there just click on the main site link at the top of my Blog page. I have just updated and relabeled all the images in my buy print section, so please do have a look if you like. i have reduced the prices across the board on all my prints.
If there is anything specific you wish a picture of either above or below the water please let me know and I will check to see if i have suitable images in my back catalogue or i will go out and get a photo for you, if possible.
Mike Clark

St. Abbs Boat Diving



Hi All,
Believe it or not, it has taken me till the beginning of June to get a dive in at St. Abbs this year. Reports from the area suggested that underwater the conditions have been superb! i can now confirm this to be the case. Diving from the Wavedancer II i was on board with a couple of well known photographers Ken Sullivan and Bob Allan. We were the only 3 on the boat and we had a great time, in near perfect conditions. First up was anemone gullies where i found a nice wolf fish amongst other things. The second dive was at Ebb Carrs where a nice lumpsucker was found. Visibility was superb at around 10-12 metres.
Mike Clark