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Ooooh ! What a Big
Un, group of “Doing It’ers” that is. Yes, its true, if you were part
of this Doing It dive, then you were part of our biggest one yet,
with a total of 32 divers taking the plunge.
This months venue,
Brixham Breakwater, was a new one for all of us, except Dave our
illustrious “Doing It …” leader, so we were all excited and raring
to discover what it had to offer. The day was made even more special
because we even got to see Ade (Cannock Manager) and his renowned
“pretty” kit, so with VIP’s like this we knew we were in for
something good.
On arrival at the
site, the good news was that the skies were clear and the sun was
out, but the old enemy of UK diving - the wind (no not the rude
smelly kind) was up and blowing. With this on shore wind it would
have been perfect if we had packed the surf-boards, but
unfortunately not so perfect for diving.
 With Dave in his
usual “Doing It Leader” role (always prefer a cheese one myself) he
greeted everyone cheerily and assured us it would flatten out
(fingers crossed behind his back). Anyway we didn’t care, this was
the first of the 2006 “Doing It” dives where the weather had let us
down, so hey-ho and on we go. With safety at the forefront of the
teams mind, Dave and Adrian decided to go in and check the
conditions, so as they assembled their kits and entered the surf
zone the rest of us could only wait with crossed fingers and
anything else they could cross and hope it would be good news.
What seemed an age
later but was only 10 minutes or so Dave and Adrian surfaced to give
it the big thumbs up, you could almost here the sigh of relief. Ade
took control of the dive brief explaining how to deal with the
difficult conditions for entry and exit and how best to dive the
site. In reality of course, it was actually quite good to have some
more demanding conditions than on previous outings, as that’s what
“Doing It” is all about, increasing our experiences – safely.
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So briefings
completed and buddy pairs sorted we kitted up and once buddy checked
made our way to the waters edge to do battle with waves. Two by two
in we went and before long we were all under following the wall of
the breakwater. Although it was a bit “bouncy”, with the Surge
pushing us back and forth a little, the lucky ones among us did get
some good sightings. We saw Pipefish; Ballen Wrasse; Spider Crabs
and even some Cuttlefish, not bad considering the visibility was
around the 1-2 meters. Once we turned around and headed back to
the shore, exiting the water was just as much fun as getting in.
Team work of course prevailed, and although a little “knackered”
everyone made it out safely. |
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Surface interval
time and everyone went to the cafe to have to usual bacon butty and
cup of tea, the post dive talk was about how much everyone had
learnt on the dive. We all agreed that it was some of the hardest
conditions that they had yet dived in, and that you can never bank
on flat calm seas, and that it really was an excellent learning
curve.
Second dive, and
in went the Adventurers, well half of us anyway, the others opting
for a “Cream Tea” sighting, in town. Unfortunately by now, we really
were getting some extra “experience”, with visibility down to almost
zero, but hey the waves had died down, so good news there. With the
plan being to dig out our trusty (or was that rusty ?) compasses, we
all navigated a square pattern from the centre of the beach. The
results differed dramatically, with everyone having different
degrees of success (cant possibly say who was the worst – can I Dave
!)
Around 40 minutes
later and we were all back safely on the beach, swapping tales of
seeing cuttlefish and others having a right ribbing for there
navigation skills (that will be Dave again then !) and generally
agreeing it was a genuinely great learning experience ! |
