Under Pressure

I started 2007 underwater on my hundred and second dive in the Red Sea.

My first dive that started in 2007 was on the Carnatic with my now friends Dolly & Zoe.

I finished 2007 diving in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, with 235 dives logged (155 hours and 54 minutes).

So in 2007 I logged up 133 dives, I went to Mallorca to do my PADI DM Internship with Scuba Med. I also did a Red Sea live aboard in August, done two dives in Fuertaventura and even managed some UK dives out in the sound of Mull, The Clyde and the Scottish Sea Lochs.

I managed my longest & Deepest dives.

Deepest: Dive 216 Rosalie Moller Engine room 44.8 Metres

Longest: Dive 217 Stern, deck and bow of the Rosalie Moller with a runtime of 123 minutes of which around 90 minutes was spent hanging at 6 metres doing Deco.

I took lots of people under the sea for their first ever scuba experience working as a DM doing Discover Scuba Programmes in Mallorca & I made new friends.

on the way to getting my DM Cert I also got my PADI Rescue Diver Cert, PADI Deep Certification, my EFR Qualification & my PADI Equipment Specialist certification.

Not a bad year of diving at all.

The one thing I didn’t manage to do was my GUE Fundamentals course due to lack of funds, however I will do it in 2008!

2008 Provisional Dive Plans:

Jan / Feb: Fun Dive

March: Scotsac Branch Instructor Course.

April: GUE Fundamentals with Clare Gledhill at Vobster.

April / May: PADI IDC / IE in Mallorca.

May / June: Recreational Trimix

June: A Scapa Flow diving week.

July / August : Boat handling / Sailing

October: Sound of Mull & Red Sea Live aboard MV Talla

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I arrived back in Mallorca last night and have been out for a DSD session this morning.
Had a brilliant time in Egypt on the excellent liveaboard MY Whirlwind operated by Tornado Marine Fleet and booked through Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel.
I stayed an extra few nights in sharm with Zoe for her birthday and had a great time chlling at the beach and water park.

As for the diving, well it was just fantastic! Wait a minute not just fantastic but the absoloute bollox, totally & utterly fantastic!

The whole holiday was awesome and I have uploaded photos as normal to my flickr site.

Some Highlights:

A brilliant fancy dress party on the boat!
Great people on the boat to make new friends with and even better older friends to have fun with.

Engine room penetration dives on:

• Giannis D
• Kimon M
• Rosalie Moller

Great Reef dives at:

• Shark & Yolanda
• Bluff Point
• Ras Gazlani

Watching sun go down on the excellent Terrazzina beach at Sharm el sheikh then spending Zoes birthday at the Cleo waterpark.

Now I am back and hope to finish off my Divemaster Internship over the next couple of weeks.
226 Dives logged and enjoying every minute of underwater nirvana.

Looking forward to going home to Scotland and seeing all my friends and family.

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Dive 138: Furnace B200

As I am off this week getting ready to head to Mallorca for the summer, I had discussed with Stew about doing the B200 off of Furnace pier, this is the same wreck I had dived previously and is also the deepest I have been.

I checked the tides on easytides, low tide was to be around eleven am, which suited us perfectly.

We met up at nine am, got all the kit together and drove up together towards Loch Fyne, discussing deep trenches, American Beach landing practice and rumours of Sherman Tanks at the bottom of the Sea Lochs….

When we arrived at Furnace we we saw one other car sitting at the dive site, it turned out it was Mike & John both from Cusac, of all the dive sites and all the days.

We said our hello’s then kitted up.

O2 Kit in the car, both of us ready with a backup plan, should computers fail (as maximum depth was planned at 44 metres, backup would be based on the planned maximum bottom time, 1 minute at 22 metres, 1 minute at 12 metres, 5 minutes at 6 metres and 1 minute at 3 metres – not exactly pushing the boundaries of technical diving but for me it is enough just now). Dive timers at the ready, AIR as back gas and EAN48 (should have been EAN50 but as Aquatron don’t seem to be able to get spot on EAN mixes without waiting for hours, EAN48 would do) for me in my side slung and Stew on EAN60, I was to gas switch at 21 Metres after my deep stop and Stew would be switching at 15 metres.

