A dive of many firsts

Location: The Mewstone, Wembury

Type: Reef

Max Depth Achieved: 17.9 metres

Dive Length: 37 minutes

Surface Conditions: Choppy

Last night’s dive off the Mewstone past Wembury was nothing short of amazing. It was my first dive as a qualified scuba diver, my first boat dive, my first time in a RIB, my first dive past an eight metre depth – a lot of firsts then!

The RIB ride out to the Mewstone was better than any theme park ride. The wind was getting up which made the sea pretty choppy so it was exceptionally bumpy with waves coming straight at us. Combine that with the rain and I think we were wetter on the boat than we were in the sea (at least the guys in drysuits were)! I was glad to be sat on the seat in the middle of the boat rather than on the side which some of the more adventurous folk did, or even lie down on the side of the RIB – it’s the senior instructor’s ‘spot’ apparently! Not convinced how safe it is but when you’ve been diving for years...

Getting your kit on in the boat takes some skill, a bit of balance and a lot of luck, especially in rough seas! You do the best you can sat down then, in my case, be glad you’re a girl and let the blokes hoist the tank and the like onto your back. I had a couple of jumpy moments when I was sat on the side with equipment on waiting for the others to kit up. I can’t say it was the best feeling knowing that a tiny shuffle backwards and I’d be in the water without actually meaning to!

Awaiting the launch (right) with Gemma

On the count of three (we went in as a three and the fourth came in after) we launched ourselves backwards and in a split second were bobbing up and down in the waves.

The descent seemed overly easy considering on my other dives I’d had trouble equalizing my ears and this time we went a lot deeper, but thankfully I only had to stop a couple of times. Let’s hope that’s the way forward!

The deeper we got the lighter it seemed to get and suddenly you’re in a completely different world, full of sea urchins and starfish clinging to the colourful reef. I was in awe of my surroundings. The senior instructor signed the ‘ok’ hand signal to me. The etiquette here is that you use the same signal back to confirm that you’re happy and have no problems. In all the excitement this went out of my head and I just did what you’d do on the surface to signal that all’s ok – both thumbs up! In the diving world that means ‘go up’! I promptly realised that was the wrong signal and changed to the right one and he said afterwards that he fortunately realised I was quite happy as he could see the grin on my face despite the regulator in my mouth!

We spent the best part of 40 minutes in the water and I couldn’t get enough. There were dozens of sea urchins and white starfish. One of the highlights was a purple starfish. After consulting the marine guide back at the dive centre we decided he was a ‘Bloody Henry’. There were a couple of crabs; one rather round and white, another more spindly but still a decent size. Some medium size fish (probably not more than six inches) and schoals of tiny fish which I totally ended up swimming with at one point when I landed on the sea bed. I say landed because I was trying to control my buoyancy (unsuccessfully) and ended up lying on the floor before I sorted myself out as I didn’t want to fin too much for fear of harming the starfish! I’m pretty sure that’s when I hit my maximum depth of 17.9 metres. Given that the open water qualification allows you to dive to 18 metres I was pretty impressed by that!

I was also particularly impressed by the nifty bit of kit on my arm which is known as a depth timer or bottom timer. It’s basically a large watch with an in-built depth gauge which one of the guys who uses it as his backup in case his dive computer fails lent me, but it was so useful to be able to see what depth I was at. Without it I think I might’ve been quite disorientated so I’ll be getting me one of those quick smart!

Heading back to the surface we did a three minute safety stop at five metres. I think I managed to hover somewhere between four and six which apparently wasn’t too bad considering conditions on the surface weren’t making things easy. Just as we were about to get above water I spied a jellyfish! He was quite small and clear with a red tinge to the outer edges. We still had our regs in so all I could do was point – I think the others thought I was having a fit!

The weather had really deteriorated on the surface; it was raining hard, the sky was dark and the sea was really choppy which made getting back onto the boat, once it found us, interesting! Using the most graceful technique possible (hmm) it was one, two, three and lift yourself as far out the sea as possible grabbing hold the side of the boat while a fellow diver pushes you up and another pulls you onboard.

The aim is graceful dolpin, I achieved beached whale!

I managed it on the second go, not bad for the first time, especially considering my mask had slipped down over my mouth and was still covering my nose so I was having a hard time breathing! I’m not convinced I’ll do much better next time!

