How to write a dive guide

Keywords

Quick Guide

  1. You need to login and have edit access to the website. Register here for an account if you haven't already.
  2. Go to theDive Guidepage
  3. At the bottom of the screen there is a selection box - choose "Add child page" or alternatively go directly here
  4. You need to provide a Latitude & Longitude for the site. You can do this by clicking on the map (easiest), or by going to Google Earth to find them, then entering them in decimal format. A marker will appear automatically on the Ireland map with a link to the new dive guide page.
  5. Also fill in the page title, location and alias. The alias should be of the form dive_guide/clew_bay
  6. Fill in the body using the standard template i.e. sections, headings etc. Copy and paste from another page if necessary.
  7. The new page will appear in the list of dive sites automatically when the new page is saved.

Below are a few pointers on what sort of information one might include in a dive guide. It's a rather exhaustive list and therefore probably a bit intimidating. It's just a list, so don't feel you have to have info on everything! Contact the trip advanced diver for information on the local rescue services.

Remember the idea is to help a less experienced diver organise a trip to the area in question.

Intro

  • overview of your experiences, the diving
  • relevant contacts
  • sources of information: books,magazines,websites
  • admiralty chart number
  • discovery series map no
  • for whom is the diving suitable?

Local area info

  • how to get there, approximate journey times
  • toll, ferry costs?
  • ferries necessary? last ferry times?
  • accommodation, where, good? cost?
  • pubs within walking distance
  • parking for boats, cars
  • sheets provided at accommodation
  • place to hang up suits to dry?
  • where can one compress
  • kitchen facilities
  • petrol stations, ATMs, supermarkets
  • recommended pubs, restaurants
  • places to go for blown-out divers

Diving

  • launching sites, suitable at which stages of the tide
  • Where, do you've to pay
  • moorings
  • where to find harbourmaster, cost of mooring
  • where to park
  • can you compress nearby
  • where to get fuel for boats, compressors
  • is the area tidal?
  • did you dive on neaps/springs
  • where did you get tidal info, calculate slack?
  • hand drawn map with dive sites on it
  • GPS coordinates for sites
  • photos of dive sites, transits, shore entry points etc
  • launch from where, shore entry/exits
  • how to find the site, distance, time to site
  • max depth, bottom composition
  • info to help underwater orientation
  • types of fish life to be seen
  • history, if wreck
  • particular safety considerations
  • any other info
  • bad weather dive sites
  • compressors available locally?
  • local dive centres
  • coastguard on which VHF channels
  • nearest lifeboat
  • nearest recompression chamber
  • emergency numbers

But I don't know how to write funny code!!

Now the dive guide features a rich text editor so you should be able to create a decent looking guide without any major effort. See our page on Using this site for details.

Adding Photos to your Dive Guide

You can uploading images and place them in your dive guide page using the rich text editor. See the ' Using this site' page for details.

Adding a Google Map (GMap)

You can create a snippet of code to put a Google map into your guide. Go to dusac.org/map/macro and play around with the (many!) options. Once you're happy with the way your map looks, you'll find the code in a box at the bottom of the page labelled 'Macro text'. Paste this code into your dive guide entry, and stand back and admire the results!