The Next Generation - 11/11/2018

It's interesting watching the next generation of scuba divers come through the ranks. They are the guys who will be the club instructors in 3-4 years time. I may or may not even be diving.

At Drishaig Reef I took in three different trainees.

• Freeflow Bob (Master Diver Trainee)
• Smyler (Drysuit Diver Trainee)
• Chico (Branch Diver Trainee)

It was genuinely fascinating watching them all psyche themselves up for things that I now don't even think about, but 8 years ago would of caused nerves. It dawned on me - no one likes being assessed. The one plus they all have is that they all had me as an instructor. 😁

First up was Ol' Freeflow who needed a 30m assisted ascent assessed. He'd failed one and passed one before. It should of been pretty straightforward..... and it was. Afterwards we chatted about ascent rates and how it's better to be slower than too fast.

Then I moved onto drysuit skills with Smyler. He's a PADI AOW diver with limited experience and no drysuit experience. Like Freeflow, it all went exceptionally well except for a wee wobble just before we did a safety stop. I held him down, righted him and then proceeded.

Finally, it was Chico time! I was taking him in for his second dive. We went down to 9m and finned about, turned and came back up slowly. He too had a wee wobble at 4m, but I was expecting it. 

All in I emerged kind of proud of myself. Three training dives, three passes. What's more, they all loved it. That was a win. 

Chico on his 2nd dive

We may have misread the tide

 

The Zeppo - 28/01/2018

Herbert Manfred Marx is a name you may not instantly recognise. He was better known as Zeppo Marx the fifth, and youngest, of the Marx Brothers. HE was the straight man until he left. In life everyone takes turns at being the Zeppo. Today it was to be the Barrman's.

As it was, he and I were diving together. We decided to go deeper at St Catherine's and enjoyed a fairly pleasant bimble around the site. We had a nice enough dive, but his Zeppo moment came when we were back on the surface. As we all do, post dive the Barrman needed a pee.

We went to unzip his dry suit. It was snagged with a tooth out of position. We hummed and hawed, in the end I undertook the role of bearer of bad news and tooth remover. He needed a new zip. With that we packed up for the day.

Who Dares Swims - 30/10/2105

"Who dares wins" is the motto of the SAS, perhaps the most famous British Special Forces unit. However, there is a another less well known unit called the Special Boat Services. I say all this because myself and Canada Dry, my guest buddy for the evening, watched as what I assume was the SBS performed some landing manoeuvres on the shore. Realising there were divers they beat a hasty retreat. The A-Frames is, after all, sovereign SCUBA territory.

Canada Dry, visiting from Canada, had bravely hired a drysuit and an unfamiliar weight system to join me for the evening, while Jester was coming later for a second dive. Before we went in I mentioned to Canada Dry that I was impressed by his bravery taking on so many awkward factors for a first dive in Scotland.

We headed down to the Frames enjoying the display of peacock worms, scorpionfish and scallops. However, as we returned to the surface it became clear that Canada Dry was having buoyancy issues caused the unfamiliar drysuit. I held him down long enough to complete most of a safety stop before he let go (his fancy mask having given the signal it was safe to do so).

We got back safely but the experience was enough to convince Canada Dry not to go back in. After that I was equally impressed by his lack of machismo, a factor that when left unchecked puts divers in situations that they really don't want to be in.

Jester had joined us for the second dive. So we buddied up and went back in. The second dive proved even more fruitful with a beautiful little nudibranch and some nice anemones. His ability to spot nudis is actually quite impressive.

The drive back saw us chat about diving misadventures and experiences - one of the cool things about meeting new diving chums.

Bloody Henry

Scorpionfish

Anemone

Nudibranch

Pipefish

Pipefish

The End of an Era? - 14/10/2015

The Zookeeper and I had decided to dive the wall at the Council Yard, Loch Fyne. We kitted up enjoying the excellent conditions and headed in.

The dive was going well, if a little light on life. Visibility was good. We were enjoying ourselves. Then towards the end of the dive my exhaust valve on my drysuit stopped exhausting. Worse was to come when I finally got to the shore and I discovered the cuff on my drysuit had also ripped. A bad day for my drysuit. 

My Northern Diver Divemaster drysuit cost me about £400 4 years ago and I've done over 200 dives in it. That's £2 a dive. A fair return. I've wanted something different for a while, but this was the excuse I needed.

We headed back to Aquatron, the local dive shop, and I tried on an O'Three  Ri 2-100 it didn't fit so I've ordered in a larger size. We'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed.

Face sucker

Urchin

The Flasher of Conger Alley - 26/04/2014

So Bridget is still getting used to her new dry suit. Today we headed up to the head of Loch Lobg to Conger Alley for a wee Sunday afternoon dive. 

We had seen Captain Al dekitting at nearby Twin Piers and knew the visibility in the bay was decent.

At the site, I'd forgotten that not everyone has acclimatised to getting changed at the road side. B was a little bemused by the number of cars passing as she changed. I made a recommendation to maybe consider more modest attire for the next dive. :)

We went in and headed down. I was kind of hoping for a seal, but with life at a premium I'll settle for a lot of edible crabs, a conger eel, a large ballan wrasse  and a safe, trouble free dive. I never really took many photographs, instead I chose to keep a careful eye on my buddy.

The visibility was a patchy 4-8m,

B celebrates a trouble free dive

Check That Suit! What Suit? Gimp Suit! -

Today was a dive of a different kind for me. I was diving with someone I met on my recent liveaboard - Bridget. So named for her propensity to explete and working in PR.

The outing started comically with Bridget attracting, what seemed to me to be, the amorous advances of a socially awkward diver as we kitted up. It was painful to watch.

Bridget was testing out a new neoprene, as she calls it, gimp suit. It marked a move from someone diving in a hired trilaminate suit to a neoprene suit. It was also her first dive in the postmodern tropical waters of Loch Long at Twin Piers. 

Today I added a little extra weight to my set up after an experience with the Zookeeper trying out a new drysuit at this very site a year ago. So, when we went into the water and she couldn't get down I slipped an extra few kilo's into her BCD which had her sinking in no time.

The visibility to 15m was surprisingly good (5-6m), but deteriorated rapidly below that depth.

We made our way round the piers, past the old truck (8m), through the wrecked barge (15m) and onto the reef. En route I'd picked up a clappy-doo for sacrificial purposes to lure out the big conger eel. It went down a treat. :) Much to the delight of Bridget who'd never seen a conger eel in her previous Scottish dives. 

On the way back, Bridget was clearly still getting use to the new drysuit and it seemed to me was struggling to get the air out. I held her down for the safety stop and as we got a few metres from the shore let her go gently. As she rose the valve was automatically purging excess air.

I've been fortunate and had the same drysuit as when I did my drysuit speciality, more than three years ago. I can imagine a new suit can take some time to get used to. I mean, I don't even like diving with a different torch. I am, though, a creature of routine and habit.

On the basis that this was more of a check dive I never really took any pictures.

Conger eel

Plumose anemone