brizzolatti
Contributor
Hello. Well, I've done it. Dry suit speciality course at Oban which entailed: video and academics, looking at kit, one confined dive, 2 OW dives. Then today, a couple more OW dives for practice. Did it at Puffin Dive Centre, which seems pretty good.
I didn't freeze! I didn't feel like I was suffocating at the neck, I didn't spend all my time inverted at the surface - in fact, it was kinda cool!!
We did confined dive just from the shore in about 10 feet. Felt weird to begin with and I was inverted a number of times (unintentionally!). 2 OW dives were also shore dives at Port Gallanach but in deeper water, 7-8m. Getting the hang of it more but still feeling like I was wrestling most of the time to keep steady. Had good fun doing the somersaults and the intentional inverts!
I hired the drysuit and undergarments but had my own gear for the rest. I was surprised that while I was aware of the cold, I didn't feel at all uncomfortable. I was a bit wet underneath, I think because of the gymnastics. Hood wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be except I didn't like muffled hearing.
Only weird feeling was my hands. Didn't wear gloves and didn't feel cold in the water (it was 14 celsius) but both my hands looked swollen at the end of the day as if they were retaining water.
2 more dives this morning to practise and what a difference. First off, I had no unintentional inverts and managed to control buoyancy Ok if not perfect neutral at all times. Nice shore dive over kelp with lots of crabs, pipe fish, starfish and little ones that I don't know the names of. Did a few more exercises before surfacing. 2nd dive felt even better, more like just a normal exploration dive. Was getting more familiar with drysuit operation, no accidents, even managed a controlled ascent at the right pace.
So, all in all, I have enjoyed the new experience and it has given me an appetite for more uk diving. All the dives were shore at Port Gallanach so I really want to visit some sites by boat.
It certainly wasn't what I expected (cold, murky, hard work) and while as things stand, I still prefer tropical diving, I could grow to love it, I think. So, if anyone is dithering about UK diving, don't, just dive in!!
PS - I am now thinking of doing my Rescue course in a few weeks at Oban, too.!
I didn't freeze! I didn't feel like I was suffocating at the neck, I didn't spend all my time inverted at the surface - in fact, it was kinda cool!!
We did confined dive just from the shore in about 10 feet. Felt weird to begin with and I was inverted a number of times (unintentionally!). 2 OW dives were also shore dives at Port Gallanach but in deeper water, 7-8m. Getting the hang of it more but still feeling like I was wrestling most of the time to keep steady. Had good fun doing the somersaults and the intentional inverts!
I hired the drysuit and undergarments but had my own gear for the rest. I was surprised that while I was aware of the cold, I didn't feel at all uncomfortable. I was a bit wet underneath, I think because of the gymnastics. Hood wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be except I didn't like muffled hearing.
Only weird feeling was my hands. Didn't wear gloves and didn't feel cold in the water (it was 14 celsius) but both my hands looked swollen at the end of the day as if they were retaining water.
2 more dives this morning to practise and what a difference. First off, I had no unintentional inverts and managed to control buoyancy Ok if not perfect neutral at all times. Nice shore dive over kelp with lots of crabs, pipe fish, starfish and little ones that I don't know the names of. Did a few more exercises before surfacing. 2nd dive felt even better, more like just a normal exploration dive. Was getting more familiar with drysuit operation, no accidents, even managed a controlled ascent at the right pace.
So, all in all, I have enjoyed the new experience and it has given me an appetite for more uk diving. All the dives were shore at Port Gallanach so I really want to visit some sites by boat.
It certainly wasn't what I expected (cold, murky, hard work) and while as things stand, I still prefer tropical diving, I could grow to love it, I think. So, if anyone is dithering about UK diving, don't, just dive in!!
PS - I am now thinking of doing my Rescue course in a few weeks at Oban, too.!
