Club Life Blog

We were treated to lovely sunny weather and flat water on day one which was amazing for me to start off with and for Mark, who was learning how to be a coxswain with George, as it was a very much an ease into it type of day.

On the diving front our first dive was a wreck dive, where I was in the safe hands of Cat and Frank as I got into the water.

To the surprise of everyone there was decent visibility till we hit the bottom and kicked up all the sand. We managed to peddle around for a little bit before my weight belt shifted and I was flipped on my back like a helpless turtle. After some very efficient rescue and readjustment work from Cat and Frank (while I clung helplessly to a bit of wreck) we went up, got me on the boat and with much appreciated help from George and Mark I got reweighted and back in the water. Unfortunately my ears wouldn't equalise so it was back on the boat for me. Frank and Cat continued the dive and reported back with decent visibility, fun seeing the wreck and spider crab abundance.

After that it was off to lunch and coffee in the sun (it was lovely) and then back in the water! After some contemplating we went on another wreck dive and I'm happy to report that I made it down there in one bit with Cat and Frank! We swam though some clouds of silt to clear water and saw some big crabs and an eel! Then unfortunately I got a bit too cold and we had to go up sooner than planned. And thus we took our kit off the boat, got showered and met up for dinner and drinks, a sign of a good dive.

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Day 2 was sunnier than we expected (the praying worked) and even though there was a blustery wind we managed to get out to a sheltered part of the water and get a dive in. Mark did amazing at driving the boat and had gotten the hang of all the bits and maps and driving in the wind by the time we got out again, it was very cool to see.

Once we got to where we wanted to be we dropped a shot and I experienced my first drift dive! I really enjoyed going alone with the current and Frank was very helpful in navigating as I was slightly overweighted and was at some point crawling along the floor and disturbing the local crab population. Viz was surprisingly good between clouds of silt just like the day before and you could see far enough to see at least two rolls of sand banks that the waves created. Very pretty and really fascinating.

Me and Frank managed a 17 min dive, my longest, and then got back to the boat, where lollipops were had and we picked up Cat and Andrew (I'm glad he was feeling well enough to dive, it was nice having everyone out). The reported the same viz as us, a few less crabs and a few more clams. And with that it was time for lunch!

After lunch we chickened out of a second dive cos of the cold (sorry Frank) but me, Frank and Andy decided we'd get on the rib and be spare hands so Mark could finished his training.

Unfortunately the weather heard we didn't want a second dive and gave us a reason not to go out at all. The wind picked up to an unreasonable level and it started to rain, so we got the kit off the rib got some fuel and gave everything a wash before we headed home.

Overall, even though I've been told diving gets better in the UK, I'd dive the exact same dives we did over the weekend again. Thank you so much to Frank for organising and to everyone for loading my brain with as much diving knowledge as possible. I have achieved my goals of seeing at least one fish and having a good time.

As Dive Manager Frank said - 4 in, 4 out, perfect.

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