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Scapa Flow takes some beating in my book, someone already commented about S coast England - Plymouth or Weymouth are among the best I've dived there

Depemds very much on what the local conditions are, and what type of boat it is. In the UK, it's unlikely a charter will cancel due to 4-5ft waves or some surface current. Most ladders/lifts are easily negotiated in those conditions, but it does vary a bit. We had significantly bigger seas (...

I prefer to teach new divers using a wing set-up - though not with the backplate, just a basic travel wing - none of them have gone to a jacket style when buying their own gear. Just having less clutter on your front makes teaching a whole heap simpler - and avoids me teaching in disimilar kit...

Plankton is dying off here too - though the kelp is huge in the shallows this year for some reason. We had fabulous weather last week - though we were kayaking rather than diving in the Summer Isles, mirror calm seas and sunburn - been windy here so far this weekend, but taking some trainees...

Think I've made most mistakes over the years - some of us learn things the hard way. Gone in in conditions that were way no suitable, struggled to regain the shore again in one piece, jumped off without thinking about exits and falling tides - very long surface swims. Borrowed someone elses...

I log most of my dives. If I'm either training or being trained then it'll be logged with all the relevant information so it can be referred to again easily. For anything else, a new site with have depths/tides/directions/boats/gps/medes etc recorded, with a record of any interesting life that...

We use them on pretty much every boat dive, as do most other divers in Scotland. Most charters will require at the very minimum one dsmb per pair, possibly one per diver. They are deployed at the end of every dive, if on a shallowinsh dive from the bottom, or on a deeper one from around 20-30m...

Falls of Lora, under the Connell bridge at Oban. Only dived at minimal tide. An underwater waterfall - we ended up somewhere around the 20-30m range, but apparantly theres a second ledge it's possible to get dragged over. I've kayaked it at the maximum tide and we went through at 12 mph, but...

Inveraray in February, lulled into a false sense of security by a post dive pint in good company I heard my own voice saying - why not all crash at my place and we'll dive out of Groats for a weekend... So, May bank holiday, I've a houseful and predictably it's snowing... ho hum Never mind, we...

The car's replacement should be here this week - ho hum! - Last weekend was hot and sunny with flat calm sea - and I had to spend all day in Inverness car-hunting :( Went diving off the Trinkie in Wick after work on Thursday - spring tides, but we jumped about 20 minutes before low water -...

I took the car diving in a flash flood last week - I was driving down the A1 at the time... vis is still ok here - though it's got that summery greenish tint to it again, though it usually clears again in 3 or 4 weeks

weird, it's so calm on the east side at the moment here, I drove into work this morning the sea and skay were so close in colour that the boats looked like they were floating with the odd streak of silver as the sun shone down. The North coast is almost as flat - but the temperatures rule out...

:( - at least in a quarrry there's nothing to distract from training :) I've been training the last 2 weekends, last week in Loch Fyne ( -12deg coming over Rannoch Moor!) - flat calm and sunny - did loads of rescues and stuff. This weekend just gone, Naomi's on leave from Shetland, the only...

I looked them up - the anenomes are Actinothoe sphyrodeta, which is why I can never remember the name - they're reasonably common further south, but not so this far north. I don't know what went on the reg - first time in 1200 dives I've had one go while underwater :( - still it's only 4...

Not sure I could be persuaded to dive in a quarry with all that Cornish sea around. In the Far North we had no wind at all this weekend, despite a 5-6 sw being forecast. So having spent Friday sea kayaking on mirror calm seas from Ackergill to Wick - with the big push from tide around Noss...

I like 2 separate regs if at all possible. Although if I'm out in the Red Sea or something I'll just dive with a single and octopus reg I've had 2 times over 23 years when an OOA diver has gone for my main reg without warning. The first was years and years ago when no-one carried a spare of any...

Sounds like it should be interesting, though 700 miles is a little far for an evening...

While it's fine to have a final goal in mind, try not to get too hung up on the end point. Personally, I would forget about anything 'tech' until you've done the more basic skills courses you've mentioned - and then spend time diving and honing the skills you've already learned. Do that whilst...

For someone who just 'wants to get into wreck diving' isn't that peerie bit excessive to start with. Why not simply go diving with other divers on some simple wrecks first There are very few shallow wrecks which require advanced skills, they can come with time. I still think that mentoring is a...

Almost all inexperienced divers will tend to be slightly behind and above a lead, as they feel more secure when they have a good view of you. If you explain that to them, and then ask that they stay level with you - and specify a distance - 1m of grabbing distance for a new diver - they'll...