Scuba Santa - 22 December 2007 - Vobster Quay

[Helen F H]

Fantastic guys Made me want to come and join you

[lloydwatkin]

A fantastic dive with some of the best Buddy's a Santa could wish, Odin was last seen searching in vain for a virgin in Somerset to sacrifice.

I was also searching for a virgin, to ermm, umm sacrifice also

A big thanks to Lloyd for organizing this, the best bit, well the local reporter asking Lloyd if he was local to watch the t.v program "no" was the reply in a broad Cardiff accent.

Cardiff accent? How dare you, I speak proper valleys like

Sorry I haven't got around to writing anything, I got dragged out clubbing when I got in and crawled in quite late/early depending on how you look at it. Spent today doing the horrible processo of christmas shopping. I'll get on with something now

[Dick Barwell]

GLOC Nice photos ......sounded like a lot of fun !
db

[Odin]

A grand day out!

I was first to arrive - had something to do in private before the rabble arrived!

Quite surreal with the mist on the water, multiple santas, a viking, snowman and a fairy entering the water!

Frosty and I singing "Walking In The Air" whilst flying around the plane ...

Half a bottle of best Devon Mead was consumed by the group!

Crackers & mince pies for the Christmas Crowd, paper hats... being Mr Grumpy I stuck with my helmet!

Being interviewed by the BEEB on why a Pagan was diving with Santa!

Using my best chat up lines on the rather attractive young lady from the BEEB... "you put extra layers on under the dry suit, or have you just put weight on..?" always a winner that one...

Needed a sacrifice.... Ever tried to find a virgin in Somerset?

Lost a horn.... probably still floating around near the tunnel...

These dives were amongst the best fun dives I have ever had in over 3000 dives.

Thanks to everyone who made the day.

I went to Denleys last night for a glass of wine or 6... didn't feel too bright this morning!
Paul
p.s. Frosty sent me a txt saying his t'internet was broke (too much porn...) but I guess it is fixed now!

[lloydwatkin]

Using my best chat up lines on the rather attractive young lady from the BEEB... "you put extra layers on under the dry suit, or have you just put weight on..?" always a winner that one...

That was in addition to GLOC insulting her choice of clothing (fairy outfit was it?) and me saying that she didn't need to wear a fake beard.

Us YD guys are all such studs

[swissdave]

Cardiff accent? How dare you, I speak proper valleys like

You haven't got any female relatives living around St athan have you?

Only i may have er "met" them when i was there, very friendly is your average valley girl

[Madfish]

Looks like an excellent Christmas trip - will there be a 2008 do you reckon?

The main question on my mind is - How did the Santa hats stay erect and in such cold water?

Di

[Odin]

The main question on my mind is - How did the Santa hats stay erect and in such cold water?
Di

Hot Air!

[frosty the snowman]

The main question on my mind is - How did the Santa hats stay erect and in such cold water?

Di

Hot Air!

Quite. A bit of blowing is all that was required...

[lloydwatkin]

There's definately a Scuba Santas 2008 trip in planning (well give me a couple of months).

I was chatting to Tim (of Vobster Quay) at the end of the day yesterday and something bigger and better is in mind.

The santa hats were very funny with bubbles escaping, mind managed to turn into an unplanned dSMB and was lost to the quarry There was no shrinkage of santa hats due to the cold water

My trip report is posted on my website: Evilprofessor.co.uk » Blog Archive » Santa Dives - Vobster Quay 2007 but I'll post below too (images and links not included though).

Awesome day guys

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Packing up the car on a cold frosty morning I wondered “what am I thinking“. Actually… that’s much like most early start dive trips except this morning I was shivering a little I was heading down to Vobster Quay in Somerset to meet several other equally foolish people for an interesting new event organised between members of Yorkshire Divers (YD).

The drive down from Cardiff was interesting due to the amount of fog and I had to crawl the car through Bristol. Upon reaching the dive site we saw that the water was in the same state as many people from around the country had been the previous night…. steaming

So why had a small hardy bunch gathered in the middle of Somerset on a freezing December morning? Well its the age old story of getting dressed up as father christmas and jumping into cold water to raise money for charity. Every year members of YD work hard and selflessly to raise money for various charities and this year it was the turn of the RNLI, appreciated by many divers in the UK.

During the dive the Santas were joined by a christmas fairy, a snowman, and a pagan viking (celebrating the Winter Solstice). It doesn’t exactly sound like the most seraphic underwater scene but it was the good kind of strange being surrounded by such a group of people underwater. One of the nice things is that the group was diving everything from single tanks to twinsets and rebreathers. We all came from different diving backgrounds PADI, BSAC, TDI, IANTD, GUE but we were all there to have a bit of winter diving fun as one big underwater group

A chilly first dive of around 45 minutes took us over to the rear end of an aeroplane fusilage where everyone posted for festive underwater christmas photos. Floating inside an aeroplane fusilage, underwater, hearing two guys singing “We’re walking in the air” has to count as one of the most surreal experiences of my life! Maybe narcosis does take significant effect at less than 30 metres as I spent most of the dive smiling or laughing mask filling with water all the time

We finished on a boat wreck which had been festively decorated by staff at Vobster Quay. Those who turned up to keep watch on the surface later told the group how people had exited the water looking confused asking “Umm did anyone else see all the father christmas’ underwater?”.

On surfacing all involved took readily to a nice hot cup of tea, some some mince pies, and pulling christmas crackers. Those celebrating the winter solstice were soon offering people a small cup of meade to warm the soul after a cold dive, another welcome addition to the day.

Later we were joined by an enthusitastic young journalist who wanted to come along for a dive to experience the group of Santas. “Crazy“ I thought, but we had a spare Santa outfit, so as soon as we could feel our extremities then once again it was time to jump in. We obtained some interesting video footage for the BBC which included several santas disappearing into in long dark tunnel and some very festive rebreather divers.

Upon exiting the water maybe a little of the enthusiasm was lost but there were definate smiles from our new friend. Everybody should dive with a group of Santas!

Overall the whole group had a fun enjoyable day despite the temperatures, and we certainly managed to spread a little of that Christmas magic for everyone at the site that day. I’d like to thank Tim from Vobster Quay for the use of their facilities and donating £5 for every scuba diving Santa, Gareth Lock from “Images of Life” for his excellent underwater photography skills, everyone who took part today, and also everyone that has donated money for the event. Donations can be collected until the mid-Feburary 2008 via our JustGiving page: Justgiving - Scuba Santas Fundraising Page.

See you next year!