Watch out fishies, here I come!

I passed! As of 5^th July I’m now a PADI Open Water certified scuba diver ready to be let loose in the sea. Somebody warn the marine life!

During the last couple of weeks I’ve completed my four obligatory open water dives – all shore dives off the waterfront on Plymouth Hoe over two evenings.  On the first night realisation dawned that diving is a far from glamorous hobby. With all the equipment lined up on the pavement alongside the road above the steps down to the entry point, the next obvious step was to get changed. My first question: “Is there any etiquette to this or do you literally just...?” That’s right, you just strip! No holds barred, the dry clothes come off and the wetsuit goes on (or rather you look a bit of a tit as you wiggle your way into it occasionally jumping in the air to aid the pulling up millimetre by painful millimetre). If you’ve prepared in advance you will of course make sure you’re already wearing your swimming togs before getting yourself into this precarious situation!  

The result...

Yes, seal was my first thought too.

Full kit on, down the steps (so much easier to say than do with 10kg weights and a 12l tank on your back), final checks complete (this was where one of the instructors reminded me it helps to turn your air on – mental note made) and it was into the sea off the rocks in a not so graceful roll sideways into the water from a crouching position (make like you’re going skiing and someone just hung a large weight off your right arm).

In the water we discovered I was overweighted (if someone hadn’t been holding onto me during these checks I would have sunk) but we figured with extra inflation I’d survive (turn of phrase – I was perfectly safe). Actually, that was probably a bad decision, as I spent most the dive being propped up by one of the instructors as I kept rolling to the side, but you live and learn! Despite the dodgy choice of equipment (my BCD – the inflatable jacket – was also too big but I blame myself for that as I know what size I am and should’ve checked I’d been given the right one) and the lack of visibility (I couldn’t figure out who was who), I made it through all the skills tests without too much drama and got back onto dry land (with help – your legs feel like lead weights after getting out of the water) feeling like I’d accomplished something, though not feeling as exhilarated as I’d hoped because of the extra effort involved in righting the kit malfunctions. Having said that, it was my first ever sea dive and not something I’ll forget in a hurry!

The second night on the water (or underwater) was a different experience altogether. I made sure I had all of the right kit (down to the extra small fins which no one could figure out why I needed as I’m an average size 5 usually) and I knew what to expect. I loved it from start to finish! I made it through all the skills tests...eventually! I had a slight problem with remembering to start kicking to propel myself to the surface during a controlled emergency swimming ascent but I got there with gentle encouragement. The best part by far was having a bimble (I have it on good authority that’s a highly technical scuba term) along the sea floor. The seaweed (or kelp) in itself was interesting with the odd sea snail (yes, I’m making names up now) attached, but my first ‘proper’ find was a crab, or part thereof. Okay, so he wasn’t a whole live crab, I’d found a claw of a previously departed and sorely missed crustacean (I don’t know, but I suspect his friends may have written something along those lines in his eulogy) which caused a bit of amusement when my instructor picked it up and started mock attacking me with it. It really is hard to laugh underwater! My best discoveries of the dive were some little fishies. They really were very little fishies but I was enthralled by them. Who knows what they thought of me peering at them through what must have looked like a giant window but they were very cute. A bit too quick for me to chase though! I also saw a tiny starfish, which I didn’t realise was a starfish until I was told later (it looked like a tiny white octopus to me)!

It’s all very well describing all of these discoveries, what I need is photos! Evidence to aid the descriptions. My PADI book says that I should have an aim and mine is definitely to take the underwater photography speciality at some point. It certainly won’t be my only aim and I want to make myself more comfortable with ‘normal’ scuba diving first, but I will get there. In the meantime, I may have to hijack images from any budding photographers who happen to be on the same dives as me, but there’s nothing like being able to put your name to a photo. Now, if someone wins the lottery and would like to help me out with the costs I’d be much obliged!

If you found yourself playing out the reverse of the getting undressed and into your wetsuit scenario in your mind earlier, I’ll help you out. Back on the side of the road (people walking by, cars driving past) imagine a group of people peeling themselves out of wetsuits/drysuits and then cautiously attempting to remove wet undergarments and replace with dry ones under a towel whilst trying to avoid the possibility of being arrested for indecent exposure... there’ll be plenty more occasions to hone that skill, I’m sure!