The end of the season, and I achieved what I set out to

It's taken me a few days to get around to blogging about the diving last weekend. I was back at Stoney Cove to do my advanced open water, dry suit and nitrox specialities. That meant five dives (all in a dry suit), one of which was deep, one navigation and the other nitrox (although we actually dived two on nitrox)....

Saturday's dive one was a disaaaaassssster dahhhhhrling! (anyone watch Strictly?).... despite 8k on my belt and 2k on each ankle, and an initial weight check that seemed fine I really struggled to get down. Once down there, I was all over the place. I did a passable fin pivot and hover but the rest of the dive saw me up and down like a yo-yo. I couldn't get the hang of the shoulder dump, which wasn't venting automatically as well as it could have, and it was almost a relief to surface.

Once at surface the scuba unit removal went ok, but the weight belt removal (my favourite.... not) went only marginally better than during the open water. I passed becouse my technique was spot on, but once again the weights slipped along the belt making it impossible to get the thing redone up.

I almost gave up there and then, but the instructors were so supportive and when it came to the second dive of the day I took all their advice in, used air in the dry suit to prevent squeeze and modified my buoyancy slightly with the BCD. And I put some extra weight on. Success!! It was fantastic, and I managed to almost look like a real diver! LOL

The third dive of the day saw three very cold students (one fell out due to mild hypothermia) - and in my case, one student with feet as wet as an otter's pocket - get back in for the navigation dive. I'd been diligently practising my square in the car park with right hand turns, and the buggers made me do left hand turns under water! I'm sure it was more luck than judgement that I got back to where I started, and I spent the rest of the dive practising fin pivots while waiting for the others to do their bit.

After a great curry and final adventure playground assault course at the pub, I headed to bed shattered but looking forward to getting Sunday out of the way.

Sunday morning arrived cold and damp. There were definitely moments of "what am I doing here?" as we kitted up, but I'd looked forward to the deep dive for ages and I wasn't disappointed! We took a nice swim down to 25 metres, and the only issue was sitting on my knees doing the tasks in the cold for so long (I was just getting twinges of cramp when we set off again). But it was fascinating to see the loss of colour from the charts, the affects of the cold and depth on the timed task, the water bottle trick and the cracked egg.

After a safety stop we surfaced, and that's when it all got a bit distressing. The rescue boat was out to a diver who had got into trouble by the far side of the lake, and police and emergency services (including an air ambulance were swiftly at the scene). They were doing CPR for 90 minutes, and to be honest it looked pretty serious. I still don't know the outcome, but my thoughts and prayers are still with that diver and their family today.

With one dive left to do, it was with some trepidation that me and my buddy went back in for the nitrox dive. But once in I was so glad I'd overcome that nagging doubt about going back in. Yes I was cold. Yes I was wet (despite some last minute repairs, the dry suit was still leaking at the boots) and yes I was tired after the surface swim to the buoy. But descending down the line was so much less stressful with a computer to track the depth we were at. By this time there was just the two of us, as the other two students didn't make the descent.

A familiar swim around the Staingarth, and then we headed out to Defiant, the sunken tug boat, before finding our way in the dark and poor vis to the Wessex (awesome DM and his navigation skills!). We kept swimming and before I knew it we popped up at the surface right by the slipway!

It's been an awesome couple of months - and I am sad it's the end of the season. But I've got Costa Rica next month, where I will finally be able to write something other than "Location: Stoney Cove" in my logbook, and I'm already thinking about the courses and trips I can do next year...

Just one note to self, might need a second job to help pay for it all! Hope you've enjoyed following my journey so far.

:-)

Getting ready to bump into Nessie again

Off up to Stoney Cove again tonight for the advanced open water course - that's me at the back with Nessie last time - although I much prefer to think of it as 'adventure diving with the minimal skills I currently possess'!

Just as last time, I'm feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing as it has only been four weeks since the open water course, and I've only had the one pool session in a dry suit since then! Got three new diving buddies on the course this weekend and they are all more experienced than me I think, so I'm hoping that I will be able to keep up with everyone and manage the dives successfully.

