Memories are made of this

[hilrosepaul]

My favourite diving memories:

1)Getting in the pool with scuba kit for tha 1st time - WOW!!
2) My first openwater dive - Feeding a packet of out of date crisps to the trout in Capernwray in January 2007
3) My first sea dive - A wall dive off Calve Island in Mull - My buddy shone his torch on some squat lobsters in their nooks an crannies - the colours!!!!
4) My first drift dive - Up Calf sound in the Isle of Man - Turn right at the top of the wreck and enjoy!!!

[ponybottle]

Hi All,

Well, seeing as I kicked off this thread I suppose this is where I should make my own contribution. Reading other folks' posts makes me realise there is no single memory I can call my favourite; but there are a few which stand out from all the rest.

My longest dive - a solo 70 minute dive in Sandycove, decended in the harbour mouth and took a bearing north and at 35 minutes / 12mtrs took the recipricol south to surface within metres of my entry point ( has to be contrasted with the time I took a recipricol which turned out to be a 360 degree turn instead - surfaced a mile offshore )

St John's Point Donegal, my first time there, buddied up with two experienced divers ( one of them being Ardhill, who, being a vetran of probably a zilliion dives likely doesn't remember it but I certainly do as it was my 40th and going to be my deepest yet at 30mtrs ). I had never dived this site before so didn't know what to expect.

Anyway, the three of us swim about 50 mtrs offshore following a gully and came to a bank of kelp which was the brink of a wall. The water had been very clear to that point but when I looked over the edge of the wall there was just a void with, off to one side, a sheet of bubbles comming up from divers below. The sense of depth, with shafts of sunlight shooting down where I had to follow, was breathtaking.

With everyone giving a thumbs-down we deflated our bcds and started the descent, except me, I got to 1 mtr and bobbed back up again !!!

I just see my buddies disappear below in a cloud of bubbles and then did a quick snorkelers duck dive and took off like a rocket down the bubble trail torch in hand. At somewhere over 20 mtrs I see 2 divers below heading to my left so altered course to come down on top of them only to realise with a jolt they weren't my buddies at all. Flipping over I broke right just in time to come parallel with the seabed and finned hard through gullies and over boulders eventually comming across my guys flashing torches all around and looking somewhat bemused - 'Where'dhego?'.

We did go to 30 mtrs and one of my greatest memories comes from looking back up that wall to the sunlight and trying to come to grips with the realisation that I was that far below the waves, Cool

Then there was my first dive on the Loughgary at Rathlin. The 'Gary is a challenging dive with viscious currents and sometimes poor viz in 32 mtrs of water ( but I didn't really know that at the time

Three of us headed for the buoy and then I see the shot line below and nearly got an attack of vertigo as it just seem to go down and down.
My two buddies went first and I followed behind. I didn't know if I was going to be able to hack this descent and when I reached 18 mtrs with this rope still going down below me I was feeling pretty damn nervous and thinking of aborting when the sun came out from behind a cloud.

I remember my exclamation of 'Jaysus!' ( one of the few things you can say through a reg ) as the bow of this huge wreck appeared behind my buddies as if it were steaming straight at us !

Decending to the winch the dive-leader produced a bouguet of flowers from inside his bcd and tied them off ( I thought it was because this was a war grave but later discovered it was in memory of two club members who had died on this wreck 18 years previously ! )

Swimming along the deck and down onto the seabed was a tremendous experience , there was just so much to see.

I have been back there several times since but conditions have never even come close to that first encounter.

My last tale happened at the end of a pretty crappy dive at the back side of Lambay Island. Comming from 20 mtrs up a vertical wall to about 13mtrs we were swimming up a gently inclining shelf with myself hugging the bottom and my buddy above me, his fins reassuringly slapping against my tank from time to time.

All of a sudden I came to a grinding halt - I was caught on something :? .
The funny thing is that several possibilities went through my head and the last one set off a lightbulb, so with an Ah Ha ! sensation I turned around to see a beautiful big pair of brown eyes above a wide grin and my fin very nicely sandwiched between two rows of very business-like teeth

It was a fully grown cow grey seal having a bit of fun. How do you explain a feeling of joy,terror,excitement and curiosity all at once ?

I didn't think seals could swim backwards or tow a diver but just in case I roared 'PhukOph!' at it and kicked my fin deeper into it's mouth; she took off like a light into the gloom.

I signaled my buddy to surface but only got 4 or 5 mtrs when I got another tug on my leg and looking down see that impish face again. This time she let go and started to ascend in front of me. I start to kick at her to try to keep her at a distance and I'm damned but she just closed her eyes and let the fins caress her from belly to throat ( do seals purr ? )

But the best was when I got up a bit of courage and jabbed my fin into her throat; she just folder her head down onto the blade and I lifted her up while at the same time pulling my self down - looking intently at each other across the length of my leg.

At the surface she seemed to nearly leap out of the water then she was gone.

I hope there is more and better to come in my diving future but even if I never dive again I'll never forget experiences like these for as long as I live



Chris