Saturday 29 December 2012

The night before Christmas


Twas the night before Christmas
And out in the sea
Were some mad scuba divers
My buddy and me

Location: Eastern Kings – Type: Shore/Reef – Max Depth: 3m – Length: 8 mins – Surface: Clear

In the weeks leading up to Christmas I decided I wanted to dive on Christmas Eve. I roped in (without any difficulty) a willing buddy and prompted to stamp my feet and moan every time the weather turned bad and another day of diving was cancelled in the fortnight beforehand, concerned that I wouldn't get my festive dive.
The day before, despite a few days of heavy rain and flooding in some parts of the country, my buddy (also an instructor and far more experienced than me) gave our little adventure the green light. I was warned that the vis would be pretty rubbish though. I didn't mind; any dive would do me however little we could see. It was Christmas, after all.

The eve of Christmas arrived and we met early evening to get kitted up in time to make ourselves look festive. Serious stuff aside, which included setting up my new BCD and regs for the first time, we moved onto the fun bit. I'd planned on Xmas hat and tinsel. A text from my buddy earlier that day alerted me to the fact she may have bigger ideas; 'I'm going to parcel myself later, so I may need your help!'. Now I do have a bit of a reputation for enjoying fancy dress, but I had to raise an eyebrow at this thought. Nevertheless, I'm game for a laugh and you know how the saying goes - if you can't beat the nutty scuba diver, join her!
My buddy and me wrapped for a scuba xmas

Trussed up in wrapping paper and realising that wearing it into the water may not be such a good idea as it was ripping with every step, we hopped in the van and headed to Devil's Point where the aim was to dive Eastern Kings; a reef that drops off to 30 metres on one side and 40 on the other. A quick check of the water revealed a calm moonlit sea so we were good to go. After decorating our BCDs and tanks with glowsticks (necessary to be able to see each other underwater in the dark) and unwrapping ourselves (!), we made our way down the path, onto the beach and into the sea.

It felt a little chilly at first as the water ran down the back of my wetsuit while I was being helped into my fins, but given that the air temp was 11c and the water temp had only gone down another degree to 10c in the last couple of weeks it was surprisingly nice. We descended and immediately realised the vis was practically zero. I lost my buddy straight away, then found her by bumping into her. If I could have attached myself to her I might've done at that point. Instead I just stayed as close as I possibly could next to her. Even that wasn't 100% effective; after losing her once and finding her again by pure luck after spotting a very faint glow in the distance (in reality she was probably about two metres away) we surfaced. By that point we'd barely gone anywhere and only made it three metres down!

We decided the planned dive was most definitely not dive-able. In daylight it may have just been doable as vis often improves at greater depth but at 9pm it wasn't going to happen! Disappointing, but we weren't willing to up sticks straight away. We decided on going back down for five minutes bimbling along the bottom to make the best of a bad situation. I wanted to use my new underwater camera and even though it was obvious not much was going to come out it was worth a shot!


This was about the extent of what we could see!
Amazingly, in all that murkiness, I did happen upon a little white crab making his way along the sand and tugged on my buddy's arm to let her know it was there. Of course when the signals are by torchlight and you can't see much anyway there wasn't much hope of relaying that message and crabby was too fast for me to follow. As I was attempting to make a crab sign (I figured wiggling my fingers around could work) she put her hand down to steady herself, exactly where I'd last seen the crab. Given that she wasn't wearing gloves, I was worried about the crab either being squashed or clinging onto her hand so pushed her out the way! I was only able to explain that palaver when I could speak later!

Back on the surface we took a few photos as evidence of our Christmas Eve dive (or dive attempt at least).



As I was trying to stand up to start making my way out I managed to fall over backwards. Not the first time I'd done this except this time as we were in really shallow water I'd forgotten to inflate my BCD when I came up. It was enough water to cover me so this upended turtle had to do a bit of breath holding while righting herself! Must inflate BCD next time! It did give me a moment to appreciate the moon though, almost full in the sky making the water glow around us.

Moment of reflection over, we made our way back to the van. It was a good couple of minutes’ walk so I not only got to test the new BCD in the sea, I tried out its fit on land and I'm glad to report the ScubaPro Bella is perfect for me. It was so comfortable! Very happy as I was a bit concerned it wouldn't be right for me trying it on beforehand, but as I kept reminding myself, I've only ever worn them with cylinder attached so I didn't have anything to compare.

