Treasure! Yarrr!

 High tide at 8am means an early start if we want to reap the benefits at Babbacombe. Our friends at Exeter BSAC and Teign Divers had exactly the same idea, and our massive vehicles six point turned into their tint parking spaces trying not to run over the divers milling around the car park.

But onto the diving! Two pairs waded in and set off in different directions. Myself and Lise took a bearing to Mushroom Rock off the slipway. We're both fairly fast finners and we suspect we blew past it quite early on, as we spent half an hour swimming north looking for a drop off! Turns out surface support were wondering where the HELL we were off to! Looked like Teignmouth.

As we turned round after we'd what was quite a long distance from shore, I spied a rectangular piece of paper just peeping out the sand. It looked like litter and I generally tend to pick up underwater litter if I see it. I picked it up and the sand fell away, revealing a modern, waterproof £5 note! Treasure!! I felt it only right to donate it, but it felt so good to finally find something!!  

We actually did find Mushroom and Split Rocks on the way back funnily enough. Lise was navigating so credit definitely goes to her! We had a good hour under the sea and saw many jellyfish, hermit crabs (with one sporting anenomies), sea slugs, and some small fish.  

We provided surface support to let the third pair go in. It was a great morning!

Porthkerris 21-24 July

Here's a message from Andy:

I am organising a diving/camping weekend at Porthkerris, Cornwall the weekend 22 and 23 July. We will be using their boat Celtic Kitten which is currently available.

There is also currently camping/caravan space at the bottom of the hill.

I have booked myself in from the Friday 21 July to the Monday 24 July. If you want to come along please decide quickly so we get our group booked in before anyone else does.

Google "Porthkerris Divers" to find their website and if you book in let me know and ask to be at the bottom by the shore diving.

Any questions please get in touch.

I am also organising a weekend at Riverside camp site, Plymouth for August Bank Holiday using our own boat.

West Bay

It was my turn to dive manage, and determined as ever to go somewhere other than babbacombe. JR had suggested Sea Town and West Bay, and after scoping these out yesterday thought it might be worth a go. West Bay is a lovely seaside town that has recently had a tourism boost thanks to the show Broadchurch.

On the dive with me was Dave Howard and Andy Kingston. Today we drove just over an hour from Tiverton to Bridport, parked up on the esplanade west of the breakwater for max three hours (£1 per hour) for a shore done a little before the 1610 high water.

We had a good space near where we parked on the promenade to kit up and not in the way of the mildly interested land lubbers. We found the harbour master (and air filling station!) at the other end of the promenade and told her of our intentions. We wanted to take a bearing off the end of the breakwater, swim 50m out, then swim West 100m where there is apparently a petrified forest, and then swim North back to shore.

We got in about 3pm, surface swam for ten minutes until we got to the end of the breakwater (whilst being encircled by a jet ski), and close to the end of the breakwater we picked up a strong current. Although we were close to HW it was still enough to pull us round. We changed the plan and decided to swim back along the breakwater towards shore. Visibility wasn't as good as JR had reported, it was about 2 or 3 m.

I struggled to get down. I was getting exhausted fighting the offshore current and finning downward, at the same time getting my upward protruding find tangled in the smb line. Dave and Andy kindly lent me 1kg each, which made a world of difference and gave me almost perfect buoyancy! We had also reached the point of the breakwater where the current was shoreward directed and worked in our favour.

There wasn't much to see unfortunately. We all saw one fish, Dave and Andy saw a crab. Out in the bay appeared to be just sand - and i had read reviews that this was the case, and that there wasn't anything to see that way.

I'm glad i planned a dive here, as i now know not to again! The same probably applies to Seatown but i think I'll still arrange a trip there to make sure. It may be worth planning ahead and getting one of the many charter boats that go out of West Bay, where we can do some deeper diving and see new places.

April 2017 Newsletter

AGM

To be communicated.

Diving

We've had a couple of trips through march. Andy and Linda lead a good trip out Brixham breakwater. The dive out of babbacombe last week had to be aborted due to kit failure (shredded dry suit seals, I should have checked more carefully!)

Please comment below to let us know what you've been up to!

March 2017 Newsletter

Dive Leader Theory

Congratulations to Adrian and all three Daves for completing the dive leader theory course and passing their exam!

