Ice Diving the Return

We arrived to find ice again so rather than stop diving, we decided to run Ice Diving Specialities!

After spending sometime in the classroom going through the theory and safety aspects of Ice diving we ventured out onto the ice.

With chainsaw in hand we proceeded to cut several triangle shaped openings in the ice to allow access/egress from the water. Once we got kitted up we entered the water to lay the lines, one line from the confined area taking us over the bus and the second from the middle jetty to the Lifeboat. The visibility was 10 metres plus...it was in a word awesome!

So with lines laid and all divers briefed we entered the water accompanied by photographers from Sport Diver, first the divers took turns following the static line swimming over the bus and playing with the air bubbles formed under the ice and of course posing for the cameras.

After a hot drink (water temp was around 3 degrees) and a debrief we ventured in for the second dive.

On the second dive we practised reeling off from the static line in buddy pairs, the students also took it in turns to be attached to a tether which was manned by our very patient shore support. More posing for the cameras and also we demonstrated what use a knife was on the 3/4 inch thick ice....as you can probably guess not much use at all!

After two dives and some good fun we retired to the Scubar for warm beverage, some food and a debrief, oh and a beer.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone on completing the course and also how much fun it was to dive with you all. And i look forward to seeing you all diving in the near future.

We also put together a little video-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TZy8xx3cHU

Ice Diving

We arrived at the lake this weekend to snow and ice!

And like a proper dive centre we decided to take the opportunity to run the Ice Diving Speciality!

After spending some time in the classroom going over the theory side of the course we ventured outside.
 With dry suits on and  various ice breaking implements Duncan, Paul and myself broke an entrance point into the ice then preceded to lay a line for the students to follow. With this vis between 8-10 metres finding the Lifeboat to tie of the rope was the easy bit, the hard point was breaking the ice from underneath even with a club hammer!!( this is why we ask you to be a qualified ice diver or take the course as the surface is no longer an option!)

We conducted our dives under the watchful eyes of  Dan and his support team of Jaye, Jo and Arthur who made sure all ropes and tethers where well looked after as well as the hardy souls in the water.

Duncan and Paul enjoyed the whole relaxing feeling of being under ice........their words not mine!

Hopefully a few more people will come down and experience this very rare opportunity to do such a specialised course in the UK.

Also big well done to Paul and Duncan for completing the course and for our surface support for being our support on a rather chilly day.

9 Go mad in Lanzarote!

On 19th November nine of us set out to Lanzarote to enjoy some winter sun and as much diving as possible! We arrived at Arrecife airport where the temperature was a lovely 28 degrees and the sun was shining, making a change from gloomy blighty.
Once we got our rooms sorted we headed out for some food, a couple of light ales and to meet up with Steve and Wendy from Safari Diving. I would like to add at this point that Duncan found the joys of caramel vodka and boy did he regret it in the morning along with his room mates Dan and Mac!
For the first dive we went out with Yokin just to check out the locals including a Grouper and an Angel Shark.
After that we decided to venture out on our own, so with cameras at the ready we went for a bimble following Duncan who became our underwater Tom Tom due to his uncanny knack of taking us exactly where we wanted to go and bring us back.
Over the course of the week we enjoyed some awesome diving and in between Louise completed her Advanced Open Water course and her Digital Photography Speciality, Dan, Duncan and George completed their Deep Speciality, Clive completed his Digital Photography, Night and Deep Speciality and Valerie completed her Advanced Open Water course! Huge Well done to those chaps!

We also enjoyed some great nights out with some really bad singing and dancing, darts matches, Everton trying to play football and lots of food.

I had an awesome time with some great people and a big thank you to Safari Diving for making us feel so welcome and helping us to do some great diving.

We shall return next year if you want to join us!