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We just moved into a brnd new house, with a largish garage - so I intended being organised for once - even managed to sort out shelving and hanging space and stuff - except it was cold and very windy when we got bck from scapa at the weekend, and I can't find the garge key, which meant walking...

I could see how that might work for a shallow wreck, with not too much tide on it that's been dived enough times for every one to know exactly how it lies - however it's not going to work well for anything much over 35-40m, or a small steamship. And when diving undived, or rarely dived wrecks...

The trick is simple, just lay the line over the wreck, so if anything it will drag into the wreck. Using a shot line is simple, as is using a 'live' boat. Shot's don't usually get pulled out unless people pull on them, which sometimes inexperienced divers do. We dive in an area of high tides...

Don't see any reason to tie into any wreck, particularly if there's a tide running on it. Just use a combination of gps/medes and a sounder. Throw in a heavy shotline so that the weight lands just to one side of the wreck ( or end, but that's harder to do), which means it's easy to pull up...

:-) - there's nothing wrong with a bit of variety in the weather! I spent most of this morning trying to get back to Shetland from Inverness ( having had to drive down a very slidy A9 yesterday) and it was alternating between brilliant sunshine and heavy snow showers - Kirkwall airport was...

While I agree that rescue is a course everyone should undergo, before thinking about doing more courses it might be a better idea to find a group of like minded divers with experience and go diving with them. Although mentoring takes longer as a lot of the training is effectively osmostic the...

Having dived both Eygypt and Scapa Flow, Eygypt was fun and warm, but after a week I'd seen enough fishies. Scapa Flow on the other hand ( ok it's close) I've dived several times a year for 10 years and still find things to interest me - it's perfectly possible to have a fantastic week and only...

The depths of the German fleet mean they are ideal for diving with 30% as a back gas - personally I wouldn't bother with a 50% stage for most of the wrecks. I think all of the operators have on board nitrox now - aim for a new 30% in the afternoon and an air top off for the morning dive...

Hmm, but if you are planning on diving a deep wreck then I'd hope no-one needs to remind you that you're likely to need fins and masks and things.. I'd probably not be allowed on, cos I've never done a wreck penetration course, or a mod 3 rebreather either :(

Since we're discussing diving a wreck site, then I think Brian has a very valid point. An upturned hull is very boring, and kind of pointless, if relatively easy. While no-one is likely to advocate a deep penetration on a first visit to a wreck, I would want to start orientating myself and...

Can't find the links at the moment, but I'm always a little careful of excercise after diving having got bent a few years back after shifting heavy stuff around and generally doing stuff I shouldn't, albeit after a 70m dive - surfaced unbent and did it to myself an hour or so later :(

That's the whole point he's trying to make - there seems to be a fixation with depth, when with a little more experience you will discover ( at some point) that the depth is simply where whatever it is you want to see is - no more, no less. What is important is what you saw/did/caught there...

Being British, we teach rescue as part of the basic open water courses, so we do it in the pool first before ever going near open water and then it's repeated in sport diver training. Did the same training with my daughter, as someone elses buddy, she needs to be able to assisted ascents/air...

I'm still a fan of just being out there and diving with a mentor if you can find one, rather than a course. This does mean the onus is on you of course. I've never done a wreck course of any type, just spent many hours initially outside wrecks learning the layout - not with any kind of agenda...

Not sure I dive with a goal in mind - I just do what I enjoy - sometimes it's a deep new wreck, sometimes just the local reef by home pottering in the shallows, sometimes just playing with the seals - sometimes on a rebreather, sometimes on a single 12 with no wing. Diving is simply the means...

I dunno, the british standard is orange=all fine - the skipper will already know your runtime anyway - one bag per diver, all named, yellow=problem and will involve a response usually a spare 21m deco cylinder immediately, followed by a diver - dead simple When it's all gone horribly wrong, you...

No, the most important thing about them is they are easy to deploy from depth, visible at the surface and they don't collapse on you. All the European ones are 2m tall, just put a bit of tension on the line and they stand upwards. If you collapse it just as the boat is coming in to pick up, you...

Yes - best piece of kit I've ever bought. Most common design in the UK - on any given boat probably 70% of divers will own one. They are more bulky, but they do fit into a dry suit pocket.

Farne islands off Northumberland are good for seals. Some of the charters there do seal trips I think I live in Shetland and they are a positive pest at this time of year - last years pups are very playful - Sunday I was trying to do some training when they decided we were more fun than each...

But if you'd spent time diving off the coast first you'd never bother with the inland sites at all. My daughter's also 15, and has spent all this summer diving with me off the N of Scotland (where we don't have any quarries), the one training dive we did in England put her off ever diving in a...