Dive Leader Practical

We are thinking about organising a day where we can carry out the dive leader emergency scenarios. These will hopefully happen in April if we can get as many instructor's and candidates free on the same Sunday. Please liase with Andy!

ASPs

Thanks everyone for being proactive in getting ASPs done. Won't be long before we're back in the sea!

More to follow

Maybe...

February 2017 Newsletter

Lanzarote

This year we're off to Lanzarote in September. The cost will be about £850 for the hotel and £240 for a 10 days dive package. Please speak to Andy if you would like to book a place or leave a comment below if you have any questions!

ASPs

It's the time of year where we renew our diving skills, so book yours in with Andy as soon as you can. 8.30pm at the pool. We always aim to get them complete before the start of the diving season.

Committee Meeting

Will be at Stoodleigh Village Hall on Saturday 18th February. We are combining it with a skittles night. Meet at 7pm. There is no bar, so bring your own drinks, but there will be good food available. The first is £5 per person, please liase with Linda 07818433046

Annual General Meeting

This year will be on 17th of March, 7pm at the Fisherman's Cot, then staying on for drinks and a delicious dinner.

BSAC Stuff

The wreck of the Coronation off Plymouth is not normally accessible to divers, but there is now a website where you can explore it virtually. Check it out at www.thisismast.org/coronation-3d-virtual-trail.html.

And now, the weather.

Bleugh.

January 2017 Newsletter

Sorry for the delay, but better late than never!

Happy new year, how you're all managing to keep warm and dry. Last week the pool was shut due to maintenance, but should be open again this coming Thursday.

It'll be a few months before we get properly up and running with diving, so until the February newsletter, ciao for now.

December 2016 Newsletter

Thursday Pool Sessions

There are no pool sessions this month, but we will reconvene in January.

Ask Linda about the Lottery

You may have won, if not, then you should play harder! It's not expensive, it's a bit of fun and it helps support the club.

Anything Else?

If any member has any other news they'd like to share, please make full use of the comments section below.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

November 2016 Newsletter

A light newsletter this month, because it's already dark and cold enough outside as it is.

- -

Discount Offer from JR Services

Testing & Servicing Discounts until Christmas 2016

It's that time of year again, when we hope to encourage people to bring their kit in to be done NOW, in the Autumn, instead of adding to the nightmare rush and unavoidable delays around Easter
time.

As usual, we offer 10% off testing & servicing labour with the added incentive of 15% off labour for 5 - 9 items and an extra incentive of 20% off labour for 10 or more items.

If you know of someone who might appreciate this discount, please feel free to let them know.

Please note that we do not e mail everyone, so if you're a club member, pass the message on & let other club members know about the offer.

If there are a few of you who all have kit, why not get together and bring it to us in one batch to maybe increase the available discount?

Changes to the Cylinder Test Intervals: There are rumours going round that the cylinder test interval is changing from 2 1/2 year to an annual Vis Insp with a Hydro every 5 years (like in US & Australia).

As yet, we have not been officially told anything. Therefore we are
carrying on testing as per the existing legislation - diving cylinders
passing a test now will be in test for 2 1/2 years.

Lots of love,

J.R.Services

Unit 5 Warren Farm, Kentisbeare, Cullompton, Devon EX15 2BR.
Workshop: 01884 266 400 jrservices@tiscali.co.uk

Autumn Opening Hours 2016: 

Mon - Fri 8 am - 5.30/6 pm 

Sat - variable - usually 7.30 am - 10 am (note closed all day Sat Oct 29th)
Sundays - closed

Please ring first if travelling any distance to get to us.

- -

Now the weather...

Variable.

October 2016 Newsletter

Hello and welcome

Hello, I hope you are all able to see this club newsletter, now on the exciting world wide web. It's also interactive, you can contribute comments at the bottom and we can have discussions about things as well. I will also occasionally post diving logs between newsletter issues, some of which you can already read from a couple of years back.

Wow!

Currently this exciting format is the only option I have for writing newsletters on the account I own quite a cheap little tablet that has limited functionality. There's no need to worry about exclusivity, for those who stumble upon my blog who are not in the club are probably likely to be generally bewildered by it anyway. Conversely, I expect club members to fully comprehend and accept my jibber jabber. 

