cooperscuba
Contributor
Many moons ago a friend, a friend of my friend and I decided to spend a long weekend at Paignton on the south coast of England. Id just received a new company car and a company fuel card for business and pleasure so naturally offered to drive. The morning of our departure I discovered in my mail my newly minted PADI Advanced Open Water diver certification, stuck it in my wallet and set off to collect my two companions.
As I said, I was traveling with a friend and a friend of the friend whom Id never met. Halfway through the journey I decided that my friends contrary companion wasnt a few nuts short of a fruitcake but could supply Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons with a years worth of nutty goodness and that, if my car had a passenger ejection button, then the person in question would have been jettisoned long before we left the Midlands. By the end of the first day, Id come to the realization that the trip was a really bad idea and the problem with long weekends was the adjective long.
The following morning my friends informed me that they planned to hire some bicycles and spend the day exploring the cycle paths that stretch along the South West Coast Path and would I like to join them? Im going to explore Paignton, I demurred - I would have preferred to drag myself naked across broken glass than spend the day with one of them. So, after a convivial breakfast with my companions, I set off to explore.
After a few hours wandering aimlessly around the town - I dont wish to diss the good town of Paignton but I was starting to doubt their tourist blurb sheets that proclaimed Paignton provided a fun-filled feast for holiday-makers of all ages. - I found myself by the quay and espied ... a diving center.
Yay! Im a diver, I thought, thatll do nicely, and wandered in to the shop (it was actually more like a large barn than a shop but anyway). Rob (made up name as I cant actually remember the gentlemans name) who was one of the staff there, and one of the owners as it turned out, came over to me and inquired if he could be of assistance?
Yes, please. Im a diver - Yay! - and would like to make a dive.
Not a problem, Im informed, come back at midday, well sort you some equipment and then take you for a dive. Whats your certification level?
PADI Advanced, I replied with out puffed chest.
PADI Advanced Open Water, you mean?
Erm ..., after checking my c-card, yeah, thats right.
Okay, and how many dives have you done?
14
And where have you dived previously?
Australia, Bali and the Maldives.
Ah. Okay. Well, like I said, come back at twelve and well sort you out, he reiterated with a strange smile (I should have been suspicious but I was so elated that I was going to go for a dive that I didnt think too much of it).
After a few hours and several coffees I wandered back to the quay.
Hey, great, youve come back, greeted Rob, Ive selected some equipment for you, so try it on and then well go.
Everything was fine, although my suit was a little weathered and had a few holes here and there but, with my vast level of experience, I deemed that it would suffice. Id started to remove the suit when Rob informed me that, No, keep it on, set up your scuba equipment and then were off. By the way, your BCD is facing the wrong way.
Once I was set and geared up (with my BCD attached in the correct position), we left the shop and wandered out to the quayside. At this point I was working on the presumption that we would be diving in the quay itself but, as we started to descend some stone steps to the waters edge, I realized that theres a bright orange RIB parked at the bottom waiting for us with several more divers already raring to go (and all wearing some weird looking baggy suits with hoses attached everywhere; The Borg Collective liked to scuba dive?). Once Id safely managed to get in to RIB (I might have got in safely but the feet of at least two of the other divers had been trampled in my doing so and it was at this point I was first introduced to the term muppet although it would be a few years before I learned the meaning of that particular acronym.), I was informed to hold tight! and we were off.
Christ Almighty in a jumped up sidecar! What the hell is this, I thought. In Australia Id dived from a liveaboard (not a bad way to make an Open Water course by the way), in Bali Id made shore dives (Liberty Wreck as my 8th & 9th dives, not a bad introduction to wrecks by the way), in the Maldives all the dives were from dhonis (a multi-purpose sail boat usually with a motor or occassionally lateen sails), but not once did I have to hang on to a glorified banana boat for dear life.
After a mile of bouncing along the Devon coastline the banana boat finally stopped.