Some big pluses this weekend are that it's not all totally new to me, that I don't have to do mask clearance or removal in the freezing water and that I'm diving in a (hopefully) dry suit and on enriched air nitrox, having passed the test with 84% the other night (although the calculations and table use need some refining!).

On the plus side, if I manage the deep dive without it all going pear shaped and I don't end up with a suit full of air at the surface hanging by my feet after a rapid uncontrolled ascent, I'm all set for the deeper dives in Costa Rica next month, where it will be blue, and warm and clear and fun!!!

This I fear will be my mantra this weekend whenever it seems a bit too cold, wet and miserable for me......"Costa Rica, Costa Rica, Costa Rica...."

Adios and I'll let you know how I get on when I get back!

Dry suit diving has its drawbacks

Saturday night saw me in the pool practising dry suit skills in preparation for the advanced open water course this weekend. It all started quite well, until the buddy check when I realised at "W" that I'd kitted up minus my weight belt! Doh!

Once in the water things started pretty good - the fin pivot and hover went well but my low pressure inflator hose would not come off the suit. I tried. The instructor tried. The DM tried. Moving on to the next skill - filling me up with air and trying to right myself before the surface - it became apparent that the suit wasn't getting any air in, and I kept landing on my back at the bottom of the pool!

Quick surface and it became clear it was locked halfway on, halfway off. Without thinking, the instructor asked me to take my BCD off at surface and get that skill out of the way, so I undid all the releases and slipped one arm out, and immediately hit on a snag..... a still attached inflator hose! LOL

Eventually after much pushing and pulling - leaving me with a fair few pinch marks on my chest - the DM freed the hose and it worked like a dream from then on in. I spent the rest of the session practising buoyancy and fin strokes and came out a little less stressed about diving Stoney Cove in a dry suit than I was in the moments before I went in!

Totally inspiring!

Ignoring the American language around disability, this film is so inspiring. I've been twitchy and nervous about doing my dry suit course this week and this has put it all into perspective for me. Who cares if my buoyancy isn't perfect first time? Who cares if I screw up every now and then - I'm still a beginner! These guys are awesome:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40005787#40005787

Adventure dives - next up dry suit

I'm somewhat relieved to discover that I'm not the only learner diver to struggle with buoyancy, as my brother – who is training for his Divemaster and headed to Stoney Cove this weekend with a group of open water students – is finding that their current crop, by all accounts, have not quite mastered the art of BCD control!

This has been weighing on my mind since being seduced into taking the advanced open water course, with the prospect of taking the dry suit course in order to do it without freezing to death! I've been reading the section on dry suits in preparation for next week's knowledge review and am somewhat amused to find that I might have to screw myself into a ball, while launching into a backwards roll (or was it forwards?)... either way I'd pay good money to be able to see myself do that little trick! :-)

Alternatively, I might have a suit malfunction and blow up like Mr Staypuft while hurtling to the surface, or my boots might fill with air forcing me into an upside down position........................ Yea gads, what on earth have I signed up for?

I'm in the club!

Dropped my kit back to Diving Unlimited (www.divingunlimited.co.uk) last night and picked up my temporary PADI card, as there have been some rumblings about going to Capernwray in a few weeks time to get some practise in before going to Costa Rica. While there I became a club member, which means I can get some pool sessions in before the end of the year and hopefully try to get a grip on buoyancy control!

It's really tempting to dive straight in to the advanced open water course, but I'm just not 100% sure I'm ready yet....

Shopping!

It's a slow day at work and I've found myself online looking at all the lovely scuba equipment I can add to my letter to Santa this year (only 58 days, 9 hours and 45 mins to go)....

