Diving at last
Well I finaly got wet. After many weeks of badgering, missed chances and cancelled trips I finally got to do some training dives. I guess it comes as no suprise that diving in a dry suit in northern european waters is completly different to a wet suit in the Caribbean.
So I rather sensibly joined the local British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) and am currently undergoing training. I've already done the theory and the pool work. All that is left is the open water and it has been this which I've been trying to arrange for the past month or so. This weekend it finally happened.
Suit hired and picked up all I had to do was meet every one at a ridiculous, for me, time of the morning. I arrive at the appointed time but no one shows. I start to think that its all going the way of the pear again. I leave messages on the phone of the organiser telling where I am. 10 Minutes past the alloted time and just as start looking though my phone for people to ring and harass I get a call from unrecognised number. After a confusing discusion it becomes apparent that we have all been sat 50 yards apart seperated by a motorway for 20 minutes.
Ahem, anyway so we set of for Capernwray for my first experience of diving in a disused quarry and diving in a dry suit. Capernwray is basically a large flooded hole in the ground that by the looks of it is making money hand over fist. It was packed beyound belief, and I was told that wasn't busy. The facilities were actually good, now if only they put the same thought into their web site, but as it was a sunny day we (and every one else) changed in the carpark.
What this tells me about the state of British health is that we are a nation of fatties. Neoprene doesn't flatter or hide the bulges.
My first dive did not go according to plan. The place was so cowded and I was struggling to get to grips with the dry suit that it all went wrong. The idea was to just spend 20-25 minuets going as far as possible and the only skill to worry about was buoyancy using the dry suit. Instead with people above me, below me and the bloody fish (3 foot long trout who took the piss out the novice divers like me) it was like swiming in soup. What with the bloom and everyone piling in the visibilty also dropped down to about 4 meters.
Stuggling to cope with all this my buoyancy was all over the show and as a result I was up and down like a yo yo. This eventually began to have an effect on my ears so I called a halt and abandoned the dive 15 minuets in.
The second dive went much better. I used the jacket for buoyancy instead of the suit and this worked so much better. This time we got as far as Lord Lucan and Shergar (two fair ground horses from blackpool that were sunk there) and the Dreamer (a boat sunk at teh far end of the training area).
The only down side was that becuase I was still worried about my ear I refused to do the mask clear (you have to let your mask fill with water and and then clear it followed by completly taking your mask off and putting it back on, and then clearing it). It was my first time wearing a hood as well so i wasn't that comftable with the whole mask thing.
So I rather sensibly joined the local British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) and am currently undergoing training. I've already done the theory and the pool work. All that is left is the open water and it has been this which I've been trying to arrange for the past month or so. This weekend it finally happened.
Suit hired and picked up all I had to do was meet every one at a ridiculous, for me, time of the morning. I arrive at the appointed time but no one shows. I start to think that its all going the way of the pear again. I leave messages on the phone of the organiser telling where I am. 10 Minutes past the alloted time and just as start looking though my phone for people to ring and harass I get a call from unrecognised number. After a confusing discusion it becomes apparent that we have all been sat 50 yards apart seperated by a motorway for 20 minutes.
Ahem, anyway so we set of for Capernwray for my first experience of diving in a disused quarry and diving in a dry suit. Capernwray is basically a large flooded hole in the ground that by the looks of it is making money hand over fist. It was packed beyound belief, and I was told that wasn't busy. The facilities were actually good, now if only they put the same thought into their web site, but as it was a sunny day we (and every one else) changed in the carpark.
What this tells me about the state of British health is that we are a nation of fatties. Neoprene doesn't flatter or hide the bulges.
The Dives
My first dive did not go according to plan. The place was so cowded and I was struggling to get to grips with the dry suit that it all went wrong. The idea was to just spend 20-25 minuets going as far as possible and the only skill to worry about was buoyancy using the dry suit. Instead with people above me, below me and the bloody fish (3 foot long trout who took the piss out the novice divers like me) it was like swiming in soup. What with the bloom and everyone piling in the visibilty also dropped down to about 4 meters.
Stuggling to cope with all this my buoyancy was all over the show and as a result I was up and down like a yo yo. This eventually began to have an effect on my ears so I called a halt and abandoned the dive 15 minuets in.
The second dive went much better. I used the jacket for buoyancy instead of the suit and this worked so much better. This time we got as far as Lord Lucan and Shergar (two fair ground horses from blackpool that were sunk there) and the Dreamer (a boat sunk at teh far end of the training area).
The only down side was that becuase I was still worried about my ear I refused to do the mask clear (you have to let your mask fill with water and and then clear it followed by completly taking your mask off and putting it back on, and then clearing it). It was my first time wearing a hood as well so i wasn't that comftable with the whole mask thing.
posted by gerbil at 7:19 am
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