Bahamarama -15/04/2018

OK, I've been a bit remiss. I've done a lot of dives and not blogged. Now it seems I'm playing catch up. So let me bring you up to speed.

1. I qualified as a ScotSAC dive instructor
2. I bought a new camera and I've been using it.
3. I'm approaching 500 dives.
4. I went to the Bahamas.

So you're now up to speed.

Yeah, the Bahamas. Like many people I had seen the adverts in dive magazines with beautiful pictures of sharks in azure waters with glossy writing advertising Stuart Cove's aquatic adventures. I wanted to see the sharks for myself. So when the opportunity arose thanks to a cheap flight flight from Scotland to Miami and another cheap flight across to Nassau the game was on.

I ended up doing six dives with Stuart Cove's, they were pretty pricey averaging about $75 per dive. That was 4 reef 'n' wreck dives, one 'natural' encounter swimming with sharks before they were fed and a shark feed.

Let's cut a long story short, the coral and reefs and fish life in the Bahamas were distinctly average. However, they have sharks (Caribbean and Nurse), lots of sharks. And that's why I went. And speaking to the other divers that's why they were there too.

So from that perspective it was pretty good, but given I bought a new camera I'll let you judge for yourself.

Flamingo Tongue

Porthole

Basic Instruction - 10/03/2018

I had mentioned in a previous post that onlt two moths ago I undertook my first Assistant Instructoring and my major take away had been the SEEDS acronym. Well today I took the plunge and had my final assessments. They included:

• Instructor session (Wanton was putting up an SMB and leading a dive)
• A rescue lift (Wanton would die underwater and I'd bravely swim up and rescue him)

As ScotSAC club we had our Regional Instructor and Branch Diving Officer Present on a day when, to be honest, none of us would really like to be there.

As such, we kitted up quickly, briefed quickly and jumped in the water. In the dive brief, I remembered my SEEDS (Safety, Exercise, Equipment, Discipline, Signals), I remembered to tell the 'trainee' to behave. That's easier said than done with Wanton.

We went in, and he led a really unspectacular dive but stuck to all the disciplines he was required to stick to. At the end of the dive he successfully inflated his 'sausage' and we exited safely. Easy, so now onto dive two - rescue lift.

Now, I'd practised this the day before and it was alright but a reg knocked out the mouth and a freeflow made it a little tricky. I was hoping for an easier time of it today. As it was, it went swimmingly and I'd nailed it.

Just like that they let me be an instructor. My first new diving qualification of the year. Now I can get back to some fun diving. ;)

Caolasnacon & the Valley of the Frozen Winds - 11/02/2018

It's a beautiful place in summer or in winter and probably has to be one of the best located campsites in Scotland. Caolasnacon (pronounced Cowel-na-cone). It is also home to a dive site. Despite planning a whole weekend around Caolasnacon for March/April 2018, I had never dived here. I had camped here once and dived a number of the nearby sites, but never dived it.

Today, despite the cold, blizzards, and howling wind, today was going to be that day. More than this however, it was also going to be Jester's 300th dive.We were joined by the Wylie Fox and Haylie (the dog).

We kitted up and made our way down to the water and began swimming out. with none of us having ever dived here it fell to me (unfairly) to lead our merry band to the wall. I had expected to be under impressed. But once we found the wall it was actually quite spectacular. A little lifeless, which was to be expected at this time of the year.

We surfaced just before the hour mark and emerged to a blizzard that might of compromised our ability to get the van and car out of the campsite.

Fortunately, we made it up the road with little trouble and made it to the security of the Clachaig Inn for a spot of lunch before heading through the snow back to Glasgow.

To The Point - 11/02/2017

Nearby Loch Linnhe

It was an act of kindness that took me to the Slates on a wintery Saturday. With a new diver in the club interested in diving near Fort William. I had offered to meet her for a dive. It was cold and Gill.I.Am and I had agreed to take the van to the Linnhe Lochside Holidays, for and electrical hookup (to keep warm!). I then went with Sarah to Loch Leven to dive.

We had agreed that we'd head round the point until Sarah got to 100 bar and then from there we'd either turn back or continue round depending on which was quicker. As it was, it was quicker to continue round the point. 

Even though there was a pleasant assortment of sunstars, brittle stars and bloody henry's, there wasn't much life, it was cold - very cold, but the visibility was good in the loch. This bode well for my next dive the following day and the true point of my trip - Caolasnacon.

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.

Down With The Deep - 27/01/2018

As part of the Barrman's drive to get ready for diving Scapa Flow he's looking to get his Landlady up to ScotSAC Master Diver. As such, we headed to Hangman's Reef where he and the Landlady would clock up another plus 30m dive while Walker Texas Ranger and I took the opportunity to explore the site.

The guide suggests going to the left, however, I'd heard that if you dive to the right you can reach the southern tip of the Caves. To me it seemed worth the effort of exploration given that I'd only been here once before when doing my 50m qualification. 

The weather was pretty horrid. So we kitted up and headed to equally horrific visibility. In the early stages it was less than a metre, but we persisted and were rewarded as it grew to around 4m. More than adequate for our needs.

We swam along to the right passing dogfish and firework anemones eventually reaching rock formations that certainly resembled the Caves. We turned and headed back using the complete lack of visibility to assure us we were almost home. We were right.

The Landlady reckoned that was enough for the day, given the weather and left the three of us to dive the suggested guide route. In all honesty, it was pretty similar but the rock formations were a little closer than those to the right. and as we ascended we found the old anchor. It was pretty impressive.

I found myself liking the site and will definitely explore deeper (40m) on my next dive there.

Hello Goodbye - 22/01/2018

A Kell's Eye View

After a recurrence of an ear infection had kept me out of the water for another too weeks. However, when Hell's Kells says she want to squeeze in a check dive before she boards a plane to Belize with a one ticket it's kinda hard to stay out of the water.

We met up at our usual haunt and headed (due to time constraints) to the A-Frames in Loch Long for a blisteringly cold dive.

Unusually, there was quite a lot of boat traffic. I suspect as a  result of a recent tragedy in a nearby loch. A timely reminder, if it was needed, that our loch's are safe, but danger is never too far away.

As it was, our dive plan was simple:

• Kit up & buddy check
• Go down
• Check the kit
• Swim about until one of us felt cold 
• Surface safely

We stuck to it rigidly, stopping only to enjoy the odd nudibranch,, an anemone and for me to be me and write rude things in the silt. :)

We surfaced with Hell's Kell's reckoning that was the best and coldest she'd ever seen in the loch. At less than 2c in the water it was certainly cold.

With that we headed back to Glasgow where Hell's Kells waited 48 hours and then caught a flight to Belize. Very much a case of Hello, Goodbye.