North West Bound & Down - 12/06/2019

I'd organised a dive weekend for the club and some friends to dive out of Kinlochbervie, with the ironically named North East Dive .

"Hey Frewbowski, where the hell is Kinlochbervie?", "Why ironically?", I hear you ask.

Well of you've ever looked at a map of Scotland, Kinlochbervie is at the top left hand side. Bar some midgie infested moorland its about as North WEST as you can go and still be on the mainland.

I've followed them on Instagram for some time. There well worth checking out, Cathy takes some great photographs.

We did four dives over the two days and they were all belters. Even diving with my relatively inexperienced buddy - the VHB. We saw some cool stuff and did some decent deep dives in beautidul crystal blue water,

We saw nudibranchs and anemones, schools of fish. We drifted through tunnels that felt like caves and enjoyed the experience. It was definitely reinvigorating.

Rescue Me - 6/5/2019

So we had decided that we'd do a rescue session at St Catherine's. I took a student did a lift. It was all quite uninspiring.

That's what I've discovered teaching people to dive isn't huge amounts of fun. I mean, for the trainee I'm sure it's all very exciting, but for me it's uninspiring. Fortunately my next few posts will be way more interesting.

Sausage Fest - 05/05/2019

With Leigh and Stewpatz celebrating their birthday's in close proximity, they organised Sausage Fest 2019.  I was initially sceptical. However, it turned out that Sausage Fest was an excuse for a bbq with a little bit diver training thrown in.

It all went swimmingly, as I was teaching I never took my camera. I did take this arty abandoned scuba kit by the shore shot.

So that about sums it up.

Arty Scuba Kit Shot

The Comeback King - 27/04/2019

It had been almost a year since the Kingmaker dived. I broke him back when we were in Egypt last year on a liveaboard.  I mean, I say "I broke him" but, some kind of stomach bug broke him. I was just the diving conduit there at the time.

Anyway with him about to come on a trip to Kinlochbervie with my club, we felt he should at least do a dive to see if his kit still works. So we headed to Anchor Point for a quickie to 30m. 

We pottered about looking for different nudibranchs. Well I was, the Kingmaker has no regard for nudis. He's a big life kinda guy. It all went. 

Saving Leigh - 23/04/2019

Teaching rescue lifts is hard work - for the instructor and the trainee. The only person getting an easy ride is the person who is acting as a body. When we went to Seal Reef, Loch Fyne I had pretty much decided that I'd give my trainee two goes at it. Then we were packing up. 

We had kitted up. I had two assistant instructors and one trainee. It seemed like overkill (it was overkill).

We headed down. Lift 1 went, well, quickly. At the surface we had a wee chat and reset back down at 10m.

This time Malcolm had clearly relaxed and listen to the tips the Assistant Instructors had given him and he took Leigh perfectly to the surface. At the surface we towed and relaxed a little. Before heading out, all ScotSAC Sport Dives complete. 

Upping the Game - 18/04/2019

So I'm taking a soon to be newly qualified ScotSAC to dive at Kinlochbervie in the far north-west of Scotland. At the start of the night he required 2 dives and a rescue lift to be qualified. As it was just me and him I opted to just do a nice long dive with him just to build up water confidence at the A-Frames.

The night started badly, when an o-ring blue inside his regulator, that couldn't be fixed on site. Fortunately, there was another diver on site (Charlietron) whom I know and was prepared to lend his regulators. So, a little later than expected we headed in to the water.

We meandered around looking at stuff, staying at our maximum of of 20m for as long as we could.  We surfaced in the darkness, both of us knowing that he's ready for deeper, better, more exciting diving. 

Return to Capernwray - 14/04/2019

I always chuckle when I go to Capernwray. To me it's just a big swimming pool - ideal for training and an occasional fun day. However, you can always hear people telling bold, daring tales of when they were down to 60 bar and still at the wreck of the Podsnap as though being 15m deep and 50m from shore in confined water is some kind of hair-raising experience. 

Myself and Chairman G had taken a few newish divers from the club to do a little training and also to help some get their numbers up.

First up I took the two least experienced divers in for a wee saunter around the shallow attractions at 8m after teaching some very basic reg skills. The dive was more of a test to check out one of the divers air consumption before taking him a little deeper to the aeroplane on the second dive.

