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