Saltburn By The Sea - Harlequin Learns Yet Another New Trick

[Harlequin]

Yeah

I was that man. But first, the 1st dive:

Pretty cool, we pinged what looked like a large, I mean very large rocky area and decided to bounce it but ended up staying there sucking our tanks down as it was a fantastic area with loads and loads of DMFs, Urchins and crawly things with long tentacles and claws and even more crabs. We also found a very large 2m wall we could drift along with the tide and inspect all the crabs and lobsters and urchins and soft coral. Really super dive. I, as I occassionally seem to do spent quite a few minutes looking at a lobster (yeah, I know, this sea diving lark is all new to me so I lurve it) and when I turned round my newly acquired buddies were a mere speck in the distance and all I could see was the blink blink of distant blinky thingys in the distance. No matter though, we'd already agreed a plan so off I swan up to the top of the rock face that was absolutely teaming with life and allowed the current to take me onwards where in the distance I saw a long straight line breaking the sand. Strange I thought, that shouldn't be there so I finned on over to inspect.

So, over I went and guess what I saw...? The fattest anchor chain I've ever seen. Problem was, I was somewhere in the middle and with just 80 odd bar left I needed to decide which way to go, North or South. Guess who went in the wrong direction...? Laugh...? I nearly pissed mesen...! The chain dissapeared into the sand, bummer.

I eventually got to the other end of the chain and found an almighty anchor there but no spare bag to mark it (won't make that mistake again).

So, dive done, stop done, back on the boat to gloat about my find and on to the 2nd dive which was another scar supposedly teaming with life.

Down I went, watched Mr Stinger for my impending bottom (as I couldn't see the bottom) and just as I did I pressed my suit button to arrest my descent. Mmmm... I think that air's a little cold and why am I still going down...? Bummer, guess who'd forgotten to attach his suit hose...? Yeah, you got it --> moi.

Well, what do I do now...? Mmmm... Well, suppose I could always use the BC. Then again I could just get the damn hose connected. So, there I was, franticly gesticulating to respective buddies that I had a minor issue and normal service would be resumed shortly and I started de-kitting 12M down in the North Sea. Well, I had to, my gloves were too thick, the damn hose had somehow got stuck in my BC behind my back (why oh why do they always get fast in the most difficult to reach places) and I needed to take off my gloves, computer and undo my harness to get at this hose that was desperatly trying to avoid me.

Well, 3 minutes later normal service was resumed and on we went with the dive. This was fantastic I must say. Just drifting along above the rock scar looking at the flora and forna and all I could hear was my breathing. Stopping every now and then to inspect a crab or a lobster and I saw laid on its back the most humungous crab ever, must have been at least 8 inches accross. But it was on its back, shame. I did contemplate leaving it there as I really didn't want to find out how sharp those claws are but I had a change of heart and drew out my knife (and no, before you think it I wsn't thinking of crab and chips, although that thought did occur to me briefly ) So I flipped the monster over and off he crawled under the scar, good deed for the day done I let go of the rock and continued drifting, absolutely fantastic, can't wat to do it again.

Now, we've bounced a few marks over recent weeks, discovered lots of sites, some scenic, some shallow, some deep and a few wrecks. All great fun and all well worth a second visit but today was my forst ever wreck dive and it was fantastic. Went down with Hyperbaric Mike (more on this in another post but I just magiced up a new nickname for him, hope he doesn't mind) and we wandered around the Dimitrus. Quite scattered, quite old and loads to see. Investigated the boilers and although air remaining did not permit we really wanted to swim through the prop shafts but hey, we can always do that another time.

Went to the Marina's cafe for tea afterwards and all had a few good laughs, all agreed that the few sites we had done warrented another visit and yeah, I know I'll probably be there next weekend so feel free to tag along

Oh, one thing though: it's the Skipper's turn for the brews next time

[hopper]

Hi Mick,

You seem to have had yet another 'tremdus' weekend with BigKev (he of the luminous shorts!)

I am curious though, how far was the Dimmy from the lobby blob we went down last week? and was it the big rocks you saw last time?

[Harlequin]

I think Kev was given a bum mark for it last time as locating it at low slack was a simple case of looking for the mast which stands proud of the water by about 3-6 feet.

