So another month rolls around again and its time for another doing it Sunday, the chosen venue for this month was a new one for most of us at The National Diving and Activity Centre (NDAC) in Chepstow. So for most of us
we had a little bit of a lie in, with a more leisurely start time of 8am.

Our, by now, illustrious leader Dave was first there in the Scuba and Outdoor van. As the clock moved around to 8am, slowly the gang of Doing It’ers rolled in to the NDAC Car park, all with unusually happy expressions for a winter Doing It. We soon worked out that, with this being a new site for most of us, even the early morning rain couldn’t dampen our spirits.

At around 9am every one had arrived so it was time to get the show on the road, this month we had chosen the same venue as the Scuba + Outdoor technical diving group – Techpursuits. They were easy to identify, they were the guys with big yellow boxes on there backs and loads of cylinders attached to them. So in the spirit of good sport, we bowed to their greater abilities, and let Phil (Techpursuits Manager) give everyone the site and safety briefing. Well if nothing else it gave the S+O Team time to eat their Sarnies (he he he).

The NDAC operates a little differently to other inland sites, in as much as you have to catch a minibus down to the water, and entry is off floating pontoons, so its quite unique. With all the site briefings done the Techpursuits guys went off to do there thing and the Doing It gang gathered for their own dive brief. Our newest S+O Team Member, Rob (aka Action Man) gave an expert brief of what we could expect to see in the quarry, the best route to take and the best things to look out for. Once this was completed and buddy pairs were assigned we all got our kit together and took it over to the waiting minibus. It was a bumpy and rocky ride down to the water, but we all made it without being sea-sick (or land-sick or whatever you would call it in a minibus).

It was a rapid turn around, and before long everyone had got their kit from the bus and was on the pontoon getting kitted up. The “experienced” half of the group decided to do there own dives (either brave or Robs brief really was that good !). So once they had done their buddy checks and checked in with the Helen and Dianne, our Surface Cover for the day, away they went. The remainder of the group decided to go with Dave (S+O Solihull Centre Manager) and Rob. Once kitted and buddy checks completed, with one giant stride we were in.

Rob lead the dive with each buddy pair following, the visibility was at around 6 meters and water temp at 6 degrees. We were expertly guided around to look at the Tank, Airplane, Amphibious Vehicle and even some nice Swim Throughs. It was not long before it was time to ascend for our 3 minute stops before climbing back
on to the pontoons. The collective smiles were now even bigger than they were a few hours earlier, and the general chatter defiantly confirmed the NDAC as a great dive site.

It was time to catch the minibus back to the top car park where we could get our cylinders refilled and get all important Tea and Bacon Roll (2^nd of the day for some greedy – non-briefing people !), and talk about the great dive we had just had.

Now if you remember at the start of this report this was a joint day out with Techpursuits and Scuba + Outdoor Pursuits working together. Unfortunately for one of these technical guys, who shall remain nameless (see Gary, I told you I wouldn’t tell them who it was !), the day was a little more refreshing than he would have liked it to be. The Nameless One was standing very sheepishly by his car when we all returned, with a definite look of embarrassment. So of course like all good supportive and caring Surface Supervisors, Helen ensured he was safe and protected following his dreadful incident (snigger snigger). The hell she did, it took all of 30 seconds for her to make sure we all knew about him leaving his drysuit zip totally open before he jumped in for his first dive (sorry Gary we couldn’t help but laugh !). It was ok though, he was fine, well apart from a very bad case of hurt pride, oh and the fact that non of us will let him forget it for the next 2, 3 or maybe 4 years.

Surface interval complete we jumped back into the minibus and headed down to the water. Once kitted and buddy checked again, Rob lead us to the North Sea Diving Bell and the excellent Gnome Garden (see if you water them well they do grow !) where we stopped to do a little bit of tidying up. We finished the dive at the
north end of the pontoon with some excellent navigation work from Rob.

As quickly as the day began, it was soon all over and all the Doing It gang were back on the top car park. We were all sharing tales of our two great wintry dives and asking where the next Doing It trip would be. Oh yes, we were all of course still sniggering a little at the extra added entertainment given to us by the Techpursuits team – Thanks Gary !