As we hadn't taken any festive props into the water we stopped to snap a few Christmassy pics.


 




It seems we attracted the attention of a couple of lads in a passing car who couldn't believe they were seeing 'diver chicks' (yes folks, girls do dive) and that we'd actually already been in the water. So impressed were they that one of them hopped out to take a photo of us as evidence!

We may not have managed to do the dive we wanted but it was certainly the most novel Christmas Eve I've ever had and couldn't have been any more fun! My buddy summed it up perfectly; twas an epic adventure!



Progress

Location: Waterfront – Type: Shore – Max Depth: 7m – Length: 33 + 17 mins – Surface: Clear

What was supposed to be my final advanced dive, the deep dive to 30 metres, actually turned into my first dive without an instructor in the group. I've done fun dives before, but it just happens that usually there's an instructor buddying me or in the group. The boat had been cancelled so instead I made a group of four with others still wanting to get a dive in and headed to the Waterfront for a shore dive. The sun was shining splendidly and it was actually pleasantly warm getting ready. We entered off the small beach on the Hoe; to date I've only rolled in off the side or gone down the steps but low tide made beach access the easy option. Having said that, when you put your fins on you then have the walk, or waddle, backwards into the water so ‘easy’ may not be the best choice of word. I unceremoniously made my way in (aka stumbled) and settled (fell) into the sea.

We spent a little while paddling while one of our compatriots attempted to sort his fins out. He wasn't having much luck so we gave him a hand in the water. We didn't have much luck either! His fins were far too small! Fortunately there were students with us training that day so there were spare fins around and we soon set off. I was navigating, my buddy was holding the SMB and the boys were following behind. I have to say it's not the easiest of things multi-tasking underwater (no jokes please)! The vis wasn't that good so keeping track of the guys and keeping on course was interesting. I also had a habit of darting off a bit quickly so I need to work on that!

Along the way we saw sand gobies, a brittle star, spiny star fish and purple anemones. I also collected a couple of aluminium cans which I pocketed to dispose of later. If I'd had a bag with me I could've turned it into a recycling dive with the amount of rubbish that ends up near the sea wall.

I'd managed to navigate out in a straight line for a while before turning 120 degrees (I was working on a triangular pattern) and we'd got relatively close towards the sea wall before myself and my buddy realised we'd lost the boys. Standard practice is to look around for a minute then surface, which is what we did. We soon saw their SMB and went to join them. As we were only a few metres from the bottom we had plenty of air to continue the dive, but just a few minutes later they'd strayed again! Turns out they'd stopped to take photos!

One of the snaps taken on the dive when the boys' disappeared!
 
This time the rest of the group were getting a little cold and we were almost back to shore by that point so they went in and I joined another diver to carry on for a bit longer. We saw a female ballan wrasse fish on this stint. On researching ballan wrasse after the dive, I discovered that they are all born female and only a small proportion turn male after eight years. Obviously they're aware that females are the superior species!

I was holding the SMB this time round. When you're holding it you're meant to keep it at a reasonable distance from your body so you don't get tangled up in it. Hmm. I forgot that! There was suddenly something pulling on my fin and I ended up head down, feet up. I really thought someone was above me pulling me up. Then I realised I'd got caught up in the reel line! I managed to flag my buddy down who helped me untangle myself and we continued for a bit before surfacing.

The correct way to hold an SMB, away from your body. NB. The teacup is not essential for correct SMB positioning.
 
As neither of us had been paying much attention to a compass we ended up a bit far from shore so we took a bearing and descended again. Not for long! The low tide meant we were barely in two metres of water and kept popping back up to the surface. So we gave up on that idea and had a gentle paddle back in. It was quite an interesting vantage point to watch a huge warship head into the dockyard! I felt like a tiny fish myself!

We made it back in and out the water eventually. You'd think getting out on the beach would be far easier than climbing up large steps but the water got a lot shallower as we got in and I didn't realise that I was being pushed in towards shore. I ended up beaching myself on a rock! Having been dragged up once by my buddy I then had to be helped out the water by two of the guys who had gone in earlier as I couldn’t steady myself enough to get up! I wonder if my exits will ever start to look like I know what I'm doing?