Anyway, having seen some divers at Stoney Cove in novelty hoods I stumbled across this page: www.scapascuba.co.uk/hoods.htm

Check out the Monkey hood....... classic :-)

Adventure dive: wreck

Now we're qualified the group all elect to go on an adventure dive – the first dive towards our advanced course. We stick in our buddy pairs with the same instructor, but all get into the water together. Which is great until Bob pushes my head underwater in an attempt to drown me (not sure PADI would approve! LOL). What a wag eh!

The surface swim seems quite long and the descent is pretty uncomfortable. Not scary but it seems to take ages before we get down the line to the the wreck at 18m. It's a lot colder down here and darker (obviously) but it's so amazing to get buoyant and swim round, into and over the sunken tug boat. We see large perch in the wheelhouse and the other guys from the course and all too soon I'm below 100 bar and we are heading back to the line.

The ascent goes ok until the others ascend behind us, and their air bubbles make going up the line totally discombobulating (love that word. Think giant washing machine. Or jacuzzi). It's the strangest feeling and I definitely don't like it. At the 5m safety stop I somehow lose buoyancy control and I'm on a one way ticket to the surface :-(

Not the way I wanted to end my first adventure dive, but I forgot to dump air using the valve so can't slow myself down. No physical harm done... just a little dented pride! Bobbing about at the surface trying to look nonchalant and in control while waiting for the rest of the group to ascend is not a good look... the last think I need is for anyone to send out the boat to a lone diver surfacing on their own, I'd never live it down. So I put my snorkel in and get closer the the buoy and watch the others ascend and pretend that was my ascent plan all along!

And that's it! The end of the most physically and mentally challenging thing I've done in years (since my mining geology days in the 1990s as a fresh-faced student probably), but I've had the best time. Met heaps of brilliant new people and hopefully hooked up with a club which I can look forward to many more exciting dives with in the future.

Thanks to Vinnie, Bob, Mark and James, Ian and Phil.... Duncan and Chrissie, Claire, Cheryl, Sue and everyone else who made this whole course and weekend such great fun and reassured me along the way that it was all possible......... and that's my Gwyneth Paltrow moment over and done with :-)

Finally, big love to Dan and Lynne (see pic above)........ roll on Costa Rica!!!!!!!! xxxxxx

Open water dive four...

Had a great evening on Saturday. After a log book session and a much needed pint I got a hot shower in before heading out with the club for a curry. Have a great evening and attempt the "Stoney Cove Virgin Circuit"..... once around the children's playground out the back of the pub without touching the floor (not a chance, even when I changed from heels to trainers).... before falling into bed at around 10.45pm shattered!

Sunday dawned frosty and a shiveringly 4 degrees air temp! Yowser! But I don't know if it's the good night's sleep, but I get to Stoney all optimistic and geared up about the final dive of the open water course.

The water is unbelievably even colder than Saturday, but I'm determined to do the dive as well as I can and do the two outstanding skills from the day before. CESA is first (getting to surface on one breath of air) and Duncan does it first time. I take three goes. Hey ho, you can't win 'em all! Then we went down to the platform under the bus stop for the full mask removal (which I have been dreading)! Deep breath...... a few gasps..... more breaths.....and I've done it!

I could hardly contain myself and punched the air (well water) above my head in delight. Everyone else is clapping and giving me big okay signs and I feel relieved and chuffed in equal measures. Nothing about diving could ever possibly be this bad again.

At surface Vinnie is just about to congratulate us when he remembers I haven't done the weight removal at surface! I took my gloves off to make it easier and within seconds they are freezing. A bit of cramp (me and Vinnie) but then it's done. In a matter of seconds I've rolled over and redone the belt all by myself! Easy!!

And that's it. I'm an Open Water Diver. The feeling is incredible :-)

Open water dives one to three...

I get Duncan as my buddy (phew, I like him a lot and he's really calm and we've worked together in the pool a lot so that's a huge relief) and Vinnie as our instructor (another inner "hooray" as much as I love Bob, he's a bit of a joker and tends to put me off underwater a lot) and off we head to the "Bus Stop" for our first orientation dive.