Also on your phone!

Yes, the future is here! If you can open emails on your phone then you can click on the newsletter link and it should take you to a mobile friendly version of this site. It should have all the same functionality. Please feed back to me any issues you have regarding this, and I'll see if there is anything I can do to fix it.

So, down to business...

Pool

There last pool session will be on 24th November 2016 for all activities. The decision has been taken not to hire the pool through December. Sessions will restart on 5th January 2017.

Diving and other fun

There are a few events planned:

• Skittles and food at Stoodleigh, provisionally planned for 22nd October.
• The weekend of 26/27th November is still open to anyone interested.
• Alan Barnes has found a hall in Taunton we might be able to use for functions, it has a bar and affordable catering.
• Keep an eye out for a planned trip next September (2017) to Lanzarote. Provisional costs is £850 for the hotel and £240 for a 10 dive package.

And now, the weather

Changeable.

Portland

Guest post by David Dooley

Photo: David Dooley

Andy and Sue towed the boat and lead a group for a week end at Portland.

After a night of intense thunderstorms campers and day visitors travelled in improving weather to the Castletown launch site.  The dearth of other divers was noticeable.  Andy drove the rib to a position just SSW of Grove Point.  There we found boulders, crabs, sponges, fan worms, hydroids, top shells and even a few fish in 2 metres visibility.

After a picnic on the beach or bacon sandwiches from the cafe we set out for a real wreck, the Countess of Erne, a paddle steamer downgraded to a barge before she lost an argument with the harbour wall.  However visibility was even worse, dark and  with a very easily stirred fine sediment on all surfaces, wreck, rock or bottom mud.  A few pairs managed to stay together! The last pair chose to look at the harbour wall boulders where at least there was some light.

After another night with some rain and the sound of the surf on Chesil increasing we set out to watch the keenest divers try Chesil Cove.  One look convinced even the keenest. Apart from the surf the water out from the beach was a dirty green-brown colour. 

The group dispersed to investigate Dorset cream teas and sight see around Portland.

The diving can only get better!

Can’t it?

Beer

 Guest log by Paul Williams

I dived with three buddies [in two pairs] at Beer on Sunday 4th May.

Viz was about five metres, though a fair bit of bloom made it quite speckled. Water temperature at the beach was 14C and 12C submerged. We were pleased to see a number of lobsters, crabs, a lone spider crab and some nice wrasse and dogfish.

The bottom had clearly been scoured by the winter storms, with a lot of rock that had obviously been covered with sand now showing as reef.

It is a shallow dive and we spent most of the hour of submerged time in 4 to 6 metres depth – maximum 7 metres.

Although it is potentially a good place for a training dive the parking [£5 per car per day] is very limited near the beach. Entry and exit is simple from the pebble beach, if a bit heavy on the knees and ankles.

Phenomenal Sea States

This autumn and winter have been almost constantly blown out for any diving. The powerful Atlantic jet stream has been steering low pressure systems across the UK like a conveyor belt, with rapid cyclogenesis spinning up deep low pressures which cause rough seas, in some cases 'phenomenal' sea state on the Douglas Scale has been reported off the southwest coast of England.

The sea is a rusty red colour where all the silt and sand has is in suspension, so any quiescence that does betide us will still be very poor in terms of visibility, and even any sign of more settled weather still seems like a dream, especially to everyone living in Somerset.

Chesil Beach

We still have that slab of high pressure sitting over us now as we did on Sunday, which was a perfect opportunity to get to some of the more 'exposed' sites. 

There was only myself; Dave H, a sports diver; and Oli, one of our new trainee ocean divers. It was my turn to organise the dive so the previous Thursday I brainstormed some ideas with the other instructors Andy and Paul. We ruled out places like Hallsands and Lulworth Cove, and wanted something different than what we normally do. We agreed that Chesil Beach in Dorset would be ideal as a shelving shore dive, and the abundance of rocks and pebbles would ensure at least moderate visibility.

geograph.co.uk

It took an hour and a half to get there from Tiverton, but we arrived at the civilised time of 10am. We planned to dive off the far eastern end of the beach, closest to Portland. The sea was a flat calm and almost deserted despite the end of summer holidays, that is save for a dive trio that were just coming out of the water. They were reporting visibilities of 10m in places! Tropical! Jenny my wife carried out marshalling duties while the Dave, Oli and I kitted up and did our buddy checks. These are always essential even for the experienced diver (especially for the complacent diver) as I had accidentally attached my weightbelt to my BCD! 