Location: The Elk – Type: Wreck – Max Depth: 30m – Length: 28 mins – Surface: Overcast

Here we go! I'd finally got to the last dive on the advanced course. There aren't many skills involved on this one. The main thing is to make sure you can get down to 30 metres and still have your wits about you! As you descend further, the nitrogen in the air you’re breathing compresses more and you can be at risk of developing nitrogen narcosis. Basically, it means that you feel drunk underwater, so you get disorientated and could do something stupid. I've heard tales of people reaching for their BCD inflators with the intention of getting to the surface as soon as possible and being pounced on by their instructor/buddy while they get themselves under control; not something you want to be doing that far down! If it does occur, it can often be rectified by ascending a few metres, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen again at the same depth.

We were heading to the Elk; an old trawler south of Plymouth’s breakwater used as a fishing boat which sank after hitting a mine in 1940. As we descended I was getting a few more ear problems than normal so it took a few minutes longer than usual, but I had expected it as I'd been ill the week before and still had a stuffy head. It wasn't bad enough to cancel the dive and I knew if I took it slowly I'd probably be okay. Fortunately I was right on this occasion. It's definitely not worth pushing it if you're in real pain though; the idea is you either manage to equalise or call it a day before that point and I know people who have had to do that.

After what seemed like ages, though in reality was probably only a few minutes, we hit the bottom. Instead of seeing a wreck, we'd ended up on the sandy bottom which was fortunate as I landed feet first, not quite realising we'd got there! You consume more air the deeper you go and it becomes harder to take breaths through the regulator. I knew I was breathing too quickly as I started to feel a little fuzzy. Fortunately the good thing was I realised I was doing it so I was able to correct myself quite quickly and start breathing at a more normal pace by taking a few slow, deep breaths with the support of my instructor who realised I was getting a little stressed. My surroundings were still a bit hazy but I knew I'd start to feel better soon so I plodded on.

We stopped on the sandy bottom to do the skills test; make five. The instructor holds up a certain number of fingers and you have to hold the amount up that makes the number up to five. I was fine on the first two doing it quite quickly. On the third he held up five fingers. It took me a minute to figure out how to make nought underwater (make a fist)! I thought he was trying to catch me out!

That done, we did a quick light test. The trainee divemaster shone a torch on something to show me the difference in colour once illuminated. I have to add that was after his torch was untangled from his BCD! Who says practise makes perfect? We continued to try to find the Elk. My instructor seemed quite happy with where he was going so I was happy to follow.

The deeper you get the less time you can stay down before you reach your no decompression limit so time was running short. I'm glad to say we did find the Elk and what a sight it was! It's only a small wreck but its deck is caved in and as such it's like a giant fish bowl! The critters are more than happy to have you swimming above them and continue on their path rather than darting out of the way. We were the only three diving the wreck at that point so I was told that had a lot to do with it. If you'd had a dozen divers down there they may have been more inclined to hide! We only had a few minutes on it but it definitely left me with a desire to get back onto it again soon. We surfaced with no drama, headed back to the centre and did the obligatory end of course photo for the certification. A few days later I was told that a somewhat embarrassed instructor, once I had left, had admitted that I'd come up having used less air than he had. The more experienced you are the less air you should use as you're more in control of your breathing so hearing this amused me! So there you have it, I'm now a qualified advanced open water diver. Wahoo!

A week later I tried to dive the Elk again, acting on the desire I'd had after the last time. Tried is the operative word though. We made it down 30 metres in somewhat rough conditions following another boat's shot line. No wreck in site! After a bit of a paddle along the bottom we called it a day and came up. So the Elk is still on the list to do properly! I was glad I had a chance to do another deep dive though. This time I was in control of my breathing the whole time and felt incredibly comfortable at that depth. I can't wait to do some more exploring.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

The guiding light of nav and night

Time certainly flies when you’re underwater. Okay, so that’s not much of an excuse for the time since the last post, but I’ve been spending a fair bit of time down yonder and haven’t had time to sit down and type on the surface. Real life got in the way…until now! We left off with the completion of my second adventure dive towards the advanced qualification, so that’s where I’ll pick up.

Location: Jennycliff Bay – Type: Reef – Max Depth: 8.9m – Length: 48 mins – Surface: Clear

It was a rather chilly morning for the navigation adventure dive a week or so into November; 2c when I left home first thing but the blue skies and sunshine made the early start worth it and I’ve come to learn that if you’re a little nippy on the surface, once you get under the water you’ll be feeling toasty (okay, minor exaggeration, but definitely not freezing).

