What's the one thing during a dive that makes it all worthwhile?

[ShinyD]

For me it's finding one of the Cephalopod family - especially cuttlefish

The versatility of these creatures I find irresistable and the cuttlefish seem to have some kind of personality for some reason. It's a shame they tend to be so easy to scare though.

I'd love to find an octopus - haven't seen one yet!

Can't wait to start in the sea again this year and find some more

[Sipadan]

lots of things, but the pinnacle is being in deep, blue water with a large pelagic coming straight at me.

i also get a strange buzz out of all my equipment working at the same time, which is rare, usually something doesn't work

[GLOC]

Just getting under the surface and seeing the wreck underneath you some distance away. Dropping down onto it and it appears like you are hanging in space.

Happens in the Red Sea quite often but has happened in the UK a couple of times for me in Scapa. Seeing the seabed 30m below you in quite amazing and when people see this picture they can't believe it was taken in the UK.

[Scuttler]

Tucking into whatever I've caught

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by GLOC

Just getting under the surface and seeing the wreck underneath you some distance away. Dropping down onto it and it appears like you are hanging in space.

Happens in the Red Sea quite often but has happened in the UK a couple of times for me in Scapa. Seeing the seabed 30m below you in quite amazing and when people see this picture they can't believe it was taken in the UK.

I'd agree, a real buzz, very rare in Lyme Bay. Had it 2 years ago, fantastic.

[ponybottle]

For me its the unexpected ( hopefully pleasant ) things that just don't happen on land .

Like comming to an abrupt stop on the seabed and looking around to see a dozen or more teeth locked on to your fin and the comical look of innocence on the face of the seal that owns them or, like last weekend when I was swimming over hull plate belonging to a well broken up trawler; the viz was much better than usual and as we started to ascend I kept looking at this plate, that normally would be hidden by silt, resolving itself into a sheet that must have been all of 15 feet by 10. I started to notice a very large rod down one side and as I followed it I saw it going through a large beam of wood and then continue on to a T piece at the top. All of a sudden what was just another piece of junk was transformed into a huge rudder and just as suddenly that little ship came to life in my mind out of the jumble of scrap below.

It's moment like that that do it for me.

Chris

[principia]

The shear wonder and amazement of getting back on the boat alive.

J.

[daveb0000]

Originally Posted by GLOC

Just getting under the surface and seeing the wreck underneath you some distance away. Dropping down onto it and it appears like you are hanging in space.

Happens in the Red Sea quite often but has happened in the UK a couple of times for me in Scapa. Seeing the seabed 30m below you in quite amazing and when people see this picture they can't believe it was taken in the UK.

two very nice photo's ...............only thing that spoils it is all those bubbles

[Lou]

What they said

Anything that is unusual, difficult to find or unexpected in that particular location.

So seeing a nudibranch when you have been looking all dive and not found one...

Always cephalapods

Good viz in the Uk, too. One dive on the Kyarra when it looked like a ship was more exciting than finding any amount of rubbish diving it in poor viz.

A John Dory hunting on a night dive off Falmouth that used our torches just like the Lionfish in the Red Sea do, or another night dive in the same place that was just Night of the Crabs - all sorts of crabs, in huge numberrs, all over the place.

[The Duck]

Originally Posted by GLOC

Just getting under the surface and seeing the wreck underneath you some distance away ...

I'm with you on that one, especially if there is a diver or two already down on the wreck to give it a full sense of scale