We put our fins on in the water and Jen took lots of photos of us all hopping around in the mid-surf!

We got ourselves organised and descended to about 6m initially. Dave was the only diver with a compass (mine is still ratting around Babbacome beach somewhere) so he lead the dive. We navigated straight out in a southwesterly direction. Visibility was good, although I would have said not quite 10m, but enough to impress and ocean diver trainee on his third ever dive! Oli was very enthusiastic and was powering on ahead, so not only was he using his air a lot faster than Dave or myself he was missing all the scenery! He slowed down on the way back after he was the first to reach 140bar. I was having a lot of fun holding different static positions underwater thanks to my loaned semi-drysuit, for instance I really enjoyed hovering upside down and looking under rocks that way! We spotted three wrasse, two lobsters (one of them was truly gargantuan but too embedded in the rock to retrieve) and a lonely cuttlefish, which was Oli's spot.

We exited a few hundred yards to the west of where we set out, and it was a steep climb up the stoney beach back to the drybags and lunchboxes. 

Once again I had worn a semi-dry as my beloved drysuit is still at the menders. But you know what? I think I've been converted!

Babbacombe

Date: Sunday 11th August            Dive Number: 176
Place: Babbacombe, Torquay       Buddy: Jade K, Elliott N 
Time Down: 1130                         Dive Time: 00:32 + 00:10
Time Up: 1215                               Max Depth: 8.8m
Visibility: 0-1m                             Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F3 BKN015 W18C         Entry: Pier steps

1townhouses.co.uk

Dave and Adrian managed to get away for a club dive relatively early on, and visibility was good to the south of the pier. We ourselves eventually got kitted up after a lot of mucking about with cylinder fills! There was a wedding on at the hotel which also choked up the car park, and Elliott was getting rather hot in his semi-dry. It was Elliott's first ever sea dive and Jade's final Ocean Diver lesson - leading the dive. I constructed a plan that would fulfil both OO1 and OO5 requirements, getting Elliott to do some simple drills at shallow depth before Jade lead the dive to a greater depth.

After letting my wife (dive marshal, keeper of the diveslate) Jen know our air and time in, the fishers on the pier know we would be swimming around the base of the pier before descending, we entered via the steps where I felt the biggest leak in my drysuit I have ever had. Becky on surface support checked my drysuit zip but it appeared fine. I thought my dump valve was letting it in, but it seemed to taper off within a few minutes so I thought no more about it.

We circumnavigated the pier avoiding all the fishers and descended to the base, a depth of around 2m. Elliott did a good fin pivot, it seemed he had the correct weights at the time. Jade then buddied with Elliott and lead the dive with myself behind, with the intention of using the rock wall as a navigation aid, but the silt had been stirred up rather rotten and at times all I could see were the end of Jade and Elliott's fins. I was keeping an eye on our direction with my compass, which Jade did not have or anticipate needing. Jade turned round and signalled to surface so we could get a look at where we were. We were a far way off the wall and about 150m away from the pier. We gained our bearings again and started to go down again but Elliott had problems equalising (popping his ears). We surface swam back to the pier where I suggested we complete Elliott's mask clear drills but he was uncomfortable, so asked if he could get out. This was no problem and probably a good idea, as noone should dive if they are uncertain or uncomfortable, as this could lead to major incidents.

Becky helped Elliott back to the car park while Jade lead the dive back from the pier to the shore, which gave her more of an opportunity in clearer water to check my air, check I was okay and generally navigate to the shore which was successful  At chest depth we did a low-air buoyancy check which was fine, and finally Jade jettisoned her weightbelt to complete the lesson. 