It was dive two where I first saw the sign of nerves. I had Chairman G teach stride entries, then I demo'd it - as an instructor you always have to be in the water first. We sank down, but  I could tell psychology of being deeper was stressing out the least experienced of my trainees so I took him back up and out the water safely. He seemed to love it though.  Asking afterwards about the scariest dives I've ever done - this wasn't one of them.

The Devil

The Devil

Teaching Teachers - 13/04/2019

With a number of Eastwood Divers divers' undertaking the ScotSAC Instructor Course at the end of March, we have a number of trainee instructors all keen to get experimenting on students. Well, for Chairman G, today was that day. We were taking M-Dawg in for his every first dive. 

Now, I'm fully aware of how bad everyone is on their first dry suit dives, but experienced divers who are new to teaching totally forget!. Chairman G was a little surprised and later confessed how he'd been totally exhausted by the end of the day. It was tiring, but I think by the end of the second dive M-Dawg was starting to get it.

The Day's Divers

Discovering Atlantis - 04/04/2019

I'm told that the story of Santorini in the Cyclades forms the basis of the Atlantis myth when the so named Minoan Eruption wiped out ancient Akrotiri, one of the most impressive outposts of the bronze age Minoan Civilisation. So while in the area I decided to a dive with Aegean Divers. 

I had contacted a few dive companies before my day, but they were the only ones that seemed enthusiastic about someone like me coming... and they'd pick me up from Fira where I was staying. Turns out they are an SSI school, with decent kit - just as well as I was hiring!

I had told them before I arrived that I had over 600 dives and trimix card to 52m. In the hope that I would just be able to go diving, without any newbs. However, dive one saw me dive with three people. 

One Canadian ex special forces, firefighter with limited experience, but a lot of enthusiasm

Two French girls with a a PADI AOW ticket and about 14 dives.

Surprisingly they were all competent and seemed to enjoy the 24m dive without any significant issues. More surprising was that I enjoyed diving with them. They were nice. Of particular note was showing the Candian guy his first ever nudibranchs - Swiss Cow nudi and a little flabellina.

The day also got better when the dive guide said he'd take me on a dive to see some pinnacles on the other side of the reef. Beautiful structures with swim-throughs, even more nudis and down to 35m.

This was my first taste of Mediterranean diving and I liked it.

Swiss Cow Nudi

Seeing your first nudi

Prima Seal - 26/03/2019

There is something enormously satisfying when a training dive with a trainee you give a brief and it all goes to plan, even down to the last detail. Tonight was one such night.

I briefed about the site (Conger Alley), the activities (an assisted ascent), and what we'd be likely to see. Now, I mentioned a seal, not because I thought it would happen but because I wanted him to be prepared if it did.

We entered the water, went down and undertook the drill exactly as planned. Then, once we had reset and checked our air, headed for a wee paddle round the reef.

I was showing him nudibranchs when I felt it - the gentle push and pull of a large animal swimming by. I stopped taking pictures and waited. Then she passed again. I could see my trainee was excited and delighted rather than fearful. However, from then on in I watched him like a hawk to make sure he never went rapidly to the surface.

He emerged buzzing and happy.

Nudi

Firework Anemone

Seasearch - 24/03/2019

Recently, myself and some others completed the classroom session of the Seasearch course. Today, we would head to Loch Fyne to dive some sites with firework anemones to finish our observer course.

We dived one site I'd dived once before and another that I'd driven by loads of times but just ignored time and time again. It turns out I'd been right to ignore Cairndow View. 

Jester and I would diving together 'observing' the wildlife. It was funny, because I probably could of listed everything I saw in advance of the dive. However, that's hardly in the spirit of Seasearch. 

We took some nice snaps of firework anemones. So all was not lost.

Firework Anemone

It's Going Down, I'm Yelling Timber! - 17/03/2019

When Pitbull penned his little ditty, I'm not entirely sure he knew it would be used on the shore of Gare Loch as a pre-dive anthem. However, it was.

"We're diving down, we're diving Clynder,

You gotta move, you gotta dive"

Repeat ad nauseum.

