SAA Rescue skills day at the Rez

[Jules]

The Rez – A very unusual dive site.


How to find it.. there are detailed instructions on the web site alternatively put the post code into your satnav and you’ll find it.
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I arrived at the appointed time to meet Sal and the others in the café. Unlike most other diving locations this café is amazing with a plentiful supply of home cooked goodies. Having set out at 08:30 my breakfast porridge seemed a long time ago so I plumped for tea and scone with jam whilst I signed my life away. My tea arrived accompanied by the largest scone I have ever eaten, luckily at this point Phil arrived and helped me eat it.

Then I checked out the loos. They are positively delightful, situated in a wendy house a short walk up some steps. They are warm, clean and airy, complete with nice handwash, paper towels and even a little supply of ladies products in case any of their customers get caught short.

Once everyone had arrived we got a full site briefing and safety briefing. Although the water isn’t deep it is dark in there and the each diver is issued with a tag and whistle. The briefing covers the getting in, getting out, emergency procedures and how to get the best from the experience.

Our first dive was really to get acquainted with the environment. Basically it’s a large underground tank to explore. It’s about 2 – 2.5 m deep with 1m air space above you (so it’s cavern rather than cave) so you can pop up into air if you have a problem. It also has pipe “hobbit holes” to go through and baffle walls so it’s interesting to explore and for the most part is in total darkness. They have put in a few things to look at and to use to practice line laying etc. Dive time 46 minutes max depth 2.5m.



Our second dive was to look for Dotty. A life-size mannequin dressed in wetsuit and scuba, the object being to locate and rescue her, before hiding her again for the next divers. Poor dear was trapped under a metal wheel, so we gave her a CBL then dumped her under even more metal work for the next people.




clive gets his new girlfriend into the water, then drowns her.


We also practiced line laying and following said line out in darkness, except for other peoples light-sabres illuminating the universe. To be honest a back up torch makes for a better and more realistic experience. Dive time 33 minutes , max depth 2m.

The water is crystal clear at the beginning of the day. By the end of the day it’s still clear but fine concrete particles mean that flash photography is marred by back scatter.

We had a really fun day at the Rez, and the café stays open whilst there are customers to serve. This would make a lovely day out with the family. The garden is nice and it just next to the canal so that makes a lovely walk whilst the divers are in the tank.

The food in the café is lovely, all freshly made to order , we loved the home made parsnip and sweet potato soup which we had a lunchtime.

The couple that run the Rez are really friendly and they are open to bookings from clubs etc looking to run training days. It sounds funny diving in a tank that’s only 2m deep but it feels deeper in the dark and once you are neutrally buoyant you could be at 40m in a wreck.

I thoroughly recommend you go and visit this interesting site

[sal C]

thanks jules! love the pics.... pure evidence that clive has been having an affair so i guess i'll see him in court!!!

i'll write a rescue report later.

cheers chuck, see you next week!

sal

[Jules]

Originally Posted by sal C

thanks jules! love the pics.... pure evidence that clive has been having an affair so i guess i'll see him in court!!!

Dont worry about her , she was a bit of a dummy