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

My Precious - 12/07/2018

When the club got an email from a young man who had lost his wedding ring wondering if we would be prepared to have a look for it, I was instantly reminded of the prologue to Lord of the Rings. The ring it seems had betrayed its owner and slipped off while he cooled off in the summer heat at the Falls of Falloch - a site that the Barrman and I would subsequently write the dive guide for.

Barrman and I arrived and kitted up assisted by Shaun and plunged into the depths. It was deeper than we expected at 8m, and once down it was much brighter. Although, distinctly brown/gold in hue. We looked around for 45 minutes. Finding a few bits and pieces and the critically endangered Anguilla Anguilla. Sadly, we never found the ring of power.

Fortunately, word of the ring went to a friend with an underwater metal detector and it was found one week later. :)

The Return of Fast Ed - 09/10/2016

Chuck Norris

With my chest infection all but cleared up, I took the opportunity to join the Something For The Weekend Group down to Capernwray. As always they had an absurdly early start. I mean we met at Fast Ed's new gaff at 6.15am. It is a well documented fact that I don't like early starts. Even in Starbucks I don't have the energy to say my real name. I chose Chuck. Fast Ed chose Norris for the win.

With that, our little band (Captain Al, Fast Ed, Jester and The Jackal - so named because is an international man of mystery) headed south.

The weather was fair and with Captain Al and The Jackal test driving new things myself, Fast Ed and Jester teamed up as a buddy three.

The dive, Fast Ed's first Capernwray, took us from the plane to the Podsnap, to the pig gnomes, to Helo 2 and up to famous Devil and other shallow attractions. In all honesty, I found it pretty dull. Even the new addition of albino sturgeon couldn't save the day. However, it was good to visit my Ninja Gnome, who after a while is starting to wear.

After lunch while kitting up Jester ripped his drysuit cuff. Being noble and the site slightly dull I kept him company on the surface while the others went in for another potter about.

Ninja Gnome

Pig Gnome

Albino Sturgeon

Devil

Fast Ed

Manatee Creek & the Caverns of Doom - Part 2 - 17/09/2015

So after the snorkel it was off to the Cavern of Doom. Just for clarity, I gave it that name.

Of the 6 of us on the boat just 4 of us were doing the dive. Me, Gill, a PADI AI from Newcastle via Northen Ireland and an American who I heard proudly declare had done 122 dives. The rest of us kept quiet about our experience, but someone once told me that there is always someone else with more dives than you. I chuckled. 

We dropped down into an area marked as a winter manatee sanctuary and slipped through a crack on the river bed in to a small murky cavern. The guide did his best to show us a whole host 'fascinating' features within the cavern, but once you've dived some of Mexico's cenotes you are a little bit spoilt.

I'd have loved to dive it by myself, but with five divers in total the cave was a little cramped. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed it. In addition, I was a little under insulated (a 5mm wetsuit would have been the bomb). As such, I most enjoyed the little hot spring feeding the cave, as did the small amount of life found within the cave.

We returned to the dive shop where I sat through an interesting talk about manatees and earnt the PADI Manatee Awareness Speciality - my souvenir for this trip. "It counts towards your PADI Master Scuba Diver Rating." I chuckled again, but at $35 it seemed like a fun take home from Florida. 

"Leave nothing but bubbles and take nothing but photographs, Manatee Awareness Specialities and patches saying "I snorkelled with manatees in Florida.""

Gill descends

Swimming crab

Manatee Creek & the Caverns of Doom - Part 1 - 17/09/2015

My wife plays Roller Derby, but I have very little interest in the sport. What it does do is take her to some fairly interesting locations. On this particular occasion it was taking her to Jacksonville, Florida - a mere 2 hours drive from Crystal River.

Crystal River is home to a year round population of manatees and a number of dive companies offer the chance to snorkel with these gentle giants. I plumped for American Pro Diving who for a few dollars more will take you down for a cavern dive after the manatee encounter. They do other trips too in the afternoon but sadly I had to get back up the road to Jacksonville for Gill.i.am's tournament.