I won't quote Kev but I think the mark he had was quite close but we found it on our second attempt and it was well worth the trip back, just a shame I was low on ar, but that just gives me an excuse to go again

[Lou]

Mick - I am going to stick my neck out here a bit. I am chuffed to bits that you are enjoying the sea, I am really am. I too can still lie for ages just watching a lobby or similar - in fact i did just that on Wednesday, but did I read it right that you continued a dive solo after losing your buddies?

If so, then I have to say that it was a pretty foolhardy thing to do, given your lack of sea experience, or just general diving experience. When things start to go wrong, they go wrong fast, and I think, personally, that the decision to continue solo is only one you can make when you have been diving for a while in a range of conditions.

Please take this as genuine concern, and not as picking holes. I don't wnat to see a YD accident, even less a fatality because no-one said anything.

Lou

[Fiona]

Well, what do I do now...? Mmmm... Well, suppose I could always use the BC. Then again I could just get the damn hose connected. So, there I was, franticly gesticulating to respective buddies that I had a minor issue and normal service would be resumed shortly and I started de-kitting 12M down in the North Sea. Well, I had to, my gloves were too thick, the damn hose had somehow got stuck in my BC behind my back (why oh why do they always get fast in the most difficult to reach places) and I needed to take off my gloves, computer and undo my harness to get at this hose that was desperatly trying to avoid me.

I am not sure how lighthearted or clever you think your posts are, but with your limited diving experience I would have thought you should be conducting buddy checks and if you are why was the suit feed not spotted.

[tom]

I started de-kitting 12M down in the North Sea. Well, I had to, my gloves were too thick,

You need to be able to manipulate/operate every bit of your kit with your gloves ON. If you have a serious situation (e.g. stuck inflator) then there won't be time to mess around taking your gloves off. Also, partially de-kitting in the water increases the possibility of problems on the dive (dropping stuff, losing buoyancy control or buddy contact) so it's best avoided if at all possible.

A good tip is to put your gloves on FIRST when kitting up - this makes sure you can do everything with them on. 'Free practice' as someone once described it.

This also points out the importance of buddy checks...

[Harlequin]

Hi Lou

I appreciate your concern and sure, we'd agreed a strategy if we got seperated which included me deploying a blob and continuing solo and as I was only at 12M I was quite happy to do this.

I hate canning dives because of seperation but it does happen when in a group of 3 and as you say, you need confidence and experience to cope with those situations. Some might say this is foolhardy but I did asses the situation thoroughly before continuing solo and was quite happy to do so and the guys, thankfully, did not surface as we were a good 20 minutes into the dive at that stage anyway so I was only there for a few on my own.

I was just loving the sights, drifting, inspecting the marine life and loved every minute of it.

Mick - I am going to stick my neck out here a bit. I am chuffed to bits that you are enjoying the sea, I am really am. I too can still lie for ages just watching a lobby or similar - in fact i did just that on Wednesday, but did I read it right that you continued a dive solo after losing your buddies?

If so, then I have to say that it was a pretty foolhardy thing to do, given your lack of sea experience, or just general diving experience. When things start to go wrong, they go wrong fast, and I think, personally, that the decision to continue solo is only one you can make when you have been diving for a while in a range of conditions.

Please take this as genuine concern, and not as picking holes. I don't wnat to see a YD accident, even less a fatality because no-one said anything.

Lou

[Harlequin]

I am not sure how lighthearted or clever you think your posts are, but with your limited diving experience I would have thought you should be conducting buddy checks and if you are why was the suit feed not spotted.

Just partof the rich tapestry of life Fi

[tom]

you need confidence and experience to cope with those situations.

How many sea dives have you done? I think you have confidence, but little experience in the situation. Slow down, for safety's sake!

[neilh]

Well, I had to, my gloves were too thick, the damn hose had somehow got stuck in my BC behind my back (why oh why do they always get fast in the most difficult to reach places) and I needed to take off my gloves, computer and undo my harness to get at this hose that was desperatly trying to avoid me.

As others have picked up Mick, great to see such enthusiasm and good to see you enjoying the dives - but hopefully you'll mark this one down as "screwed up, but got away with it". Buddy checks are a key part of the pre-dive process no matter which agency. I'm glad it wasn't serious this time, but please learn from it!

Also why did you need to remove your gloves and computer to retrieve and reattach your hose?! Perhaps might be worth practicing kitting up and dekitting whilst wearing gloves and the like? I certainly wouldn't like to remove my dry gloves to reattach a hose, I like warm hands