Walking the few hundred yards to the water is agony! The weight belt is 10 kilos, there's 12 kilo tank on my back and the unfamiliar suit, hood and gloves make it a complete nightmare so I'm out of breath before we've even gone in (note to self - go to the gym more often you muppet!).... I get my fins on (with help) and do the giant stride entry and JESUS!!!!!!!!............. the shock of the water temperature sends me spinning.

The dive is not entirely pleasant, I can't take my breaths properly, the visibility is less than I'd imagined, and while I'm not panicking I am pretty relieved when we get to surface again. That said, there were fun bits; we went down to 8m for 23 mins, swam past the nautilus and through the cockpit.

After a surface interval of 1:43, we embarked on the second dive of the day. This time I'm more prepared and the giant stride off the bank seems less stressful. We went down to the platform and did regulator recovery, and alternate air source use/ascent. The mask fill/clearing skill is not a huge success as I caught my breath due to the freezing water and water got up my nose and choked me! But I coughed through the regulator and eventually cleared a partial fill.

This time I managed to get my buoyancy better and I saw shoals of perch and had my photo taken with "The Monster" in the Den! This dive was to 8.4m and lasted 28 mins. At the surface I couldn't clear my snorkel at first, but did eventually manage the snorkel/regulator exchange swim. Got out exhausted but a lot happier....

After two hours at surface we did dive three, which kicked off with a surface compass swim. We descended and went down the road – where I apparently swam past my brother and his wife without noticing – and we went over the edge and down to 12m. A lot less scary this time than the hang over the edge in dive one.

I felt the cold on this last dive and I was really getting tired. The full mask clearance was a nightmare – once again the cold water on my face made me struggle to breath. I'm so disappointed in myself as in the pool it was a skill I did effortlessly almost. At surface Duncan and I have to tackle weight belt removal.... I can't do it. My gloves make me fluff the removal and I drop a weight, and then cramp sets in to both legs. Luckily Vinnie says I can do the skill on the fourth dive.

Day one

Woke up early and spent ages getting my kit re-packed and checked (if only I'd been so thorough at home as I'd forgotten contact lenses and my coat - that's why there are things called lists you idiot!), At 8am I went out to join the others (one or two people saying they felt fine and most definitely not hungover - yeah, right!) and set off for Stoney.

Once there we get the site tour from the instructors and now I really feel like I might cry! It's cold, grey and the water looks totally uninviting, but I'm here and I pull myself together and set out to get into my wetsuit...... where I meet some really nice people in the changing rooms who all do their damndest to reassure me that it's going to be great and there's nothing to worry about. I think it's down to them that I get my gear on and head back to the van with something akin to a smile on my face.....

The journey to Stoney Cove

I think I'm going to document the weekend in a series of posts, now that I'm back and thawed out after a long hot bath and a good night's sleep.

I left London on Friday afternoon for the drive to Leicester and there hit mistake no.1 - the M1!!! Four hours later and after a fight with the SatNav, I arrived at the Mill on the Soar pub, nervous but excited and ready for a drink. Some club members were already there and others arrived over the course of the evening, but one thing I noticed was the "don't drink and dive" PADI mantra is perhaps not taken too seriously by some of the "old timers"!! LOL

I kept it to a calm three bottles of Becks and headed to bed at around 10.30pm - wondering how many sore heads there would be in the morning!

One more sleep

Well, I'm just about ready for the final bit of the course. The wetsuit still fits (snugly) and the new kit bag holds my fins, mask and snorkel, boots, gloves, hood and suits perfectly...... BCD and regulator in a big box as collected from the centre, and a massive bag to hold all my stuff (same size as I take for a fortnight! LOL)..... quite how I will fit in the car is anyone's guess at this rate!!

Heading off after work tonight, and at this point in time wondering just what I've let myself in for! Especially as there were mutterings about having to do something called a 'virgin's circuit' on Saturday night?! I sincerely hope somebody was just winding me up!