It was an entirely unspectacular dive where I taught someone how to do a circular sweep search.

I'll say no more. :)

Blame It On The Weatherman - 16/03/2019

I'm not entirely Bewitched were correct when they decided to blame the weatherman, but I had set aside this day as day when I'd take students training months ago. Then when the forecast came out it was for bad weather.

We were valiant. I mean, fighting throw the snow storm to get there. Kitting up in high winds and blizzard. Entering the water with a surface current and waves. Going down in what seemed like zero visibility. 

However, we were then rewarded with a calm dive around the Frames. Malky saw his first shark. We surfaced and the rest of the gang all agreed that a trip to the Village Inn seemed like a better idea than a second dive.

Big Beryl - 05/03/2019

I was had convinced Jester and the Big Easy that Conger Alley would offer us a great location for a night dive. I can't explain why, I just felt it in my bones. The others were doubtful. 

We kitted up and headed in and down to 30m. There was little life about except for a large lobster that disappeared into the silt kicked up by one of my buddies. 

We had hit decompression after some time and started coming back up. It was then that we were joined by Beryl the resident seal. 

Now, I hadn't realised that the Big Easy was little phobic of seals. When he had mentioned it I genuinely thought he was joking. As such it came as surprise when one of my buddies became the tightest of buddies, no more than a couple of inches from me.

We continued up and Jester asked me using hand signals where were the nudibranchs I had promised him. Immediately we found them, all huddled on a rock - a variety of species too. I smugly took a snap and then followed Beryl on little fishing adventure.

As we returned to shore I was feeling satisfied and decided to briefly check for bio-luminescence. It was there. Genuinely, my luck was in. I should have bought a lottery ticket.

Heavy Lifting - 03/03/2019

Instructing when everything is brilliant is quite good fun and somewhat rewarding. However, it's when things are going wrong that you're actually earning you're money - metaphorically speaking. Today was one of those days.

Myself and the Barrman had a trainee each and were attempting 20m assisted ascents, with the two trainees. We had been down for a few minutes before we started the "ascent". I watched for a few minutes as they made no progress. Both Barrman and I had been about to call cut when the attempt naturally split and one trainee headed for the surface and another slumped into a vast cloud silt.

We had agreed which trainee we'd each go and help. I headed into the zero visibility silt found her and guided her back to clear water.

The second dive I took the less experienced person in for a potter about twin piers and found a couple of nice nudies. 

I wasn't a totally wasted day.

 

Nervous Passenger - 24/02/2019

When teaching, some dives stick out way more than others. The ones you remember tend to be when something goes wrong. We don't tend to remember the dives when you complete your objective without incident. However, today it went so well, and I learned a lot.

The plan was fot me to do three training dives with three different people:

• A 30m ascent
• A 2 minute swim with mask removal
• Drysuit buoyancy skills

The first two passed without a hitch, but the trainee I was taking in for the third dive, Prawn, had proven to be somewhat spooked and had refused to dive initially. 

I had a chat with her and convinced her it was worth trying again. I offered to physically hold her hand the whole time. I broke the dive down into stages.

1. Breath face down in the water

2. Kneel down in 2-3m of water(or swimming pool depth as I put it)

3. If we want to continue drop down a little deeper to 10m 

4. If she was happy, go for a wee swim

I spoke softly ( I always speak softly - I actually have a lovely voice, with a singing Scottish lilt), I reassured her.

We went in and had an excellent dive. Confidence restored. It was one of those occasions when it was all genuinely rewarding.

Growing Pains - 27/01/2019

A trip to Twin Piers is never the most inspiring dive, but as a ScotSAC Instructor I had agreed to help with club training. I had experienced some sinus pain while helping in the pool the night before, but thought nothing of it.

Today I was going to be doing some skills with Vadar. He's a pretty decent fellow and for a very new diver actually shows considerable promise. 

Our dive was to be unspectacular, down to 7m do some mask stuff, have a swim about and head out the water. We did it, but not before my sinuses screamed and Vadar had a suit leak. I couldn't get out the water fast enough.

These things are sent to try us.