Right - on the count of three we all just flop in the water on our backs, hold your belt, gauges and keep your feet together, Rob says. One, two ... three! and, after a serious bout of disorientation, I found myself in some cold, green alien world. The Borg Collective had their own guide, leaving Rob & myself on our own (for which I was so grateful as the two Borgs with the squashed feet kept fingering some wicked looking Bowie knifes with meaningful glances in my direction).
I really dont recall much about the dive. I do recall that if I stopped to smell the roses Robs fins would almost immediately disappear in to the surrounding gloom and I would charge after him as if I was a seal trying to avoid a great white, and I recall being happy that a lobster, which Rob wanted to take home for dinner, managed to win the day. Other than that, it was cold, green, gloomy and wet (well, dur!).
So, was I qualified enough for the dive? On the evidence available Id have to say yes; I followed the dive plan, I didnt put myself or Rob in any danger, my buoyancy was good, I didnt exceed my depth, my limits and ascended properly with a safety stop at the end (although I was sorely tempted to abort as soon as we hit the water).
Was I experienced enough for the dive? Obviously not; it was my first dive in the UK, my first dive in cold water and my first dive in limited visibility but, I dived with a local guide who knew the area (Rob was also a BSAC OW Instructor if youre interested). However, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step (and a packed lunch if youve planned ahead), and no one is experienced before they try something for the first time, so thats a Catch 22.
By the time we got back home Id decided that my current qualifications hadnt prepared me for the rigors of diving in the UK and started on BSACs Sports Diver qualification. Dont get me wrong, I dont believe my training hadnt taught me to dive, it just hadnt prepared me for anything other than warm water with amazing visibility.
The moral of my tale? Actually theres several. Firstly, dont take a vacation with people you dont know. Secondly, try not to tread on people as it tends to put you in their bad books. Thirdly, and the most important, dont believe the hype; a diving certification is just that - a certification, an acknowledgement that you have completed a given course. Just because you hold a card that says you are a Mega-Super Diver it doesnt necessarily follow that you really are a Mega-Super Diver.
As I said, I was traveling with a friend and a friend of the friend whom Id never met. Halfway through the journey I decided that my friends contrary companion wasnt a few nuts short of a fruitcake but could supply Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons with a years worth of nutty goodness and that, if my car had a passenger ejection button, then the person in question would have been jettisoned long before we left the Midlands. By the end of the first day, Id come to the realization that the trip was a really bad idea and the problem with long weekends was the adjective long.
The following morning my friends informed me that they planned to hire some bicycles and spend the day exploring the cycle paths that stretch along the South West Coast Path and would I like to join them? Im going to explore Paignton, I demurred - I would have preferred to drag myself naked across broken glass than spend the day with one of them. So, after a convivial breakfast with my companions, I set off to explore.
After a few hours wandering aimlessly around the town - I dont wish to diss the good town of Paignton but I was starting to doubt their tourist blurb sheets that proclaimed Paignton provided a fun-filled feast for holiday-makers of all ages. - I found myself by the quay and espied ... a diving center.
Yay! Im a diver, I thought, thatll do nicely, and wandered in to the shop (it was actually more like a large barn than a shop but anyway). Rob (made up name as I cant actually remember the gentlemans name) who was one of the staff there, and one of the owners as it turned out, came over to me and inquired if he could be of assistance?
Yes, please. Im a diver - Yay! - and would like to make a dive.
Not a problem, Im informed, come back at midday, well sort you some equipment and then take you for a dive. Whats your certification level?
PADI Advanced, I replied with out puffed chest.
PADI Advanced Open Water, you mean?
Erm ..., after checking my c-card, yeah, thats right.
Okay, and how many dives have you done?
14
And where have you dived previously?
Australia, Bali and the Maldives.
Ah. Okay. Well, like I said, come back at twelve and well sort you out, he reiterated with a strange smile (I should have been suspicious but I was so elated that I was going to go for a dive that I didnt think too much of it).
After a few hours and several coffees I wandered back to the quay.
Hey, great, youve come back, greeted Rob, Ive selected some equipment for you, so try it on and then well go.
Everything was fine, although my suit was a little weathered and had a few holes here and there but, with my vast level of experience, I deemed that it would suffice. Id started to remove the suit when Rob informed me that, No, keep it on, set up your scuba equipment and then were off. By the way, your BCD is facing the wrong way.