Date: Sunday 11th August            Dive Number: 177
Place: Babbacombe, Torquay       Buddy: Becky H, David C
Time Down: 1515                         Dive Time: 00:31
Time Up: 1600                               Max Depth: 4.3m
Visibility: 2-3m                             Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F3 SCT020 W18C         Entry: Shelving shore

The second wave was later getting away than planned but it was mid afternoon and noone seemed too rushed. My wife had to take the boys home so Jade looked after the dive slate. We planned the same lesson, but the tide was a lot lower, almost at low tide, and the best bet at any visibility was in the bay where Jade and I found it to be a lot clearer previously.

geograph,org.uk

Elliott kindly lent me his semi-drysuit (I have never worn one until today!) which I managed to squeeeeeeze into as my drysuit was incapable of being a dry suit. We stumbled over rocks and boulders to get to the water's edge to the amusement of everyone watching from the beach and cafe! We did buddy checks and Becky have a good brief to David as part of her exercise. The plan was to use her brand new compass to navigate in a straight line out of the bay, turn round after 70 bar (one third) of our air had been used and come back on the reciprocal bearing. 

It was difficult putting fins on in such shallow water so we instead put helped each other on with fins slightly further out. The seaweed was a nuisance as well. We didn't get a very inspirational depth but it was sufficient to stay underwater. David was on the light side of neutrally buoyant when doing the fin pivots, but otherwise seemed comfortable in the water. Becky did a good job leading the dive, checking David's air and that he was 'okay', but found the compass a challenge. This didn't impede on the lesson (aside from ending up at the same dead end twice!) as she took assertive corrective action when she realised the error, and directed David accordingly. Becky signalled that David had finished his first third of air and lead us on the reciprocal bearing back to the shore. Visibility was slightly better, but not as good as earlier. Certainly not the most inspiring dive where marine biology was concerned, I saw a few dead crabs but nothing else of interest! Towards the end of the dive the partial-flood mask clear drill was carried out, Becky maintained a mid water hover on low air at 2m depth, and finally when they were chest deep they both jettisoned their weightbelts. I picked up both weightbelts and unfortunately this caused my compass to slip off into the silty seaweedy tidal waters. I hope someone finds it and has many an enjoyable and memorable dive navigating with my compass! 

The best moment of the day however was watching an overloaded motorhome trying and failing to leave the steep sharp bend on the hill out of the carpark!

shoredive.co.uk

Porthkerris

Tiverton Diving Club On Tour! Porthkerris Divers are a well establised diving operation situated on the Cornwall's Lizard peninsula. Andy organised a weekend away to sample the diving scene, an overnight stay at St Keverne Campsite was essential, otherwise it was over a two hour drive back to Tiverton!  

We weren't "lucky" with the weather, but thanks to being east facing and protected from prevailing winds by a sheer cliff, we got away with most of our planned dives!

Date: Saturday 3rd August          Dive Number: 172
Place: Vase (Manacles)               Buddy: Chris B 
Time Down: 1230                         Dive Time: 00:29
Time Up: 1301                               Max Depth: 30.5m
Visibility: 8-10m                            Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F4 SCT030TCU W14C   Entry: Boat Celtic Kitten

Our first dive was a hardboat dive. There are two hardboats that run out of Porthkerris, Celtic Cat and Celtic Kitten, the latter was the boat we were booked on. The boat has a front door like a RORO ferry and fronts onto the stony beach, so divers can simply walk on like it's a landing craft - the benifit of this is so that we don't need to kit up on the boat as the deck itself was quite small. Chris and I were uncharacteristically slow at kitting up, so ended up carrying some kit onto the boat and trying to untangle our hoses in front of a group of bemused looking divers from another club! We soon sat down with everyone else and enjoyed the moderately choppy ride out to the site. Dave, the skipper, was a really chilled out guy - most chilled out skipper I've ever seen! He made everything seem so smooth and easy, which put all the divers at ease. Even when Chris' cylinder slipped through the strap prior to entry, he just laughed, pulled him back, set it straight, slapped him on the back and all was well again. Some that I've encountered in the past would have held a grudge against something like that for the whole weekend! 

porthkerris.com

"The Vase is a very pretty, colourful reef dive. It is part of the Manacles and is a rock that is wedding cake shaped with three tiers at varying depths. The rocks are covered in kelp, sea fans and sponges and beautiful jewel anemones of all colours imaginable, coating the granite on the north-east corner of Vase Rock. There are sandy gullies and coves within the rocks that provide shelter from the current and are home to numerous sea urchins, starfish, crabs, pollack and wrasse. The current here can be exceptionally strong, especially on springs when it is only possible to dive on slack". Porthkerris.com