New To The Night - 21/01/2018

I'm often asked if I'd be prepared to take people on a night dive. My general feeling is that they think it's a more exciting way to dive. I mean, diving in the dark is pretty spooky right? For me, it's not so much about the darkness, or the excitement but rather my availability to dive.

Tonight was one such night. There was a small group of us, but I was buddying someone with a c considerable amount of diving experience in warm blue water, but limited experience in a drysuit at night.

I led him about St Catherine's, Seal Reef. Staying shallow. Keeping an eye on him. He did well and presented me with no unwanted surprises. As a reward, I showed him where the nudibranchs live. He was appreciative.

Join Me in the Club - 03/01/2019

Day two of my midwinter dive adventure saw Dive Aqaba take me to a beach club near the Saudi border for a couple of dives.

The first and by far the most impressive was The Bowl. The second, and the one I was meant to get excited about was The Cathedral. The Cathedral turned out to be a man made structure that housed a small lighthouse on the surface. The Bowl was where the action actually happened.

We had been swimming for some time when I first saw something in the gloom. The dive guide saw it too. It could of been a shark, a tuna, a turtle,or a dolphin. We'll never know as it only ever remained a shadow in the distance. However, once we gave up on seeing it came round a small rock formation only to see a remora.

I 'd never seen one before, but when I saw its suckers and its interest in me I knew instantly that I didn't want it to attach to me. I sensible kept my distance and performed manoeuvres that would keep it away. It was nice to see and gave credence to the larger creature in the darkness theory.

Dive two never saw anything that would compare, but we did see some nudis.

Nudi!

Shadow of the Cathedral

Hunting

Puffer

Remora

Cable Canyon - 02/01/2019

The diving gods were kind to me in 2018, and set a trend that seems to be continuing into 2019, as myself and Gill.I.Am took advantage of some cheap flights and a love affair with Jordan to allow me to dive again at one of my favourite parts of the world. 

Long term readers will know, I've visited and dived in this area before. However, I genuinely love this site. A wee bimble down a coral canyon to 43m then a turn and ascending under the man made cables connecting Jordan and Egypt, passing bright red anemones and delicate corals. Most importantly, considering all the people that dive from South Beach you won't see a soul until the shallows. That's because, they all want to dive the Cedar Pride. I did too, back then. But now it's so passe.

This time I was diving with Dive Aqaba, the company I'd used in the past was now kaput. I chatted Abdallah, tolf him of my experiences and how I wanted to see some old friends down deep on the reef I went, and there they were. I was, as the youngsters say, "totes emosh". 

We followed that up with a wee dive around the Cedar Pride, but I knew my wee anemone was still safe 4 years on. I was happy.

Then - December 2014

Now - January 2019

Snakelocks

Buddy for the day

Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

Mind the Gap - 28/12/2018

The gap between Christmas and New Year is a sacred time when divers who:

a: wish to off gas excess turkey & trimmings
b: are full of festive cheer
c: climbing the walls with boredom

...can all get together and have a wee dive.

We had a fairly meaty group of six divers who all went in and out safely. There is little to say about it. Other than in his excitement to show me a pipefish, the trainee I took in unleashed a tsunami of silt that obscured half the loch. :)

Apeks RK3 Test Dive - 15/01/2019

Apeks RK3

Despite sounding a little like a droid from a Star Wars film and also being the actual name of a blaster used by the Galactic Empire, Apeks RK3 are the latest fin offering from Apeks. Designed for the rough and tumble of the US Military, they are based on the pretty standard vented rubber fins popular among military, professional and technical divers.

As a club, Eastwood Divers decided to spend some cash on new fins. We bought three pairs of Scubapro Seawing Novas and three pairs of RK3s (as a starter) to allow members to try different fins before they jump in and spend the best part of £100 on their own purchase. As I happened to be diving with Gusto Leo and the Barrman on the day when the Barrman picked up the fins from the local dive shop I opted to try out the RK3s fresh from the box at Conger Alley.

I'm a Scubapro Seawing Nova user, so this type of fin is a little different for me and I'm predominantly a frog kicker due the silty bottoms I dive in. On my dive I did helicopter turns, some reverse finning, took a few photos and tried frog kicking along with standard flutter kicking. So, here's what I liked and didn't like. 