The first thing to do was refresh my memory on how to use a compass. We touched on it briefly in the open water course, but the last time I actually used a compass for navigation skills (you may wonder what else a compass can be used for) was around 12 years ago in a school PE lesson when, in orienteering, we were taught how to ‘move your body round the map’. Well I’ll tell you something; that ain’t a lot of help underwater! It’s a bit like when they said maths would come in useful one day…still waiting! School lesson inadequacies aside, we practiced on dry land and I made a half decent attempt to navigate a square. Somehow I kept ending up walking into a bollard in the car park when I didn’t start at that point but it was on the same line so it was close enough for me.

Once out on the boat and into the water (12c temp, certainly can’t complain), the real skills tests began. Jennycliff Bay is a reef, but for the purposes of this dive we lurked (no, not in that way) on the outer edges on the sandy bottom (again, it’s not how it sounds) so we had a level playing field to practice. As it was, the visibility wasn’t particularly good so it was a case of staying close together and next to the shot line and take it in turns (there were four of us doing the skills) with our instructor instructing (strangely enough) on what task was next. As well as using a compass, we had to use natural navigation, for example taking note of lines in the sand and following the channel along, or using a particular rock (where we were there weren’t many) to recognise where you started. I chose a reasonably sized starfish along the way using the theory that if he was on the left of me on the way out and the right of me on the way back I was going the right way. It seemed to do the trick (though in retrospect, he could have moved)! While one of us was doing that skill, your buddy had to count kick cycles (one cycle = every time you kick with a particular leg) and stop you when you’d done a pre-determined number. This went relatively well, though we hadn’t quite grasped that we had to stay really close to each other for this to work so by the time the person counting had let the other one go and started counting behind, buddy number one was left wondering why they hadn’t been stopped yet while buddy number two was frantically trying to catch up to let number one know they could stop! I’d imagine if we’d been filmed I’d have had to add the music that accompanies this video (stick with it, my point is made around 10 seconds in)…


(Please note, I don’t condone the idea of a shrimp on a treadmill, I actually feel sorry for the little fella, but who knew you’d get this result on YouTube when searching for the Benny Hill theme tune?)

The compass work didn’t go quite as well in the water as it did on land. Both myself and my buddy had difficulty getting the compass to work. We’d get to turn three and completely lose track of where we were because the needle wouldn’t move. Given that we both had the same problem we blamed the compass (naturally) despite our instructor proving that it worked a bit later. You win some, you lose some; we’re sticking to our story!

Advanced dive three complete, it was back to the dive centre in somewhat warmer conditions. The air temperature had crept up to around 11c by late morning but despite that, I’d come prepared and I was therefore going to wear my penguin hat to keep me warm! I possibly should have reassessed keeping it on after I’d changed. I got some funny looks in Sainsbury’s.

Location: Waterfront – Type: Shore – Max Depth: 10m – Length: 27 mins – Surface: Clear

The next course dive to check off the list was the night adventure, even though I’ve done a night dive before, albeit by accident (see below for that story). This time we started in the dark, as opposed to it gradually getting dark, so it was a case of kitting up on the side of the road and walking cautiously down the stairs to the edge of the water. It was a reasonable 11c air temp – considering it was 7.30pm in mid-November that’s pretty good going and meant there was no shivering this time round!

As the tide was in, it made entry pretty easy. It was a case of one step, two step, hello sea. One of the instructors had the job of putting four pairs of fins on us students; I’m sorry to say none of us have yet mastered putting these on in the water by ourselves! By that point my usually highly efficient torch was behaving inefficiently so the instructor switched it with his, reassuringly calling it the ‘sun’. I was reassured for all of five minutes when the ‘sun’ set. Not to worry; my instructor who was leading the group and buddying me had more than enough torch for the both of us, though I still carried on gripping mine in the hope that it might perk up again…it didn’t! I think someone needs to check the charger!

There wasn’t much by way of skills tests on this dive. It was more about acclimatisation to only being able to see by torchlight, but as this was the second time I’d found myself in this scenario it made for a relaxed evening. We practiced hand signals by torchlight (shadow puppets spring to mind) taking care not to blind anyone whilst doing so. We also had to really be aware of staying close together. One of the guy’s behind me in a different buddy pair said afterwards that all he could see was yellow fins and sand. I recommended not swimming quite so close to me in future!
Just the one dive left to become an advanced diver. As ever, plans are never fixed when it comes to timetabling dives, so it was to be another two weeks before I managed my deep dive, with a fun shore dive interlude in between. More on that next time!