Once on the shotline we descended to a depth of around 20m on the Vase and headed north towards deeper water. Chris and I had previously agreed not to exceed a maximum depth of 35m, so we planned decompression stops from the BSAC '88 Tables, 1 minute at 9m and 3 minutes at 6m. At a depth of 30m we still had some depth ahead of us but we decided to ascend up the profile again for the sake of our air consumption. It was quite light at 30m, rather misleading as it usually gets dark at that depth in the UK. The Vase of course was very colourful, with sponges, fan coral and several fish, including one big pollack and a huge lobster which Chris saw, but didn't tell me! We found a pinnacle which plateau'd at 6m so our final deco stop and DSMB deployment were made easy for us.

One of the best things about Celtic Kitten is the lift. It's so easy to just stand on it underwater after a dive and then Dave winds it up so we can simply walk back onto the deck. Too easy!

Date: Saturday 3rd August          Dive Number: 173
Place: Porthkerris Bay                 Buddy: Chris B, Keith S 
Time Down: 1500                         Dive Time: 00:25
Time Up: 1530                               Max Depth: 14.9m
Visibility: 4-5m                             Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F4 BKN015 W13C        Entry: Shelving Shore

After a decent surface interval back on shore we prepared for our second dive of the day - Chris' final Dive Leader open water training lesson. The drill consisted of

• Controlled Buoyant Lift (CBL) of a non breathing casualty from 15m
• Tow casualty on the surface for 50m
• Exploratory dive

We summoned Keith to join us on the dive so he could act as the casualty, which would work better from my perspective of monitoring the skill. We needed a depth of 15m, and much of the bay was only 8-10m. We needed to go around the other side of these rocks.

porthkerris.com

This required a moderate surface swim which gave me cramp more than once and further flooding in my drysuit which I have found to occur more when I'm on my back. We reached the far side of the rocks and descended to find a clear patch of sand at a depth of 15m, ideal for the initial casualty set up. The first CBL was too fast and it took a while for me to catch them up on the surface. Everyone was okay though, apparently there was also confusion as to the last 6m whether they held on or separated, and who was and wasn't inflated. While we were on the surface I made Chris do the 50m tow which really did seem to tire him out. We dropped down again to catch our breath before retrying the CBL, this time arresting the asecnt at 6m and then immediately descending without surfacing. There was no way we were going to do a third run as multiple ascents can be detrimental to our biology. Fortunately Chris did really well on the second ascent and made haste without speed, hitting 6m before immediately descending again. Finally, Chris navigated and explored our way back to the beach, reaching it spot on to where we wanted. At three meters depth as we were swimming up the final shelf, Chris bent down, took his fins off and attempted to 'walk' up the beach. He really had to lean forward to maintain any sort of propulsion and made it look rather difficult. Impressive, funny, but not really appropriate if he was leading the dive, or even looking after his buddy should anything happen to them. All we need to do now is to get him to do simulated rescue breaths and compressions on a dummy. Maybe Keith will be available again... 

Back at the campsite, Andy and Sue sorted everyone out with a slap-up barbeque dinner. It was a little cold considering it was August, but it's truly the only way to relax after a hard day's diving!

Date: Sunday 4th August             Dive Number: 174
Place: Volnay (wreck)                 Buddy: Steve G, Keith S 
Time Down: 1200                         Dive Time: 00:43
Time Up: 1243                               Max Depth: 19.5m
Visibility: 4-5m                            Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F4 OVC002 W14C       Entry: Boat Celtic Kitten

We didn't know if we would even be diving at all today as we had such bad weather overnight and it was so windy at the campsite. We underestimated the degree of shelter the site had though, and when I asked Jo at the front desk if the hardboats were still going out she looked in comic disbelief and exclaimed, "hell, yeah!" 

