REVIEW Waterproof H1 5/10 Sandwich - 24/03/2020

So with the snow melt starting to dramatically cool the seas near where I live and the first dive hood I ever bought starting to disintegrate, I decided to invest in a new dive hood. I mean, with coronavirus madness dive kit seems like as good an investment as any, right?

I'd seen an online discussion on a local Facebook page about a Santi hood and the Waterproof 5/10mm. The general gist of it was that there was little difference between them except in price. So I went to the local dive shop and made my order of a new Waterproof hood which I'd subsequently sneak into the house after its first use and my wife wouldn't even notice there'd been a hood switch. Smart.

The mission was deftly accomplished and I've now used it on three dives, so I feel qualified to comment on it. 

If you've used Waterproof H series hoods before it's essentially identical in terms of pattern. The face section is the more flexible section which makes tucking your mask skirt in pretty straightforward. The 10mm section doesn't feel any different to a 7mm  when you're wearing it on your head. So that should allay any fears about such a thick hood.

I suppose the one question I should answer is 'was it warmer'? Well the simple answer is yes. I certainly came out with a toasty head.

On each of the dives the water was a balmy 5 to 6c (that's 41-43f in old money.)

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.

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. 

Scapa Flow Day 4 - Battleships & Butterfish -12/06/2018

Our fourth day on ‘the Flow’ saw us dive our first Battleship. The SMS Kronpronz Wilhelm was the the target followed by a ‘shallow’ dive on the SMS Coln.

I was starting to notice my desat times were getting higher and higher, much like my deco penalties. As such it was probably the first day when I consciously took my foot off the diving gas, opting to no deco the Coln as I’d been there before. 

The Kronprinz W. was to be my first glimpse of one of the famous 12” guns. I liked it, though not as much as the Wylie Fox who proved to be a real fan of the big guns. 

I was particularly moved by the way nature had paid no head to the death and destruction mayhem of the guns and had instead used them to grow sea squirts and dead men’s fingers. There’s a metaphor there for life, I think. I was also starting to realise I was more interested in butterfish than battleships.

Going South - Part 7 The Spectre of Elphinstone - 13/05/2018

We did to dives on Elphinstone Reef. They were to be the end of cruise filler dives. Granted on a fantastic reef. 

Dive one saw us hanging out deep on the northern plateau looking for pelagic life. We never saw any big stuff. It was nice, but if it feels like I'm skipping over stuff, I am. 

The second dive saw us dive as a group. I lead us out to 40m on the southern plateau up the eastern side back round to the western side - by which point it was just the Big Easy and I left. We kept our eyes peeled, but we never saw any of the pelagic life we were looking for.

We headed back toward the boat enjoying a very gentle drift. As we approached the boat we spotted a tight group of divers looking like they were all doing a safety stop. They weren't though. I asked what they were looking at. One chap, a keen photographer signalled shark. 

We swam to join them and out of the blue they came. Two of them - oceanic white tips, the worlds most prolific man eater. They circled a couple of times and after a couple of minutes The Big Easy and I headed out the water delighted to have encountered them.

Turtle

Nudi

Oceanic White Tip

Reviewing the Sealife Micro HD - 12/05/2017

Al's Camera

Piano Keys

Most of us who dive love what we see. For many, the unique underwater environments inspire us to take photographs and videos. I'm no different. For years now I've had a little Sealife DC1400. You may recall in November I flooded it causing me to be without a camera for some time.

Well before I headed off to Mauritius I still hadn't got round to fixing it. I thought of buying a Sealife Micro 2.0, but my friend (Captain Al) said I could borrow his earlier model, the Sealife Micro HD for my trip as a trial. I did, so as an aide memoire I thought I'd right down my thoughts on it.

Like the rest of the DC series cameras it has the easy to use piano keys, feels chunky in the hand and has the preset underwater red filter entitled "Dive Mode". Unlike the DC models it's pretty flood proof as its a sealed unit that uses both wifi and a wet contact USB cable for download. 

So what did I like and dislike? Well... 

