[Davwardo]

Name
Dave

Location
Bournemouth

First Qualified
15/12/2002 - PADI OW

Club Member
Clidive ( BSAC 410 ) & Diving Dorset ( BSAC 006 ).

Highest Diving Qualification
PADI RD / BSAC Sports with Advanced Nitrox.

Instructor Yes/No
No

What other training have you found most rewarding
Like most people, I enjoyed PADI RD. It’s a course that makes you stop and think about things. I am in the middle of Dive Leader with BSAC which I am enjoying as well.

What’s your standard Kit
Single & pony.

Where do you usually Dive
Local dives around Poole / Swanage etc with 006. All over SW with 410 ( Plymouth, Cornwall, Portland ). Try to get 2/3 warm water trips in per year.

Number of Dives
130 ( most in last 2 years ).

Deepest Dive
38m

Longest Dive
70 mins

Favourite Dive
Abroad
Grand Cenote, Mexico – just an amazing dive. Stalactites and stalagmites, crystal clear water and the memory of trudging through the jungle in my dive gear to find the cenote entrance.
Wilderness Wall, Cayman Brac – first wall dive. Wow.
UK
Runnel Stone. Just a great dive site.

Worst Dive
Doing AOW in Oman ( less than 10 dives at time ). Our instructor took us out for our night dive to a location he had never dived himself. Back rolled off the boat into 2 metres of water. Went to new location and was told to back roll in again. Luckily, one of the other students noticed rocks about half a metre below the surface! Went to 3rd location and did a very low vis, scary dive (plankton bloom) which finished with me nearly ending up in a massive net.

Whole thing taught me to think for myself and not to place your life in someone’s hands simply because they are a guide / instructor. Now, I would call the dive as soon as they mentioned they hadn’t done the dive in daylight!

What dive/trip would you most like to do
Cocos & Galapagos

What ONE other question should I have included?
What are your diving goals / plans for next 12 months (in fact, may ask this myself in new thread).