Three more sleeps

Jesus! How cold was it this morning? Got to work and my toes were like blocks of ice, which does not bode well for my open water dives at Stoney Cove on Saturday.

My brother has just announced (smugly it has to be said) that they will be there in their dry suits, as will the instructors and every other non-novice there no doubt. There are few words, but all are unprintable here!

So there is only one option, and that is to pack my Woolly the hot water bottle – and yes I know I can't take him diving as he's not been pressure tested and we don't have a mask, fins and BCD to fit him – but he can be clutched to my chest in desperation when I'm hanging about at surface!

Survived final pool session

Despite going to a wedding on Saturday, where the booze was free-lowing but food was rather thin on the ground, I managed to get up on Sunday without a hangover and fairly clear headed for my final pool session. As I'd missed Saturday night's session I was a bit worried I'd fallen behind the rest of the class, but it wasn't so bad once we were in the water.

Swam my 10 lengths and trod water for 10 minutes, then survived the no mask swim. Just about managed the hover - although I did do mine sort of on my back and off to the side - I managed to take my weight belt off and replace underwater and my BCD, despite getting cramp again half way through! I'm an expert at underwater cramp removal now (LOL)... and then the same at surface.

I was the only one not to have yet done a CESA, so that was the last skill of the day, but after almost two and a half hours in the pool I was shattered. And he made me do it twice. B****rd!!

We finished with a swim around – my fin kicks need work as it looks like I'm riding a bicycle when I'm not concentrating on them – and an underwater 'tipple tail'. My massive eyes are still getting me in trouble – every instructor or Divemaster I have seems to think I'm panicking under there as they look so huge behind my mask glass (refraction and all that guff daaaarling!)... I'm not, I just have large peepers!!

So now I'm getting myself psyched for Stoney Cove at the weekend.... just as the weather forecasters predict an icy blast and snow on the way..... fabulous!!! NOT.

Bloody fin pivots!

Enclosed pool session two last night and boy was it hard work. As I’m missing this Saturday’s session (off to a wedding) I got one to one training so that I could get more skills done and be up to speed on Sunday for our last session.

We covered breathing underwater without a mask for one minute (fine, but three attempts to clear it when it was back on my bonse resulted in a huge coughing fit.... but I coughed through my regs - just like on the DVD - and kept calm so I think my instructor was reasonably impressed! Then it was onto surface snorkelling (perfect); regulator/snorkel swap at surface and underwater (fine); breathing using buddy's octopus while swimming (great); and the dreaded bloody fin pivots!

I don't think I've ever attempted something that looks so easy when the experts do it, but is nigh on impossible when the novice attempts it. I got cramp for real doing them (I seemed to be attempting them for ever) so remembered the problem/cramp hand signal – but apparently the instructor thought “I know we’ve got to do cramp skill yet, why’s she telling me what to teach?” for a split second, before he realised it was for real!! LOL

Oh and finally at the end (when I was already knackered) the tired diver tow/push (which I thought he laid back and enjoyed a little too much to be honest)... I wonder what you do in the event of a tired tower?!

Anyway, I’ve now done a few more skills than my classmates so far – but by Sunday they will have had another pool session, so hopefully I won't be too behind..... off to run a deep bath to practise mask clearing, I wonder if I could manage a fin pivot in there? :-)

It's not a test, it's a quiz

According to the instructor the thick booklet on the desk in front of me "is not a test, it's a quiz"... !! hmmmmmm, right. It sure looks like an exam to me, and the fact that you can't confer or sneakily refer to the training booklet is rather backing up my version of events than his own :-)

Still 50 questions later and I get the results..... 49 correct! It's a pass then, and a mini-fin keyring for getting the joint highest score of the class (I know, it's not endearing is it being a swot? LOL Plus there were only three of us).

No hanging around after the review session (England were of course on the telly and there is a smidgeon of chance that the guys would all much rather have been elsewhere) but looking forward to tonight's pool session and my continuing battle with buoyancy!

Pool session one

Had my first pool session as part of the PADI Open Water Diver course on Saturday night and I loved it!