• I loved the app and wifi functionailty. Why wait to get back to sure before posting your pics on facebook or instagram. Share to tour phone and your off.
• Loved the hasslefree diving - no worrying about leaky seals, moisture munchers or any of that stuff.
• Simple and easy to use, I mean if Captain Al can use it....

But...

• It has no Macro mode, meaning blurred pictures of nudibranchs.
• No zoom mode meaning you may have to get uncomfortably close to that big angry moray.
• No Green water auto filter for the murky water diver.

All in, if you're just a snap taker like me then it's a great wee piece of kit, but if want to take some serious photos then keep saving!

I was uncomfortably close to this guy.

Blurry nudi

Clair de Lune - 09/02/2017

Sometimes, on a clear night, it can seem as though you are living in perpetual twilight. This can be especially true on those evenings when the lochs are bathed in the "clair de lune". 

Tonight saw the Kingmaker dive for the first time since he last dived with me on the El Minya in January 2016. In fact, his last coldwater dive was even further back in 2015. He chose St Catherine's as his site to do a nice tropical check dive. I say tropical - I mean, of course, baltic, but the poor chap didn't want to hear it. He stubbornly refused to believe that the water would be anything less than 13c. Oh well.

We kitted up, checked everything was in working order and headed in. The vis wasn't great but we eventually found the boat and made our way to the reef where we spotted a million nudibranchs. At one point I swam into a large cloud of silt that hadn't emanated from either of us. It made feel that we weren't alone in the water - I suspected a seal, a ninja seal.

As we emerged, Jester was waiting for to join us on the second dive. The Kingmaker was sufficiently cold by that time to know that he didn't to go again. The bellwether being the fact that when he slunk off for a pee he could barely find his 'chap' - a challenge at the best of times I'm told.

So off I went again, doing the same dive with Jester. Again we struggled to find the boat, but instead found the legendary St Cat's firework anemone. I reckon I could find it again too. Nudibranchs and butterfish were the order of the day yet again. 

On this dive Jester too thought he spotted a seal in the distance and that was without me mentioning what I had seen on the first dive.

We emerged onto the beach with the loch bathed in moonlight. Had I not been with Jester and the Kingmaker it could have been quite romantic. It is, afterall, the season for it!

Sometimes a Dive is a Metaphor - 24/06/2016

While the last few Brits decided whether or not hey wanted to leave the European Union, Jester and I decided to head to Seal Reef, Loch Fyne for a quick dip. In many ways, the weather had been kind to us:

• It was warm
• There was a breeze keeping the midgies temporarily at bay
• There was drizzle, again discouraging the midgies.

So we kitted up and casually headed into the water.

There was a bit of chop and the silt had been stirred up in the shallows. This led to Jester dropping his GoPro and us then having to spend 10 minutes trying to find it in poor visibility. He did, thankfully.

After that we headed down to St Catherine's famous speedboat encountering a small red gurnard and a lobster en route. It was nice. Although dark the visibility opened up and it reminded me of my preferred night diving exploits - dark but clear.

In total we pottered around for an hour finding numerous nudibranchs and yarrell's blennies. It was all rather pleasant until we surfaced and dekitted in a midgie infested hell hole. What a difference an hour made.

Britain choose to leave, Scotland to stay. Scotland now must leave.

Flabellina Lineata

Red Gurnard

Flabellina Lineata

Lobster

Flabellina Lineata

Portencrossing Over - 16/06/2016

Meeting locals

In search of some variation Jester, the Zookeeper and I headed southwest as opposed to northwest for a change of scene. With weather conditions ideal it took us to Portencross, Ayrshire for a dive round the point and into the small bay next to the castle.

If you're into history or an american with a fascination with Scotland, this dive site will appeal. It has a castle, a sunken Spanish Armada galleon  (we never knowingly found it) and a quaint little fishing village.

It's shallow, and requires a light northerly or easterly wind to make diving conditions ideal. We followed the Finstrokes guide to the letter, although our good friend - the Mermaid - recommends a dip around the pier to the north of the castle for a shallow photography dive.