"Homeward from Canada with luxury goods and ammunition, [Volnay] detonated a contact mine on 14th December 1917 off the Manacles, and was bought into Porthallow bay and anchored a quarter of a mile off Porthkerris beach, where she sank in 21 metres onto a sandy bottom. It is a non-tidal, nice and easy wreck to dive. Although the wreck is well broken up, there are still some very large pieces, but the whole site is covered in a fine layer of silty sand and you must be careful not to stir things up.  You may find some shell cases, lead balls or cordite if you’re lucky". Porthkerris.com

We were back on the Celtic Kitten for this dive and also joined by the same club as yesterday. Dave explained all about the wreck and suggested, as the Celtic Cat had already dropped divers off, that we go north rather than south, where the other divers had probably gone to stir up the silt! Didn't find any treasure though. Found a shoe, but it looked new, so left it to grow some barnacles for next time.

Date: Sunday 4th August            Dive Number: 175
Place: Porthkerris Bay               Buddy: Toby & Kate 
Time Down: 1430                         Dive Time: 00:31
Time Up: 1501                               Max Depth: 8.2m
Visibility: 2-4m                            Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F4 OVC002 W14C      Entry: Shelving Shore

Final dive of the trip, and after a chicken baguette, a cup of tea, fig roll and two hours surface interval we were ready once more. I took Toby on his final Ocean Diver open water lesson. Drills included

• SEEDS Brief 
• Lead the dive between 12-20m
• Mid water hover on low air
• Weightbelt jettison

Kate, Toby's partner also came along on the dive as Toby's dive buddy, and I would swim along behind and monitor his dive leading. Toby gave a good brief and I was very impressed that he reviewed and reconsidered his original decision to enter via the smaller entrance where swell was being amplified up the shore and took the safer entrance, even though it meant a longer surface swim to where he wanted to go. He was also keen to practise compass navigation, which wasn't necessary but very useful for the exercise.

Toby's conduct in leading the dive was outstanding. He regularly checked Kate's (and my) air - even if it was every ten bar at least he was mindful of it. Assessing the length of time to leave between asking again comes with experience. He was also good at checking the 'ok' sign with Kate and myself as well. Toby successfully used the compass to navigate north through the gully to the left of the bay, and after the first 'third' of air supply then took a reciprocal bearing as he planned in his brief for the second third, leaving a third left in the cylinder as reserve. We reached the final shelf leading up to the beach where Toby demonstrated he could execute a mid water hover whilst low on air, and then I got him to sit down on the stones at 1.5m depth, where he jettisoned his weightbelt and safely bobbed up on the surface. 

We then walked up to the kit washing station and debriefed while spraying each other with cool fresh water, after a salty weekend it felt so good! I was able to sign off OS5 in Toby's book, he has a few more to get signatures for but otherwise I look forward to seeing him and Kate in Sports diver lessons very soon!

porthkerris.com

Total accumulated time underwater: 3 Days, 14 hours, 39 minutes

Instructor Foundation Course

For all those divers who are thinking about instructing, and even non divers who may possibly consider diving in the future I present to you an entry from another blog I had back in 2007, after I took the plunge and took the IFC, the first step towards becoming a scuba diving instructor. I fully recommend it!

April 1st 2007

Moving Up by Going Down

I have passed my IFC instructor course with BSAC scuba diving and am now an instructor!
Matt and I drove to a grotty public school in Pimlico in the middle of London at 7am Saturday (it had stalactites  and sat through a series of lectures before throwing ourselves in the drink and being taught to teach by national instructors.

In my group were Steve, Dan and Simon; or as I thought, Future John Gane, Eric Clapton and Victor Meldrew. We had a few laughs, planned a load of lessons and then were each assigned a topic to complete for the next day. I was to give a theory lesson on BCD's and a practical session on mask clearing.

Got home at about 9pm and spent an hour making a powerpoint presentation and 10 lesson plan for a 10 minute theory lesson, and wrote up a dive slate for the practical.

On the second day we all did our theory lessons. I got the group involved in trying on the BC, cylinder and regs along with demonstrating how it was used, which Pete (our instructor) was impressed by. My mask clear demo was good as well, along with teaching novices to kits up, enter and exit the pool safely. Eric Clapton had to teach buoyancy control, but overnight his cylinder emptied to 90bar, and he wore a wet suit without a weightbelt. So it was ironic that he was floating like a cork and unable to teach!

I'm now a qualified A.D.I. instructor!

And now I'm so tired!

We're Going To Need A Bigger Boat...

