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??? You mus be diving in the wrong part of Scotland then - you need to go west and/or north!! Moray Firth, Caithness, orkney or Shetland - because it's my daughter's first year of diving I've been shallower this year, mainly above 30m or so and hardly ever used a torch. But then on the deeper...

I'm not sure why being male or female should make any difference to the type of diving done. I completed trimix training in 1999, and have been reasonably active in deep wrecks ever since (was before on deep air, but don't remember much of it!), then changed to a rebreather in 2001 Whilst it is...

AP valves auto-inflating one - a bit bulkier to carry than the one without the cylinder, but a whole lot easier (and quicker) to put up mid-water. Pretty much universal among British divers. Yellow is emergency only, so carry a 2nd one in yellow as a back up.

Firstly, I've never done a 'wreck course' of any description, so my views may be biased anyway. However, simply assuming that a cavern course will equip you for wreck penetration may not be the best of ideas. Caves/caverns, particularly those used on courses are generally stable and unchanging...

Personally dependant on the wreck I'd use a ccr with 10/50 as a diluent and carry a 7l of 50%. 30 minutes bottom time will bring me out under the hour - but if it was interesting enough I'd stay longer. I carry tables up to 45 minutes for all depths in my pocket, so if it got beyond 'g-plan' I...

The only courses I would consider close after qualifying are nitrox and rescue - particuclarly rescue. Other than that I would simply find a mentor ( or group of mentors) and go diving, gaining experience in as many different conditions/locations as possible within the constraints of your...

Like Mike, I dive mainly because I love being in the water locally - living on an island obviously helps. Steamships and submarines are what really hold my interest - and the fact I can go for a dive after work simply to relax for a while. Saturday we dived the N tip of Bressay, huge boulders...

No, onboard cylinders stay just the same. Sidemounting bailouts means it's easy to chop and change dependant on depth/duration of a dive. Bottom gas bailout on the left, 50% on the right - both with a whip so they can be plugged in if required. Backmounting a 'spare' small O2 cylinder in...

The Cotovia is now regularly dived, at least in the summer months by the liveaboard boats from Stromness. The waters are very tidal, but usually clear. She's the epitomy of a 'flat-packed' wreck with just the (huge) boilers and engines standing clear. Very scenic howewer, with plenty of life (...

We didn't go for a'sunny' paradise, but 10 years ago when the kids were still small we moved north to the Shetland Islands, where depending on how realistic you are about living on a relatively remote offshore island, the quality of life is superb, and the oil revenue has ensured a great...

Depends on how seriously you want to look for and identify a wreck, how old, depth etc etc. I live in an area where there are 9 protected wrecks dating from the 17th century. Some are diveable, some aren't. There are also a big number of 1st world war wrecks as yet unfound. It is simply an area...

How long are you going to be there? Probably the easiest place to sort yourself out is Aberdeen Watersports (01224 581313) - they do courses and organise some dives - they've a website I think as well. Diving at this time of year is starting to get a bit 'iffy' Superb dive sites a couple of...

Depends very much on the wreck/tide as to whether or not that is likely. We'll sometimes anchor in if there's not much tide. However there are plentyof wrecks where an upline is simply going to get taken down in the tide - and any diver is unlikley to be able to hang on anyway. In the UK at...

Hmm - I just paid £1.029/litre this morning to fill up the car, which with the current exchange rate works out at just under $8/gallon ......and I live only 10 miles from Sullom Voe, the biggest oil terminal in Europe :(

No, not usually - we've sucessfully done this it sites down to 85-90m in very tidal areas ( Pentland Firth, English Channel etc). If you drop it uptide, if it does drag a bit it'll go into the wreck, not away from it. Divers should swim down a line, not haul on it anyway. It's much harder to...

We don't even try and hook into the wreck - run over the wreck a couple of times, drop a heavy shot-line in ( semi-disposable, currently we're using a 56lb weight, we use a narrow cylinderical weight so it drops fast. Drop it just uptide of the wreck, so if it drifts it'll land on the wreck...

We get transient orcas in the summer locally, so spending a lunchtime one day watching orca's take seals from the rocks next to Safeways carpark I checked the information. Resident orca pods don't seem to cause any problem at all. Transient orcas are likely to be in an area hunting for food, so...

Probably depends on what you are defining as 'deep wreck'. In the group I tend to dive with, probably 70% of us are either separated or single - not planned that way, just the way it worked out - that goes for the local club dives as well as the deeper offshore dives

If you are travelling on your own, scapascuba are your best bet, well organised and being a school, have kit to hire rather than carry it. I'm hoping to organise my daughters ow course with them at Easter if I can work it in. Personally I tend to dive off the Karin ( scapa flow technical) nice...

There is probably going to be another trip or two there next year run by John T, although the gas logistics mean it is rb only - I can't get enough time off work :( Personally I'd spend a whole summer in Caithness/Pentland Firth area - long enough to get some decent weather, the diving there is...