1st UK dive on Sunday....Wahoo!

[Tunicates]

I just booked a dry suit course for next w/e and got called back with an offer of making it this sunday! YES!

I'M GONNA GET REALLY COLD!!!!!!!
In an old muddy reservoir.
In west london.

I never thought I'd see the day, but curiosity is getting the better of me, and all because I want to see some fish that I can relate to.

I mean, all them colourful things you see on holiday are all very well, but I dont know what they ARE! - ok, I do now, cos I've learnt them from books, but its not like looking at things you've grown up with is it?
Where's your turbot when your in the Red Sea eh? Things you've had with chips for the last umpteen friday nights.
Grey and green - gods own colours when it comes to fish and water, thats what I say!

Pike is what I want to see! And any trigger fish or sun fish that comes my way is gonna get told where to go - back to the red bloody sea !!!
As unlikely as it is at Wraysbury.......

I may be getting a little excited.
Still, I AM only 43......

ps - I reserve the right to change my mind if I do I see a trigger fish.

[hogen-deifar]

I just booked a dry suit course for next w/e and got called back with an offer of making it this sunday! YES!

I'M GONNA GET REALLY COLD!!!!!!!
In an old muddy reservoir.
In west london.

I never thought I'd see the day, but curiosity is getting the better of me, and all because I want to see some fish that I can relate to.

I mean, all them colourful things you see on holiday are all very well, but I dont know what they ARE! - ok, I do now, cos I've learnt them from books, but its not like looking at things you've grown up with is it?
Where's your turbot when your in the Red Sea eh? Things you've had with chips for the last umpteen friday nights.
Grey and green - gods own colours when it comes to fish and water, thats what I say!

Pike is what I want to see! And any trigger fish or sun fish that comes my way is gonna get told where to go - back to the red bloody sea !!!
As unlikely as it is at Wraysbury.......

I may be getting a little excited.
Still, I AM only 43......

ps - I reserve the right to change my mind if I do I see a trigger fish.

Better not come down to Chesil when we do the usual trip down there! Get trigger fish down there!!! Think it was the September trip they were seen!

As for the pike in Wraysbury. Get yourself over to the far side of the mudpit. I've always moaned about it because of the viz, or lack of, however I went over to the far side and got about 5 metres over there! Was overwhelmed!!! Viz. In Wraysbury?? That's like Garlic and Bread!!!

[Mal Bridgeman]

I may be getting a little excited.
Still, I AM only 43......

Have a great day .... it only gets warmer from here ....
Mal

[Morag]

I'M GONNA GET REALLY COLD!!!!!!!
In an old muddy reservoir.
In west london.

No... you won't get really cold, you should have the right undersuit to stop you getting cold. The excitment will keep you warm as well. I did my first dry suit dive in Wraysbury.

Enjoy it and make sure you tap the instructor for every bit of knowledge you can!

[Fish]

I did my first drysuit dive in Wraysbury too. Nope didn't felt the cold.

Have a great time.

[Prometheus]

Myself ,Sixsquid,uwila and Peebee were there last Friday, 5deg ,5mm hood and gloves + polar bear thermals , only a bit cold round the mouth area. Have fun.

[Tunicates]

Ah.....thermals.....I've been told that everything will be provided.
I'm still thinking of thermal leggings and top and pair of wooly socks to start with, and maybe some wincyette pyjamas for good measure.

What do you guys wear under the undersuit - if its not too rude to ask?

5c? At least there's no wind-chill down there.

[diver999babe]

Join your local seasearch group

Then you can learn about your local marine life

Carrie

[Buoyant Babe]

Welcome to UK diving - I hope it goes well for you and that you are fired up to take it further

Helen xxx

[Tunicates]

1st UK dive report:
(Well, its only wraysbury, but I've got to start somewhere)

It wasnt nearly as cold as I was expecting - but I was expecting to have the fillings frozen out of my teeth....

There was another student on the course. He'd done 5 dives total (in Thailand), and didnt know what to expect - and neither did I.

We put our suits on - both size L according to the bags, and he says his boots are a bit big. Mine are a bit tight, but only a bit - and as he's a bit shorter than me we think this is probably normal. Get in the water, do a buouancy check and off to a platform for pivots and upsidedown-ness.
The pivots are all ok, and I did a fantastic half salko with a pirrouette to finish ( I wish ).

So we all swim off into the murk. Vis was about 3 Metres and start taking us over to one of the 'sights of special interest' as the instructor has forgotten his compass, and I'd told him (hee hee) that I have a good sense of direction.
We're about half way there (wherever 'there' is) with me checking back on them regularly as I'm in front. Well, the next thing I know, I'm there, and they're nowhere.........I wait.......no - they're not coming. I swim back a bit.......no sign of them........look upwards .....only murk.......mild alarm now.......So I surface.

And there, they are....Instructor grinning more than just a tiny bit and fellow student looking quite disturbed. It turned out he'd done a foot-first ascent where he got not only his fins blown off his feet, but his boots blown off his feet too! At that point we wondered if we might have had each others suits on.......

The funny thing was that the fins stayed firmly on the boots, it was just the boots that were off and try as he might, he couldnt get his feet back into them.
The poor guy had to finish the dive like that, hardly able to fin, with his them flopping around uselessly like both his ankles were broken in very wrong ways.

Otherwise it all went swimmingly.

Second dive, I was a model student.
A model of something very floaty.
Though I'd stuck an extra 2 kilos on my belt, I did my 1st ever rapid ascent while trying to fine tune the squeezeyness of my suit.
I'm blaming those stupid Apex low-profile shoulder valves. How rubbish are they?


I think that Padi says that a dive should be over 20 minutes to be a loggable dive......I think It was more like 7! Possibly cos the instructors neck seal was leaking, but I cant be sure.


But I'm logging it anyway!

I just did my first UK dives in March and I fukkin ROCK!
In a quiet bashful kind of way.

I just thought I'd let you know I had a great time and am eager for more.
I'd be more than happy to buddy just about anyone on a sunday that is prepared for me to get some practice using a dry-suit......so if you need to practice anything at not very deep, I'm your TaM

You can go back to ski-sunday now......
Oi! What do you mean you already did.