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