Stewart & I agreed before hand we would have between six and nine minutes bottom time, as the B200 is a small wreck and apart from hitting deco penalty there actually is not that much to see, she lies in around 43 metres.

We kit up and do a buddy check at the water line under the pier.

Straight down from the side of the pier. The water seemed to be full of sediment, visibility is quite low compared to the normally brilliant visibility found here. We descend quickly, down the reef, straight down to the wreck, we approached it from the stern and the Starboard side, we fin round the bow and looking back alongside the port side, I could easily see the B200 name written on the side of the wreck, the torch picked out the blue hull with white border, back towards the stern and up towards the deck I finned.
There is not much left of the deck with an old lobster pot lying in the middle of the wreck, the roof of the wheel house has gone although some of the windows are still intact.

We had a wee look around then as my computer declared we had hit deco, I signalled I wanted to start heading up to the shallows, just as we came off the stern to the boulders and reef there was a large Gurnard free swimming just off the bottom, he looked lazy and a little like a lion fish.

We slowly ascended up the reef slope, this site makes doing 40 metres seem relatively easy* as there is little current and a nice gently sloping reef to follow all the way up to the surface.

I do my first one minute deep stop at 22 metres, I then turn on my side slung, check the reg has gas flowing, switch to it after double checking my computer is blinking that I have another mix within operational depth, I then select MIX2 on the Suunto and within a few easy breathes my deco ceiling has vanished.

We slowly make our ascent, with Stew switching to his EAN60 at 15 Metres, the ambient light is getting brighter now and we can see under almost every rock that there is a squat lobster or even some fish swimming around, we find the odd edible crab and I make my next deep stop at 12 metres.

we make the slow ascent from here to 6 Metres where we stop and hang, we have came up off to the right hand side of the pier so we fin through the iron legs and over the structure till we get to the left side and slowly make our way to the surface.

I really enjoyed that, its only he second time I have gone deeper than 40 metres but this time I was more relaxed, more coherent and more able to describe exactly what I had seen at depth.

B200, I will be back after the summer.

Dive 138: 08/05/2007 12:16 Maximum Depth: 42.7 Metres Run Time: 33 Minutes Back Gas: Air In: 224 Bar Air Out: 140 Deco Gas: EAN48 In: 220 Out: 160
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*That doesn’t mean you do it with disregard, as divers have been airlifted from this very site. It is just to say that if your going to make a foray past 40 metres then Furnace is not a bad place to do it (always have proper training and never attempt something you haven’t done before without appropriate instruction from somebody qualified to teach you).

Dive 139: Furnace round the point.

After an hours surface Interval & a gab with John & Mike, we kitted up and decided to head round the point from the pier, not something we normally do.

We agreed to stay at a maximum depth of 20 metres and that we wouldnt need our side slungs as we wouldnt be doing deco.

After kitting up, buddy checks and floating on the surface relaxing for a few minutes, Stew and I descended into the green waters, once again visibility was very poor at around 3-5 Metres with lots of sediment in the water, a good day for leaving the camera in the back of the car.

We drifted in the current, rarely finning apart from taking a corrective course, we found the usual collection of squat lobsters, blennies and one large dogfish having a sleep. We say the bright yellow glow of Mike’s Metalsub HID off in the gloom and then we turned back after around 15 minutes, made our way back up to the shallows, found a massive edible crab hiding under a rock and no matter how we tried to coax him out, he wasn’t budging.

Dive 139: 08/05/2007 13:57 Maximum Depth: 22.6 Metres Run Time: 38 Minutes Air In: 134 Bar Air Out: 58 SAC: 15.5 LPM
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It all started with a seemingly innocent txt message one warm Tuesday afternoon” Some spaces on the Clutha at the weekend, fancy some diving?” This was the txt I got from Stevie, “yes” was my response, I can do Saturday as long as I can get back in time for the club curry night!