PROS

• Helicopter turns were very easy, helped by a shorter blade length than I am used to 
• Reverse finning was super easy, which helped reduce silt after stopping to take a photograph 
• The short blade also meant that flutter kicks threw up less silt than a Scubapro Seawing Nova would 
• They seemed pretty robust, and the length was certainly more compact than my existing fins 

CONS

• Frog kicking lacked power compared to my Seawings 
• Seawings are super easy to put on, RK3s aren't bad, but they certainly aren't as easily donned and doffed. 

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• We've bought the standard RK3. As a regular shore diver I was pleased to see they float. It means you can walk in wast deep, let go of a fin put one and then easily grab the other. If you want a heavier, negatively buoyant fin consider shelling out a little extra wedge and buying the RK3 HD. 
• Apeks also have a very generous instructor discount 

Am I going to buy a pair for myself? Well, mibbe but that doesn't mean I'm a convert, it just means I can see the advantages of them for different dives. Let's be honest every gentleman spy / scuba diver should have more than one tuxedo or pair of fins . :)

Oh, and as for the dive, it turned out to be thoroughly decent...

Carronella Pellucida 

Sepiola Atlantica 

Firework Anemone 

Facelina Bostoniensis 

Bloody Henry 

The Worm that Turned - 23/12/2018

After an overnight at the side of Loch Creran, a group of us gathered alongside our new friend Terry Griffiths to dive the Queenie Reef. My first dive of the day was with Jester. Our intention was to hunt for Serpula vermicularis. We found them, but they proved difficult to photograph as the slightest vibrations had them turning for cover.

I could tell the wee bandits were irking Jester too. Still, it was nice way to finish up diving for Christmas.

Floodlight Sonata - 22/12/2018

When Beethoven wrote his Moonlight Sonata, it was probably beyond even his imagination that it would be whizzing round my head when around 207 years later I was diving the Breda at night, floodlit with the Barrman. I mean, he had an impressive imagination, but I'm prepared to wager that he never composed it as a soundtrack to something of that ilk. In fairness, it was probably the Barrman that tipped it over the edge of probability.

We had agreed we wanted to do it some time ago, along with StewPatz and his good lady. At the time of booking we didn't know what the weather would do. As it was we were blessed with flat seas, low wind and moonlight. 

In the end the Barrman and I headed in and swam around the deck of the Breda. It was very relaxing, with lots of fish.

The Stranger in the Dark - 21/12/2018

With Christmas holidays fast approaching I took the decision that I could sleep later in the week and so embarked on 4 dives over three sites in around 40 hours.

It started with Jester and Chairman Andy joining me for a Friday night dive at St Cats. As Andy is heading towards his ScotSAC Masters Diver award we headed down beyond 30m to allow him to gain further experience at depth.

It was all pretty straightforward, then I saw a stranger. I hadn't met one in quite some time. In fact, I'd only met one once before a couple of years ago - the european squid. Thereafter it was pretty plane sailing but then something happened right at the end. As we floated at 5m doing a safety stop we could see a torch light glinting at the surface. Someone was on the surface waiting for us.

As we surfaced we could see the person on the shore. We got out and started chatting. Apparently we were chatting to nudibranch photography royalty in the form of Terry Griffiths. He was up visiting Scotland for one last diving hoorah before Christmas.

He was a nice chap and, as it turned out, he was going to be wildcamping in his van at the same spot as me the following night.

Deepest Night - 05/12/2018

I'm not depth junkie, although those who only ever dive to 20m say that I am. Meanwhile those who dive regularly below 50m just laugh at the absurdity that I might be. However, I do enjoy taking people deeper than they've gone before, especially at night. They seem to be thrilled at the end of the night. So when I took StewPatz and Freeflow Bob for a 31m night dive at the A-Frames I was quite tickled.

It almost never happened when one of our divers, I shan't say 'Stew', forgot fins and his weightbelt, but somehow we cobbled together enough weight and a spare pair of fins from nowhere.

We kitted up and headed spotting some cracking life:

• a snake blennie
• a cuttlefish
• deeplet anemones
• firework anemones
• nudibranchs

We emerged, delighted with out hall and two divers thrilled that they'd done more than 31m at night.