Despite being told we may have to drift around for a few hours we before we found them, we were in the water with a large a male within 15 minutes. Then a large female. 

As our presence and natural manatee behaviour began to stir up the vis we went back to the boat and headed up river for another two minutes before encountering a mother and a calf. The little one was really curious, much like the young seals of the Farne Islands.

It was a great encounter.

Manatee

There's No Place Like Gnome - 17/07/2015

It's a lesser known fact that a small, decorated gnome has sat in the corner of my kitchen for over a year. It seemed wrong. As all divers know, gnomes deserved to be with their own kind. So when Captain Al suggested a trip to Capernwray I reckoned my gnome would like the permanent spot with the pig gnomes.

Unusually, Gill.I.Am was keen to go too adding to an assembled cast that also included Jester.

Our plan was to go down, get to the pig gnomes plant the gnome and head back. It was simple. We headed out passing the plane, helo 1, the podsnap and ou to the gnomes, It was nice to see the Mermaid's trophy still there from the last Scottish invasion. After the gnomes we split up. Gill and I headed to Helo 2, the Candida and up into the shallows. Captain Al and Jester headed off onto the abyss. Although, we emerged from the water at almost exactly the same moment.

A wee lunch and a second dip later and we were heading up the road. The weather had held.

Following Al

The gnome

The gnome's new home

Fish

Eurovisibility - 23/05/2015

I first visited Austria in 2001 with my then blushing bride on our honeymoon. Neither of us dived nor did we have much interest in the SCUBA related delights that sit in the midst Austria's Alps. Fast forward 10 years and a SCUBA diving course or two later and all of a sudden I had an inkling to visit the country again.

You see, the internet is a beautiful thing. It has the ability to expose you to places, things, activities and thought that you haven't considered before. Click-bait links with titles such as "10 Places That Will Blow Your Mind" or "21 Places in Europe That You Must See Before You Die" spark the imagination and the spirit of adventure.

It was one such link that introduced me to the Gruner See (or Green Lake in English). The Gruner See is a small alpine lake in the middle of a country park a few hours west of Vienna in the village of Tragöß. Once a year, the snow on the surrounding peaks melts and flood the park for a few weeks every year. Add to that the presence of the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna and it seemed like a great weekend to revisit Austria.

We took our own kit (a drysuit is required), but hired BCDs.

We were collected from our hotel early and two hours later we were in the middle of an alpine village, surrounded by cars from Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany. It was truly international, but thanks to diabolical rain, it felt a lot like home.

The set up itself is pretty similar to Capernwray in that you pay 10 euro to dive the site and there is a cafe serving schnitzel, strudel and hot chocolate. Unlike Capernwray the site has no covered changing facilities, as such we kitted up in the pouring rain and headed down to the lake.

I won't lie, it is beautiful, and on a nicer day I'd imagine its charms would be amplified. As it was, there was a howling wind blowing right up the lake to the entry point. The result was a large build up frothy sludge. You can see it in the picture opposite.

We skirted round the side and plopped in. As the 7c water hit my face it didn't feel as cold as it does back home. There must be some sort of scientific explanation for this, but it felt more like a Scottish 10c.

I continued down following Norbert, my Austrian guide, staying a little above him.

We max-ed out at around 4m, following the lake shore. It was after about five minutes that I realised this wasn't going to be the wonderland dive I hoped for. 

I could tell that Gill was getting pretty bored, as we turned and went back. I think some other divers had got bored too as there were various romantic rock formations made by amorous divers determined to impress a significant buddy with their puffer fish impersonations.

Back on the surface I discovered that our planned second dive had a submerged bench, but the look on Gill's face said she wasn't interested and Norbert was expressing how he soaked through due to a drysuit leak. He'd have bravely led me round the other bank, but who were we kidding, this wasn't that much fun. Instead we dekitted in the pouring rain, warmed up with a hot chocolate and headed back through the rain to Vienna where the weather was starting to clear up for the Eurovision festivities.

Follow da leader

Gill

Flooded Path

I thought this was a fish...for a moment

There is a bug here somewhere

SCUBA love

Norbert & Gill

Distant SCUBA love

I don't even know what this means