A Guest Blog from Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education Instructor Sharon El Shoura about the charity’s recent expedition to Malta…
Day one – Friday 3 SeptemberFirstly just to explain what we do ….
We are a completely volunteer-led charity that seeks to rehabilitate injured troops, who have suffered life changing injuries, through the medium of scuba diving.
Our plan was to take eight beneficiaries to Malta to complete their RAID Advanced Wreck course.
So an early start for some to get to Heathrow for our previously agreed meeting time, with some of the beneficiaries travelling from various parts of the country starting out at 0100.
Thankfully we all made it in time, well most of us! You know who you are!!
So Heathrow was very quiet and the transition through security was easy unless your name is Sean Martin, who had all the contents of his rucksack emptied and swabbed, including the inside of the dive log, obviously he is a bit dodgy looking 😉
So we loaded onto the very busy Air Malta flight, unable to book seats in advance we found ourselves scattered around the plane, service was very limited.
Arrival at Malta International Airport was a mixed experience for some. With the new requirements for COVID, our EU Passenger Locator forms were checked with the necessary COVID vaccination paperwork and we were sent through to a special screening area where it seemed that Sean’s look was still obviously a bit dodgy as he was taken into a separate room which ended being a case of mistaken identity!
So finally through to the warm, sticky atmosphere outside where we were met by drivers from the Dive Centre, Divewise and Tom Swarbrick who was already on the island. We loaded up the equipment and the rest of us piled into the air-conditioned bus and off to the dive centre. About 20 minutes later we arrived at the dive centre in St Julian’s to a very warm welcome from Alan and Viv, who gave us a guided tour of the facilities, including the shore entry to the sea, just to wet our appetites for the morning dives! Then it was onto the paperwork and sorting out of kit, and then the bags returned to the truck and some chose to walk to our accommodation at Behotel, whilst others opted for the air conditioned bus again.
Check in was somewhat complicated due to a misunderstanding of the booking, but finally rooms allocated, we arranged to meet in the nearest hostelry to sample the night life.
Day two – Saturday 4 SeptemberSo after a very good night’s sleep and an excellent breakfast at the hotel, we headed for the dive centre, which was about a 15 minute walk away. On arrival we decided to do some line tying skills and some academic refreshers whilst the other guests at the hotel got off to their days diving.
THEN………….
Thunderstorms and rain with drops the size of golf balls descended on us, sent us running for cover with little success. It was like we had all been in for our first dive without actually getting in the water!
Not to be deterred it seemed like a perfect moment to take a group picture!
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