Diving Unlimited is a really nice bunch of people and I set off full of excitement, rather than apprehension, this time. Got to the swimming pool to see a friend's brother-in-law there to do some compass work and it was great to see someone I know. I didn't even know he dived, let alone that he was with the club...

I squeezed myself into my new shorty and assembled at the side of the pool with the two other learners, the instructor and a couple of assistants. We practised putting the kit together, taking it apart, and putting it together again, ran through the pre-dive buddy check, and then got ready to attempt the giant stride entry. Me first. It was interesting and not in the least bit graceful, but I managed not to land on top of another diver and stay buoyant at the surface.

Then we went through mask clearing, regulator clearing, regulator recovery, breathing for 30 seconds with your buddy's octopus, and ascent/descent and swimming about.....

When it came to breathing from the octopus I didn't get off to a good start. I have no idea what went wrong, but I totally lost control of my buoyancy for a bit and found my legs going haywire and myself heading for the surface, while desperately trying to right myself and kick back down to the bottom. I did get on my knees again - but I do wish the instructor wouldn't keep making "on your knees" hand signals at me at times like that. I know I should be on my knees, but clearly I'm having the devil of a time recovering it :-)

It was also funny when the instructor turned the tank off to simulate out of air - I was laughingly accused of trying to cheat my way out of it by making the out of air sign when he hadn't really turned the tank off yet!! I didn't know what to expect so was playing cautious.... I gather that's not allowed.

We all went to the pub after, and my lovely hubby came down to meet everyone - and spent all night yabbering to a woman he went to school with, who, it turns out, is married to the dive master who's assisting the instructors! Small world indeed.

Can't wait for Stoney Cove now as well!!

More diving stuff

Countdown to Stoney Cove

Well, I'm over the moon to have passed my first knowledge review session - with 29 out of 30 on the knowledge review quiz. Amusingly I stumbled on the question about avoiding vertigo underwater – I actually had no idea you could get vertigo at 18 metres deep! So I ticked "close your eyes"...... Doh!!!! Still, it's not a bad score and the fun two-hour review session has got me really stoked about our first pool session on Saturday.

I have bought a bit of equipment now and am really excited about the chance to try it all out:

If you try you might buy!

It's a fairly mundane Saturday night and I'm anxiously waiting outside Erith Swimming pool in Kent for a 'Try Dive" session with "Diving Unlimited", which has been long overdue for all kinds of reasons from health scares to my own idiocy! I have no idea what to expect, I'm clutching a small bag with a towel and cossie in and feeling decidedly nervous as one by one a handful of chattering people start to mill about around the edges of the car park...

It gets to 6.15pm and I nearly bottle it. I'm just about to head back to the car and call it a day – who are these people, I don't look at all like I'll fit in with them – when someone asks: "Tracey?" Damn. I've been spotted as the "newbie" and there's no escaping now...

Ten minutes later and I'm stood in front of a flip chart and instructor with my fellow diver for the evening - he's 11 years old and my groaning insides have hit my boots with a massive thud (he's bound to be better at it than me and I'll end the night humiliated by an 11 year old). We are sent off to get changed (communal changing rooms - why is that all the rage?) and then assemble at the shallow end....

I feel utterly ridiculous now in cossie and t-shirt as I'm "manhandled" into a great big "bladder in a jacket" thingy with a tank on the back, that will apparently keep me buoyant (or not) in the water, fitted with a mask and snorkel (which I spend the next 20 minutes desperately trying to peer over an ever rising tide of pool water in, until we learn how to clear our masks) and have rather weird feeling reglautor strangely stuffed into my chops....

Then we go underwater and it's brilliant! I can breathe. And see. And hear. Although I can't sink and have floaty feet until extra weights are attached to my belt (never ever thought I'd see the day I wouldn't be heavy enough to sink in a body of water!) the next two hours fly by.

By the time I'm showered and dry I'm signed up for the PADI course with a whole new world about to open up before me.