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Diving Dorothea with a blind guide

4440 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Major Clanger
Well after diving for lots of years around Cornwall and my 1st open water at Stoney Cove, I moved to North Wales a couple of years ago. I had heard about Dorothea all those years ago when I started and when I moved here it was one the must do that list.
Well today I did it and it was bloody marvelous.
Having got there with my buddy who had also never ''done dotty'' we were both a little apprehensive because of the incidents over the years. Caused by any number of factors, but we did not want to be in the local paper :)
We met a group who were going in on re-breathers and gave us some tips, they then suggested we should join them.
We readily agreed, however one of the guys (Grahame) suggested he should guide us on his own and leave the rest to their own devices.
No problem we said it was then that he explained he is blind, yup BLIND!! but that he could lead us around no problem as he has the ability to see the difference between light and dark.
He was true to his word he led us around and got us back to where we entered exactly.
He is amazing!
I know how blind he is as he had to wave his hand around to find the rock to sit on to de-kit when he came out and he didn't take his dog either.
Altogether a really wonderful dive and an amazing experience diving with someone who is a far better diver than myself, but has what I would consider a disability that would most likely stop me!
I don't believe Grahame is a member of YD, but I thought I would post this as it proves that you can do just about anything with enough determination!
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Amazing really.
You d need a lot of faith to follow a sighted guide that you d never met before, never mind a blind one.
It sounds like you had a good day , Dotty is brilliant, deserves every respect but is a fantastic dive site.
Graham is a top bloke and not in the slightest surprised to read he offered his time to guide you around.
The guy isn't from Yorkshire is he
Yup that's the guy a real gent and totally amazed me :)
Fantastic dive.
My gloves leaked as soon we got in and I was frozen stiff literally, but well worth it.
He is a top bloke and was very enthusiastic about offering his help.
I have to say I felt totally comfortable too he has such an air of competence I had to keep reminding myself my signals had to be in a certain way so he could understand because his sight affects him so little.
Graham is a top bloke and superb diver, having dived with him off Newquay id happily dive with him any day and will be doing again this July in Newquay.

We were at Dotty yesterday too, bloody cold!
Have met Grahame a few times at Dotty, and he helped us to look for a missing plaque from Herny's Ridge. Saw him and his Buddies up there in the beginning of Jan', he's always really happy to chat away and very enthusiastic, he's been diving for about 5 years or so i believe and is a very good diver.
This is that day.
Thanks for the video :)
He is a very good diver.

the point of my post was I was astonished that a blind person could dive safely with a buddy, but also to point out that this guy was not only able to do that, but also able to find his way around better than most divers I suspect and was more than capable of ensuring that myself and my buddy not only got to see the site, but also to do so safely.
He has made me think!
Bloody cold is absolutely spot on.
I was really surprised how cold it felt, still enjoyed it though :)
I've talked to Graham and his Keith a lot over the past 10 years, all around top guys!
Did Graham tell you that a few years back he did all the tunnels in dotty in one dive for charity, guide dogs for the blind. Think he said the deepest is 104m.
I've talked to Graham and his Keith a lot over the past 10 years, all around top guys!
Did Graham tell you that a few years back he did all the tunnels in dotty in one dive for charity, guide dogs for the blind. Think he said the deepest is 104m.
I've dived off Top Gun with Graham, Alby and the rest of their group. Inspirational person who only took up diving after he lost his sight. Hope to meet up with them again this year.
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