Date: Sunday 21st July 2013          Dive Number: 170
Place: Mewstone, Plymouth           Buddy: Steve G 
Time Down: 1130                           Dive Time: 01:03
Time Up: 1235                               Max Depth: 13.4m
Visibility: 4-5m                             Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F5-F6. Water 19C.       Entry: Boat (Tivvy Rebel)

I learnt something this weekend. Our boat is not called 'Humber' - that is the naem of the model which is glued to the bow The club name for the boat is Tivvy Rebel. We quickly sorted loaded the boat with twelve cylinders, six sets of kit and six divers... and despite the title of this post (a favourite quote of mine from Jaws, so it's staying) there was plenty of manoeuvrability on the boat. Steve

L to R, Steve, Andy and Dave. Photo by D.Dooley.

 took the helm and aimed towards the Persia. As soon as we got past the Breakwater it started to get rather choppy, with salty spray whipping our faces and making my contact lenses feel slightly crispy in my eyes. It started to become rather rough past Mewstone, so we made an about turn and powered back to the lee of the Mewstone where conditions were a little more settled. A handful of other dive boats had exactly the same idea. 

Andy and Dave; David and Elizabeth went on the first wave while Steve gave me control of the boat. After a few figures of eight in the slacker water I decided to try and save some petrol and cut the power for a little while, without consulting Steve. The moment I turned the key I regretted my decision, as we always have to start the engine with a spare battery. Steve looked rather concerned as we repeatedly tried the ignition, followed by a deafening lack of sound coming from the engine. We left it for a minute or so and tried again, and she just spluttered into life. That was a close one! Needless to say I left her ticking over when I decided to drift upstream of the divers. 

Mewstone (bbc.co.uk)

Both pairs ascended almost simultaneously, so we swiftly retrieved David and Elizabeth before catching up with Andy and Dave. David had took some clear pictures of sea fan, leopard spot fish and Mixycola. Andy was triumphantly clutching a speargun which he found on his dive, he plans to clean it up and get it working (hopefully not planning to aggravate George the Plymouth dolphin or any seals with it). Our turn came, we kitted up and spent over an hour navigating our way towards Mewstone. To be honest there was very little to see except for kelp and a couple of fish. I wanted to find some decent kit, or interesting bit of wreckage from something, but nothing turned up. The most interesting thing in my opinion was Mewstone, which we  reached at a depth of 1.3m. We had to turn around and swim back into deeper water so we could deploy my Delayed Surface Marker Buoy so the boat could find us and pick us up. At least we got wet.

Sea Fan. Photo by D. Dooley. 

Date: Sunday 21st July 2013            Dive Number: 171
Place: Plymouth Breakwater Fort Buddy: Steve G 
Time Down: 1600                           Dive Time: 00:23
Time Up: 1630                               Max Depth: 13.4m
Visibility: 1-2m                             Water Speed: 1kn
Weather: F3-F4. Water 18C.       Entry: Boat (Tivvy Rebel)

After a two hour surface interval at Fort Bovisand involving a toilet break, a bottle of water, a packet of ready salted crisps and a Snickers bar, we suddenly realised that it was half three in the afternoon. Each of us called our respective wives to warn them that we would be much later getting back than previously anticipated. Some of us got more stick than others, but thankfully I consider myself to have gotten off lightly! 

Fort Bovisand (panoramio.com)

We decided to stick to the lee of the breakwater where things were calmer and dive a single circuit around Plymouth Breakwater Fort to keep the dive nice and short. To shorten the length of time on the water further Andy and Dave volunteered to crew the boat and miss out on the second dive. Myself and Steve descended on an unassuming area of silt, I propped up a piece of scrap metal against the fort base to mark our arrival. We made our way anticlockwise around the fort, visibility was rather poor due to the silt. It was more interesting to explore though, looking at all the mangled iron and steel which had dropped off the old fort over time. We swam against a slight current on the first half of the circuit, and were rewarded for our efforts with a pleasant drift around the other side. I spied my piece of metal and a rusty ladder which was lying close by, and I signalled to Steve to ascend. We clambered aboard once more and a further 15 minutes went by before David and Elizabeth popped up and we motored back to port. 

Plymouth Breakwater Fort (worldseafishing.com)