Friday night I went to see the excellent Mac Floyd, a Scottish Pink Floyd tribute band at Rutherglen (Ruggie) with my mate from work Lazzerbyjan (he’s actually from Kazakhstan and he is not a terrorist, in fact he is a respectable chess player & Project Manager, pause, NOT!) & Ian from the west end….
The gig was excellent, the band played like a dream, the venue brilliant although the crowd where a little on the wild side. One guy being ejected by the stewards & his girlfriend didn’t even notice, during the interval we all got put outside till the fire service could give an all clear as the fire alarm went off…..Anyway I had agreed to not drink on the Friday to make sure I was fit for some Clyde Wreck diving on the Saturday.

My Alarm went off on Saturday morning at 6.45am, I had a quick shower and headed off to Stevies. We moved my kit over to his car and he drove us down to Greenock McDonald’s for breakfast. Stevie’s hint was to get a bacon and egg McMuffin and keep it for lunch, this sounded minging but just had to be tried.

We arrive at Inverkip Marina with time to spare, grab a trolley and get our gear down to Elaine and the MV Clutha.

The sun is shining the reports of ten metre visibility keep us smiling and the joy of being the youngest on the full boat by 8-15 years makes Stevie and I have a good laugh as we get introduced to the rest of the divers.

We have a good gab with a Guy up from Lincs, solo diving (Tim), a nice lad well clued up and sorted. I start having some banter with Dave from Queensferry sub aqua who has plenty of life experience being a chiropractor, joiner and Hypnotherapist, the only career missing was Royal Marine or special forces, I am sure he probably was but would have to have killed me if he told me The boat had a good friendly crowd on today with everybody gabbing and having a laugh with each other.
The day is shaping up nicely with Elaine announcing our first dive was going to be on the Beagle and Stevie having dived it before agreeing to led the dive for us. We agree that I will call the dive when we get into as much deco as I am comfortable with, I suggest about 15 minutes and Stevie says this fine with him.
We headed out of Inverkip marina with all the sailing boats behind us.

28/04/2007 10:39 Dive 136: The Beagle
Buddy: Steve Hickdive Max Depth: 34.5 Metres Duration: 41 Minutes Water Temp: 8oC -11oC
Back Gas: Air In: 216 Bar Out: 119 Bar Deco Gas: EAN50 In: 150 Bar Out: 90 Bar

I had never dived the Beagle and Stevie agreed to lead the dive. Stevie and I kit up and do buddy checks on-board, Elaine tells us to start kitting up as we are on site, two divers go in before us, then we jump, check on the surface and descend down the shot line, the shot is pretty clear in front of us and the wreck starts coming into site before we get near it, around eight metres of visibility which is just great, Stevie hits the deck area first, gives me the Ok and we head down to the sea bed inside what is left of the Beagle, over the boilers at around 34 Metres crossing back to the starboard side with me trying the camera sans flash but getting lots of jittery movement icons on screen. Stevie checks my presence with torch signals, i respond and feeling comfortable we have a nice look around the wreck, find the collision damage and coming to the bow section, which is very picturesque.

We turn around at the bow and head along the port side, enjoying the lovely clear views, the deep green waters and glow from other divers torches, before dropping to the inside and fish around in the silt for any glass tumblers, Stevie finds a couple of broken ones, we find a large edible crab just in front of the boilers and we head back to the shot line, as we reach the shot line Stevie asks me if I want to head up the line, I check my computer and it says 8 minute ascent time, meaning we have accumulated around 5 minutes of decompression stops, not a lot but enough for me to call the dive, we head up the line and both pause at 18 metres for our one minute deep stops (I am diving a D9 & Stevie is diving a Vytec DS both of us running one minute deep stops) I change gas to EAN50 then make a couple of mistakes setting bookmarks on the computer before realising what I am doing wrong and get the D9 switched to 50%.

We ascend the line with the D9 telling me I have 4 minutes of stops at 3 metres however we choose to scrub off the stop at 6 metres and do it based on Stevie’s back up computers requirements (which only has air set as a breathing gas and no deep stop algorithm) meaning we actually sit at 6 Metres for eight minutes and two divers that had just caught up with us on the line pass us after they complete the stops showing on their computers (VR£’s by the looks of things).