Once I was set and geared up (with my BCD attached in the correct position), we left the shop and wandered out to the quayside. At this point I was working on the presumption that we would be diving in the quay itself but, as we started to descend some stone steps to the waters edge, I realized that theres a bright orange RIB parked at the bottom waiting for us with several more divers already raring to go (and all wearing some weird looking baggy suits with hoses attached everywhere; The Borg Collective liked to scuba dive?). Once Id safely managed to get in to RIB (I might have got in safely but the feet of at least two of the other divers had been trampled in my doing so and it was at this point I was first introduced to the term muppet although it would be a few years before I learned the meaning of that particular acronym.), I was informed to hold tight! and we were off.
Christ Almighty in a jumped up sidecar! What the hell is this, I thought. In Australia Id dived from a liveaboard (not a bad way to make an Open Water course by the way), in Bali Id made shore dives (Liberty Wreck as my 8th & 9th dives, not a bad introduction to wrecks by the way), in the Maldives all the dives were from dhonis (a multi-purpose sail boat usually with a motor or occassionally lateen sails), but not once did I have to hang on to a glorified banana boat for dear life.
After a mile of bouncing along the Devon coastline the banana boat finally stopped.
Right - on the count of three we all just flop in the water on our backs, hold your belt, gauges and keep your feet together, Rob says. One, two ... three! and, after a serious bout of disorientation, I found myself in some cold, green alien world. The Borg Collective had their own guide, leaving Rob & myself on our own (for which I was so grateful as the two Borgs with the squashed feet kept fingering some wicked looking Bowie knifes with meaningful glances in my direction).
I really dont recall much about the dive. I do recall that if I stopped to smell the roses Robs fins would almost immediately disappear in to the surrounding gloom and I would charge after him as if I was a seal trying to avoid a great white, and I recall being happy that a lobster, which Rob wanted to take home for dinner, managed to win the day. Other than that, it was cold, green, gloomy and wet (well, dur!).
So, was I qualified enough for the dive? On the evidence available Id have to say yes; I followed the dive plan, I didnt put myself or Rob in any danger, my buoyancy was good, I didnt exceed my depth, my limits and ascended properly with a safety stop at the end (although I was sorely tempted to abort as soon as we hit the water).
Was I experienced enough for the dive? Obviously not; it was my first dive in the UK, my first dive in cold water and my first dive in limited visibility but, I dived with a local guide who knew the area (Rob was also a BSAC OW Instructor if youre interested). However, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step (and a packed lunch if youve planned ahead), and no one is experienced before they try something for the first time, so thats a Catch 22.
By the time we got back home Id decided that my current qualifications hadnt prepared me for the rigors of diving in the UK and started on BSACs Sports Diver qualification. Dont get me wrong, I dont believe my training hadnt taught me to dive, it just hadnt prepared me for anything other than warm water with amazing visibility.
The moral of my tale? Actually theres several. Firstly, dont take a vacation with people you dont know. Secondly, try not to tread on people as it tends to put you in their bad books. Thirdly, and the most important, dont believe the hype; a diving certification is just that - a certification, an acknowledgement that you have completed a given course. Just because you hold a card that says you are a Mega-Super Diver it doesnt necessarily follow that you really are a Mega-Super Diver.
My friends wanted to take me diving which we agreed on, however 2 days before I was driving along the coast with the typical british spring weather (grey skies, cold and lots of rain) and saw some hardy soles (read mentally dysfunctional people) with their dry suits on, donning equipment in the rain. That was enough for me to fein illness and back track on the diving offer and to this day have maintained my score card of only diving in warm water ( although here in the Gulf of Oman the vis can get a bit ugh). Like you though I've also started my BSAC courses so that I'm a diving split brain - and am even doing a drysuit course later this year - not to dive in the UK but because our summer water temps are 35 C (95F) so we consider the winter temps of 22C (71F) far too chilly for anything other than penguins, polar bears or those of a mentally dysfunctional nature.
