Monkton Combe School CCF went to GOZO during the period 20th – 31st October 2012 to carry out adventure training, with diving as the primary activity. In total 10 cadets and 2 members of staff participated in the trip.

The aim of PADI ADVENTURE 2012 was to introduce cadets to Scuba diving, qualify cadets in PADI open water, PADI open water advanced and PADI Dive Rescue, Mountain biking, rock climbing and self reliance.

Diving: Mobydick diving school were very accommodating with our needs and were very flexible when we dived especially when the weather changed and we would drive around the island to find the most appropriate dive location for the level of experience. The sites that we dived were: The Blue hole, Xlindi Bay and Reef, Mgarr In Xindi, Hondog Bay, Xatt l-ahmar and Xweini. All of these sites offering the cadets new experiences and fresh challenges, ranging from shallow dives to diving up to 33m for those on the Open water and Dive rescue, and seeing close up a wide range of marine life, Scorpion fish, Stripped and Spotted Bream, Octopus, Rays, Scuttle fish, Trumpet Fish and Barracuda and many more.

Activities: We spent a day at Mgarr In Xindi which is a site about 800m inland from the coast and is being developed into a very popular location for Rock climbing and Abseiling. In the end we did not do the bike riding as we took full advantage of the weather to get as much diving in as possible which enabled the cadets to get the following dive qualifications: 6 PADI Open Water, 1 PADI Adventure, 3 PADI Open Water Advanced and 1 PADI Dive rescue. Instead of the bike ride we hired a boat for the day and took the cadets snorkelling around Comino Island, swimming in the Blue Lagoon and Crystal water.

Summary The trip was a great success as I hope the pictures will show and we all would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the contribution that the Ulysses trust made towards this expedition.

Andy Clark, WO2, Trip Leader