We slowly ascend from six metres to the buoy and wait on Elaine coming round to pick us up. We swim towards the large open ladder of the Clutha, conscious that the visibility is clear and we can see the prop at the back of the boat churning away at the green sea.
I really enjoyed this dive and was happy with my performance under water, gas switching could have been more smooth on the computer and my photography skills could have been better however all things considered, this was only my third decompression dive and around my tenth visit below 30 metres. I wasn’t stressed and don’t think my buoyancy was bad at all considering I was using my camera most of the time. It shows that taking the stage in on dives where its not needed and doing gas switches for practice means that when its actually needed it works becuase you’ve invested the effort into the dummy runs, although Stevie had the last laugh when I rushed to get de-kitted and get my drysuit zip undone as I was bursting for a pee, I need to look into one of these Pee valve things!

One of the other lads on the boat opens up a big tub of home-made chocolate cake his wife made and shares it with us, it was just brilliant, went very well with yet another mug of tea.

Unfortunately none of my photos from this dive are worth using, even at a push.

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Elaine & Drew bring the Clutha back to Inverkip after making sure everybody is back on board, has had warm soup, a mug of tea and the coastguard have been informed we are all safely back on-board.

We dock at Inverkip and I eat the cold McMuffin left from this morning (don’t tell everybody but these actually taste better cold), I lay myself down on the dock and tune into my ipod, chilling in the lovely warm sun for an hour or so before Elaine calls us all back to the boat and lets us know we are heading out to dive the AKKA, having only dived the AKKA once before around mid march I was looking forward to this large wreck again.

28/04/2007 14:32 Dive 137: The AKKA
Buddy: Steve Hickdive Max Depth: 27.5 Metres Duration: 53 Minutes Water Temp: 8oC -11oC
Back Gas: Air In: 226 Bar Out: 110 Bar Deco Gas: EAN50 In: 90 Bar Out: 30 Bar

Again Stevie and I are kitted up ready to go as the second set of divers into the water, this time there is a current running and we are advised to go in negative and sort ourself’s out, if the need arises on the second buoy at 4 metres.

We enter, descend and head down the shot with the AKKA looming into view from around 20 metres, the life on this wreck is simply stunning, I had agreed with Stevie that he would guide again and that if possible we should do the bow section as when I dived it previously I had only managed the stern.

The shot is on top of the bridge area, we drop through the roof and down into the darkness, Stevie has a look around and signals for us to about turn, we then go through the companion ways along the deck before dropping inside and through the the galley area and the freezers.

We go through a hold, into the another one, we find some line that somebody has lain previosuly, the glow from the torches and the eerie green water is comforting, I focus the camera and eventually I get the odd mediocre usable photo.

We reach the bow section and come back along the port side, this side of the deck and hull is gorgeous, a living carpet of anenomes, deadmans fingers and other soft corals, This dive is fantastic, a large wreck and a lovely wall dive all rolled into one.

I am on the outside of the hull and surrealistically a mackerel swims vertically to my side, we come along the port companionways and go back into the quarters & structures on the deck, we find the line and start our ascent, again I switch gas at 15 Metres and we work off our small decompression penalty at 6 Metres.

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Elaine & Drew provide us with Tea & biscuits as all the other divers start surfacing, we head back to Inverkip and enjoy a laugh at one of the sailing boats grounded around the channel marker buoy.

All in a brilliant days diving for only £30 plus £3 for the air fill, you just cant beat that for value for money, I highly recommend the Clutha and look forward to my next trip, hopefully in the last quarter of this year when I get back from Mallorca.
I do wonder if I can handle this type of diving and more technical diving if something went wrong, am I too reliant on my buddy? Do I actually practice the skills needed enough? Would I be OK with a camera and a free flowing regulator with a jammed reel on a dsmb in a current in poor visibility & with a failed torch? All we can do is prepare, practice and take our time diving within our comfort zone, slowly pushing the envelope of our personal experience, dive safely.