Before entering the water we went for a stroll and met some of the locals. They were a fine mix of local cyclists and high, drunk hippies. It made for an entertaining start to the evening.

We kitted up, continually pestered by midgies, and waded out into the sanctuary of the water. There was a lot of seaweed which made finding interesting life a little tricky. However, we found:

• some good nudibranchs
• tompot blenny
• macropodio rostrata

As a dive I'd probably not revisit again without a site expert (I'd like to actually find and see the wreckage of the galleon) and I'd possibly do a different type of dive at the pier. 

The views

Considering the dive

Polycera quadrilineata

Castle and boat

Polycera quadrilineata

Macropodia Rostrata

Tompot Blenny

Surfacing

Rope to boat

Jade Green Seas - 09/04/2016

Leaving Port

So with another holiday, this time to Viet Nam, I was presented with the opportunity to go SCUBA diving at the Cham Islands just off the coast Hoi An.

The vast majority of Viet Nam's diving can be done south of Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City near Viet Nam's border with Thailand and away from the endless series of river deltas that punctuate much of the Vietnamese coast. As the area wasn't on my itinerary I made do with Cham.

Cham is a developing destination with just two dive operators, but it has recently been designated a UNESCO protected biosphere for the number corals that exist around the islands.

The guys at Cham Island diving were pretty relaxed, taking everything I said at face value and didn't bother to check my log book or certs. According to the owner, "people don't lie in diving". I certainly didn't.

All the gear was on the boat waiting and seemed in average condition. A-clamp, basic Cressi regs, Mares basic BCDs and decent mares 3mm steamers and 2.5mm shorties. With the water temp being a little above 20c I doubled up and took both.

It was still cool, but tolerable enough for a 30-40minite dive.

For the dives I was teamed with Myrthee from Montreal and Ian (our guide) an instructor from Ontario. Myrthee was pretty inexperienced but once properly weighted coped admirably.

Dive one was down to 20m to a garden of what the guide described as Cauliflower Coral - although it looked suspiciously like a variety of plumose anemone to me. In addition the dive was punctuated by the odd parrotfish, anemonefish and a selections of nudibranchs. It was fun, but the vis was like an average day back home and without a torch photography was always going to be challenging.

The second dive threw up much of the same, but with a nice scorpionfish, but by that time I was getting cold so I cut my dive short (30 minutes) while the other two pottered about at the bottom of the line.

Afterwards, we headed to a very decent beach for lunch before the boat trip home.

Now, I wouldn't discourage anyone from diving anywhere, but I wouldn't come here to dive. Instead, if you have a day to kill in Hoi An and fancy getting wet then give it a go.

Relaxing beach for lunch & dive boat

Nudi 1

Nudi 2

Lionfish

Sea Cucumber

Anemone fish

Starfish

Coral

Scorpion fish

Testing Times - 27/03/2015

Not every dive is amazing. It's just a fact. Sometimes being a decent buddy is just about helping your pals get back in the water or being there when they test out new gear. Today was that kind of day. I was diving the Announcer who was making a return to SCUBA after a few hectic months and Cardio Jim who was looking to test a new dive computer. 

We went in, the dive was at best below average and uneventful we came out mission accomplished - everything worked.  I never took any photographs. 

I needn't say more.

Milestones - 21/03/2015

When I first met Jester he'd done just 15 dives. Tonight, he was doing his 200th. Quite an achievement. It would be tough to top the fun of his 199th. We joked about poor vis and seeing nothing - perhaps we should have resisted. 

Entering Seal Reef in daylight at low flood, the viz was about 1m, hoping for better we kept going down expecting to pass through into clearer water. 10m, 15m, 20m, 25m - nothing. Then at 27m it opened up to 2-3m.

We passed lots of sea cucumbers, langostine, but nothing great. On the way back up, the viz was improving. The tidal flood sweeping the particles back up to the head of the loch.

We had fun without seeing muchand celebrated with a sugary overdose at the Malt & Myre. 

Scorpionfish

Sea Cucumber