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Dive 133: 17/04/2007 Conger Alley

Buddy: Gerry O’brien Start Time: 19:59
Duration: 45 Minutes Water Temp: 8-10oC Visibility: 3-5 Metres
Max depth: 27.5Metres Air in: 232 Out: 121

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A Wee after work guddle, Gerry spotted a dogfish on the way down to the reef at about 6 Metres. We went down found the reef and had a gentle drift up the reef, a lovely orange & white sea cucumber, plenty of life and I had the D9 in two minute deep stop mode for the first time.

The top reef had lots of life on it, anenomes, crabs, blennies, overall this dive was just a nice easy wee guddle.

I did feel overweighted on this dive and after it I discovered I still had 6kg in my weight belt which is what I was using at the pool where as I only usually dive with 5kg on the twin set)

Dive 134: 21/04/2007 29 Steps

Buddy: Gareth Wilson Start Time: 16:12
Duration: 46 Minutes Water Temp: 8-10oC Visibility: 3-8 Metres
Max depth: 22.2Metres Air in: 234 Out: 150 (STAGE BOTTLE EAN50: IN: 200 Out: 150)

Gareth & I decided to do a little check dive, so we agreed to head off late afternoon when the Lochs would be a bit quieter.It was a lovely sunny day and when we arrived at Twenty Steps we where the only car on-site with the usually busy Finnart only having two cars parked up at it as well. Fantastic all we needed now was nice visibility and some interesting life.

I took in my camera and stage bottle for the first dive, trying to load some tasks easily with Gareth warned I was on deep stop mode & I was to led this dive with Gareth navigating for the second dive.

The tide was up as high as I’d ever seen it at this site with a full moon the night before, the water was right at the bottom of the steps, I led and managed to miss the training platform all together but got us down and out across to the anenome garden which was actually very pretty if a bit dispersed across the various small reefs / boulders.

I did my deepstop while Gareth was looking at the rocks, again I was conscious my buoyancy was a bit over the place, Im never sure if this is becuase I am using the camera and trying to get close to the small living critters to get a picture or becuase I am just a bottom dweller, I might get the hang of buoyancy eventually…

Gareth signals he is going to put up his dsmb as we start coming back to the 8 metre point so I settle of to his right hand side to watch the dive god in action.

Slowly but surely Gareth manages not to inflate his blob and I manage to roll about laughing, using more air than a big air using thing, Gareth seems to be confused by the laws of physics, holding his dsmb under his exhaust port and breathing out sees all the exhaust bubbles gently rise to the surface while the blob hangs limply at his side.

I cant contain myself any longer and offer to assist, Gareth hands me the blob which I give one exhaust full of air to start the process and hand it back, Gareth then releases it only about 20% full from 8 Metres with it barely floating to the surface I cant help laughing yet again.

I masterfully navigate us to the surface and the exit point (for Finnart….) Gareth gets the last laugh as he realises how far out my navigation skills have taken us and we enjoy(obviously enjoy is used with artistic license in this case) the long swim back to the exit point and a relaxing surface interval.

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Dive 135: 21/04/2007 29 Steps

Buddy: Gareth Wilson Start Time: 18:04
Duration: 31 Minutes Water Temp: 8-10oC Visibility: 3-8 Metres
Max depth: 20.7Metres Air in: 145 Out: 50

Gareth was to navigate and led this dive, so I dumped the stage bottle and Camera, connected up my H2O iriver IFP-799 and took some music in for this dive for the first time.

We where getting tight for time as I had to pick wee Taylor up from Ice skating at 9pm so we agreed to just do a short dive. In we went down to the right for five minutes with Amy Winehouse and rehab playing for me, such a great experience listening to music, it doesn’t need to be loud it just needs to be heard, Gareth gave me the OK so I gave him a wee dance

We didnt find much life on this dive but I enjoyed it anyway, I came across a mask and snorkel that looked very fresh on our safety stop before yet another swim back due to Gareth learning from my navigation master-class…

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The mask & snorkel where a kids size and had a slap strap on the back from deepblue scuba. I emailed deep blue and they confirmed a student had lost a mask, confirming the name written on the snorkel, Stew took the mask & snorkel to FYM for me and it has been re-united with its owner.

Dive site guides courtesy of www.congeralley.com

Editors Note: Spelling sorted & photos added, think I preferred the after work cuddle though!

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